Happy Winter! Hope you’ve been enjoying the winter, bizarre weather and all. We’ve been busy closing up from 2011 and getting ready for 2012. This means crunching production and financial numbers and making decisions that will guide our choices as we look to the coming year.
Please read below for farm camp registration, lamb open house dates, and how you can help feed your neighbors!
Thank You
Thank you to everyone who has joined on board already for this season. If you’ve been meaning to sign up – it’s not too late! The price of a share this year is the same as last at $515. If you haven’t sent a payment yet, you can catch up with our suggested payment plan by sending $238.33 this month ($138.33 due in April and June), or pay in full, or send what you can now with your own payment schedule to follow over the next few months.
If you are following our suggested payment plan, February payments of $138.33 are due this month. We appreciate your help in keeping the wheels turning as we prepare to make payroll, heat the greenhouse, and buy soil, compost, and lime along with all the other supplies we need for the coming year. Like most small businesses, we struggle to balance our increasing costs with trying to keep our prices affordable. As we move into spring and your options for spending your local food dollars increase, we appreciate your commitment to our CSA.
Value
As in years past, after tallying pounds upon pounds of produce and balancing them against dollars, you spent $1.32 per pound for fresh local organic produce. A great value on any scale and one of the reasons why we love doing CSA.
At the Farm
So…how has your farm been faring this winter? While it was nice to be outside in November and December we tend get worried when the temperatures don’t dip and the ground doesn’t freeze. Cold weather does a lot to keep the farm balanced in an increasingly topsy-turvy weather cycle. Pests, diseases and weeds all take a hit in a prolonged cold winter, which makes the coming spring and summer a bit easier out in the fields. In addition snow cover protects perennial crops (for us strawberries and winter grains) from the harsh process of freeze and thaw. Let’s hope that the remaining months are “normal,” whatever that is.
Weather we Like it or Not
The changes we have been seeing on the farm over the last years are echoed in a new “plant hardiness zone map” published by the USDA. Zone maps tell farmers and gardeners the average high and low temps for their areas and help them match these temps to plants that will thrive in their fields and gardens. An article in last weeks Press Herald explains the maps in detail and gives a snazzy side by side comparison of the old and new zone maps. Check out the article and a larger version of he map here.
Here We Go
Seeds are in! We generally order seed from six or seven different companies trying to spend the bulk of our money with Maine and Northeast seed houses. We spend on about $4000 on seed and plant stock each year, which always seems like a big check to write but in the scheme of farm expenses it’s better than buying diesel. Now we just have to wait until the first week of March to get into the greenhouse to get the season started.
New Lambs
Any day now I expect to see new our first lambs of the season. These fat ewes look more like 
boxcars as they waddle out from the barn to the round bales of silage hay. Joanne (who is with us for the winter) and I are checking the barn several times a day and then again before bedtime, watching for that first birth and the start of what we expect will be a month of new lambs. We have 71 ewes that were exposed to a ram last September and if we’re lucky we’ll have about 115 lambs when the process winds up. Twenty to twenty five births a week doesn’t sound like too much when you break it into days and hours but the ewes don’t generally space themselves out perfectly. Inevitably we will have long stretches of quiet followed by back-to-back arrivals. Two years ago we had a stretch that gave us 36 lambs in 36 hours!
Lamb Open Houses
If you would like to come see the new lambs we have a couple of days on the calendar set to show off the new arrivals.
- Saturday March 3 11-1pm CSA members lamb open house – bring your friends!
- Sunday March 25th from 11-2 open house for the general public
If you can come on the 3rd you’ll beat the crowds that turn out for the larger open house on the 25th. You are welcome to bring your friends, family, and neighbors on the 3rd.
CSF Online
Please share our website with friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues. Check out our new slideshows, some simplified pages, member testimonials and as always our recipe index by ingredient. Follow the “Home” tab at the top of this page or click here.
Help us Feed Everyone
For the past eight years we have been working closely with the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP), delivering our excess produce to their soup kitchen and food pantry. We’ve always wanted to find new ways way to make this great food we grow available to more people, especially those that may not be able to afford a CSA share. Last season we started a pilot program to offer four shares to families. We donated three shares and one share was paid for by a generous summer resident who wanted to help. MCHPP was able to identify four families who were good candidates for our share. The feedback we got from the families was resoundingly positive, for one family it was “absolutely a blessing for us.” This year we hope to expand the program with your help. When making your share payments this spring round up any dollar amount you can afford to put toward the project, making a note in the memo of your check. We will match this amount and donate shares to appropriate families MCHPP has identified. We are working on making these donations tax deductible through MCHPP, we’ll keep you posted. Our donor from last year is on board again for one share and we have matched him with a second share. We would like to be able to offer ten shares to MCHPP families this season so we just have eight to go!
2012 Farm Camp Registration!
Since farm camp has filled up quickly in the past years, we will give CSA members a one-week head start on registration beginning on February 13th. New this year is a week of yoga-farm camp. Details on the Farm Camp page of the website.
Portland CSA Shares
Help us connect with your friends in Portland. Last year we began delivering boxed vegetable shares to neighborhoods and offices in Portland and hope to continue the program this year. Please pass the word to all of your urban friends who are jealous of your farm share! Any connection in the following neighborhoods are especially helpful:
- South Portland-Willard Square
- Old Port
- Woodfords
Winter Babysitting
Our winter shepherd Joanne (you’ll remember her from the summer farm crew) is available for babysitting this winter…if you’re interested contact her at 603.657.6072.
We had our first killing frost this past week with lows of 32 and 29 consecutively. While these temps aren’t usually considered “killing” frosts, the quick drop and the length of time the mercury stayed down really did some damage. We had prepared for the frost with all of our sensitive crops, pulling celeriac and sweet potatoes out of harms way. We had even covered some of the young lettuces you will be seeing in the next couple weeks just to protect them from the light frosts we see at this time of year -thankfully they fared very well. We were surprised however to lose the chard to the frost. This usually hardy green is know for surviving in the field all the way through late November but the rapid and prolonged temp changes we saw this past week were too much for it and we lost several hundred row feet. The upic field was another victim and the few flowers and herbs out there were done in by the cold.
The silver lining of frost is that almost everything coming out of the fields from here on out gets sweeter. Kale, cabbage, turnips, and carrots will all have sweeter taste from here on out. The science behind this is phenomena is based in the plants reaction to temps below 32 degrees. As plants make sugar through photosynthesis they store that sugar in their cells as starch. When the weather gets cold the plants react by breaking down their stored energy and converting it into sugars like glucose and fructose. The sugar is stored in their cells and, like salt on the roads in winter, lowers the freezing point of the cells, thus protecting the plant from freezing. The benefit for all of us is a sweeter vegetable. The one thing that will generally not improve in this weather is lettuce. It gets a bit tougher and doesn’t seem to sweeten…here’s to strong vinaigrettes!
Seeking Praise
As the farm winds down this season we also are starting the process of building the season to come. Field plans, financial plans, hiring, ordering, etc, etc, all start up and start to weave together into the picture that will make 2012. Integral to this process is attracting new members to the CSA. While we do our part by putting up brochures, maintaing the website, and trying to stay visible, its really your efforts on our behalf that brings new people to the farm. The conversations, meals and produce that all of you share with your friends, neighbors and co-workers are our marketing machine and we are forever grateful. In this vein we would like to ask any and all of you to write us your thoughts about what the farm means to you and or how this great adventure in eating has affected you and your family. We hope to post these testimonials on our website to help encourage other to “take the leap” with us next season.
Many Thanks
Many of you have signed up for 2012 and we are so grateful. Thank you. Your support allows us to better plan for the coming season and also help us to relax a bit more this fall.
How Late will the CSA Go This Year?
We will be harvesting crops until the last full week of October (24th-28th) and may continue further but it looks like our greens supply will run out just about then. We were able to have a pre-thanksgiving distribution last year and we may be able to do that again this year but we won’t know for another week or so. Watch the newsletter for updates!
Organic Maine Cranberries
Sparrow Farm in Pittston is harvesting organic cranberries and we will be taking orders for 5 lb. bags this week for delivery next Friday (21st). These are great local berries that can go right in the freezer and pulled out cup by cup for thanksgiving and many scone, muffin, pancake and relish creations all winter long. Order five pound bags for $28 this week at pick-up or by email until Tuesday (18th) at noon.
Mac Apples and Cider!
More great fruit from Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. Pick up your Macintosh apples & incredible cider.
Apple Picking
Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus on Rt. 9, just off the turnpike is the place to pick apples this fall. This rolling farm has beautiful orchards and Jill shuttles everyone out to the trees on her horse-drawn wagon on Saturdays and Sundays. Here’s the link to their location Willow Pond.
Wolf Pine Winter CSA share Delivered Here!
Get the best Maine has to offer this winter by joining the Wolf Pine Winter CSA. Wolf Pine grows storage produce and buys from other great farmers to make up their winter CSA. The shares are boxed and delivered to Crystal Spring every three weeks November through May. Option for local meat and pantry shares available. Read more and sign up at Wolf Pine’s website.
What’s in Upic?
Pigs to watch…but nothing left to pick.
What’s in the share?
Kale
Mixed Potatoes
Celeriac
Carrots
Lettuce
Bok Choi
Leeks
Shallots
Cabbage
Bring Bags!
Our eco bags came in finally…don’t forget to bring some from home!
With fall officially (and firmly) upon us we have spent the past week gearing up for the coming winter. Tomatoes are done for the year, cucumbers and zucchini are a distant memory and the beans and peas have faded from the upic field. On the surface this time of year is a bit sad for all of us, the passing of our favorite weather and the foods that come with it is wistful. Looking a little deeper I alsways find I am a bit excited for the first flakes of snow, days by the fire and a changing of gears from the outward drive of summer to the inward relaxation of the colder months.
These next few weeks are like a grand bon voyage party before all of us retreat inside. Maura and I will miss all of your faces, the conversations had and the daily interactions in the dooryard or on Maine Street. This is the time to give thanks for the relationship we have with all of you, a relationship that is somewhat unique in this world of global markets and internet transactions. Unlike the swipe of a credit card at Hannaford, your share brings you to this beautiful farm every week during the summer to relax, watch the animals, pick some flowers and just exhale. Your membership in this CSA is right in front of you each week. The $515 for each share goes towards seed from Maine seed houses, soil and compost from Maine and Vermont, wages for our hardworking crew, rent to the best local land trust in the state and support for this farm family. We are ever so grateful you make the choice to support what we do and in return we do our very best for you.
Conventional wisdom in the past few years has started to turn the nation towards knowing where your food comes from. Writers like Michael Pollan and Barabara Kingsolver have directed the conversation in favor of “knowing your farmer” while films like “Food Inc.”, “Fresh”, and “King Corn” have helped us all see what’s wrong with trusting disconnected, profit-only corporations to make qualitative decisions about food, health and caring for our soils. As the greater nations talks and thinks about these things all of you are ahead of the curve. Putting your money where your mouth is and reaping the rewards.
Many thanks to all of you who have renewed your membership in the CSA for next year. Your are the foundation that we build the year’s work upon.
Celebrate Celeriac
Celeriac makes its appearance this week. This starchier and sweeter version of celery is a great addition to anything that goes in the oven. We roast them in 1″ slices, boil them with potatoes when we’re making mashed or grate them right into our favorite soups. To prepare peel the rough skin away and slice chop or grate away. Here’s a few of our favorite recipes.
Mac Apples and Cider!
More great fruit from Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. Macintosh apples replace the Cortlands we had last week. The world’s best cider flows on. There is nothing better for what ails ya. My doctor is under strict instructions to transfuse me with this stuff if I’m injured.
Apple Picking
Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus on Rt. 9, just off the turnpike is the place to pick apples this fall. This rolling farm has beautiful orchards and Jill shuttles everyone out to the trees on her horse-drawn wagon on Saturdays and Sundays. Here’s the link to their location Willow Pond.
Wolf Pine Winter CSA share Delivered Here!
Get the best Maine has to offer this winter by joining the Wolf Pine Winter CSA. Wolf Pine grows storage produce and buys from other great farmers to make up their winter CSA. The shares are boxed and delivered to Crystal Spring every three weeks November through May. Option for local meat and pantry shares available. Read more and sign up at Wolf Pine’s website.
Sign up for your 2012 CSA Share
Sign up now for next season’s share. Your commitment now allows us to spend our time over the winter planning and working to improve the farm instead of marketing. Pass the word on to friends as well! Talk to us at pickup for more details.
What’s in Upic?
Flowers
Herbs
What’s in the share?
Red Peppers
Chard
Kale
Mixed Potatoes
Red Onions
Broccoli
Celeriac
Carrots/beets
Chickories
Lettuce heads
Bring Bags!
We have run out of bags and the fancy biodegradable ones we’ve ordered have still not arrived…Thanks!
With the beautiful weather of the past few days it’s hard to believe that we had a frost last week, or that October is just days away. The transition from summer to fall that is upon us has taken hold of the the farm harvest list as we move into leeks and celeriac and pick our last tomatoes of the season.
It has been a good run with tomatoes this year, a full six weeks of harvest, averaging 4 pounds a week. We trialed many new varieties with hopes of finding a handful that could not only survive unrelenting disease pressure, but also burst with flavor. Of the four “beefsteak”varieties, only two really had the right taste and texture. We also tried paste tomatoes this year with some success, although the flavor dynamic needs improving here as well. In addition to finding disease resistant varieties we also tried grafting some of our heirloom favorites to heartier rootstock. This technique has been practiced with fruit trees for decades but is relatively new for tomatoes. Our own attempt was a huge success and favorites like brandywine and green cherokee flourished. We hope to expand our heirloom growing next year now that we have a grafting as a tool to beat disease.
You’ll find the last tomatoes of the year this week in your share. In addition to red tomatoes we have also picked a few green tomatoes for those of you that have been asking about them. The late tomatoes would never ripen in time for the coming cold, dark weather so we’re glad a few of you will enjoy them.
Apples, Pears and Cider!
More great fruit from Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. Cortland apples replace the Paula Red apples we’ve had the past couple weeks. Cortlands are good all-purpose fruit with bright white flesh that is slow to oxidize. This will be the last week for the Clapp’s Favorite pears so enjoy them while you can. The world’s best cider flows on. If you haven’t tried Willow Pond’s unpasteurized local cider you might as well spend fall in Florida. This stuff is amazing and puts that “cooked” stuff in the stores to shame.
Apple Picking
Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus on Rt. 9, just off the turnpike is the place to pick apples this fall. This rolling farm has beautiful orchards and Jill shuttles everyone out to the trees on her horse-drawn wagon on Saturdays and Sundays. Here’s the link to their location Willow Pond.
Wolf Pine Winter CSA share Delivered Here!
Get the best Maine has to offer this winter by joining the Wolf Pine Winter CSA. Wolf Pine grows storage produce and buys from other great farmers to make up their winter CSA. The shares are boxed and delivered to Crystal Spring every three weeks November through May. Option for local meat and pantry shares available. Read more and sign up at Wolf Pine’s website.
Sign up for your 2012 CSA Share
Sign up now for next season’s share. Your commitment now allows us to spend our time over the winter planning and working to improve the farm instead of marketing. Pass the word on to friends as well! Talk to us at pickup for more details.
What’s in Upic?
Flowers
Herbs
What’s in the share?
Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Chard
Kale
Potatoes
Yellow Onions
Leeks
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Bring Bags!
We have run out of bags and the fancy biodegradable ones we’ve ordered will not be in until the end of the week…Thanks!
This past Friday evening we were touched by our first frost. This is the earliest we have had in our eight years growing at Crystal Spring and came as a surprise. This time of year is always up and down with temps and the plants usually are ready for the cold. Luckily we had had a few cold nights prior to the frost and the hardy vegetables did fine. The only real visible damage was in the vines of the sweet potatoes as they sit low to the ground where the cold air settles. The burning they sustained should not affect them in the long run as long as we will get them out of the ground before the real frosts arrive in October.
Thanks to all of you who have signed up for next year’s share. We love being your farmers.
Cabbage returns this week. This time it’s Red! When in doubt shred it, dress it and go. Mark Bittman, famed pragmatist chef, has a great article on stuffed cabbage that is easy for those of you with more cabbage than you know what to do with…click here.
Bring Bags!
Please remember to bring bags to pick-up. We do have bags here but the more recycling we can do the better! Many folk also bring their own tupperware containers of ziplock bags and put their greens right into them. Thanks.
Apples, Pears and Cider!
Add the world’s best unpasteurized cider to the low-spray Paula Red apples and Clapp’s pears from our friends Jill and Charlie at Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus and you’ll know you’re in heaven.
Apple Picking
Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus on Rt. 9, just off the turnpike is the place to pick apples this fall. This rolling farm has beautiful orchards and Jill shuttles everyone out to the trees on her horse-drawn wagon on Saturdays and Sundays. Here’s the link to their location Willow Pond.
Sign up for your 2012 CSA Share
Please consider signing up now for next season’s share. Your commitment now allows us to spend our time over the winter planning and working to improve the farm instead of marketing. Pass the word on to friends as well! Talk to us at pickup for more details.
What’s in Upic?
Beans
Fall Peas (one pint please)
Flowers
Herbs
What’s in the share?
Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Arugula
Tatsoi
Bok Choi
Lettuce Mix
Lettuce Heads
Chard
Kale
Radicchio
Red Cabbage
Mix and Match Potatoes
Yellow/Red Onions
Another beautiful week ahead. Crisp, bright days, cool nights and still lots of summer food coming out of the fields. Tomatoes are going strong as are peppers and Asian eggplant. Look for more varieties of potatoes along with onions, shallots, carrots and sweet potatoes in the coming weeks.
With all of this food we harvest for you it may be easy to forget about the Upic field and the great food or flowers you harvest for yourselves. Looking out on sunny pick-up days and seeing the field filled with all of you finding treasures is what this place is all about. Growing food that is eaten locally is important but sharing the farm and providing a place for everyone to watch soil transform seeds into plants trumps everything else. Without even trying I can think of ten kids who we’ve watched grow from pre-schoolers into middle-schoolers, each one learning what lies behind the deep green leaves of the bean plants and how to explore the dark tunnels of trellised peas to find the pods the adults can’t get to. Some of these “farm kids” have grown up and visit the farm only now and then. Some of them have done their high school service learning hours with us and some have even come back to work with us for a summer or two. All of them have been able to take away the experience of finding, picking and knowing their food which they will take with them wherever they land in life. Of everything we accomplish here in our busy lives as farmers, the work that we share with all of you in the upic field has proven to be the most important.
During our first few years here, we struggled to keep the upic field hardy and free of weeds with all the other demands in the fields. Fortunately for the past few years the Upic field has been beautiful. The plantings are healthy, weeded and vibrant. Many thanks for the hard work of two CSA members who log long hours out there every Tuesday and Friday. Bob Leezer and David Houdlette are our Upic “stewards” and most likely they have helped, advised, or just chatted with just about every one of you when you have been out in the field. Bob has been an instrumental part of this farm since our arrival in 2004. He put up the greenhouse with us in 2005, has seeded hundreds of flats in the early spring, and is one of the kindest people we know. A wonderful community member, Bob volunteers his time with Veterans for Peace, Literacy Volunteers, Freeport Players, among other groups, and cares for gardens and animals at his home, including two dogs rescued from the South. Realizing that managing the upic field was a job for two, Bob recruited a mate! He found David who for the past two years has proven to be dedicated & loves to work hard. A retired contractor, the word around here is that he is always seen out helping his neighbors with yard and house projects. We are all lucky. Thank you Bob & David!
Sign up for your 2012 CSA Share
Please consider signing up now for next season’s share. Your commitment now allows us to spend our time over the winter planning and working to improve the farm instead of marketing. Pass the word on to friends as well! Talk to us at pickup for more details.
Fall Peas
We have the start of our short fall pea crop this week. The humid weather has not been kind to them and they are being slowly killed by downey mildew just as the get started. Please limit your picking to one pint per share.
Apples and Pears
We have low-spray paula red apples and pears from our friends Jill and Charlie at Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. The world’s best cider will be coming next week!
Apple Picking
Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus on Rt. 9, just off the turnpike is the place to pick apples this fall. This rolling farm has beautiful orchards and Jill shuttles everyone out to the trees on her horse-drawn wagon on Saturdays and Sundays. Here’s the link to their location Willow Pond.
What’s in Upic?
Beans
Fall Peas (one pint please)
Flowers
Herbs
What’s in the share?
Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Arugula
Tatsoi
Chard
Kale
Chickories
Asian Eggplant
Kueka Gold Potatoes
Yellow Onions
Another great labor day potato harvest yesterday. By all estimates we had more potatoes and more pickers than ever before. Many thanks to the over sixty folks who shared their labor day holiday laboring with us in the field. We pulled about 13,000 lbs. of spuds during the two and a half hours -and we still have over a thousand bed feet of potatoes to dig! Luckily, we have a vigorous school group from Merriconeag coming this week to help out. Thanks again everyone.
All of the spuds are now in the barn where they will cure under ventilation for the next few weeks while we sort and grade them. This year’s crop looks relatively clean of disease and sound which means we will be able to save seed from them for next year. Potato seed isn’t true seed but really just smaller potatoes that we keep over the winter and then plant in the spring. The little tubers sprout quickly and establish strong plants but unlike true seeds that are formed through a sexual/pollination process, they are effectively clones of their parent plant. The lack of genetic diversity these clones have makes them vulnerable to being wiped out by disease, i.e. the great potato famine of Ireland in the 1850′s. As farmers we try to counter the possibility by growing five varieties, with the hope that if we did have a problem with one or two the other three would persist.
With the arrival of potatoes comes the gradual shift from summer to fall. Many of you are sending kids back to school, taking the last fews days of camping, making those “before the snow flies” lists, etc. As you transition over the next few weeks, so will your share. Potatoes, winter squash, cabbage, and storage onions will all sneak in alongside tomatoes, peppers and eggplant for the next few weeks, easing you into the transition. Fall is such a great time in Maine and the produce seems to dovetail right into the cooler nights and crystal clear days, offering sustenance for the season ahead. Enjoy.
Savoy Cabbage is Classy
Savoy cabbage is in your share this week and we really think it is something special. This crinkled leaf (savoyed) cabbage is really sweet with a unique tangy finish flavor. It does really well in coleslaw mixed with that green cabbage you still have from last week or even braised quickly. Look here for our favorite recipes. The past couple years we have made an effort to grow smaller cabbage heads with the idea that everyone could use them in one or two dishes instead of having to try and figure out how to make four meals including cabbage in one week! We do this by planting them closer together in the fields, crowding the plants and making them share nutrients and water, keeping them smaller. Even with this effort though, many of these savoy heads are still quite large. You can always share some with the neighbors.
Canning Tomatoes for Sale
In the cooler months, you can enjoy the flavor and vibrance of summer with your own preserved tomatoes – whole, sauce, or however you please. We will continue to have flats of “imperfect” slicing tomatoes from the fields for sale this week at $10 for a 10lb. flat ($.75/lb) for those of you who would like to start canning or freezing. Our own Roma tomatoes are also for sale at $17.50 for a 14lb flat ($1.25/lb.). The canning/roma tomatoes are low moisture/concentrated flavor and take less time to prep and sauce than the slicing varieties. We also have a few cases of wide mouth quart canning jars for sale at $14/case. Want to can or freeze for the first time here’s our favorite how-to site http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
CSA sign-up for 2011 begins this week
We will be taking deposits starting this week for the 2012 season. Your commitment to the CSA in the fall is vital to our planning for the coming season. We realize you have many great choices when is come to spending your local food dollars and we are proud to be your farmers. A deposit of $100 will not only secure your share for next year but will get you on our winter payment plan. Having all of you sign up early is an enormous help to us for our planning process as well as reducing our administrative duties next spring, when we are busy in the fields.
What’s in Upic?
Beans continue….
Cherry toms (one pint per share please)
Various herbs
Flowers
What’s in the share?
Arugula
Lettuce mix
Chickories
Tatsoi
Baby Bok Choi
Chard
Cabbage
Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Potatoes
Blue skies and cool air have never been so welcome as they are today. The past four days here at the farm have been dominated (to the neglect of almost all else) by the expectation, arrival, and passing of Hurricane Irene. During August we spend about 85% of our time just harvesting. While this is a bit overwhelming at times (especially on Tuesdays and Fridays), the hope is that during this time we have caught up, minimized or finished altogether the other major tasks for this time of year (planting, weed control, major livestock items, etc.). Throw a large hurricane into the mix and the workload & emotions are quite the stir around here.
Since Thursday at about 5 am every task we undertook was viewed through the lens of the predicted 70 mph winds and up to 6 inches of rain. This farm, and every other vegetable farm I’ve ever seen is basically a large, green shantytown. Each field is dominated by teetering trellises, twisted landscape fabric and delicate structures of plastic sheeting held up with stakes, twine and metal pipe. Beyond the farmers architecture, the plants themselves are fragile constructions of vines, branches and leaves, all maxed out with fruit, ready for the all too heavy August harvest. For the farm crew, envisioning a 300 mile wide bull named Irene tramping through this living china shop, brought some pain. All of our harvesting was focused not just on pulling the most perfect, ripest, tenderest produce from the field, but pulling what might be our last of these crops for the season. Uppermost in this mountain of concern was the tomato crop. Cautiously planted in late May we have just started to harvest good numbers for you and the thought of losing them was maddening. When we harvested on Friday we picked tomatoes that were more “pink” than red with the hopes of saving some for an uncertain future.
Apart from harvesting as much as we could, we also had to consider the ballpark forecasts of top sustained windspeed, peak gusts, and overall duration of the storm against the hoped-for-strength of our greenhouses, tunnels, and barns. Heavy winds can pull off plastic and remove roof panels but more worrisome is that these rips and tears weaken the whole structure, allowing wind to get inside and lift the whole building into the air and putting it down in in pieces somewhere inconvenient. Waiting until the last moment on Saturday we made the call to take down the tunnel by the Upic field and do our best to shore up everything else. In our ragtag collection of plastic covered buildings the least sturdy are the three tunnels that hold our tomatoes. They are also the least expensive and if we lost them they could be replaced without too much pain. The flipside is that they are holding another three weeks of tomatoes for you. If we chose to uncover them to save the houses the tomatoes would surely be lost in the wind. With the plastic left on them, the wind could destroy both the crop and the houses. Not a fun choice to make. We decided to risk the loss of the houses and spent a couple hours lashing them down with extra rope, tightening the plastic and weighing down the ends with stacks of pallets tied together.
Thankfully the storm was not as bad as forecasted and all of our houses, buildings and crops sustained almost no damage at all. It’s nice to make a bet and have the odds turn out in your favor. Picking tomatoes this morning has an added feeling of satisfaction and hopefully you’ll be able taste a bit of that as well when you bring them home this week.
Blueberries…we are still taking orders via email for some day this week. We will not be able to deliver Tuesday (tomorrow) due to hurricane delays in harvest but we hope to be able to deliver on Friday. We’ll keep you posted.
Crystal Spring Pork
We have sausage, pork chops, country style ribs and a roast or two. Look for them in the freezer when you come for pick-up.
Apples and Cider coming soon!
What’s in the Share
Cukes
Carrots
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Watermelon
Spinach
Chard
Baby Bok Choi
Arugula
