What’s in Upic?……

Flowers                Herbs         Snap Beans

Help we’re drowning! Those of you that woke up to my emergency email on Sunday morning I imagine we’re surprised to find a call to the farm to pick beans en mass. Well the heat of this year has blown us out of the water more than a few times so far and this was yet another case. Even though all of you know that we work with mother nature here at the farm (and she is not exactly one to run on railroad time) we still try to make it look like we know what’s going on around the place. Maura went out to pick beans for dinner on Saturday evening and came back overwhelmed by what was out there. Sure enough, the beans we thought were coming on well mid week had come in big and needed to be picked before the plants fell over! Thanks to all of you that came out to lend a hand. Thanks to your efforts the plants will keep producing and all of you who need beans on Tuesday and Friday will have a fresh flush.

Many thanks to Louise, Julie and Seth who threw in with the crew this week to battle weeds. Every hand counts in this battle. We’ll be out there again this Wednesday and Saturday at 9:00 a.m. to fight the good fight if you wan to join in.

Here’s what to look for in your share:

Chard                  Carrots

Kale           Summer squash

Tatsoi                   Lettuce

Mustard      Napa cabbage

Cooking demo cancelled this week. We have to cancel our cooking demo with Becky Shepherd, CSA member extraordinaire. We hope to reschedule her for a future date.

Field walk with Farmer Seth, today at 4:30 today. Meet at the CSA distribution building. Walk the fields and ask those obtuse agricultural questions that keep you up at night.  It will be fun. Really it will.

How about those eggs? We premiered our first eggs of the year last week to a strong response (they all sold). Those of you that brought them home, What did you think? Bright yolks? Bold flavor? Let us know. We really like these eggs (and believe me we eat a lot of them). Nothing beats a fresh, pastured, organic, local egg (any other adjectives I can add?) Try them.

Pigs are great workers, and they taste good too! Our own pastured pigs available for pre-order this week. The first four of our group will be available in Mid-August. Pre-order your whole or half now and fill you freezer with bacon, sausage hams and chops. Talk to us at CSA pickup for the details.

Crystal Spring Farm Lamb now available at CSA pick-up. Look for our own loin chops, lamburger, legs and more. Talk to a farmer about what we have available.

Grass-fed Beef from Harpswell. Two Coves Farm in Harpswell is raising grass fed beef and we have T-Bone steaks, London Broil and Burger for sale at pick-up.

Tempeh – local and organic!  Available for sale at pick up; made by our friends and neighbors at Lalibela Farm in Dresden – a great addition to a healthy diet. Look for an info sheet and recipes at pick up.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers                Herbs

Things are cooking along out in the fields. Tomatoes have lots of green fruit, eggplant are in flower and melons are moving along as well. I expect to have more napa cabbage next week and broccoli the week after. Carrots arrive in the share this week. The farm campers helped harvested about 200 pounds of the 300 we pulled from the ground yesterday! They loved the task and we loved the help.

Here’s what to look forward to in your shares:

Kale                     Carrots

Chard                  Lettuce

Tatsoi                   Mustard

Summer squash    Various chicories

We still need you help beating back the weeds! Thanks to Otey and Liz who came out this past week. The vegetables are loving this perfect season, but so are the sinister weeds. Help. Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9am in the fields

Maine Organic Wild Blueberries will be available starting Tuesday July 27^th and we will begin taking orders this week and next. These are certified organic, raked the day before from Stoneset Farm in Brooklin, Maine. As those of you who have ordered in the past know, these are top notch wild blueberries. No twigs, firm berries, amazing flavor. The berry crop is early this year (like almost everything else) so jump in and buy enough for your summer cereal, muffins, pancakes and martinis, as well as enough for the freezer. We will have a few quarts for sale in addition to the preordered deliveries and if there is enough interest we may do another order for next week. Let us know if you are interested in ordering for pickup on Tuesday the 27^th or Friday the 30^th and we’ll put you on list. Berry prices are: quart (not pint) for $9, 5 lbs. for $26 and 10 lbs. for $50.

Cooking Demo. Next Tuesday July 20^th at 3pm Wild Oats Bakery and Café Chef and longtime CSA member Becky Shepherd will share her insight on cooking with CSA produce here at the farm. Just show up at 3:00 by the distribution barn and learn ways to use the week’s harvest.

Eggs! Hens are working…we’ll have a few dozen for sale this week on a first come, first served basis. Our new hens are doing their thing, enjoying their pastures and making bright orange yolks and stand tall whites. Nothing is better than a fresh, pastured egg.

Pigs are getting big….Our pigs have been doing a great job turning compost in the barns and turning sod in the fields. They are healthy and happy eating grass, grain and liberal supply of exotic kitchen scraps from El Camino Restaurant. Who new Maine pigs would come to love tortillas and avocados! We are opening orders for whole and half pigs this week with delivery in mid August. Order your half or whole any way you like and fill the freezer with chops, hams, sausage and bacon. Talk to a farmer about signing up when you come to pick up your share.

Grass-fed Beef from Harpswell. Look for local grass-fed beef from Harpswell’s Two Coves Farm. This is the real thing. This beef has amazing flavor and it was raised overlooking Casco Bay –what could be better! Look for T-bone steaks, London Broil and Ground beef.
Enjoy the harvest this week!

Upic Peas continue for another week, but they are waning in a serious way. Thanks for all of your hard picking; they have been a great crop for us this year. We will be planting fall peas in a couple weeks, so you’ll see them again come September. We’re going to give the flowers a bit more time to bloom so there will be enough for everyone – so if you can wait another week or so, we’ll let you know when you can pick some flowers.

Weeds are choking us! The weed population is getting the better of us in a few crops and we have started putting other things on the back burner to try and catch up. Its amazing, wet year or dry, the weeds know their niche and they keep coming back. What is the best tool we have to controlling big weeds is lots of people. We need you help. Wednesday and Saturday mornings we will be down in the fields starting at 9am and going until… It’s a great time to chat with the farmers and save your favorite vegetables from the jungle. Look for us in the fields and pull into the nearest driveway along Pleasant Hill Road.

Here’s what to look forward to in your shares:

Kale                                    Baby Bok Choi

Chard                        Lettuce

Tatsoi                        Mustard

Scallions                        Kohlrabi

Summer squash            Various chickories

A couple weeks ago I wrote about making hay as winter feed for our sheep. These dry square bales take two consecutive days of dry weather to make, which in most seasons is doable but in the past few we have really been struggling. With the new pattern of really wet Junes (we escaped this pattern this year) we found ourselves making hay in July or even August, after the quality of the grasses and clovers was past. This year we are trying something new to us, hay silage. When making silage, instead of drying the grasses and clovers in the sun to preserve them like bailed hay, we cut the grass green and preserve it anaerobically, like making sauerkraut. The green hay is cut and make into a pile, covered with plastic and the oxygen is sucked out, making an anaerobic cocoon that will preserve the forage until the winter when we feed it out to the sheep. Last fall we applied for a grant to research making hay silage using a technique popular in New Zealand. Many of you have seen the big round bales wrapped in white plastic on farms in Maine and beyond. These also are silage bales but the method of making them is very expensive to get in to (close to $50K, not including the tractor). The system we are researching costs less than $20K and the forage made is (hopefully) of better quality and uses a tenth of the plastic. We’ve already made several piles here at the farm and on two other local farms participating in the project. If we’ve done a good job we’ll open the piles in the winter and be able to feed the ewes the best winter forage they have ever had. For those of you who might want more detail on the project, our grant proposal is posted on the web: http://www.sare.org/MySare/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=FNE10-690&y=2010&t=2

Cooking Demo. Tuesday July 20^th at 3pm Wild Oats Bakery and Café Chef and longtime CSA member Becky Shepherd will share her insight on cooking with CSA produce here at the farm. Just show up at 3:00 by the distribution barn and learn ways to use this week’s harvest.

Chickens, Pigs, and Lambs The chickens are laying eggs but they are still small.  We’re hoping in a few weeks we’ll have some for sale at CSA pickups.  Say hello to the lambs & chickens by the CSA barn.  You can check out the pigs while you’re in the Upic field – on the south side of the field.
Enjoy the harvest this week!

What’s in Upic?……

Snap Peas            Snow Peas

What’s in the share?

Cabbage                       Napa Cabbage

Broccoli                       Lettuce Mix

Chickories                   Chard/Kale

Baby Bok Choi           Spindleworks Art

Those of you reading closely will notice the Spindleworks art item listed in today’s share. Spindleworks Art Center here in Brunswick has offered us an “Art Share” this week. They were inspired by the community centered around this farm and wanted to share their work with all of you. For more info on Spindleworks and their amazing, and famous artists please visit their website www.sprindleworks.org

Upic continues this week and peas are open. Please take what you can use. Pick carefully so that we can keep the plants healthy.

Here’s the skinny on how Upic works. We prepare, plant, and weed this ½ acres plot just for you, the members of the farm. Growing there you will find cherry tomatoes, green beans, herbs, flowers, and most notably this week, peas. These are crops that are particularly rewarding to harvest and can add a lot of value to your share as they often are great accompaniments to the “field crops” we harvest and wash for you each week.

The important thing to understand about this field is that it belongs to everyone who has a share in the farm. There are 240 shares this year and we try very hard to plan each planting so that everyone will be able to sample every crop. The idea is that all of these crops are compliments to the field crops and not necessarily staples in and of themselves. While we would love to be able to plant enough basil for everyone to make pesto for the winter or sow enough beans to share with your neighbors, it’s just not possible in the space we have to work with. Those of you that split shares, we ask that you be particularly aware of your picking quantities.

With the exception of these first couple weeks we will not suggest amounts for you to take from the upic field. The idea is that we all take our share and consciously leave behind enough for everyone else. The upic field has always been our grand experiment in community spirit and in twelve years of CSA growing all over the Northeast we have never been disappointed.

Here are a few points and guidelines to keep Upic going strong all summer:

• Picking is open on Tuesday, Fridays, and Sundays from dawn to dusk. Please pick just once a week.
• Look for the signs we post in the field indicating what is ready to pick. If you don’t see a sign, please don’t pick it.
• Scissors are provided to help in cutting things that need to be cut (not peas). Please use them –clean cuts help keep the plants healthy and productive. Please don’t put scissors in your pockets! You’ll remember them when you get home. The loop on each pair is to go around your wrist and keep them handy for picking.
• Be gentle with the plants when picking and use both hands, one to hold the plant and one to cut or pick. Parents please teach your little ones how to do this before letting them loose.
• Be aware of where you are walking and try to walk between the beds and not on them.
• Know and teach your young ones that all of the fencing at the farm is electrified, including the fence around the upic field.
• Make sure the kids (and adults) stay out of the buildings and off of the tractors and farm equipment. The farm is old and there are numerous serious dangers to be found.
• Weeding, picking rocks and squashing bad bugs are always welcome. If you question whether a bug is bad leave it be: it could be an ally.

Upic Field Open with Peas!

What’s in Upic?……

Snap Peas            Snow Peas

Our first Upic crop starts this week with Snap and Snow Peas. They are crisp, sweet and two weeks earlier than we have ever had them before! As we open the Upic field with just one crop we ask that you only take a quart (will be provided) per share this first week. This will ensure that everyone can take some home to enjoy. We will open up some of the other crops next week as well. There will be more info about the Upic field next week in the newsletter. Ask Bob or David (our Upic Gardeners) for help while you’re out there.

June is the month for greens. The greens you are taking home these first few weeks are the best of the year. Tender and sweet, greens benefit from the long days and gentle temperatures. After you get them home the best way to keep them fresh is to get them right into the fridge. We keep greens in sealed plastic bags that have a damp paper towel in with them. The paper towel regulates moisture in the bag, helping the greens last up to 2 weeks. Don’t get overwhelmed with the greens –get creative. Last week loyal CSA members emailed us, “There is no such thing as too much kale!” Becky Shepherd of Wild Oats Bakery and Café makes pesto with any of the cooking greens (kale, chard, etc)  – which can also be put up in the freezer. Just steam or blanch the greens and toss them together with nuts or bread crumbs, olive oil or butter and whatever cheese you have around into the food processor. Chop and put the pesto into a sealable cup size container for the freezer. Nothing tastes better in January than greens on pasta or rice.

Here’s what to look forward to in your share this week:

Kale                     Lettuce Heads

Chard                  Lettuce Mix

Baby Bok Choi    Various chickories

Tatsoi                   Mustard

Scallions              Kohlrabi

There are a couple great recipes for Kohlrabi on our website… http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/kohlrabi

The great weather continues, I say that knocking on wood of course. We had a great week for getting things done and are whittling down our list a bit. We will transplant pumpkins and winter squash this week and get our first jump on putting up hay for the winter.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines…We usually put up 2000 to 2500 square bales of hay to feed our sheep in the colder parts of the year. Making hay is a two-day process that is highly weather dependent (even more so than growing vegetables). On the first day we cut a 2-4 acre parcel of hay field which consists of various grasses (timothy, orchard grass, ryegrass, etc.) and legumes (red and white clovers, vetch, trefoil, etc.). If we’re lucky, the legumes are just starting to flower and the grasses are just putting out seed heads, which mean both are at their highest nutritional content balanced against having the greatest biomass. The cutting is done with a special mower that crimps the hay after its cut. The crimps allow for the long leaves and shafts to dry more easily.  The cut hay lies in the sun for a few hours and then we turn it over to dry on the other side. It then lays in the field over night and then in the morning after the dew dries off we turn the hay again and let it dry some more. Bright sunshine and no rain are vital to this process. To maximize the nutritional value of the hay we want to store for winter feed we want to dry it as quickly as possible. If conditions are right by noon on the second day we are ready to rake up the hay into windrows (long piles) and begin the process of baling the loose hay into bales. More next week on making hay silage and our USDA research grant this year.

Weeding Wednesdays and Weeding Saturdays. Many of you have asked about weeding on Saturdays! Great! Come jump in with the crew Wednesday and Saturday mornings starting at 9am and going until… It’s a great time to chat with the farmers and save your favorite vegetables from the jungle. Look for us in the fields and pull into the nearest driveway along Pleasant Hill Road.

Welcome back to the farm. It was great to see all of you last week. Your weekly farm visit completes the circle for us; we are gratified seeing you take fresh food home to prepare for your families.

Things are popping in the fields, including the weeds. We started picking zucchini this week and hopefully the plants will be in full production next week so that we can add some to your shares. Strawberries unfortunately drop off the list. The wet weather over the past two weekends destroyed major amounts of their fruit.  Carrots and scallions are coming along though and we should see kohlrabi soon too. Here’s a list of what to expect in your share this week:

Lettuce             Baby Bok Choi

Chard                        Broccoli

Kale                        Asian Greens

June is typically our “lightest” month for the CSA. Greens make up the bulk of your share for these first few weeks. Once we get into late June, heavier stuff arrives like zucchini, carrots and cabbage. For those of you new to CSA this year all these greens to start may be a bit daunting. Try looking on our website for recipes, ask the farmers for tips when you come to the farm and check out the CSA cookbook we have for sale.

Kale Chips: Some of you already make kale chips at home, but they are so good it is worth mentioning at this point in the season, to alleviate any feelings of having too much kale as the season progresses.  To make kale chips, just make sure the leaves are relatively dry.  You may tear them into smaller pieces or leave them as is.  Toss them in a bowl with olive oil, use your hands to make sure each leaf is coated in the oil, and sprinkle a little salt.  Lie flat on a cookie sheet – making sure not to overlap, and bake on 300 for 15-20 minutes.  They should be crispy – not chewy at all.  Put on a plate and watch them disappear.  You can also crumble the crispy “chips” onto salads, popcorn, rice, anything!  Our kids love these things. Let us know what you think.

Every summer is a process of working up to June, which is typically the busiest month on the farm. Relaxed seedings in the greenhouse in February while snowstorms whip about outside give way to the arrival of the apprentice crew in April and heavy transplanting in May. When June hits we always have a heavy load in the fields and then harvest starts. It’s exciting to cut wash and present to you all the food we’ve been raising up to this point but losing two field days each week to harvest really puts the pressure on. In the next week we have to till 4 acres, make up over 20 thousand feet of raised beds, transplant 10 thousand pumpkin and winter squash plants, stake 600 tomato plants, weed a couple thousand feet of various beds, and the list goes on. It’s lucky we eat well and have all of you for moral support.

For those that would like to go beyond moral support…Weeding Wednesday Tomorrow! Every Wednesday we’ll be ready to weed with your help.  Join us Wednesday mornings at the farmstead at 8:30 am and work with the farmers weeding in the fields.  Many hands make light work…the work is heavy for our few hands right now!

Field walk with Seth today  (Tuesday) 4:30! The third Tuesday of each month at 4:30 pm we will have field walks for CSA members who would like to see what we’re doing in the fields up close. This is a great time to see what kohlrabi looks like in it’s native habitat and ask all those questions about unknown bugs in your home gardens.

See you at the farm!

Summer begins this week with our first CSA pickup. What a year so far. I’m thinking we’re getting payback from the horror of last summer, but I don’t want to jinx it. Never have we had peas in flower and strawberries in full flush the first week of June.

What’s New?

We’ve added extended pick up hours, scheduled field walks with the farmers, regular volunteer days, scheduled cooking demos with local chefs, a pre-pay system for for-sale farm products, a local business board, and community supported fishery shares.

Gratitude

While we farmers work long hard hours, the farm would not be possible without you.  Thank you to all of our members who have been with us since our first year in 2004; thank you to all of you new members, taking a new adventure, and to all of you in between…we are excited to be feeding you this summer.

Pickup begins!

Come to the farm on Tuesday or Friday from 2 until 7 pm for our first harvest of the season. Here’s a list of what to expect in your share this week:

Lettuce             Baby Bok Choi

Chard                        Broccoli

Kale                        Chives

Asian Greens             Strawberries

BAGS

Please bring bags with you to the farm for your produce, both “produce style” and larger handle bags are helpful. If you forget, we have bags, but the fewer of these we can use the better it is for all of us.

Balances Due

If you have questions about your balance, payments, etc. you can talk to Maura or Seth at pickup or send us an email to info@crystalspringcsa.com.

We’re expecting a great summer this year and have another top-notch group of farm apprentices. Adrian, Emily, Jacinda and Bethany (back for and encore performance) are amazing people and we hope you will get a chance to chat with them this summer. They’ve been working unbelievably hard preparing and planting the past couple months and the fields look great. Hopefully you have noticed our new high tunnel greenhouses down in the fields. These are to ensure that we have tomatoes for you this year and so far the plants in them look great.

Want to get dirty?

Volunteer weeding days for the months of June and July. Show up at the farmstead Wednesday mornings at 8:30 am and work with the farmers weeding in the fields.  Many hands make light work…the work is heavy for our few hands right now!

Field walks with the farmers

The third Tuesday of the month at 4:30 pm we will have field walks for CSA members who would like to see what we’re doing in the fields up close. This is a great time to see what kohlrabi looks like in it’s native habitat and ask all those questions about unknown bugs in your home gardens.

Local business networking

The local economy is thriving here with so many local business owners being a part of this farm.  If you own a local business bring your card or brochure to pickup and add it to our local business board and webpage. Our hope is that  everyone who supports this farm will also support each other.

Crystal Spring Farm Camp & Junior Counselors!

We still have a few spaces available for 6-11 year olds for the week of August 9^th. We could also use a few more junior counselor volunteers throughout the summer. 12-15 year olds who are interested in gaining experience with farm work and young children can contact maura@crystalspringcsa.com.

Local Farm Products at Pickup

Look for outstanding products from other local farms at pickup this and every week. Milk, cheese, maple syrup, tempeh, sauerkraut and more items to come soon! Please let us know if you would like us to carry anything that your family really likes.

CSA shares still available

Please spread the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers. If you would like brochures let us know and we’ll mail them out to you. You can also direct prospective members to our website www.crystalspringcsa.com

Spring has come and feels like it’s almost gone here at the farm with the trees, flowers, peepers and farmers rushing to catch up. Never in twelve years of farming in the northeast have I even dreamt of seeding peas on the 12^th of March (or carrots, beets and parsnips on the 20^th). To be this far ahead of the calendar is exciting but also a bit unsettling. For now I’m sticking with optimism for the year to come.

Speaking of optimism, our new farm crew has been here for a week and they are jumping in to the daily operations with gusto. We are very lucky to have Bethany returning from last year, well rested from her travels to India and help with lambing over the winter. New this year we also have Adrian, Jacinda, and Emily. Adrian spent last summer working with Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus (they supply our fall apples) and is hoping to use his experience here, along with his MBA, to start his own farm in the coming years. Jacinda worked for a large CSA in New Jersey last year and hails from New York City, by way of rural Pennsylvania. Emily spent summers in Maine at summer camps (as camper and counselor) and most recently has been working for Chewonki and Ferry Beach Ecology School doing farm and ecology education. I see another great year ahead working with focused and talented people.

Some of the first fieldwork we hope to be doing together this week is transplanting broccoli, cabbage, and greens. While the exceptionally mild weather this month will allow us to get ahead we know that changing weather patterns will throw us a curve ball at some point. To try and keep things even and regular from your end, as members of the CSA, we spent the winter doing research and this summer will be putting up three field green greenhouses, known as high tunnels. These will protect our tomato crop in the summer and improve and prolong our greens crops in the fall, all with the hope of returning you more produce for your share.

Local Fish. In addition to your vegetable share you will also be able to buy and pickup at the farm a fish share this year. Crystal Spring and Port Clyde Fresh Catch (Maine’s first Community Supported Fishery) have teamed up to offer the first CSA/CSF connection in Maine. Like CSAs, CSFs provide fisherman prepayment for their seafood at a set price, allowing them some financial security in a changing seafood market. We are really excited about this relationship and hope that you will be as well. How does it work? You can order a share week to week or for several consecutive weeks and each Tuesday your seafood will be delivered here to Crystal Spring, where you can pick it up with your vegetables. The cost is $20 per week and the seafood you will find in the share over the summer will include: Sole, Haddock, Pollack, Monkfish, Cod, Hake, Redfish, Lobster, Crab, squid and more. For more details and a sign-up form go to www.portclydefreshcatch.com

Expanded pick-up times for the CSA. This year, due to popular demand we will be expanding the pick-up times for the CSA on both Tuesdays and Fridays. You will now be able to come to the farm from 2-7 pm for CSA pick-up.

CSA shares still available. Please spread the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers. If you would like brochures let us know and we’ll mail them out to you. You can also direct prospective members to our website www.crystalspringcsa.com

Thanks to all of you who have made payments towards your shares. This is the grease that keeps the wheels turning!

Crystal Spring Farm Day Camp seeking middle school participants. We have an afternoon program (1:30-4:30) for kids entering grades 6-8 to experience farm life that runs June 28-July 2. We also have a girls only week for girls entering grades 6-8 August 9-13^th, 9am-3pm. Ther is some space still available in our day camp for 6-11 year olds July 12-17. For all the details and registration info see our website. http://crystalspringcsa.com/farm-camp or email maura@crystalspringcsa.com

Great to see all of you at our lamb open houses in March and April!