What’s in Upic?……

Flowers                Herbs   (more Beans next week)

I know we keep talking about how early this season has been but potatoes in July is just too much. Here is the story….  We plant seed potatoes in mid-May when the soil warms to about 45 degrees.  For those not in the know, potato plants are grown by planting small potatoes or pieces of large potatoes that then sprout and grow into plants that then produce more potatoes amongst their roots. Prior to planting we use a technique called green-sprouting to kick the tubers into high gear before they are put in the ground. This process usually entails putting our potato seed (all 1500 pound of it) into a small room in the barn and heating that room up to about 75 degrees for a week. Then we take the seed to the greenhouse and empty it in single layers into big vented trays that allow sunlight to hit the now sprouting tubers. The greenhouse is kept at about 60 degrees night and day while the seed is there. During this time the potato seeds begin to sprout from their eyes. If we’re lucky we can start planting after about 14 days in the greenhouse. This spring we received our potato seed in April and one variety, Carola, was already sprouting.  It must have been on a loading dock for a while or in a hot part of the warehouse.  By the time we went through the green-sprouting process with all of the other varieties of potatoes the Carolas were beyond sprouting; they were growing! The sprouts coming from the eyes were over half an inch long, deep green, and ready to hit the soil. After planting, the Carolas were the first up and looked strong. Being the first ones up they were also the first to be hit by the dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle. We watched closely and thought we were keeping ahead of the beetle but in in the course of a few days their population exploded and the Carolas went down.  This is a very sad thing to see as a farmer.  A strong beautiful plant skeletonized over the course of a few days.  Once the foliage is gone from the plants there’s no going back so we mowed off the stems and a week later here we are, sharing some small but tasty potatoes. Carolas are great roasters. Just toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper and put them on a cooking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. More potatoes to come, but hopefully not too soon.

Here’s what to look for in your share:

Chard                        Potatoes

Kale                                    Summer squash

Tatsoi                        Lettuce

Mustard                        Napa cabbage

Cucumbers                        Broccoli

Organic Blueberries will be delivered this week for those that have preordered. If you missed  out on this order don’t fret we will be taking orders again this week for delivery next week. We will also have some extra quarts for sale on both Tuesday and Friday if you want try them out…they make oatmeal sexy.

Our first group of pigs for August are sold out. If this is disappointment to you don’t fret. We will have another group available for order come early October. Watch the newsletter for more info.

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.

Eggs are coming in…the girls are ramping up production so hopefully if you haven’t had a chance to try a dozen there will be one available at your next pick-up.

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!