Turkey Hill Newsletter - 2009-1

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - Week 1

From the Farm

The farm season is in full swing. Everything, or nearly everything is planted or seeded, and the weeds are growing like - you guessed it - weeds! Harvest has begun to take up nearly all our time, but we still have flats to plant and of course, lots of weeding! If you are a work-trade member, now is a Great time to come down to the farm and put in some time pulling weeds! Nearly everything is planted, and the fields look beautiful. These days we are busy irrigating all the newly seeded and transplanted beds, which means lots of irrigation work - setting up and moving irrigation sets and drip tape. Another big activity is mowing - the tall grass provides an unwelcome habitat for lots of grasshoppers which can be a real menace to vegetables! Mowing and clearing the beds of weeds reduces that habitat and the grasshoppers migrate to the nearby fields which are un-mowed. Mowing a bit of a challenge between the trees in the orchard (one day i'll get a fancy side mower, but for now, its lots of zig-zags), but the effect is rewarding. I've also mowed the cover crops down before they went to seed (we call the mower clippings / organic matter which i leave lying on the top of the soil 'green manure'). The potatoes got a great hilling and look amazing, and the hoop house is covered and nearly full.

Questions and Answers

Q: Who is delivering my produce?
A:  Our harvest crew (and me) take turns delivering each week. This week Lara will be delivering your boxes - Lara has worked at the farm for many years and has become our salad maestro for harvest season. When you see her, remember to thank her for growing your produce! 

  

Send me your questions! Need a recipe? We have a recipe page on the website, or try  allrecipes.com. Want to know when a certain vegetable is coming in? confused about something in your box? email me!

This Week's Box

Kale  - great for you, at their tender best this time of year
Salad Mix - we'll try to have this mix every week

Bok Choi - a crunchy asian vegetable perfect for stir fry. we'll have these for two weeks and thats it!

Radish - for a few weeks, spicy & crunchy.

Spinach - at its tender best 

Cilantro - a spring crop we will have for a few more weeks
Garlic - immature, with a slightly milder garlic flavor. chop up the whole thing, you can even use the green stem of the plant. just a bit to get you started, we'll have lots of garlic this season!

Plenty of room in those totes, just wait until mid season and they will fill up! Don't forget to bring your tote back next week, or just give it back to the driver when you pick up.

Full Share

Marjoram

More spinach, more cilantro, more radishes bunch, more garlic

 

Fruit

No fruit yet. A week to three weeks before we'll have the 1st cherries of the season.

Coming Soon (1-3 weeks)

head lettuce, varieties

rainbow swiss chard

baby beets

dill

Upcoming

chives

peas - sugar snaps, shelling

scallions