Welcome to the second week of the CSA! We hope this finds you enjoying the contents of your first share. It's hard to believe that it's time to customize the second week's box, but we'll all get accustomed to the new schedule soon enough. Just like last week, the customization period begins once this notification lands in your inbox (which should be around noon on Friday) and will end at 11:59pm on Sunday, May 31st. Originally, it was our understanding that members could change their pick up location for the current delivery week, but we now understand that changing the pick up location can only be altered by a member for future weeks. HOWEVER, you can email Harvie Support and they can manually change your pick up location for the current customization period.
In other news, the farm applied a sequential Biodynamic spray this week. (The photo above is taken early in the morning as the horn silica preparation (one of the preps in the sequence) is being applied.) The purpose behind a sequential spray is to apply all of the Biodyanmic preparations in a short period of time. This particular occasion presented the opportunity for the farm to participate in a spray of unison with other Biodynamic farmers and gardeners around the world, who might also choose to spray at this particular time. This act of solidarity connects Against the Grain to other farmers and gardeners who have similar perspectives and farming practices.
This time also presented a perfect opportunity, according to the Biodynamic calendar, to spray the Biodynamic preparations in order to moderate and balance the patterns of moisture in which we seem to be caught. We don't anticipate that this spray will change weather patterns, but we do anticipate that it will discourage the negative impacts of all this bulk moisture on the crops. Finally, this sequential spray presented the perfect opportunity to apply the horn silica preparation on the ripening hay fields. Horn silica encourages more articulation of the flowering grasses, which encourages ripening and increases hay quality.
We'll be watching the weather soon enough for a stretch of three warm, sunny days so that we can cut, rake and bale the hay that will sustain our livestock for the coming winter. Even as we quickly approach the high summer solstice, we are already planning and preparing for next winter!
In terms of your CSA share this week, you'll find lots of great salad ingredients, plus a few unique herbs and cooking greens. We've high lighted broccoli greens as a feature in the shares this week. Our crew leader and fellow farmer, Ben Nommay, turned us on to the joys of broccoli greens. Prepare them much like collards for a hearty cooking green.
Much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and the ATG Crew
