Join us this Saturday at the Strauss Little Theater in Monroe around 7:30 PM! My BUDDY, Arkansas singer/songwriter Dylan Earl, is playing his first show in Monroe! Mr. Earl asked if Current Farms would set up a veg/jam pop up at the show, so come hang out with the whole farm family! (I'm Dylan Earl's biggest fan and it's a dream come true for him to be playing so close to home!!)
This Week
Our squash have refused to take a day off! Every.single.day Kaden and I are harvesting 40-50 lbs of squash. The pattypans are going berserk, so this week I increased the amount in the shares from 1 lb to 2 lbs. I also added a lot of slicing cucumbers, plus NEW this week we have pickling cucumbers! I have 3 lb bags of those picklers set as an add-on or swap. We also had our first harvest of hot peppers, so bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros are all up for add-ons or swap. The daikon radish harvest was WILD and we have some colorful bunches of white, purple, and red in the shares for the next month! Lots of leafy greens are up for grabs too--kale, braising greens, collards, cabbage, DADGUM!
Next Week
I'm predicting we will add some eggplant and tomatoes!
Farm Update
I apologize for being late getting the inventory out this week. It's been an emotional start of the week for the farm fam. One of our family dogs we have had since 2009 went to doggie heaven on Monday. We left for the vet at 4:30 PM and when we got back, I wasn't really in the right headspace to write an upbeat farm happening.
My fiancé, Emerald, helped me harvest squash on Sunday! She hasn't been able to spend much time at the farm because of graduate school, so it was great to pick with her! We did some meal prep that morning before we went to the farm, and if you have never tried lasagna with zucchini sliced replacing the noodles, then you should try it!
It's all hands on deck around the farm for the next few weeks! Next Friday we have a volunteer film crew coming to shoot a short doc/video story about our farm! You know, this time of year the weeds can grow faster than the plants! So, we have been working hard on getting everything tidy and picturesque for Carter's visit! Carter is a farm share member, who discovered our farm through being Emi's co-worker at LA Tech. It really means so much for him to volunteer his time for this project. This dude has directed ESPN commercials, so the hype is for real.
Friendly reminder that the week of June 19-23, I will be in Washington D.C., so shares will have a more limited inventory so that Kaden and harvest, pack, and deliver by his lonesome. I'm really excited about this opportunity! Who would have thought that in just a few years I have gone from growing my own food in a backyard, to advocating for other small farmers in Louisiana with members of the US House of Representatives! I have had two weeks of preparation meetings with Sprout NOLA, and met a few of the other farmers who are going on the fly-in. They told us that overalls are in, dress pants are out, so I'll take them up on that! I'm hoping to tell our farm's story and hopefully have an impact on three policies that really mean a lot to me.
1) Healthy food retail. As Current Farms grows and moves into larger grocery stores, it would really help us compete with their prices if SNAP/EBT folks could buy locally grown food at a discount. SNAP is a HUGE part of the farm bill. Already at a lot of farmers markets, SNAP recipients can swipe their cards for $10, and then spend $20. It's called "Double Bucks Program". If this was applied to the grocery store level of retail, it would go a long way to build local economies and make communities healthier.
2) Connecting SNAP/EBT recipients to farm shares. Giving back to those less fortunate has always been close to my heart. I don't make a spectacle of it, but I love dropping off extra produce at the end of each week to older folks in our Linville/Marion community. I wholeheartedly believe that every person deserves access to healthy, fresh food, regardless of their income or situation. Currently, there is only one farm in Louisiana who connects their CSA/farm shares with SNAP/EBT. I want to advocate for making the connection process easier.
3) Land Access. If Kaden and I were not farming on family land, there is no way we would be farming right now. Buying or leasing land is the biggest barrier for young and first generation farmers. I believe the USDA could do a better job of connecting farmers with affordable land, or mutually beneficial, long-term leasing opportunities.
Anyways, welcome to the Current Farms', local food utopia! Hope you cook something delicious this week!
