Overview: Elk visited the farm. Resulting destruction means you may get a few goodies from neighboring farms this week. We are also partnering with our CSA member, Nurse Nikki, to offer Calendula Body Balm made with Kilt Farm calendula. We have new flour, freshly milled Turkey Red
As you likely noticed, this week was hot! We had our standard heat issues: employees over heating, batteries dying and refrigeration straining. We have plans in place for these things. What wasn't planned was some unexpected visitors to the farm.
Mid-week we had a small herd of elk find our fields in earnest. I had seen them dining on grasses in the general area of our Niwot farm so we left a radio on full blast playing NPR and BBC with hopes that the radio voices would keep them at bay. It seemed to work pretty well until this week when their desire for amazing food overcame their concern of voices.
This herd of four elk ended up eating beets, lettuces, salad mix and trampled over a wide section of the farm. Due to potential contamination the areas where we saw damage and scat, we have had to abandon the food and move on. Sadly, this event took out a few items we hoped to put in your shares this week. Due to this unexpected change, we are going to highlight a few items from two neighboring farms this week to round out our shares. We will have tomatoes and cucumbers from Rocky Mountain Fresh and cilantro from Masa Seed Foundation.
Happily, our summer squash is starting to produce and our first successions of beans are ready, including Fava beans. Farming is full of adventures. We hope this week's share fills your meal planning with fun flavor adventures.
We are also thrilled to be partnering with our CSA member, local herbalist and nurse, Nikki Dorn, to offer you Calendula Body Balm. From Nikki: Calendula is a powerhouse flower. It is well known in the herbalist community for its unbelievable skin healing properties. It's a gorgeous orange-yellow color with a sweet and earthy smell. This body butter is formulated with Kilt grown organic calendula flowers infused in organic cold-pressed apricot oil, which is loaded with vitamin A,C, and E (great for skin!). In addition, organic shea and mango butter, aloe vera juice, and beeswax which are extremely nourishing for dry Colorado skin. Vitamin E, rosemary extract, and citric acid which are plant based preservatives. I added a touch of honey as a moisturizer, frankincense essential oil, as it is a lovely skin toner, and lavender essential oil....well because it's lavender!
This week Freshly Milled has Turkey Red flour for us. Turkey Red Wheat came to Kansas with Russian Mennonite immigrants in 1873. It originated in Turkey, and was grown in the breadbaskets of Europe for centuries, prized for its hardiness, rich flavors, and excellent baking qualities. Enjoy
Stay cool and safe this weekend.
Michael and the crew of Kilt Farm
