This has been an eventful delivery week. On Wednesday as Gwen was leaving Grove City, the main belt in our delivery van broke. She was able to safely steer into a parking lot and called me. We quickly drove two cars to rescue her and the rest of the deliveries. We put Meadville's boxes into our small car that I would take and creatively packed the rest of the products into our minivan for Gwen to complete. She had only completed 5 of the 14 stops for the day, so the van was packed. We are sorry that some of you had to wait for her to arrive at your pickup locations, but we transferred everything as quickly as possible and got back on the road. Gwen used our minivan for Thursday's deliveries, so if you missed our big white van that's the reason. The delivery van is at the mechanic's and will have a new belt and tune-up by early next week.
Of course the heat is the main story for all farmers. Some areas have received a little much-needed rain this week, but most of NWPA Growers' farms got little more than a sprinkle. We are hoping for more rain as some plants are beginning to suffer greatly. Derek from Glacial Till Farm related that some of his beds of lettuce got steamed. He watered the beds and then put row cover over them to protect from the sun's harsh rays, but the row cover (even though it's breathable) created a sauna, damaging the plants. So those beds will be tilled and started over, but we will be without his lettuce mixes for a couple of weeks while the next planting matures. However, Harmony Grove Farm's bibb lettuce is back this week, so salads are still an option.
Your farmers have continued to work through this heat, even though we would rather relax in air conditioning. Farm work doesn't take a vacation during heat waves, and many chores need extra attention like ensuring that animals have enough water and shade. The heat forces us to move a little slower and take frequent breaks to protect against sunstroke, so our days are maxed out.
Speaking of salad, children (and some adults) often turn their noses up at salad greens. This new blog post from Kitchen Stewardship has some great ideas on getting kids to like salad. Children whose parents raise a garden seem more likely to embrace salads, I think because it is a regular and frequent food on their tables. Farm kids will often pick veggies to eat while walking through the garden. Do your kids do that, too?
Did you know that NWPA Growers has a Pinterest page with tons of recipes to go with your CSA veggies? They are all categorized by veggie so you can easily browse recipes to match your box contents. I choose recipes that are relatively simple to make and use healthy, whole food ingredients. Some recipes are vegan or vegetarian, while others follow the Paleo diet. You will also find some sweet treats where you can hide veggies, but none that use boxed mixes. And if that's not enough, there are lots of recipes at www.nwpagrowers.com/recipes that were posted before we began to use Pinterest.
After you customize this week's CSA box, head over to www.nwpagrowers.com to check out this week's Webstore offerings. We can't offer everything in CSA boxes because that would be a packing nightmare. So check out our wide variety of farm products (including additional veggies) over there to be delivered with your CSA box.
The lovely photo is a bouquet of snapdragons from Grateful Life Farm.
Stay cool!
Amy Philson for your farmers at NWPA Growers
