Can you see the baby praying mantids? Harmony Grove Farm uses beneficial insects to help control aphids and other insects in their greenhouses. Monty snapped a pic of the praying mantis egg sac in the midst of hatching today. The mantids and lady beetles will hang out in their greenhouses, happily cleaning up pests that can damage tender greens.
As usual, greens are the big story in April. With all the sunshine, Harmony Grove Farm is cranking out tons of lettuce, micro greens, spinach, and lots of other greens. Glacial Till Farm is back this week with a limited supply of their delicious salad mix, as well as some spinach and scallions.
Scallions and Shiitakes: I'm going to try something new for the scallions and shiitakes since they are popular but only a few are available. They won't be included in the initial shares, but they will be available as swaps and extras. So if you missed the scallions last time or you love shiitakes, you can add them to your share during customization if you're quick enough before they're snatched up.
New this week are ramps, a wild-harvested spring delicacy that is related to garlic and onions. I dug the first few early this week from our woods, and the season usually lasts 4-6 weeks. We love them chopped and added to egg dishes (like ramp and mushroom quiche), but honestly I add them in place of onions and garlic to almost everything I make while they're in season. Check out all the ramp recipes on our Pinterest page.
A note about share quantity: I have had a couple of questions about the quantity of items in shares this spring. On our sign-up page, we estimate the number of items in a typical share. This is only an estimate based on our history of planning and filling CSA boxes for many years. Because all of our shares are customized according to your preferences and you can swap items in and out, your share may not have the same number of items in our estimate. Another factor that can influence product quantity is that we tend to have more higher-priced items available in the spring in comparison with some of our summer produce. For example, a bag of greens can be up to four times the price of a zucchini or a pepper that will appear later in the season, so you will often see fewer items in your box until the growing season advances a little more.
Farm News:
Glacial Till Farm: "Running the wheel hoe late into the night. A shallow cultivation eliminates weeds however, the battle never ends. The wheel how is the logo for glacial till farm. The first time I used this tool it changed my perception of gardening and my life moving forward." Also check out the pic of snow garlic that they posted last week.
Yellow Creek Farm: "Radishes, turnips and Napa cabbage in the high tunnel. In a few weeks it will be planted with 200 heirloom tomatoes. All these vegetables will be headed to our customers CSA boxes at nwpagrowers."
At Spur Hollow Farm: (This pic was taken last week during the snow and frost.) "Bed of spring radishes starting to pop in the greenhouse!! No heat in this greenhouse, just row covers and solar heat gain! A chilly 20 degrees this morning in here, but all the plants are covered up and hardy. Will be planting out Onions, Spinach, and some more Scallions today, as soon as it warms up!"
Share customization ends Sunday at 1 p.m. After that I will move any leftover products to the Webstore until Monday morning. You can customize your share as often as you wish.
Webstore is still a separate order where you can purchase local milk, cheese, meats, veggies, and more. These orders will be delivered with your CSA order, so choose "CSA member" at checkout to avoid the extra delivery charge. We're very excited that Webstore will be moved to Harvie sometime in May, making all of our local farm products available in one location. I got a sneak peek at the new ordering system, where the Harvie software team has listened to farmers and CSA members to make the system more user-friendly. But for now, we have the inconvenience of two separate orders in Harvie and Webstore.
As always, if you have any questions please email me or click on the Support button in your Harvie account. I am always offline from Friday evening until Saturday night, so if you have an urgent question on Saturday you will probably get a quicker response from the support button.
On behalf of your NWPA Growers farmers,
Amy Philson
