We are excited to begin the Farm Shares this Wednesday (June 5th)! In my 14+ years growing food on this land this has been the most challenging start to a season I've ever experienced because of the weather! Between constant rains and temperature fluctuations we haven't been able to get in the fields to plant for 3+ weeks and the plants we do have in the ground have become really stressed having wet roots for so long! The asparagus patch that I was picking (Maggie and Berrie's) has really slowed down so I'm done picking it for the season. We were happy to share this along with the Arugula with you all as the Arugula has already started to bolt (meaning it's stressed out and producing a flower stalk) which is unusual as one planting has always reliably been harvested for 3-4 weeks in past seasons. With the wet soils no successions of Arugula were able to get planted so there will probably be no more Arugula available till the Fall since it is a cool season green! Last week we were excited to be able to include Spinach with this week's share but over the weekend the entire planting ( 4 250ft rows) is yellowing severely because of dying roots (from being to wet) so looks like we won't be able to enjoy any Spinach till the Fall since it is also a cool season green.
Needless to say this has been a very stressful (both for plants and the Farmer) start to the season! There is some solace in knowing that it is not just this Farm although I'd much rather be celebrating everyone's successes instead of commiserating with Farmers all over the country about how hard it's been! I've got friends as close as Missouri that levies have broken and their entire Farms are under water and everything (plants, greenhouses, homes, etc) have been washed away so I feel like it's important to realize it could always be worse!
We are doing the best to overcome these hurdles to the season and looking forward to the predicted end of all the rains and doing the best we can to get back on schedule! While some of the Spring cool season crops (like Spinach, Arugula, Head lettuce, etc) we can't replant now because of the warmer weather, we are looking forward to getting to enjoy them in the Fall! Another way we're trying to adapt to provide some Spring greens is by growing micro greens in the greenhouse. We will be including these in the upcoming shares as a way of adapting to the weather and while there may not be the bulk that would be available in field harvested greens, the nutritional value and flavor is intensified in them and a little goes a long ways!
At least right now to the best of my knowledge there was/is no way to include the value of the Asparagus ($6/lb x 2lbs) and Arugula ($6) towards your shares (using the Harvie software) besides decreasing the amount of produce you would receive in your share this week ($28/week) by $18. Since many things we planted before all the rain is ready to eat now, I don't want to decrease the Share Value now because you'd receive a lot less produce than what the Farm has available right now! Because of this there may be a time in the next few weeks that y'all won't receive $28/week worth of produce since we haven't been able to plant for awhile now but our intention is to have it all balance by the end of the season.
One of things I've been relying on the Harvie Software to do is provide relevant recipes for what is included in each one of your shares! Since we offer such a diversity of Food in our shares it seems like the software has a hard time generating recipes for some of our offerings. For example, this week we are including Marjoram bunches with your share. Marjoram and Oregano can be used interchangeably in many recipes. A few links to using Marjoram are: https://www.bbc.com/food/marjoram and http://theherbexchange.com/what-is-marjoram-used-for-and-2-great-marjoram-recipes/ . Another item in this week's share is broccoli leaves which can be used as a substitue for collards in many dishes. A couple links to become inspired for how to use the leaves are: https://www.cooks.com/recipe/k31uw6fx/broccoli-leaves.html and https://gardenmentors.com/garden-help/grow-your-own-food/how-to-harvest-eat-your-broccoli-leaves-recipe/.
A few reminders as we start the season: The pick up times for all drop sites are between 4:30pm and 6pm. If I haven't heard from you by email, phone call or text (515-745-9951) by 6pm on Wednesdays your share will be donated to the drop site host. Rest assured that most are typically donated to local food pantries so will not be wasted! The drop site hosts are generous enough to let us use their homes for pick up sites and can't be expected to save shares to pick up at a later time! Please remember to bring bags to put your veggies in and leave the box at your drop site! Each member is allotted 2 boxes for the season so if you need to take the box please remember to return it to your drop site at your next pick up. They cost us $1.65 each which may not seem that expensive but multiple it by 80+ members and over the course of the season, replacing boxes can become a big expense if we don't get them back to reuse! Finally, always feel free to email me questions, concerns, praises, etc as this is one of the biggest benefits of being a part of Wabi Sabi Farm, getting to talk directly with the Farm that grows your Food!!!
I apologize if this email comes across as being too much of a "poor me" theme! This has been a very frustrating/stressful start to a season!!! I've always been of the mindset of being fully transparent with the folks that put their trust in me to grow the "best" FOOD possible to put on the table! To end on a positive note even though we got the potatoes in a week or so late the plants are bigger than they've ever been, even when planted on schedule!!! The Sugar Snap peas are already putting on some many blossoms that we may have to reinforce our trellis system to support the weight when the flowers start turning into peas! I'm also grateful we are behind schedule for planting this year because all of our/your tomato, peppers and eggplant seedlings would have already been in the ground by the 2nd week of May and that one night (Sunday May 12th I think) with a low of 38 degrees would have wiped them out! I really appreciate everyone who has joined us for the 2019 adventure of eating with the seasons and think, like every season the last few years, that this is going to be one that doesn't follow our planting schedules (created over the Winter), but we are going to eat well!!!
Have a great week.
Farmer Ben and the Crew
