Well, we're glad we put out the row covers the other night because we were hit by a light frost that would have killed some of our most sensitive plants. With this week's gorgeous weather, we just needed to keep the plants going that one night so that they could enjoy the warm up.
You probably didn't have frost at your house. Unfortunately, our farm gets hit by frost earlier and later than most areas around here. Two reasons: 1) we're out in the country away from the warmth of the city 2) we're in a generally low area so if there are clear skies without wind, it can be 40 degrees in Blue Springs just a couple miles away and be 30 degrees here. This fact has led us to adapt by building lots of high tunnels, investing in large supplies of row covers, and planting frost tolerant crops. (Most of our crops in the field we didn't cover because a little frost won't hurt them, but the sweet potatoes and green beans would have been killed without it). For most of the crops, the light frost only serves to enhance the flavors because of the cold-hardy crops' self-preservation technique of increasing sugar content in the leaves as tasty antifreeze.
We're still working on getting the 2021 summer CSA set up for signups. There will be much more communication to you about this in the future but I did want to let you know that Harvie has an AUTO-renewal feature which should help prevent you from missing out on signups for the summer 2021 season. If you DON'T WANT to automatically renew for next year, then you should go to https://www.harvie.farm/member/auto-renew-settings and turn your auto-renew setting to OFF. Most people are set to ON right now, but it wouldn't hurt to check it if you want to make sure you get renewed for 2021. If you don't want to renew for 2021, we totally understand and there's no pressure to do so. The auto-renew is a service to so many of you who might miss the email or forget to go in and sign up and then find, too late that we are full again. So if you DON'T WANT the 2021 Summer CSA, go to the link above and change your auto-renew setting to off. More instructions and reminders to come on that.
On a fun note, we're working to provide a couple bread share options through Farm to Market Bread Co. next summer AND even for the winter CSA, so stay tuned for how you can sign up for that.
If you have some favorite farmer's market type items that you'd like to see offered as add ons or add on shares, let us know your recommendations. Especially for winter when many of your favorite farmers don't have farmer's market outlets, the winter shares can be a great place for you to get these items and support your favorite vendors.
3 more weeks of the main season CSA (including this one). The season is rolling to an end soon! We really appreciate your support of our farm and we hope you've enjoyed the experience.
Your farmers,
Dave and Sheri
