So I’ve been holding down the ‘fort’ this last week and for this next week as Jared is on a tour. Before he left we tried to get as much done as possible, since while Jared’s gone, it’s a lot harder to get forward progress accomplished when I’m all by myself. Last week the Puget Sound region had record breaking heat in the high 90s-low 100s, which, by comparison to other parts of the country will make me sound like kind of a wuss, but we hardly ever see that kind of heat. It was really hard to get anything done in the middle of the day, which was very hard for me. The last couple of days have been much better, and I’ve gotten some help from a few of our CSA members, Tea, and Kristin, our faithful helper, Tammie, and Carley, another community member who contacted us to come lend a hand. I would not be able to get all this done without  these ladies help, so (if you’re reading this) thank you very much! We’ve accoplished some weeding, some harvesting and some transplanting together this last week. The weeds love the heat, so they’re pretty much at my throat right now (metaphorically speaking, thank god) so having help getting them out is much needed. The squash, tomatillos, and cucumbers are all coming on strong, and the tomatoes are ramping up. So far we’ve only had enough for the CSA, but should be able to start having them at the market soon. We’re also trying to get all of the space vacated by harvested lettuce, broccoli, beets and herbs with all of our summer seed starts.

Jared and I also separated the hens and roosters before he left, and I have had a time trying to keep the roosters away from those hens! almost every day I find a rooster lurking outside their fence, and occasionally find hens over by the roosters. I’ve been taking the chance to clip their wings though! I’ve gotten quite good at doing it all by myself, which I’d never thought I’d be able to do, woo! The ducks have also been laying eggs, I’d say anywhere from 4-8 every morning!

Alright, time for me to get back to work!

Yes!!  The CSA harvests have begun, and we now have 71 members picking up harvests weekly, straight from the farm.  43 of these households came by yesterday (the rest on Friday), and received Carrots, Salad Turnips, Zucchini, Bok Choi, Lettuce, Spinach, Cilantro, and Strawberries.  Plus a recipe for Bok Choi Udon Stir Fry. It was really great to talk to everyone and introduce them to the farm.  Now it’s up to us to keep up with these twice weekly harvests for the next 26 weeks (and possibly… Read the rest of this article »

This is a fun time of year.  The CSA has rounded out to 30 members, and I like it there.  We have 14 weeks left, so not quite halfway, but close.  The tomatoes are producing well, and the heirlooms are making there way into the public scene. As for tomatoes, we are growing “early girl”, of course, but we also have green zebra, black zebra, pruden’s purple, cherokee purple, black from tula and striped german.  They all produce fairly well, at least at the farm, even though their… Read the rest of this article »

I certainly don’t mistake myself for an experienced farmer, but I am a farmer with a little bit of experience now.  I thought I would share how I feel about the CSA. First of all, it gives me a lot of joy and pride to help produce the boxes each week. I have loved meeting our members and showing them exactly what is in their boxes every week and exchanging conversation.  I couldn’t imagine being an industrial farmer, where the only social interaction I had would be with Joe… Read the rest of this article »

About 15 or so people have committed to the CSA by paying me.  Up until yesterday I was dilligently working to get that number up to 30. However, yesterday it occurred to me that I was feeling quite a bit of pressure to feed 30 families, so I’m going to start the season with about 15, and accept more members as we roll on into June, when the abundance of summer starts to flood in. I feel better. Financially, this probably isn’t a wise move.  I don’t care.  It feels better to… Read the rest of this article »