Here we Grow Again!!!!
Welcome to our 13th year delivering to our community supported farm members. We do have an exciting year planned and first want to thank you for supporting our farm. It is with member support that the farm can continue to operate as we do not have to find a market to sell our produce. The produce we grow is for you and in return of your support you will be receiving weekly deliveries of seasonal produce. CSF deliveries are not meant to replace you having to shop, but to supplement your veggie choices each week. As we like to say “it is about more than just the vegetables”. We are stewards of the land on which we grow your vegetables. Our methods of growing ensure we continue to build soil fertility and use natural practices to control pests. You are able to put the “face of the farmer” on your produce and we in turn are able to put the “face of our members” on the produce that we grow for you. When we harvest your carrots we know where they are going, not simply being tossed into a bin & shipped off to market. They will still be dirty from the soil of our farm and there will be crooked ones. You never know what you will be receiving each week, but we try to include a variety of vegetables that may be eaten raw or cooked. Becoming a community supported farm member also connects you to each other. You are able to meet each week, share stories, and introduce others to the concept of supporting a local small farm.
A lot has happened in a year, most dramatically is member support. We have increased to 150 members this year and probably have an interest list for next year already starting with 60 people. We don’t know why, but it seemed that we were receiving 10 e-mails a day in the spring inquiring about our CSF deliveries. We increased our membership to Beth Haverim Shir Shalom and added new drop-off locations in Hoboken on 3rd Street and one in Hamburg. The coordinators are the backbone of the CSF delivery system. They are basically volunteering their homes each week to have a stream of people pick up their veggies. Please respect their guidelines for pickup times as without them the whole concept cannot exist. Thanks to Rabbi Joel @ Beth Haverim Shir Shalom for helping coordinate the deliveries to the temple. Thanks also to our site coordinators in Hoboken; Holly, Jennifer, Kristen & Carolyn, Lynn in Jersey City & Leslie in Hamburg. WOW!! We know that the members do appreciate their efforts throughout the year and especially on delivery days.
You may be wondering how we are able to increase to such an extent this year. First, we have 2 full-time employees (Leslie & Kathy) and 1 part-timer (Tara) in addition to Farmer Rich. They started working in March as we had two heated greenhouses to manage. In addition to the heated on-farm greenhouse, we rented another heated greenhouse in Franklin. It is there that we reconfigured the entire greenhouse to set up for early deliveries. Also, our long time “trading partner” Scott is committing an acre for planting tomatoes, cucumbers, zukes, winter squash and more to our efforts. To our long-time members, you will probably notice that this is one of the largest 1st deliveries we have made. This is due to the fact that the extra greenhouse was filled with onions, chard, beets & we even have a great crop of tomatoes coming along. New fields were tilled up & raised beds were readied for planting. Instead of planting mostly by hand, we were fortunate to borrow a planter from our neighboring farmer Adam, to speed up the planting process. What would normally take a few days to do manually was done in one afternoon. Pictures can be seen on our blog. We have probably tripled our growing area from a few years ago. Now onto farm news......
From the Fields: The Fava bean plants are so large they need to be staked up! The heated greenhouse in Franklin is ballistic! The tomato plants are almost neck high on our knights (see photo below). The onion bed that was harvested for this week’s delivery was replaced by oriental greens. The remaining onions will be harvested to dry & cure for your next delivery and that bed will also be replanted with oriental greens. Since we have the Franklin greenhouse that was planted with a diversity of crops, our middle greenhouse could be planted with potatoes & chard. The potatoes are almost ready to harvest.
Weather Report: Last year we had severe drought conditions in May and this year we have been receiving regular rain. We do have a pretty reliable irrigation system installed also. The cold snap at the end of May stalled the crops in the field and once it got warmer, they started to take off again. Unfortunately, we are starting the first delivery on the HOTTEST day of the year. Farmer Rich will make every attempt to keep the greens iced up, but 97ยบ temperatures probably will make them limp by the time you pick-up. To revive them, simply dip in a nice ice-water bath and then remove any excess water & chill down in the refrigerator.
Animal report: Things were growing so well all these weeks without incident and low & behold on Saturday night, a groundhog decided to break in & start feasting on your next delivery of lettuce as well as peas. This is our first trauma of the season and it looks like 100 lettuces have been lost. Fortunately we overplanted the lettuce (700 lettuces in all), but if he tells his friends we may be up a creek!
Farming Quote of the Week: The farmers are the founders of civilization. - Daniel Webster
Greenhouse Report: Notice our knights in “not-so-shiny-armor” guarding the crops in the Franklin Greenhouse! This photo was taken in April and now the tomato plants are almost neck high!
Pick of the Week: click on the links below or to the right to bring you to the delivery specific to your pick-up location. Deliveries will be the same variety & poundage, but may contain different items.
1 comment:
Hey there! Fabulous mint in this week's delivery! I cooled down this afternoon with a wonderful iced rooibos tea with mint and lemon juice and sugar. Can't wait to consume everything else, even that scary-looking horseradish.
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