Give me odorous at sunrise, a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.
-Walt Whitman
I woke this morning with frost once again blanketing the lawn and gardens, a fitting sight as we prepare to load week #18 boxes into the delivery van. It has been a wonderful year of produce, some challenges, lots of work, and many moments of satisfaction. I speak for myself, and the interns, when I say that this is very honest and rewarding work. I truly feel that the sweat, the passion, and the joy of our labor here at Earth Dance Farm adds to the taste, nutrition, and health of the food that we pass on to your tables.
Here is a concise recap of the 2014 summer season. Six weeks of rain from late May-early July kept the fields too wet to plant some of our crops on time and prevented some needed early mechanical cultivation of other crops. This, along with only one 90+-degree day, resulted in a poor crop of slicing tomatoes, all peppers, melons and eggplant. On the flip side of this, many crops thrived on this abundance of moisture. Our green beans, peas, sweet corn, popcorn, summer and winter squash, fall beets and carrots, rutabaga, chard and kale all were fabulous this year. Most of the crops still in the field look spectacular as we look forward to the Fall Share deliveries.
Our Fall Gathering last Saturday was a great time had by all who made the trip out to the farm. We had around 100 folks who joined us for food, tours, conversation, games, and hay rides. A special ‘Thank You” goes out to everyone who made the time to spend their Saturday with us. I hope that you all know that you are always welcome to visit us – just give us a heads up so we will be around to welcome you.
Without you guys as members, we would not have a livelihood. From the bottom of our hearts we are grateful for your trust and support and extend to you our blessings for your health and happiness.
Farmer Notes:
- This is the final delivery of the 2014 summer produce season
- I will run my usual route in 2 weeks, Th. Oct 30th to deliver the first fall share and to pick up any final boxes/ice packs – I will send out a reminder email prior to that date
- Fall share delivery dates are Oct 30th, Nov 13th and Nov 25th. You still have 2 weeks to sign up to continue receiving produce through Thanksgiving
- Popcorn this weeks still needs some dry time – put it in a mesh bag on a register for a few weeks before popping
- Turnips and parsnips are for full shares, red lettuce for single
- Rutabagas are large – they are the veggie of the week
- These are the pie pumpkins and great for soup or baking
- Rain on Monday and Tuesday made harvest muddy with lots of cleaning
- An evaluation form is on the home page of our website – take a moment when you find a chance to let us know how we are doing
- Wash all of the produce please
- Thank You for being such awesome members
