Week 3 CSA Newsletter

It rained!!

I was pretty much resigned to it never raining again, and so I didn’t feel prepared for sky water at all when we got a half inch on Friday night, and then 3/4″ on Sunday – over three times more rain fell over the weekend than we’d had all year!

This woke up the weeds, of course, so now we spend the time we don;t have to do hand watering and move hoses around on pulling weeds from around the crops.

But it also woke us up. It feels so much less … harsh now. The dull coating of dust and old oak pollen was cleansed, our spirits, likewise renewed.

Which was good, because we needed some gumption to face the next challenge: the return of the voles. After losing almost all of our attempt at a spring broccoli crop to cutworms and deer, we were chagrined to have 20 of the fall broccoli plants devoured overnight by voles the day we put them out into the field. We quickly worked through the traditional stages of grief to the “bricks” one, and used some as an attempt at defense – plus liberal spraying of castor oil to the survivors.

Night two – they seem to have moved onto eating huge holes into kohlrabi roots, but we had enough of those to bear the wilderness tax. The broccoli abides …

What’s in Box 3

  • Kohlrabi, by the A.I – One simple way to use kohlrabi is by peeling off the outer layer and slicing it into thin matchsticks to make a crunchy kohlrabi slaw. Toss it with lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt for a refreshing side dish. Don’t forget about the greens of kohlrabi. Sauté them with garlic and a splash of soy sauce for a quick and nutritious side.
  • Wild spinach aka lambs quarter – We had a problem in which our entire carrot row was carpeted with a soft carpet of lambs quarter weeds. So this morning, instead of harvesting salad, we weeded the carrot row – producing a bounty of the most tender, ideal wild spinach leaves we’ve ever managed to harvest. You can use it like spinach in any recipe, but don’t cook it for too long – this is very tender stuff. Be gentle to the Microweeds.
  • Green Onions
  • Bok Choi
  • Peas sugar snap and snow peas
  • Summer Squash / Zucchini
  • Micro Mixkale, amaranth, broccoli, radish, sunflower, pea shoots, red and cabbage micro greens – I wouldn’t eat it on my cereal, but it adds a zabinga to just about anything else.

Things You Might Try, by the A.I.



We curated its suggestions some though, the thing has some interesting ideas that we don’t want to recommend:

Here are some recipe ideas that feature two or more of the ingredients you mentioned:

1. Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Snap Peas and Spring Onions: Sauté sliced spring onions and snap peas in a wok or skillet until crisp-tender. Add chopped bok choy and stir-fry for a few minutes until wilted. Season with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Serve as a side dish or over rice.

2. Zucchini and Snap Pea Salad: Thinly slice zucchini and blanch snap peas until crisp-tender. Toss them together with a light vinaigrette made from lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and fresh herbs like basil or mint. Top with shaved Parmesan cheese for extra flavor. This just doesn;t sound good. Unless you make a killer dressing.

3. Kohlrabi and Snow Pea Slaw: Shred kohlrabi and combine it with sliced snow peas in a large bowl. Add a dressing made from Greek yogurt, lemon juice, honey, and Dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Let the flavors meld for a while before serving.

4. Lambs Quarter and Bok Choy Stir-Fry: Sauté lambs quarter and bok choy with garlic, ginger, and sesame oil until wilted. Add a splash of soy sauce and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for heat. Serve as a nutritious side dish or with steamed rice. The bok choy would need more time sauteeing than the lambs quarter .. but if you’re careful it might be … I dunno Kristin says it sounds like a bunch of mush.

5. Zucchini and Kohlrabi Fritters: Grate zucchini and kohlrabi, squeeze out excess moisture, and combine with beaten eggs, breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and chopped spring onions. Form into patties and pan-fry until golden brown. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt or a zesty dipping sauce.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Feel free to experiment and modify the recipes based on your preferences and available ingredients.

Week 2 CSA Newsletter

The bad news is that it sucks “living outdoors in the fresh air” when the fresh air is like it was on Wednesday:

The good news is that it’s not that bad. Well … ok it kind was. for a few days I felt much like that one guy in Robocop right before he got exploded by the car …. turns out that air quality thing is no joke, damn.

Also on the Bad Newscast is that we have accrued only 0.02″ of “rain” this week, going into a week of humid ninety degree broiler.

But now I am not only feeling better, but I have that whole “OMG I feel so awesome now in contrast to how I was just feeling” thing going for me.

And the field … it really looks pretty damn good …. because the drip irrigation is being run for hours each day, which does a good job where we have crops but shares almost none at all with the lurking weed seeds that are a major ingredient in our soil mix.

And! Baby chicken season! I don’t care how depressive you feel or how much existential dread is gathered upon your brow, baby chicks are a ray of sunshine. (and the nice happy kind not the burn you to a crisp and give your WWOOFer heatstroke kind) – they just inspire such optimism. Gargoyle again hid a nest up by our house, and hatched out 13 babies again!

Inside the Box

  • Salad Mix (arugula, lettuce, Tat soi, bekana, pea tips, a few leaves of lambs quarters)
  • Green Onions
  • Green Garlic
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Sunflower Shoots
  • Radishes
  • Turnips
  • Bok Choi

Now that we have kids I am going to accept cyborg augmentation for these newsletters; the robot says, “Here are some recipe ideas that feature two or more of the items from your CSA box:

1. Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Green Garlic and Green Onions: Sauté sliced green garlic and green onions in a pan, then add chopped bok choy. Stir-fry until the bok choy is tender-crisp. Season with soy sauce or your preferred stir-fry sauce.

2. Roasted Turnips and Radishes: Toss sliced turnips and radishes in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast in the oven until tender and slightly caramelized. Serve as a side dish or add them to a salad.

3. Radish and Turnip Slaw: Thinly slice radishes, turnips, and green onions. Toss them together with a simple dressing made from lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and salt. Add some chopped radish greens for extra freshness.

4. Bok Choy and Turnip Stir-Fry: Heat oil in a wok or large skillet, then add sliced turnips and stir-fry until slightly tender. Add bok choy and cook until wilted. Season with a mixture of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a touch of honey.

5. Radish and Greens Pesto: Blend radishes (including the greens), sunflower micro greens, green garlic, and a handful of nuts (such as almonds or walnuts) with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Use this vibrant pesto as a spread or sauce for pasta.

6. Turnip, Radish, and Green Onion Salad: Thinly slice turnips, radishes, and green onions. Toss them together with a dressing made from olive oil, vinegar (such as apple cider or rice vinegar), Dijon mustard, and a pinch of sugar. Add some torn radish greens for extra flavor.

Remember, these are just a few ideas to get you started. Feel free to get creative and modify the recipes based on your taste preferences and the ingredients you have available. Enjoy exploring the flavors of your CSA box!”

Good job, robot? Not sure about the microgreens in the pesto idea though? Maybe.

YEAR 10 WEEK 1 CSA NEWSLETTER

So begins our 10th year of doing the CSA … for a DECADE now, we have been growing, harvesting, washing, packing and delivering our veggies to our vegetable tribe. Look! Here’s the first ever CSA newsletter from us – some of you were there then too!

We still haven’t had a real rainfall, to our sad lack of surprise. (total recorded rain since April: 0.30″) This is … interesting. We wish the early boxes we send out could be awesome but no matter what, it is a nope dudes que sera sera you are farming in a place named The Barrens.

But …, the irrigation is keeping the plants alive through the perilous “shallow roots in hot sandy soil” period, and soon their roots will be deeper and hopefully where water is steadily available.

It’s the driest spring we have ever faced, but as I look at the field, and really, to me it looks good. Well, the survivors do … yeah that brassica army did their thing again (AHEM BREE) and devoured an absurd percentage of the broccoli, cabbage,kale, kohlrani plants (Farmer Kristin quote: “which brassicas did they eat? they ate everything. First it was the cutworms, then it was the deer.”)

But they didn’t really get everything, and we rolled with some punches and many things abided and so have we and here we go again! When I look out at the field, the plants look optimistic and I feel it, too.

Inside Box One

Don’t forget to be careful not to rip the tabs on your boxes (they are new and stiff so it requires some mindfulness) – and to return them to your pickup spot next week! Bwahahahaha

Otis closes all the boxes
  • Arugula Salad Mix(arugula with some red lettuce, bekana, and tat soi).
    The drought meant that our salad row germinated poorly while we were busy trying to get all the crops into the ground … and we assumed it was going to rain, at some point, because it’s spring and it has to rain sometime right? But no. Arugula is hardy in drought and it came up pretty well … shading out the lettuce that tried to come up once we tried to rescue it by hand watering the bed.

    So, we have plenty of arugula and almost no lettuce and I hope you like arugula because you’ve got a half pound or so of it …. dress it with honey mustard, olive oil and lemon/garlic, or viniagrette. Also stands up well to strong flavors like blue cheese, and is complemented by sweet stuff such as apples. raisins, etc.

  • Green Onions – use the whole thing!
  • Green Garlic – can also use all of this, but you have to really slice the green tops thinklu across the grain. If you get some scapes forming, those are also good chomping. We didn’t plant any of this, this year … these are refugees from last year’s “we have a new baby” weed party field. I think they realized they were dwarfed by the weeds, and decided to hunker and bide their time, coming up fast and hard this spring instead. Which is cool, because otherwise we’d have none to enjoy right now.
  • Radishes – springtime zippy-bomb variety pack. Pan fried radishes with bacon … that’s a thing. You can roast em, slice them into your salad, or google for “CSA radish recipes help me,” or the like.
  • Bok Choi – it’s fine raw but most popular in stir fries.
  • Pea Shoots – Combine them with any salad or us them as a salad “topper.” They are fabulous wilted on stir-fry. Or on sandwiches, “topped” on soups (especially thicker soups or chili) … or mix ’em into your salad.
  • Grape Jelly – We have one just neighboring home out here on the farm, kitty corner from us. We have always considered ourselves incredibly lucky to have them – and now you can share a little bit in our fortune with this jelly. Neighbor Dave & Neighbor Marcia aren’t just neighbors and O.G. CSA members – they’re also vignerons! OK, I had to look that word up – they cultivate a lovely vineyard, and last fall it was bursting with grapes … a bounty that they shared with us! We don’t make wine … but we sure love homemade jelly. So enjoy some unique grape jelly, made by your farmers, with wine grapes from fellow CSA members!

a dry preseason

It has been dry. You guys know this one – the last two years have been extraordinarily dry. After the incredible amounts of snow and ice the farm had over the winter, we thought the pattern had changed at last, and we looked forward to free water that falls from the sky like in the days of yore.

However, as soon as the freezing temperatures stopped, so did the magical sky moisture. Over the entire month of May, we got a combined total of just over 1/10″ of rainfall here.

Earlier this week, a huge rainstorm moved through the area …

the Farm is the blue dot … like Moses parting the Red Sea as usual

… but a narrow corridor of dry was right in the middle of it, and we remained within it, receiving just a brief burst of rain – a meager 0.08.”

But, as Otis was fond of pointing out – “better than nothing!” He was pretty excited to see real raindrops falling on the field:

So, we we run the drip irrigation daily – to keep the shallowly-rooted baby crops alive and growing, as well as the 400 tiny trees and shrubs we planted at the end of April, as a future windbreak and privacy screen. We feel lucky to have our infrastructure and experience at levels where we feel equipped to ride out drought.

the field on June 1

It’s been a busy spring, but not a bummer spring … the drought is a pain but really, so is almost everything we do and deal with out here living this lifestyle; it’s another opportunity to remember to reframe perspective and see how lucky we are and how beautiful our lives can be.

Silver linings on the lack of rain clouds aren’t insignificant, either … the weeds in the field are barely even emerging, outside of the thin moisture lines from the drip irrigation, so the crops are getting a good head start on them. Plus this is a bad mosquito year – probably the most we’ve had since the epic monster mosquito massacre of 2014 … but we know they’d be insanely worse if it hadn’t been so dry here. So when we watch the huge thunderclouds rumbling past just a little bit to the west or the east, leaving us dry … we just run the irrigation again and shake our heads with a smile.

In other news, hmm well we picked up bird watching this year – set up an array of feeders, and started checking off every new species we spotted. Turns out we live in a major migratory corridor and all kinds of colorful tropical birds come through here, so it’s been fascinating to learn about them all with Otis (if you like birds, I strongly recommend the Merlin Bird Identification app for your smartphone … it can listen and tell you what birds are vocalizing around you automatically, it’s sweet.)

Seems like it’s been forever since the end of last season, but shocking that it’s already time to get things boxed and delivered again. Time does it’s weird thing; wait how are the Boys already so big and my hair so gray?!

Your weekly CSA boxes will be starting up on the second Tuesday of June … get ready because here we go again!

The Final CSA Newsletter 2022

Well, it sure has been an interesting year, again. The most memorable part was probably the Battle for the Crops with the local deer army, I’d say. It was also our first year farming with two kids – and the combination of an infant and a boy was certainly quite a challenge.

We planned for it, as much as we could – tried to make things as low maintenance as possible … which really doesn’t equate to much ease, with a farm our size, without pesticides and herbicides and employees and tractors.

Although we had hardly any WWOOFers to help compared to previous years, we were kept sane by the steadfast, incredible support of family – Kristin’s mom and dad came out to the Farm for nearly every harvest day and market to spend time with the boys, freeing up Kristin and I to get things done .. as well as helped with innumerable projects, meals, and loads of laundry.

It would not have been possible without them, and I cannot adequately express how grateful I am that they are in our lives – not only because it makes the pragmatic aspects of farming possible, but because philosophically, deeply, we believe in the importance and value of living as an inter-generational family – the way our modern American society has degraded and broken this type of connection and support is, I believe, one of the reasons it is so sickened.

In 2013, I married Kristin, changed my name to Sehr, left behind my city life and moved onto this old Sehr family land, embarking on an adventure that has led me into a depth and variety of experiences that I’d never really dared to hope for. I live and work alongside my family, raising two new humans intimately connected to the cycles of the seasons and rhythms of life on this earth. It is all I want from life; I feel no lack, no need for more, no yearning for different … how lucky I am, to have found this life, this land, this experience of Being.

So thank you, Deb and Jim for your support over this last decade, and thank you, CSA Shareholders, for supporting us with your dollars and interest and collaboration, for another year. It’s been another enriching turn around the Sun; farming the Barrens, greening the wasteland, finding joy and bringing forth life and love from such an unlikely little scrap of land on the outskirts, within the borderland between civilization and the forces of nature that inexorably and patiently work to reclaim it.

This is Life. We are Living. Thanks, again, for being fellow members of our symbiotic network, it’s been wonderful to be supported by you, to get to know you, and get to feed you.

inside the final box

  • Tetsukabuto Squash – You should wait for 5 weeks before eating these – the flavor will be concentrated in the flesh, if you can wait. Tetsukabuto squash has a relatively low moisture content and when cooked retains a firm texture with a pleasant starchy quality. The flesh is not quite as sweet as a butternut, but when roasted, its earthy flavor develops rich notes of hazelnut and browned butter. Will store for 4-6 months in a cool dark place. Here’s a good overview, or you can search for a recipe that looks yummy …
  • Onions
  • Garlic
  • Shallots
  • Dried Beans – 1 cup dried should yield 3 cups cooked. Expect these to cook faster and don’t store them in a sealed container (paper bag is fine) as they are fresh dried beans, and have a higher moisture content.
Calypso & Cranberry Beans
  • (Calypso, Cranberry, or Tiger Eye variety)This year we experimented with several rows of beans that we let dry out on the plants in the field. We’ve done this at smaller scales for ourselves in the past, but needed to come up with a way to shell and winnow (remove the dead husks and plant matter) a much larger quantity, in order to share with you. Our old wringer washer was the secret to joining the industrial age … we ran all the plants through the rollers a couple of times to pop out the beans, and then dumped the output from bucket to bucket in front of a fan which blew away the chaff.
laundry machine turned sheller
winnowing
  • Potatoes
  • Carrots
  • Kale
  • Ground Cherries
… if we get some canned goods made that we are actually willing to let go of, we will let you know before the holidays…

living close to the ground