Farm to Folk Newsletter July 1, 2008
Reminder: Please check carefully that you are taking the dairy items that you have ordered. For the shares, it is listed on the sign in sheet and for a la carte it will be listed on your invoice. It is confusing since the dairy items are divided between the three refrigerators, but if you have a question about where your order is please ask us. Thanks!
A La Carte Price adjustment: As you can imagine, there is a lot of time involved in maintaining the a la carte accounts and getting the orders ready each week. When we looked at the amount of time this is taking it became apparent that the mark up for a la carte orders needs to be raised to account for the convenience offered by this service. So effective with orders to be picked up July 1 you will notice an increase in prices of some items.
Farm to Folk is now a member of the Buy Fresh Buy Local Campaign. Here is a link to the weekly BFBL Newsletter:
http://www.drake.edu/news/dbletter/buyfreshbuylocal/
Meet the Members
This week, we would like to introduce you to Kristin
Shields. Kristin can be recognized at the site by her sweet smile and patient,
calm demeanor. Kristin has been a member of Farm to Folk (and its predecessor
Magic Beanstalk) for over a decade. She is a dietician for the Polk County Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC) program at the publicly funded
When quizzed why she joined Farm to Folk, health benefits were at the top of Kristin's list. "Participation forces me to eat more vegetables because I don't want food to go to waste. I also like getting the fresh fruit and that's something my daughter will eat too." She also says the nutritional content of the produce at Farm to Folk is higher than conventionally grown produce since nutrients are lost during shipment. But there are other reasons why she comes back year after year. "I like to know where my food comes from, and while organic is good, I want to support local growers." Kristin is also mindful of the environmental impacts her purchasing patterns make in terms of reducing food miles. "It's environmentally friendly because the food is not shipped across the world." When asked what her favorite part of Farm to Folk is, she replied, "It seems like a cool thing to do and it suits my personality. I try to be responsible in any way I can."
Nick Wallace will be delivering his wild caught fish and other meat products. Please pre order directly to him:
nick.wallace@wallacefarms.com
Berry Patch We hope to bring the last of the strawberries. Tart cherries are looking good and will be next.
Grains of Wisdom We will have bread available. Please pre-order to reserve what you'd like. www.grainsofwisdom.com
Full Circle Farm: Brian will be at distribution every week. Pre-orders are necessary.
Iowa Fresh Produce:
How appropriate! Its raining! But what a week of sunshine will do to one's attitude about that statement. Actually it is very welcomed as we have yet to lay out any drip irrigation and the soil was getting to be "bone-dry" at least the upper few inches. Yet in other places I was risking getting the tractor stuck the other day while out disking some of that earlier flooded
ground. One can tell its been under water too- by that pungent smell of stagnant water or that of a algae infested pond in Mid Summer.
We're finally getting back to normal- having tonight finished planting the last 900 or so late peppers and a hundred or so roma tomatoes..... Just finished that as we'd been watching the clouds build and 5 minutes after finishing the rains started. That's why the rain was so appropriate- signaling the end to the day.
We're back to planting seed and will do this every so often until finishing with radishes once again sometime in Aug/Sept. Weeds have taken on a new precedence now that we can finally get after them. Before the rains the leeks and onions looked great. Until this week you couldn't tell they were even out there for the weeds. After running the tiller thru the pathways however that helped tremendously and we are now roho'ing and hand weeding each row. Beets having been on higher ground were treated to the roho even during the rains so though there are a few weeds here and there in amongst them they look great and are beginning to form up nicely- yet a few weeks off however. To give you some perspective into what all the rains had done- the shell peas you received last week was the result of 10 rows 200' long..... not quite the yield I had anticipated when I was out there planting them. Normally what you saw should have easily come off just one row with the possibility of going over it again to pick a second time. This year, however, they are already history. It wasn't worth a second harvest so they have been disked under already. This week you will be receiving sugar snap
peas. These are coming off what once was 4 rows 300' long, Unfortunately these and the snow peas were the ones that were covered with flood water-the telltale signs of corn cobs and stalks laying about the ground.
Until we get into the Summer crops the effects of the flood will haunt us each week.
Hope for some cool weather..... With the stress of the weather the first two crops of Broccoli look very poor at this point (with the first one flowering although the plants are still small and the second planting the same size as when planted 6 weeks ago. The last planting is coming along but I doubt the heads will be as large as usual. When we plant our brassica's we always aim to have them planted by May 11... This year being no exception and nothing different was done so the weather can considered the culprit for this as well.
Spinach and radishes are done until Fall now. We harvested the bulk of the spinach for last week as the heat was getting to it
For this week :
Rhubarb
Spring mix
sugar snap peas
? If I find something ready
Bruce
Small Potatoes Farm
Deliveries
We will be delivering garlic scapes, radishes and peas to the extent they are still harvestable, and lettuce, carrots and mint for tea.
Happenings
Crops are looking a lot better. It was only a week ago that Stacy broke into tears twice on harvest day. The second time was when I got stuck in the mud harvesting onions. The onions (green ones, or scallions) have started to seed and are no longer harvestable. They'll come back in the fall. Its dried up quickly here, leaving some spots like cement. It's much better than too much rain, however. (And since I wrote that we received about an inch ...).
We've almost gotten caught up here. We've got our second planting of tomatoes in, weeded the peppers and eggplant, hoed and hand weeded ALL of the carrots. I've replanted summer squash and green beans are up and growing fast. All our greens are weeded and thinned. We put new mulch on old asparagus and I brought home a trailer full of straw tonight for mulching the tomatoes. Many of our beets need hoed and hand weeded. The biggest challenge will be saving the winter squash which is really choked out with weeds. It was the wettest field and I was just able to get in it yesterday.
Stacyʼs mother has been harangueing her condo board for months about the state of her cul-de-sac which she likens to the Homes of Oakridge. She admittedly disdains the natural world, and avoids going out of doors unless compelled, say to fetch her mail or move between the car and the mall. She's recommended they tear out all the trees, shrubs, and plants to deal with the "problem".
The DNR has told our county they didn't have a legitimate reason to recommend denial of two proposed hog factories, but did give them the option of a 90 day extension to revise the 'matrix'. If they score the matrix lower, the DNR would then have a legitimate reason to deny construction. Apparently, the two buildings will generate the same amount of waste as a city of 37,000 people. So protect our water and tell the Dallas Co. board of supervisors not to let these aberrations of farming in our backyard.
What Stacy is Doing in the Kitchen
Now that peas are here we are eating them stir-fried. First, I sauté a little onion and garlic, then add the peas, dousing them with some Tamari and tossing frequently. Don't overcook peas...just few mintues will do.
Rick, Stacy and Matilda
Recipes
Spring Onion Soup
submitted by Glenda Stormes-Bice
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 large sweet onions, sliced
2 cups chopped spring onions or leeks, white and light green parts only
2 T chopped garlic
1 t chopped fresh thyme
1/4 c sherry
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper
3 14oz cans reduced sodium beef broth
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1/4 c minced fresh chives or scallions
6 slices whole wheat country bread
1 c shredded Gruyere or fontina cheese
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add sweet onions and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until softened and starting to brown, 6-8 minutes. Add spring onions (or leeks), garlic and thyme and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until starting to soften, 3-4 minutes.
Stir in sherry and pepper; increase heat to med-high and bring to a simmer. Cook,
stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 1-2 minutes. Stir in broth
and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chives (or scallions).
Meanwhile, toast bread and divide it among 6 bowls; top with cheese. Ladle the soup over the bread and cheese and serve immediately.
six servings, 1-1/2 cup each
See you Tuesday!
Marilyn, Corry and Deb