Hello All,

Kevin Takes Turn Writing Blog. Don't worry, Brittany is still making sure the email gets sent out correctly with details about the fruit share etc etc.

The hurricane mostly missed us, it dumped some additional rain on us but spared us the theatrics that go with windy sky swirlies. The doors were all screwed shut on the greenhouses just in case but it wasn't necessary. Our hearts go out to those folks in it's more aggressive path. Natural disasters are pretty amazing. I can't help but think about how our relationship with them will change all the more in the coming decades. Sorry Harvey... we'll buy an electric tractor just as soon as we can. Sometimes when we sit on a tractor all day we get what I call tractor brain, which is a constant mental rattling of the fleshy stuff in our skulls that doesn't quite go away until sleepy time. Some days are like that. I'm grateful for it, in a way, because doing it without a tractor in this particular way is impossible. I think an electric tractor would mitigate tractor brain pretty dramatically, so long as it could actually hold a charge for that long. But I digress, I was talking about the weather.

Whether or not the weather does what we want makes for some pretty satisfying, or pretty disappointing days. We have a long time friend who comes to the farm pretty regularly (hi oug) and buys a CSA share that really appreciates the tangential connection he has to the weather related world though his participation in the CSA and visits to the farm. He works on a computer and can easily ignore much about the weather, minus the drone of the air conditioners across the way. He and other friends like to check up on us when the weather does wacky things because they know the effects it can have on us, emotionally and otherwise. I'm writing about this because it was a pretty nice day today and we were looking forward to the soil drying out so that we could do some tractor work in the coming days when lo and behold, it started raining right at 5 when we finished up and poured for almost the last hour. Ugh.

Silver lining, it waited until we were done working.

Other silver lining, I really have nothing to complain about.

There are very few very bad things that can happen with excessive rain. Worst case scenario is that we don't get to give you as many vegetables as we'd like to, but heck you've already paid for them so I shouldn't worry about that right? Maybe. There's a tipping point to these things of course, but lucky for you we are fairly responsible stewards of the farm and Brittany is super conscious about what you as customers want. Lots of farmers have different approaches to their distribution channels; some give preference to their farmer's markets, some like the wholesale scene, and some cater to their CSA. Not all farms serve all these channels of course, but when you do, you have to pick and chose who gets what. In our world the CSA always comes first. You are the backbone of our business and the reason we get to realize this crazy dream and work on this project.

I'm off on this tangent because we recently had a conversation with some fellow farmers at a farmer's education meeting about cover crop management through UMASS at Appleton Farm on the North Shore; some farmer's were lamenting the fact that it seems as though many CSA farms have lost sight of one of the pillars of the original intent of Community Supported Agriculture, in that in extreme conditions the farm may not produce the value of food that customers have paid for in a given year, balanced by the reality that in most years a customer receives 10-20 percent more that they paid for. They were expressing their concern that instead of leaning on their customers to get through the year (some farms are better off than others this year) they'll buy in produce from other farms and pretend nothing is wrong, potentially losing money in the process. This being said I know farmer's who have given out some very bare bones CSA shares when things got rough. We have a "buy-in" budget every year for this kind of thing. But when we don't need to use it we get to keep it or allocate it for other emergency needs. We haven't needed to ask the CSA to shoulder the cost of unfortunate weather accidents, and thanks to Brittany planning to grow and extra 50% more food this year because of all the question marks that come with new land and a business bump, we won't have to.

Some day we might. Friendly reminder.

I am so grateful to have such an intelligent and thoughtful partner that positions us for success year after year, because if I was in charge we would have certainly dipped into the emergency CSA piggy bank at least once, maybe twice.

Thank you for being a part of this CSA, it means a lot.

Above, Brittany checks out our first cover crop of the season, it is holding the place for the garlic to be planted this fall.

We occasionally use a boom sprayer to add a little extra boost in fertility to the plants through a foliar feed. The celeriac, parsnips and leeks don't mind all this rain, that's for sure. It's a great reason to grow a variety of stuff, they all like different weather.

Below is the dinosaur egg that Harvey, Brittany and I dug out in preparation for the next greenhouse. Plants don't like to grow on top of boulders. Thanks for lending the excavator Jim!

Hi, it's Brittany! Some quick business:

Fruit share starts this week! Fruit share members I will send out an email now. Thank you to everyone for the interest - after this trial run goes well I'm hoping we can add more fruit shares so everyone can participate!

More seconds/sauce tomatoes for sale this week (we will have them sorted and ready for you, Tuesday members!). $20/10lbs, $35 for 20lbs, $50 for 30lbs . . . I processed about 40lbs this weekend into sauce and soup.

Otherwise, it's a super summer share. No corn this week - this second planting is coming on slower than I thought, but looks great - next week for sure. Hopefully melons one more time next week/the week after.

A note on tomatoes - I just give out a lot. I don't even really account for them in the value of the share, so be risky - try and heirloom, tolerate a weird looking one every once in a while. Really quick tomato idea? Throw them in a freezer bag whole and raw and process in winter. Just leave some in the crate if you don't want them! We've donated several hundred pounds of tomatoes already this year and will happily donate many more!

3 pounds tomatoes: yes, they keep on coming!

Head lettuce: 1 head

2-3 pounds Mix: Cucumbers limited amounts of zucchini, squash, eggplant, Red Long di tropea Onions, Ailsa Craig Onions, green/purple peppers

1 pint: cherry tomatoes, shishito peppers, hot peppers, mini sweet peppers

Sweet Peppers: two peppers

Choose 2 other items (no repeats, some additional limits may apply): green cabbage, arugula, micros, radishes, scallion, kale, chard, basil

2 cups diced fresh tomatoes (or other fruit or veggie combo)

1 serrano or jalapeno chile, seeded and diced (In the winter I use one I have frozen, the dice is so small you don’t notice)

1 tbsp diced fresh cilantro (1 tsp dried cilantro works well here too, especially if the salsa rests)

½ tsp fresh lime juice (approximately 1 lime slice squeezed)

HERB JAMhttps://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/herb-jam

If you can't make it, please feel free to send someone else to pick up your share, or reach out to us and we can coordinate an alternate pick up plan.

CSA Pick Up Hours:

34 Rogers Rd, Holliston

Tuesday, 1pm-6pm

93 East Main St (but don't use the main entrance. At the light in front of the Nursery, turn uphill on Legacy Farm road and make your first right. It's a back entrance and you'll see the box truck!)

Thursday, 12pm-5pm

65 Brookline St, Pepperell (but really it's more like 60 Brookline st, just east of where the GPS will take you. There's a big sign and a parking lot.)

Thursday 4pm-7pm

Remember to change the water for your flowers daily, if possible, trim the stems after 3-4 days. Keep the bouquet out of the sun and in a cooler part of the house for longer vase life.