Guess what? It's my birthday! I'm the perfect age this year. 38. Well, maybe not the perfect age, but I've been looking forward to 38 for a long time. I'm not sure why, but I don't really like prime numbers. 37 just wasn't doing it for me. I've been ready for 38 since last April.

More than half of our team has birthdays between April 12th and April 29th. We are doing a "crew birthday" this week to celebrate all together!

That's me, last Wednesday, working with Jamie (in the background on the tractor) to put compost down on the beds we were preparing to plant Thursday and Friday. I love that photo because it has cover crops and compost - two of my favorite soil fertility building tools. It was a great spring day.

The weather last week was great for our early bed prep. And we got a nice rain yesterday to soak it in! We had a lot of tractor and transplanter training. We planted about 3/4 of an acre with peas, carrots, beets, spinach, arugula, radishes, kale, chard, mustard greens, bok choy and scallions! We cover our early plantings with floating row cover. We find that in an organic system, covering the earliest plantings prevents the overwintered pests, and pests flying in early from finding a foothold. This reduces the overall population over the course of the season. The row cover also warms up the soil, which is still below 50 degrees, increasing microbial activity and making more soil nutrients available to our crops.

Speaking of soil nutrients, we got a spring soil test back. It's been about 15 months since our last soil test and I am very proud of the progress we are making! Improving soil is one of our top goals, and it' something that cannot be done in an instant like painting a wall or fixing a leak. Soils are a living ecosystem, and adding all of the nutirents that are lacking at once, or adding massive amount of compost is both prohibitively expensive and can create toxic imbalances. So we add more compost every year, we grow cover crops, we add micro nutrients in small amounts based on the recommendations of our soil tests . . . and we are seeing significant improvement.

AND, as you may have read in a previous email, we are getting a solar array installed on on of our barns! It should cover our current electrical usage. We received a grant partially funding the project from the Mass Department of Agriculture Resources, so it will hopefully be just a 6 year pay back period! What a great thing to happen on on a birthday week! The solar project has been entirely Kevin's. From writing the grant to coordinating with electricians and the solar company . . . I feel very, very fortunate to have such a dedicated partner in this venture. The level of trust we have established, after farming, living and parenting together for over 10 years enables us to operate very effectively. Neither of us could do this alone.

The first herbs of the season are in! Scallions, chives and cilantro are in a choice this week!

We also have the first arugula and baby kale! Lettuce is coming next week. I know lettuce is popular and at least 80% of you would want lettuce every week. Lettuce is just a little slower and a little more cold sensitive than the other greens we have available (see top left, the little gem heads are starting to size up after almost a whole month in the tunnel). I'm hatching a plan to make lettuce available earlier next year, but for now, the greens we have are so yummy!

Plus we have lots of sweet green choices like claytonia, spinach and pea tendrils, so if the little bit of 'bite' in arugula is not for you, there are some great options!

A Note on the bags we use for greens:

The bags we use are cellophane, which is entirely plant based. They are not marketed as compostable, so we can't tell you that they are, but they are not petroleum based.

For now, this the best we can do. Maintaining food safety standards and crop quality is greatly important to us, and baby greens is a very important product to us in spring. We try to use paper or fully reusable containers whenever possible, but this is not an option for the greens. We also can't keep the greens fresh if we were to try putting them out with tongs and having you fill a reusable container. Maybe if we have an indoor distribution location one day this would be something we could try. Kevin was very excited to report that several members were expressing their concern about plastic. We think very deliberately about how to reduce our plastic use on the farm (and at home) and have been making strides in recent years to reduce use. You just wait for the email about the bail chopper...

Ok, So What's in the Share!?

(NOTE: I may frequently send the share email Tuesday morning instead of Monday. It requires a lot of organization and prep to get ready for harvest at 7am on Monday, and we are unfortunately still not at a point where I can count writing the CSA email as a part of my normal hours. By 5pm my mind is useless and I have to push writing the email off until the next morning.

Choose 4 bags greens (No repeats, except for Spinach): arugula, baby kale, pea tendrils, micro greens, spainch, mustard greens, claytonia

Mix and Match 2 pounds of roots: Carrots, potatoes, purple daikon radish! Great shaved in salads!

Choose 2 herbs (if you don't prefer herbs you can take an extra bag of spinach instead): cilantro, chives, scallions

*Please note* we do our absolute best to estimate what our customers will prefer when it comes to choices based on years of CSA and market experience and data collection. That said, sometimes a crop is more popular than anticipated and we do run out of that choice. We try to avoid this, but have determined this is a better alternative than not giving choices.

*Please remember* this share costs less weekly than all of our other shares. The standard price is $22/week. It has a lot of high value but light-weight greens in it so it can sometimes seem smaller than a summer share, where instead of bags of greens you are getting multiple pounds of fruits and roots. This is the nature of seasonal eating in New England. We will get better at growing storage crops and overwintering crops so we can more "heavy" choices in spring - but for now, this is the spring share, exactly as we planned it, and we are very proud of what we are able to make available in APRIL!!!

Recipes

Hi - Jess Girotti here. If you have a recipe that you love that you'd like to share with other members or if a recipe link isn't working for you, feel free to email me at jgirotti@live.com. (Please note that I can't re-print a recipe from a cookbook that isn't already online.) Don't forget to check out the recipe pages on the Upswing website if you need more ideas for your other veggies.

ARUGULA SPRING SALAD WITH RADISH

Did you know that arugula is actually a cruciferous vegetable? Cruciferous veggies (think broccoli and brussels sprouts) are linked with lower rates of cancer and heart disease and are packed with vitamins and minerals. This salad just screams SPRING to me!

SUPERFOOD SALMON SALAD

This powerhouse salad is loaded with superfoods like baby kale and sweet potatoes and is just SO delicious. I have fallen in love with Scout foods canned smoked salmon so that's what we used on it but you can also use fresh salmon.



INDIAN STYLE MUSTARD GREENS & SPINACH WITH NAAN

Serve it with naan bread or layer it on top of the naan, add some cheese and make it into a pizza.

ORANGE & AVOCADO SALAD WITH PEA TENDRILS

Here's another nutrient packed salad we'll be making this week at our house. Add some grilled chicken if you want to make it a little heartier.

ROASTED BABY SPRING VEGETABLES

Potatoes, carrots, radishes and asparagus get roasted and drizzled with a white balsamic vinaigrette and tossed with fresh herbs.

WATERMELON RADISH TOAST WITH MICROGREENS

I'm always on the lookout for quick and easy, but healthy, breakfast ideas. Wholegrain bread topped with herby goat cheese, watermelon radish, microgreens and a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper. Yum!

IMPORTANT DETAILS

Below is information for pick up at all 3 of our weekly locations. If you can't remember your pick up location, please refer to the email sent on 4/10/2023.

Upswing Farm

65 Brookline St, Pepperell, MA

Your pick up day is Wednesday.

Hours are 2:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 12th

April 19th

April 26th

May 3rd

May 10th

May 17th

May 24th

May 31st

Parking: Please park in the parking lot by the greenhouses and the white Upswing Farm sign. It's more like 53 Brookline if you are using GPS.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Joella and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Joella can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can pack a box for you and leave it on the farm house porch (actually at 65 Brookline, up by the white barns)

If you can't make it: Please let us know a time when you can come by Thursday or Friday and we will leave your share out for you on the porch.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Holliston Community Farm

34 Rogers Rd, Holliston, MA

Your pick up day is Tuesday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

If you can't make it by 6:00, we can leave the share in the walk-in cooler for you to pick up later.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 11th

April 18th

April 25th

May 2nd

May 9th

May 16th

May 23rd

May 30th

Parking: Please driving up the driveway at 34 Rogers Rd, past the yellow house and past the farm stand and park in the parking lot. Please drive carefully, it is a narrow drive, and you will need to travel the drive from the house to the street single file. Please be patient and courteous with one another.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Lindsay, cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Lindsay can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378 if you are going to be late. We can pack a box for you and leave it in the cooler to pick up later that evening or the next day.

If you can't make it and want to switch your pick up day to Thursday 1-6 at Weston Nurseries: Please let us know by Monday morning at 7am, if possible, so we can adjust our harvest for the week. Email upswingcsa@gmail.com.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton

93 East Main St, Hopkinton, MA

Your pick up day is Thursday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 13th

April 20th

April 27th

May 4th

May 11th

May 18th

May 25th

June 1st

Parking: DO NOT GO IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF WESTON NURSERIES! There is no way to drive to the back lot from there. Instead, turn north at the light in front of Weston Nurseries onto Legacy Farms Rd North and turn right into the parking lot behind the nursery. You will see out white Box truck there, with tents. Park anywhere on the gravel lot, not too close to the tents, if possible.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Anna (Ah-na) (she's new and she's great!) and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Anna can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can arrange a spot for you to pick up.

If you can't make it: Please let us know - we don't have a great alternative until the start of the Ashland Farmer's Market in Summer - so don't forget! If you can plan ahead you can come to the CSA pick up in Holliston on Tuesday. We just prefer to know by Monday at 7am if possible so we can adjust our harvest plan.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Your Farmers,

Brittany, Kevin and the Upswing Farm Team

Also, I'm bad at spelling. I am a generalist, so as long as most of the letters are there, and there is good context, by brain prefers not to be bogged down by details. Also, I am frequently typing these emails late at night or early in the morning after or before a big day of work. I promise I'm not making spelling or grammar errors becauseI don't care. I really, really do care, I'm just no good at copy editing and I rarely have time to send these out for a proof read to Kevin who is still sleeping. I hope you can forgive me.