Here we are at the beginning of what we hope will be a very bountiful season. This year’s CSA is starting a little earlier than in years past because the strawberries are early this year. We picked and picked and picked those red berries today! It’s a regular bonanza of strawberries, so you’re each getting 3 pints! It has been a strange Spring: the strawberries are ripe almost two weeks early, but almost everything else seems to be growing so slowly. The rain this afternoon should help things move along a bit faster, we hope. I did notice that the Sugar Snap Peas have a few blossoms on them, once they get going there will be more sweet things in your boxes. The beets and carrots are slowing getting a little bigger every day.
The farm has had a lot of attention over the winter. Our crew came back to the farm in January and February, and the weather was much better than last year. We have Maggie back, who was with us last season. Some of you may remember Dana who was with us in 2006 & 2007. She is back with her partner, Fenwick, and baby, Addis. And we have Dan from Virginia who is new to the farm this season, though he had worked a few days with us last season. So with all those hands we were able to do a lot more work organizing, reclaiming areas of the barns that had been forgotten for years, mulching and pruning blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apple, peach, plum, pear, and cherry trees. Just trying to get a place for everything and everything in its place. Hopefully all that work will turn the farm into a well oiled machine! The crew even re-organized my tool bench. I can’t seem to find anything anymore, but they can.
This picture shows from far right to left....Sweet peas trellis, carrots, beets, head lettuce (all very small), and the first Summer Squash & Cuke bed. We use metal hoops and row cover to create a little greenhouse for these tender vegetables, allowing us to harvest the first Summer Squash a few weeks ahead of most other farms in our area.
Here's our daughter, Ada, out picking strawberries for our Sunday morning waffles!
Ideas for Cooking
If any of those strawberries make it home you can try your hand at making a Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie or Crisp. The two together are truly wonderful. If you just have the Rhubarb to use (because you ate all the berries on the way home), try them roasted…preheat the oven to 350. Thickly slice the Rhubarb and put it into a deep oven-proof pot. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of red wine. Split open 1 vanilla bean and add them to the Rhubarb. Roast the rhubarb until very tender, about 30 minutes. This makes a wonderful sauce that you can add to ice cream or yogurt. Yum!