CSA Share Week 3: Chard, Kale, Spinach, Green Onions, Turnips, Basil, Mint

We hope you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We watched the fireworks on a ledge by the college with a view up the valley, the Animas winding through town, and the sun setting over the La Platas. Wow, we are so privileged to farm in a town with a view like that! With June and the month of planting behind us, we move into July: the month of weeding! Since it’s the first year of production in much of our growing space, the weeds are particularly dense. In many of the seed beds we couldn’t see the crop that was planted and have painstakingly weeded around every little seedling!

Thank you so much for your responses to our question about what a CSA means to you. We were comforted to learn that everyone we heard from believed that we are in this together, whether feast or famine. Due to the hail last week, we harvested ripped greens and removed pelted green tomatoes, but our damage was minimal. If you went to Farmers’ Market last weekend you may have noticed Chimney Rock’s stand was devoid of veggies. They were hit hard by golf ball sized hail ripping through their greens, denting their fruit, and completely wiping out their tomatoes. The farmers were depressed and they told us they would give their CSA what they could and start over. It’s not too late to sow again successive crops like greens, carrots, beets, radishes, beans, and peas. It’s hard to imagine a season where our CSA couldn’t at least provide these short-season veggies throughout the season. And some of our plants come from tunnels and the greenhouse that would not be affected by hail. Our CSA truly allows us to keep farming in this region year after year and we thank you immensely. Our growing partner, Werner has written a letter below in support of the CSA concept as well.

If you’re having trouble coming up with ways to use the turnips stir-fry greens, a farm volunteer recommended frying turnip and beet greens with bacon and adding the turnips to cornmeal dumplings. The recipe is below.

This is Werner, partner of Linley and Peter, writing this newsletter. Up to now, Linley has been writing your letters exclusively, because she is the only one who still finds the energy after a busy week at the farm to sit down at night and write. Yet, after last week’s letter when Linley talked about hail and the CSA concepts, I decided to express my personal feelings.

This is now my third year working with Linley. Having gardened and worked on farms for many years, I decided last year to join Linley. She is knowledgeable, creative and amazingly hard working. Making a living farming takes all three and even then it’s a challenge. She has stated to me many times that her main commitment is to the CSA, with the Farmers Market and restaurants coming second. Should we ever be short of vegetables, which has not happened yet, we favor our CSA members. Last year our members, when averaged over a season, received about twice the value in produce when compared to purchasing at the Farmers Market, a record we intend to maintain. Yet, as any farmer knows, like last week’s hail we cannot control natural events (Ps: When looking more carefully the next morning we noticed more damage than we expected like shredded leaves and bruised tomatoes). Yet, be assured, should we have hail or other natural events that could damage our crops, we will do what it takes to keep on going, like seeding fast growing crops.

Personally, I like the CSA concept for the following reasons:

• The food is produced locally, instead of shipped hundreds or often thousands of miles. This means that vegetables are picked when ready to be eaten, instead of picked ahead of time and varieties are chosen for taste rather than shelf life.
• The consumer gets to know the farmer. He/she can visit him and even work on the farm, which is one reason we have work shares. This creates a trust based relationship. Farmers, like gardeners, love what they do and rarely do it only for the money. Making soil productive and feeding people is an essential need that must be in the genetic make-up of those who like to build soil and dig in it.

• Consumers are supporting local farmers keeping money in the local economy. This is measured by using the multiplier effect. Local farms and ranching operations have the highest multiplier of any major economic segment, because the dollar turns over several times in the local economy.
• Consumers are providing farmers with income early in the season when farmers are spending to get the farm started, while sharing in the risks and benefits.

Please share your opinion with us by email, on Tuesday at the stand or visit us at the farm.

-Werner

Turnip Dumplings (served with bacon turnip greens)

• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• ½ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• ¼ cup finely chopped turnips

Sift dry ingredients in bowl. Stir in egg, milk, turnips, and butter. Drop batter by teaspoonful into simmering broth. Cover tightly and simmer for 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir-fry turnip greens and a few slices of bacon and serve with dumplings.