Look closely at the above photo and you will see Robert’s seven-foot deer fence which goes all around the Spring Garden. Except for the white poles, the fencing is difficult for humans to see–but the deer know perfectly well they are not allowed within this zone! We go out of our way to keep clover planted for them along the base of the mountain. There they can eat heirloom apples from the trees. These “planned temptations” are our attempt to lure them away from the openness of our fields and gardens. They are our friends and were here long before us. We try to live in harmony with the abundance of wildlife in Cane Creek Valley which finds an ever decreasing habitat as man encroaches.
We do not often eat food we have not grown, however, one recent evening we ordered ribs, egg rolls and fried rice which arrived with fortune cookies. My fortune cookie said, “No need to worry! You will always have everything that you need.” I do believe this, of course. What else could explain the fact that our Spring Garden is still producing enough veggies to fill our weekly CSA Boxes despite the fact the Summer Gardens have been delayed by the May rains and the June cold? We are most grateful for the bounty from our gardens which we have been able to share these past six weeks! And the “You will always have everything that you need” part, along with our Guardian Angels, is all that can possibly explain how the very next evening how we avoided a head-on collision with an oncoming truck which came around the curve on our side of the road! Robert and I cannot explain the “space” we were allowed, but it was there. Please, stay in your lane–some rules simply cannot be broken! Robert and I continue to count our many Blessings.
Among those Blessings are all of our CSA Family Members. We are honored to be able to provide you with nutritious, seasonal gourmet vegetables which “can send your genes the equivalent of healing “text messages,” providing a schematic and guide map for what your body has always known how to do–heal” to quote Sayer Ji from his new book Regenerate–Unlocking Your Body’s Radical Resilience Through The New Biology. This book is about taking charge of ones body, habits, activities, and which environmental factors one should avoid as well as which foods, habits, and activities one might want to participate in to stabilize ones genome and epigenome. I have not had much time to read this spring, but look forward to reading more about gene-regulatory microRNAs and plant intelligence from a scientific point of view. As a farmer, I always knew plants were intelligent and had “senses,” but it seems their neurobiology and sessile lifestyle make them much more complex than ever we could have imagined. All the more reason to be sure the vegetables we have tended and loved are going to appreciative homes and families via our CSA Boxes/Bags!
Now what you really want to know . . . in the box you will find broccoli, cauliflower, romaine (green and perhaps red), kohlrabi (purple and green), snow peas, collards, kale (red or green), endive, perhaps collards and a stray escarole or choi. What beautiful world it can be . . .
Above is my favorite choi snack. Oh, and eat your lettuce first. It does not like rain as is evident from the condition of the “heads.” It will not last in the refrigerator as one might expect. The End of a Season . . . Farewell to the choi salads for 2020. I shall miss you . . .
And here is another snack idea for the last of that choi you might still have . . . bok choy paletas ie: popcicles! One of my favorite CSA Members with two young children says these were a real hit.
Cane Creek Asparagus & Company CSA 