Blog

Please do not stress out when you see your first box of spring greens! You have two weeks to eat them before you get another CSA Harvest. They will still be in good shape in two weeks if you treat them correctly because they were just harvested a few hours ago! However, the goal is start eating them right away! Eating greens as salads makes them last a bit longer. Greens disappear quickly when sauteed or put in a blender for a smoothie. Don’t stress over the names; but if you want to know them, you might consider checking out the web site Photo Album entitled “Vegetable Identification” to see photos of some of these first spring vegetables.  The veggies are shown in the approximate order of their appearance in your CSA Box—although, of course, this will vary slightly from season to season. 

Each season I get questions about using vegetable washes. I have never used these, but I understand that some CSA Members want to do so. The first layer of Fairview soil will be washed from your CSA vegetables. I typically do a triple wash in my kitchen sink before preparing greens such as lettuces, choi, tatsio, romaine, collards, escarole, and endive. This removes any remaining soil from the leaves. Some seasons will have more soil than others depending on the type of rain we receive and the plant’s stage of growth at the time. I suggest putting on some relaxing music, filling your kitchen sink, and rinsing to your preferred level. After draining the leaves slightly, place into clean bags so that you are ready to prepare you next meal. When we prepare and eat food slowly and consciously with intention and awareness, we can better appreciate the food we eat and eat it in a spirit of holiness.

In your CSA box you may find bugs, slugs, and weeds—things you don’t find in that bagged lettuce at the grocery store which has been triple washed for you.  (I recommend that you wash even store-bought bagged lettuce thoroughly!) And YES!  You must eat the leaves with bug bite holes!  If it is good enough for the bugs to eat, it is good enough for us humans to eat.   When I pack the CSA Boxes, I try to pull off the yellowed leaves which happen when plants get stressed from too much rain or too high temps—like 80 degrees in May!  You don’t have to eat the bugs or slugs—although, they could be considered protein.  And if I hear a bee buzzing in a bag after I have packed the box and tied the bow, I will open the bag and let it out.  We need to keep our bees here on the farm to pollinate our crops!   

Do you have at least two (2) refrigerator/freezer thermometers in your home? If not, we recommend you purchase one for each of your refrigerators and freezers! A thermometer is your number one food safety tool and can be purchased for $6 – $8. The food safety zone should be clearly marked in red. Place it in a prominent location and KEEP AN EYE ON IT. This handy gadget will help you to keep your veggies fresh and it will ensure your dairy products and meats are “in the zone” as well. The proper temperature range will be printed on the side of your CSA Box.

CSA Members picking up this first week have been notified. I HAVE NOT yet sent out emails for the second week CSA Member pickups. Be patient. They will come in time. It takes two weeks to get our CSA up and running; but then you can expect veggies every other week going down the calendar! I do recommend reading back a couple of Blogs as there may be tips or hints not repeated. The veggie contents will remain similar for the next week or two. This is SEASONAL, GOURMET EATING!

There are changes happening that we have little control over; however, as a food activist, you can control where some of the food you eat every day comes from when you support the Local Food Movement. Our mission at Cane Creek Asparagus and Company aka Cane Creek CSA is to encourage families to prepare and cook and eat seasonal, nutrient-dense foods with mindfulness and gratitude.  We believe doing this together as often as possible will nutritionally and spiritually enrich individuals, families, and communities.

We have been working like mad men—I mean playing—actually, truly working, but we have to keep our minds in the correct place in order to accomplish all that we do.  Thousands of plants started in our greenhouse have been transplanted into the gardens:  cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, tatsoi, ching chang, kale, the “chois” and more!  These first crops can handle cool temperatures at night.  What they do not need is extended periods of freezing temps or hot, dry weather.  The first crops which are direct seeded after the potatoes include peas, carrots, beets, arugula, onions, turnips, and mustard greens. Farming involves the uncontrollable natural environment and is truly a gamble.  We do our best to increase the odds and we have an excellent track record. Still, all prayers are welcome!

We suggest you buy a box of Hefty Jumbo (2.5 gallon) zipper bags. This brand is the largest we have seen. They are easy to open and are big enough to handle anything we will send your way. There are also various “green bags” on the market. The point is you will need some extra-large refrigerator storage bags for the time between receiving and preparing/consuming your veggies.

We are starting the CSA on Monday, May 16.  Emails have gone out to the first Monday and Tuesday CSA Members.  Remember, we are on an every-other-week rotation for harvest and delivery.  If you have not received your email yet, it is still to come. We will give you one full week’s notice before your first CSA Box is harvested. Of course, we would never put anything into our veggies boxes that we had not taste tested! Here is the first salad made from the first 2022 Harvest!

These first boxes will contain joi choi, black summer choi, ching chang, tatsoi, baby collard greens, kale and perhaps spring onions.  All of these greens can be sautéed slightly in EVOO. However, we typically mix everything together and make fresh salads. To each his own!

Today is the last day of April. I spent all of March and April transplanting seedlings in the greenhouse while Robert began preparing the gardens. Potatoes were the first crop to be planted on Good Friday. Since then, thousands of plants have been taken from the greenhouse, hardened off, and transplanted once again–this time to the field gardens! AS well as various crops being direct seeded into the soil. AND, there are still seedbeds being started in the greenhouse. Gardening on this scale is quite a production and endeavor.

Today I am sending out emails to all CSA Members in order to verify contact information for communication. Some members signed up back in September and October of 2021. I know life circumstances can change over a seven or eight month time frame; thus, I am doing a verification of intentions. If as a member you do not get this email verification from us this weekend because your contact information has changed, then please send us an email with your updated address.

We do not have a start date for the CSA veggie boxes yet!  However, if all goes well and the weather cooperates, we have our eye on the third and fourth weeks of the month of May. The plants grow quickly once in the garden. They start out small and increase in size each day! We will start the CSA as soon as we feel we can prepare a “decent first box” of spring greens. My mouth waters at just the thought of spring salads!!

Each CSA Member will get an email from me with their exact start date!! Please remember it takes two full weeks to get the CSA up and running with our every-other-week pickup schedule. With good planning and hard work, we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest in 2022.

A friend just sent me this link about what Justin Metcalf is doing in Madison County, North Carolina. The video is very interesting for both adults and children. And if you have ever tasted a product made from freshly milled grain, you understand the value in restoring community grain mills.

Enjoy!

April is acting like March this season! A freeze warning is issued for tonight, so we are tucking our babies in under a frost blanket to keep them safe. It was necessary to wait until the wind stopped blowing before starting the process. Yes, they are outside of the greenhouse to “harden off” before going to the field gardens; but still, they are our babies and your future veggies, so under the blanket they go!

Much has been accomplished in the last few days. The gardens are tilled making the soil light and fluffy. The first Spring garden has the fabric laid and is kept in place with ground staples which requires much bending and stooping and stomping. The fabric helps to keep the weeds down between the rows and and provides a cleaner walking/working area.

The next step involves laying the drip tape and attaching the drip delivery system to the hose bibs and to our water wells. This is the first of the two Spring Gardens. Both gardens will eventually be surrounded by a seven-foot deer fence. The same process is required for each of the other gardens. Setting up is the first step before planting can begin. We will begin planting the first early greens this week.

The potatoes were planted on Good Friday in another garden. Our potatoes are always the first crop to go into the ground. We trust tonight is the last of our really cold nights, but only time will tell. We can protect the plants before they go to the field. After that, we just pray, pray, pray that the environment is kind to us!

Meanwhile, seedbed and transplanting work continues in the greenhouse. We are working on eggplant and tomatoes currently. Do not get too excited! We will not have tomatoes to harvest until next August, but some things are worth the wait! For earlier tomatoes, you will need either a patio pot or a trip to the tailgate market. We are growing many, many other veggies for you to enjoy in the months of May, June, and July!

This has been an interesting day as the weather is alternating between snow, sleet, and sunshine with the precision of a metronome. Lucky for us our plants are still in the safety and warmth of our greenhouse. The first of the plants are growing rapidly and typically would be outside hardening off while the fields were being tilled. However, it is too wet to be tilling the soil, and we saw the forecast for today, so inside they await their adventures in the real world environment.

We still have numerous seedbeds and transplants in a variety of stages as the greenhouse work continues step by step. The last seeds to be started will be squash, melons, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers.

The rye which was planted in the field last fall has been tilled under in some of the gardens we will be using. This proved to be a rather muddy job, but we trust in a few more days another pass can be made to loosen the soil in preparation of laying down the fabric and so the planting can commence.

Do not fear! We shall begin planting as soon as feasible. No one is more anxious for fresh greens than our immediate family! How I love our baby collards, chois, and tasty romaine lettuces!

In the meantime, a limited number of farm shares are still available before we start our Annual Wait List.

Sunday, March 20 was the first day of Spring 2022. Robert and I now have over 5,100 tiny plants in our greenhouse with more seeds sprouting in the seed beds! We are optimistic and have faith that abundance will flow from our efforts so that we may provide nourishment for our CSA community.

A few farm shares are still available if you want to join our tribe of like-mined veggie lovers for this 2022 harvest season!

Great strides have been made in the last week. As of this moment, we have 4,000 tiny plants. These are seedlings transplanted from the seedbeds into their individual pots. Here they will live and grow until they are once again transplanted into the field gardens.

Thus far, we have started broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, red and green kohlrabi, bok choi, butterhead lettuce, red and green kale, endive, tatsoi, escarole, collards, and red and green romaine lettuce. I am ready to once again enjoy all of these veggies fresh, but particularly the romaine!! If anything sounds unfamiliar to you, check out the Veggie Identification pages on the website. However, if you have ever eaten a “bagged salad” or any Asian food, I can guarantee you have eaten these veggies in the past even if you have never purchased them at a grocery store before.

Of course, all of our beautiful daffodils are wilted in the yard after the recent snow event. Such is the luck of the draw when it comes to March weather in WNC. They were a blaze of glory and an inspiration while they lasted!

Cane Creek Asparagus & Company aka Cane Creek CSA does have Farm Shares available for the 2022 Harvest Season! Now is the time to join us if you want to enjoy our seasonal, gourmet vegetables grown locally with organic inputs. Robert and I would love to have you join our community of Veggie Lovers!

I love the month of March! The daffodils are blooming, Spring is just around the corner and we are planting seeds. We pray with faith these seeds will fall on fertile soil, take root, and produce fruit (and veggies). As farmers, we are not in favor of an early spring, however. When spring arrives too early, the plants and trees have premature bud burst. Then when that inevitable WNC mid-April cold snap arrives, the new vegetative growth is not cold-hardy and everything from apples and blueberries to early vegetable gardens and ornamental plantings are susceptible to the frost and freeze. The cold rain we are getting this afternoon is seasonal and more to our liking. This type of weather makes for pleasant hours in the greenhouse transplanting seedlings from the seedbeds to their individual pots where they reside until transplanted once again to the field gardens!

Above are some our our seedbeds awaiting seeds. Each seedbed tray has ten rows and each row has approximately 30 seeds. The beds are started in waves so always we have plants in a variety of stages. On the back shelf, you can see seven of the first seedbeds started. Obviously, all cannot be transplanted in one day! This is why we need “waves” of beds. These staggered waves also provide our week upon week of veggies for our CSA Boxes.

Cane Creek Asparagus & Company aka Cane Creek CSA does have Farm Shares available for the 2022 Harvest Season! Now is the time to join us if you want to enjoy our seasonal, gourmet vegetables grown locally with organic inputs. Robert and I would love to have you join our community of Veggie Lovers!

We do not like to take things for “granted.” Therefore, last week we sent out emails to all of our 2021 CSA Members to ask if they were planning to return for the 2022 Harvest Season. This gives us a headcount and lets us know how many new CSA Members we can accept for the bounty of our gardens in this new year. I do not think I missed anyone; but if I did, please give me a call or send an email.

We are in preparation mode at the moment. Our greenhouse is ready and waiting for the seedbeds to be started. It is neat and clean at the moment, but soon soil will litter the floor. Try as we might, this cannot be helped despite the trays we use for containment! The last seed orders have been received and the final supplies procured. We are ready to get our hands back into the soil and take another leap of faith!