If you read the Blog and know what veggies were harvested last week, then you will notice there are two new “green” vegetables this week. CSA Member Families will find the following veggies in their boxes (bags) this week: Joi choi, the “second” choi (I still have not looked up the name!), Ching Chang, Black Summer, Tatsoi (some have longer stems than others as it depends on whether they were growing in an “open space” or more “crowded” which causes them to reach up for the sunlight and grow taller), Kale, Asian Delight (small choi with dark green leaves and an extremely white base), Green Romaine lettuce, and small Escarole and Endive! Here are a couple of pictures, but you can always go the Veggie IDs page on the website, too.
Escarole
I always tell CSA Members to go back and read at least one Blog prior to the current posting as I may have said something of relevance. I know my website is not as sophisticated as some out there; however, I designed and built it myself. I am a CSA Farmer and not a software technician. I think I did a good enough job to get my points across! Locally grown, freshly harvested, nutrition heading your way . . .
As of today every one of our CSA Members will have heard the date of their first veggie pick up. We are excited to get the 2024 Harvest Season started. The hail storm in early May is just a reminder that we are not in control of the weather. Also, a few “hail holes” do not change the delightful taste of our greens!
Drone pic of Spring Garden!
One of our sons brought over his drone and snapped some photos of Robert’s “works of art” from the sky. Above you can see the larger, first planted wave of crops at the top and the later, more recently planted waves toward the bottom of the photo. If you look carefully at the middle, more barren row, you can see the drip irrigation tape running down the middle. A drip tape runs down each row of veggies.
Our “potato patch”
The potatoes are looking good! There is one bare spot at the far end where one variety did not grow well; but despite this, I think we will have enough to satisfy. Everything is so pretty this time of the year before the weeds begin to grow and start to take over like they always do. One just learns to love them, too.
CSA Member Families can look forward to eating Joi choi, the “second” choi, Ching Chang, Tatsoi, Kale, Asian Delight, and Green Romaine lettuce! We like the Tatsoi Fetta Pie and Quiche Cakes recipes which you can find under “T – Z” in the recipes. Everything else mixed together in a huge salad is our way of eating. If bitters are not your favorite, try drizzling a bit of local honey over your salad. Adding a handful of Craisins works, too. If you get tired of chewing, one inventive CSA Member tells me these greens make a delightful pesto! And in case you do not know it, pesto can be frozen in ice cube trays for later use as a sandwich spread or tossed into a soup for “greens” nutrition and seasoning.
Robert got 100 feet of fence in place for the green beans and the yellow broad beans to climb. And this photo is outdated already because tonight he moved the deer fence over to cover the first two gardens with a grassy stretch running between the two of them!
I like to recommend these Jumbo Hefty bags for storing veggies in. They are large enough to handle anything we will be sending your way this season. The first layer of soil will be rinsed off of the veggies when they arrive. You will need to perform at least two more rinses to get the soil completely off. My preferred manner is to wash the entire box of greens and store them in the Jumbo Hefty bags. This way when I am ready to make salads, all I need to do is pull out the bag and start chopping. They will stay fresh for two weeks in this manner because they are harvest the morning you receive them!
Here is a current view of the first garden taken by looking through the seven-foot deer fencing. Humans have been known to walk right through it as it is almost invisible to us–but not to the deer, fortunately!
We are in a new phase of our CSA preparation! All plants have been removed from the greenhouse. The last of the transplants are hardening off in the driveway. Time passes so quickly! So much to do!!
Keep your eye on your Email Inbox and when you see your personal CSA Startup email for your day and your pickup location, please send me a reply. This way we know that you know we are harvesting your first box of veggies of the 2024 Harvest Season! Here’s praying it is a good one!
Granddaddy used to say that it never hailed in the bottom lands. Robert and I have believed his words for the last thirty-one years. However, sadly yesterday Granddaddy was proven wrong. Robert was actually weeding carrots when the rain storm with dime-sized hail arrived in our gardens. It could have been much worse. I remember a hailstorm in July 1974 which produced golf-ball sized stones and larger!
Not insect damage; sadly, hailstone damage.
Of course, your CSA Farmers always sample everything which will go into the veggies boxes. so we did eat this choi in our salad last night. I can attest these Asian greens will taste delicious even if they will are not as picture-perfect beautiful as in years past! This storm did bring brought our recent rainfall total to 2 .5 inches. The soil was dry and the sun is shinning this afternoon; therefore, so far, so good.
This was one of the larger chois, but things are growing rapidly. We have not yet started the CSA and it will take two full weeks to once we do begin. Keep an eye on your email Inbox. I will attempt to give each CSA Member as much notice as possible before we harvest your first box.
So much is going on in our gardens! The second garden to be included in the fence is in the process of being laid out as you can see below. That metal post you see is the hose bib where we attach the drip irrigation which runs through the garden to the drilled well.
Meanwhile, thousands of plants have been moved to the main stage in the first garden where we trust they will flourish and grow to fill our CSA veggies in mid-to-late-May. WHEN we begin harvest all depends on the weather in the next two weeks. The chois, etc. will be smaller in the first two weeks of the CSA, but these crops grow every day and soon one will practically fill the entire box! Please remember this!
If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the seven-foot deer fence which surrounds this first garden and will be extended to surround the second garden as well. The fencing is barely visible to the human eye; but the deer can see it! Over the years we have determined what crops the deer like to eat, so we simply enclose them.
Sprouts are starting to come up through the soil in the potato garden. The fabric has been laid between the rows and the drip irrigation lines are waiting to be set up. Within thirty days, one will not be able to walk between these rows because the potatoes will have grown so large–we trust!
Many other crops have also been planted including carrots, beets, peas and some I am forgetting to be sure! I will send out an email to each and every CSA Member when it is time to arrive at your pick up location for your first box of farm fresh vegetables. It will take us two weeks to get the CSA up and running because we operate on the every-other-week delivery system. These early veggies like cool weather as in traditional spring weather. Cool weather will prevent them from bolting early. Pray for this!
Typically on hears the phrase “the days are long, but the years are short” in regard to child rearing; however, it also applies to CSA farming. The greenhouse seedbed and transplanting stage is nearing an end as all of the spring crops are growing nicely and filling their individual peat pots. The nightshade veggies are the last to fill the seedbeds. Today those seeds are starting to break though the soil which means by the end of the week, I shall be transplanting the tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers into their individual peat pots. And then, except for monitoring and watering the plants located there, my daily greenhouse hours will have ended!
The last seedbeds are popping through the soil.
The first and now largest plants have left the greenhouse so they can get acclimated to the real world of direct sunshine, unregulated temperatures, wind, and rain. This means I must be careful when I back out of the garage! Robert put a small fence around this “nursery” to keep wandering animals from walking through and damaging the plants. These plants get watered every day. Once they have adjusted, they will go to the gardens to be transplanted for the final time into our field/garden soil.
This is our driveway “nursery” where plants harden up before going to the gardens.
At the same time, the garden soil must be turned and fluffed. This step is done with our tractors. The remainder of the season is all really hard, manual labor. The ground covers between which we plant must be laid down. The drip irrigation lines must be laid as well. Only then can we begin putting our plants into the gardens. Robert is busy today preparing the gardens for the first joi choi, tatsoi, kale, lettuce, romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and cabbage transplants. We trust each plant will mature into a lovely, tasty vegetable to fill our early CSA Boxes.
Robert is hooking up the drip irrigation which runs down each row.
Producing a veggie crop is a long and labor intensive process which begins the first of March. Each year when we start up our CSA Farmshare pick ups in mid-to late-May, we comment, “It will be the 4th of July before you know it!” And then it is!! Then the first of August arrives with its harvest of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Typically, by this time, we have “hit the wall” in terms of our energy levels and need to rest and re-group. This is when we say, “The harvest season is halfway over.” Turn around a few times and the end of September has arrived and our supply of fresh produce is dwindling. Then, if all goes well, by the end of October or mid-November, the gardens will all be cleaned up and put to sleep for the winter months. One fact remains–the days are long and the year is short!
The first spring garden is ready for its seven-foot deer fencing and plants!
Preliminary work has begun in the gardens with the first and second tilling accomplished. This will undoubtedly bring some weed seeds to the top, but it will remove others which have already sprouted. Weeds! Just learn to love them because they are ever present. Next the laying and staking of fabric begins. This step cannot begin until the winds die down as these strips of fabric are over 100 feet in length. Many eight-inch staples will be used to hold the fabrics in place.
Two of many gardens with fabric and stakes positioned awaiting layout and staked placement.
The re-usable, black fabric helps to hold in moisture and keeps down the weeds while providing a cleaner surface on which activities can be performed ie: planting and weeding and harvesting. There is still plenty of “dirt” to go around, but having this water-permeable fabric helps immensely in cutting down the volume of soil which gets embedded into pants and boots.
Country Antrim Ireland . . . our family milieu for many “greats” involves farmland
This weekend some of our children, who just arrived back in WNC from a visit to our restored Ancestral Heritage Home in Ireland, have traveled to Southern Illinois to our Centennial Family Farm of Origin to view the upcoming Solar Eclipse. Another will be arriving at the family farm on Sunday via Texas and the St. Louis Airport after meeting up with my Colorado sister’s family arriving back in the States from a visit to Peru. Still other family members are traveling from Chicago and Wisconsin and California(?) to go to the farm for the Total Eclipse Family Reunion. They planned all of this a year ago.
Centennial Family Farm of Origin in Southern Illinois
Robert and I were invited, but of course, this is not the time of year when we can head out! There is too much to be done in the field and too many seedlings and transplant babies in our greenhouse which require daily attention. I trust the clouds will clear enough that they can see something–or not–as it will be dark! My brother-in-law says we might possibly experience some of the event here in Fairview. Regardless, I do not think a few minutes of darkness on April 8, 2024 will affect our harvest season! I have taped a National Geographic television program as a backup to the out-of-doors viewing for our WNC location. Honestly, sometimes being tied to the land and the plants and the vegetables and home is very comforting for me–notice, I did not say relaxing as the CSA farming season is in progress! My Illinois farmer brother and nephew understand!!
Our WNC Fairview CSA Family Farm from a drone’s view
I am not an alarmist; however, the following is concerning. Consumers need to be aware of these ongoing projects and exactly how such research is being funded. In the video below, US Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky sounds the alarm against manipulating food. What Tennessee has done with regard to edible vaccines and more details on the research being conducted follow the video. Perhaps consider taking the time to voice your opinion on the matter to your representatives.
Rep. Massie: "I Think It's Dangerous to Play God with Our Food" 9/27/2023 There’s a push to create edible vaccines—food products like tomatoes, lettuce, or milk that are genetically modified to have the effects of a vaccination when someone consumes them. Rep. Thomas Massie… pic.twitter.com/saA0JxZQfB
Bill HB 1894, was passed by the Tennessee Senate in a 23-6 vote on March 28 after the state House passed it 73-22 on March 4. It awaits the governor’s signature. The bill opposing mRNA in food was passed by the Tennessee legislature and awaits the governor’s signature. The bill comes in response to a University of California-Riverside research project looking into whether mRNA which targets pathogens could be implanted into edible plants, which would then be consumed. The research was funded by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation–your taxpayer dollars! Local media described the bill as a move targeting “vaccine lettuce,” would classify foods modified to act as vaccines, as pharmaceuticals that essentially require a prescription.
UC Riverside associate professor of Botany and Plant Sciences, Juan Pablo, said “We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens,” adding “Farmers could also eventually grow entire fields of it.” Another researcher, Nicole Steinmetz, said in the same release that they planned to use nanoparticles or “plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants.” A Kentucky company has already been “infecting growing tobacco plants with a genetically modified coronavirus” to see if it can produce antibodies for a potential vaccine, adding that the company “can already do this right now.”
We each must take responsibility for ourselves in our food choices. Speaking out is also a choice!
Twice in the last week families seeking CSA Membership have emailed me to see if we received their information form. And I had NOT. This rarely happens; however, it has happened twice in the last week! If you filled out and submitted the form on our website (or here) and I have not gotten back to you, please send me a direct email. As a general rule, I will reply within 4 to 24 hours to let you know we are including you in our 2024 CSA Harvest. Not getting a Welcome Email from me means something has gone wrong!
Our greenhouse is full of plants of all sizes. Here are the first seeds which we planted. They will be moving outside into the “real world” after this weekend’s cold snap passes.
Below are some of the smaller plants just recently moved into their individual peat pots (on the bottom) and some in between sizes of plants. There are seedbeds yet to be started as well. Just a reminder that each joi choi, romaine, kohlrabi, and head of broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce, etc. you find in your early CSA Boxes started out as a tiny seed in our greenhouse. It takes time and patience to grow a garden!
My view from the greenhouse has changed from a sea of yellow daffodils to a sea of pink tulips, azaleas, and the majestic Redbud tree. Ever changing, but still beautiful signs of Spring!
If you were unable to see the glorious sunrise this Easter morning, I trust you were at least able to enjoy the beautiful weather this day brought. This is a special day to celebrate new beginnings and everlasting life. A day for joy and gratitude and eggs!
The grass is lush and green. The blueberry bushes have been pruned and weeded out. Our blueberry bushes are currently full of tiny blossoms. We are not sure what the future holds for them if freezing temperatures return, but today they are ready to burst with life
Robert walked the field gardens and says the soil is looking good. It is not yet time to begin planting, but it is time for the many preparations of the gardens to begin. So many steps to make them ready to accept our seeds and greenhouse seedling transplants. I am already dreaming of the first fresh salads!
Cane Creek Asparagus & Company CSA 