The First of the Season

This week, we are celebrating the first of the season:

Strawberries

Peonies

Pig Roasts

6AM CSA Harvest

and....

The opening of FLORA*BLISS online and at the farm.

Come say hello and pick up some goodness.

A couple of notes to our CSA shareholders who start picking up this week:

• Bring your own bags to collect your share, even if you are not picking up at the farm, we ask that you bring a bag with you and leave the black crate behind.
• Pick up is from 2-7PM.
• If you have a balance, please make sure you pay it promptly, which you can do online.
• If you are picking up at the farm, the parking area for CSA pick up is the small dirt access road off of Hanson Rd. 
• Please tell us how we are doing and what would make your experience better

Now, when we scribe the harvest list in the blog, I must say, it often takes until the last minute for a few reasons....sometimes we are going on instinct. There is a certain amount of comfort in knowing the cycles in the field and what should be ready. Sometimes, we check our carefully crafted spreadsheets. We make lots of charts and spreadsheets in the winter as we plan the fields, the seed order and the schedule of greenhouse seeding. We have started to include harvest times and yields as well. However, all the calculations in the world will never be enough to teach us whose really in control and I'll be the first to tell you, its not us. The rain, the drought, the squash bugs.....the root maggots, the cut worms, the cool days. These variables cause us anxiety. They challenge us to improve our systems, make exceptions and then rules to the exceptions and to accept that whatever will be will be. We walk the fields, tasting, peeking, poking around. And then we make the list.

Hopefully, someone has told you this, but as a CSA member, you have committed to this risk with us. We are, together, your family and ours, growing our community, our food shed, our local economy and providing a canvas for education. So, if in a moment of great optimism, we list a vegetable on the list and then when harvesting it, realize its not quite up to standards, we may not include it. That being said, we also often find ourselves out harvesting the day's lettuce only to discover we are next door to knee high and ripe soybeans that are just right to be eaten as fresh edamame and then add that to the week's bounty. This is all said to further your empathy, increase your understanding and broaden your enthusiasm for this fun seasonal eating journey we are all about to go on this week. For the next 20 weeks, we hope your tables, graced with our food and flowers, will welcome conversation that brings laughter and joy and a blessing of appreciation for all that there is.

This week's share includes:

A sungold tomato seedling (this is an easy one to grow and a true eating pleasure)

strawberries

spinach

lettuce

kale

chives

rhubarb

Blessings on the meal-
Stacy