Week 4 of the CSA went beautifully.  Our flowers are really starting to bloom, so this week started the "Pick Your Own" bouquet when members came to pick up their shares this week.  This will be pretty common throughout the CSA, so take advantage of it!! This week's blooms included zinnias and cosmos.

The produce for this week:

• Squash
• Cucumbers
• Sugar Snap Peas (2 pints)
• Assorted snap beans (3 quarts)
• Beets
• Carrots
• Celery
• Pole Beans (1 quart)
• Broccoli

I hope you're all finding wonderful things to do with your squash!! There are many great recipes out there.  Tonight we simply sauteed potatoes, squash, green onion and while garlic cloves as a side with our dinner, and it was great!!

A note about the broccoli; if you wondered why it looked strange....it is not the typical variety that we grow and Dylan says "I'll never grow it again".   He was not impressed with the "loose" broccoli head and just the general appearance.  Any feedback would be great!!

As always, you can view all CSA newsletters on the "CSA Members" page.

--Harmony

This week's CSA was LOADED with great produce!! This week's bounty:

• Sugar Snap Peas (2 pints)
• Snap Beans (4 qts)
• Assorted Summer Squash
• Potatoes (white)
• Swiss Chard
• Beets with greens
• Carrots
• Garlic (Shangtung Purple)
• Cucumbers

We also changed a few things on the newsletter this week, specifically the "Feast or Famine" section.  This explains why the quantities are different at different times.  For example, right now the CSA members get tons of beans, because they are at peak production.  On the flip side, they got two cute little cucumbers, because they're just starting to come in.  Anyone can view the weekly newsletters on the "CSA Members" page, if you're curious. 

We also had such an abundance of beans this week that we had a one day only "bean sale" and had a great turnout!! Keep your eye out for instances like this on the Facebook page and through the email list.  We do this occasionally if we have a very large harvest and conditions are favorable (for example, we are unable to go to market tomorrow).

Don't forget about the promotion for farm pick ups! If you refer a friend to our farm and they place an order for farm pick up, you'll get $5 off your next farm pick up or market order!! Also, if you've never been out to the farm for a farm pick up, you can get a $2 off "coupon" if you mention that it's your first time.  We'll send the coupons via email and they can be used at the farm or at market.  :)

Hope to see you soon!

--Harmony

I have never seen so many beans in my life.  And that's saying something.  When Dylan came in two days ago with the SECOND of THREE ten gallon tubs..he looked at me and said, "please don't write a blog about this...".   :)

Early this week, the beans on the plants were small, but "getting there".  As of two days ago, we have had a bean EXPLOSION at 47 Daisies.  We had two CSA pick up days this week, supplying 23 plus families with beans, then went to market today with almost 30 gallons...and now Dylan's in the living room snapping beans so I can freeze them tomorrow.  And they need to be picked again. 

Our table was very colorful today at market, as we took yellow wax beans, burgundy beans and dragon lingerie.  Dylan says to get those if you need a little spice in your bean life......he probably didn't want me to write about that either. 

But I think I did a pretty good job of writing NOTHING AT ALL negative about the TENS OF THOUSANDS of beans all over my house. 

:)
--Harmony

It is not officially summer yet, but the heat has arrived (along with the lack of rain) and I am already feeling the warm season veggie blues.  The GRAND variety of cool season veggies is amazing.....everything from lettuce to fava beans to sugar snap peas to turnips and beets......I love cool weather veggies.  Once the spring heats up though we have to say goodbye to the cool weather veggies until the fall (September or so). 

Warm weather crops consist of some of the staple crops....squash, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, melons, purple hull peas and okra to name a few.  These crops are exciting when they come in for harvest but soon lose their luster after weeks and weeks of the same things.  

Because I am trying to stave off those warm season veggie blues before they begin we are planting some new, fun and entertaining things this season to combat this very problem.  Edamame is one of my favorites and has been sowed in the beds.  Yard long beans are one of the other fantastic warm weather crops which add diversity to the harvest (we have red noodle and gita this year).  We are trying out a few new ones as well.  A couple off the top of my head are New Zealand spinach, malabar spinach, Vietnamese fuzzy guord, comet edible guord and cucuzza squash.  Should be fun to try them all!!

In addition to these new additions to our crop lineup.......I am not willing to surrender those cool season veggies.  It is a bummer to not have lettuce or salad greens when the tomatoes and cucumbers start producing.  You can always have a tomato, cucumber and pepper salad (YUM!!).....but you can't beat a salad full of freshly picked greens.  Research has shown that salad greens can certainly be grown during even the height of the summer under 50% shade.  Keep watching the beds for the shade structure to be constructed (it is coming soon)!  Hopefully we will be having fresh salad greens back on the menu soon, just in time for tomatoes!!
--Dylan

We had our first pick up of week 2 today for the CSA! We were happy to hear that everyone is enjoying their vegetables and heard a lot of good ideas for preparation!! If you have any recipes or ways you prepare the vegetables in your share, email me and I'll put it on the website!

This week's share includes; sugar snap peas, dill, assorted summer squash, beans, rutabagas or kohlrabi, cut lettuce mix and carrots.

This week's newsletter has been posted on the "CSA Members" page and is viewable by everyone. 

Also, we have reopened the farm for pick ups, so check out the "What's Growing Now" page and get your order into us!!

See you soon.

-Harmony

One of our three barn cats had kittens on the 22nd of April.  This is a good thing...because that means more "snake killers" in the barn, and I'm all about that. I decided that we'd keep all four, along with the three we have...and get them all fixed (for a small fortune) and have a complete war on snakes and rodents in the barn.

Not so fast............

The babies went missing...and were nowhere to be found for a full week.  During that time, we found 4 MORE kittens...much older..eyes open..running around..that one of our other barn cats apparently had. 

We had completely given up hope on the other litter, and decided we'd keep these kittens instead for our "snake killers". 

While Dylan was in the hayloft checking the garlic he heard tiny meows coming from below.  These sounded much smaller than the litter we just found the day prior.  You guessed it..he found the first litter...which the momma kitty had moved back to their original birthing place..minus one. 

So NOW we have 7 babies....3 barn cats..and 2 house cats.  That's 12 cats.  That's too many..even for me. 

Anyone need a cute, cuddly kitten?? PLEASE let me know.  :)

--Harmony

We are half way through pick ups this week and so far so good!! Everything went smoothly for the Tuesday pick ups.....except for the spinach (the spinach was frozen in our new produce refrigerator and we didn't discover this until 3:30...)....and we're hoping for good luck Friday as well!!

This week's pick up consisted of; Lettuce heads (Romaine or Grand Rapids), cut lettuce mix, spinach, collards, radishes, fennel, turnips or rutabaga, potatoes (blue), carrots (white), dill and cilantro. 

The newsletter is posted under the "CSA Members" page with preparation ideas and recipes. 

Looking forward to many more weeks to come!!

--Harmony

The first round of garlic came out of the beds yesterday evening and I am beside myself with excitement.  Garlic is one of my absolute favorite crops not only to grow but to eat as well!!  The first to mature was a turban style garlic (shangtung purple).  The creole garlic and the softneck garlic are still in the ground and will be for another 2 weeks to a month.  Turban style garlic produce 8-12 large cloves around a center stalk.  Now that the turban garlic has been harvested it will be cured (dried) for two to three weeks and will then be ready for eating!

We cut open one of the bulbs to see if they were fully mature and sure enough the cloves look beautiful!  The garlic order for this fall has already been placed.  We ordered nine pounds of seed garlic (all different awesome varieties) which will be arriving in mid-September.  We order certified organic seed garlic so we have to get our order in early in order to get a good selection.  

Hopefully our CSA members will be seeing garlic in their pickups in a couple of weeks!
--Dylan

The start of the CSA season is a very exciting time here at 47 Daisies.  We have been preparing for this day for many months and it has finally arrived.  These first few pickups will be loaded with fresh cool weather crops.  What are some highlights......turnips or rutabagas, collards, lettuce, lettuce heads, radishes, fennel, spinach, white satin carrots and new potatoes along with some fresh dill and cilantro for your flavoring pleasure.  

Not familiar with the CSA (Community supported agriculture) concept?  Our members pay a fee up front at the beginning of the season and in return receive 20 weeks of fresh produce throughout the growing season.  This concept is not new.  It has been around for a long time in other countries and really started to take hold in the United States in the late 80's and 90's.  The beauty of a CSA is we start to think about eating seasonally.  Since the advent of produce shipping (from far distant places) and grocery stores we as Americans have become spoiled and become detached from what is growing in any given season in our local climate.  We have become accustomed to being able to buy a tomato at any time of year......whatever the costs of that tomato might be (environmental or financial).


The CSA model also provides a connection to the farm where your food is produced and the farmer who is growing it.  It provides a sense of accountability to our food system that doesn't exist at the grocery store.  You know exactly where your food came from, the soil it grew in, the practices that is was grown with and maybe most importantly......WHO grew it.

We will keep you informed as to how the CSA is going on a weekly basis through blogs.  You can also view the weekly CSA newsletter on the "CSA" page of our website by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.  Let us know if you have any questions or would like to be added to our waiting list. 

--Dylan and Harmony