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Spring CSA Newsletter Week 5

Dear Friends,

Here we are at week 5 of 6 for the spring CSA. Here is the list:

This week we changed over from the hoop houses primarily to the field primarily. I will run down the crops. We planted some onion sets this year with the idea in mind to give these out as green onions. Our higher quality onions are the ones we start from seed in the greenhouse. Those we will grow out to full size. You may be feeling inundated by the oregano by now, but I want to cut it now while it is in its prime. It may come back for another crop in a few weeks. If you can't find ways to use it all up, strip the leaves and freeze them on a cookie sheet in the freezer and then save them in plastic bags in the freezer. You will then get the goodness all year round. We have some beautiful spinach in the field this week. Enjoy! I will decide at picking time how many heads of lettuce to give you tomorrow. They are beautiful. Each week we are planting 200 seeds of 5 different varieties of red/green/roamaine/bibb/leaf. I hope you enjoy our selection. I thought the asparagus was winding down, but we are pleased to give you a little more this week - sorry it is so little. And we will have rhubarb again this week. Enjoy this very seasonal treat or freeze it stewed in a little honey for winter. The radishes should be colorful and bountiful this week. The first of the parsley will be picked this week. This is flat or Italian parsley. Easting parsley is like eating vitamins. It is an amazing blood builder and detoxifier. Enjoy it raw in a salad or a smoothie, or cooked in almost any dish. I hope to have parsley pretty regularly from now on. Coming soon - chard and kale.

Yesterday in the rain we planted, planted, planted. We got a third try on turnips (not sure what is up with these guys this year), rutabaga, parsnips, celeriac (new this year), celery, soybeans, basil, and melons. We transformed three of the hoop houses. The purple is now basil. The green is now melons, and the orange awaits our sweet potatoes which have been shipped. The blue is holding the rest of our seedlings. Monday we turned the yellow house into a tomato house and planted out the rest of the trellises (11 to be exact). We have about 1800 tomato plants in the ground. For those of you who have been around for awhile, you know that tomatoes have not been our forte. This year it is my goal to have you all swimming in tomatoes. We will hope for the best.

The tractor broke down again - this time it lost a front wheel. And it is 45 years old, the part is discontinued, but Jack and Edwin and a local machinist are figuring it out. When it gets fixed we will be able to start making hay. And the truck has fallen on hard times again. We may have to upgrade this time. Meanwhile, we have lots of weeding to do, and still some planting, though that is slowing down as our fields are now almost full. Soon we will be only refilling old beds with new stuff.

The seedlings in the barn tomorrow will all be free. Leave a donation if you wish, of course. And we should have eggs at $4.50/dozen. If you wish to email ahead to order them, we can put them in your bag.

The Holden bags will be highlighted in pink. The Worcester bags will be highlighted in yellow. For those of you who are part of the co-op, you will also notice the names listed on the bulletin board to the right of the cooler.

Julie

Week 5 for Spring Share Recipe from Nina

This week I am including some great salad dressing recipes. These are easy recipes and use ingredients, which are easy to find. With all of the items you are getting this week in the share you can make a great tossed salad. The oregano is good fresh in salad, just strip the leaves, and chop them up. You can also add some hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and or slivered ham to make a dinner salad.