Spring
March 24, 2025
Spring
My friend Maria texted me right when spring started on March 20 and, as I pointed out to her, I hadn’t even remembered that it was here. For most of the decades of my life I got pretty excited about spring. I remember when I was in first grade on the first day of spring putting on my new spring jacket to go to school, despite my mother’s suggestion that it wasn’t enough. I can still conjure up the cold I felt that day. I’ve finally come to understand that the minute spring arrives we often devolve into rain, snow, high winds, and generally unpleasant weather at least half of the week — and that half usually on days we are working out on the farm! No, I am not complaining, but just saying – I will get really excited by spring around April 20, when it is coming for sure . . . Meanwhile, back to wrestling tarps in 30-mile an hour winds – a truly team-building activity!
Matt, Justin, Marissa and I froze to death on Friday as we put down 150’ tarps (don’t ever make the mistake of buying those really long ones). By days’ end the tarps had laughingly blown across the field – leaving us job security for Monday!
Expressing Gratitude This Week
We now need only $ 971 to fulfill our goal for Fridges shares for 2025. We received a whopping $1057 this week! Many thanks to William, Karen and Abbas, Jeffrey, Matt and Megan. You can donate by sending a check to MHSC, 411 Sheldon Road, Barre, MA 01005 or donate here.
If you work for a company that will match donations, please consider setting up a matching donation relationship with MHSC. Thanks
Farm Zoom Interviews: Why are you a CSA member?
Our two interviews this week are with Shirley Davenport and Mary Fierro. Both are very long-term CSA members. Enjoy these delightful interviews that Leslie conducted.
Spotlighted CSA Crops This Week: Chives and Kohlrabi
Okay, neither of these two crops are probably on the top of your list for why you might join the CSA, but I am going to do my best to promote them to you today.
I love chives. They are the first thing that we harvest in the spring, and if we on the farm can manage them appropriately (cutting them back to the base of the plant regularly), we can get chives off and on throughout the season. They are in the onion family, which gives them special stature. The beneficial effects of sulfur compounds derived from Allium species can be summarized across several dimensions, including antioxidant properties, anti-inflammatory effects, and potential cancer-preventive mechanisms. And what allium does not radically enhance way the flavor of any dish in which it is used? Our records show that we gave out chives 3 times in 2024. I love them in lettuce-based salad, fried up with eggs, in any soup, and as a garnish in potato salad. The list goes on. Enjoy these harbingers of spring when you find chives in your share bag.
The general response to kohlrabi is, “What is this purple thing in my bag?” These are some of the kookiest plants I have seen, with the most striking purple color. They are a 2-in-1 plant because you can eat the tops as if they are kale or collards and the bulb can be sliced and eaten fresh as an appetizer, perhaps with some good hummus (they dip well). You can also grate them and add them to your lettuce-based salad. You can also eat it in a slaw with things like apples, cabbage and carrots. Cooked you can enjoy kohlrabi sauteed, steamed or roasted, or as filler in things like meat balls. Kohlrabi is a brassica; any vegetable in this family is remarkable as an excellent source of health-promoting phytochemicals and secondary metabolites, especially glucosinolates. High consumption of Brassica vegetables has been associated with a reduced risk of age-related chronic illnesses, degenerative diseases, and several types of cancer.
This July 1, 2024 CSA picture shows a beautiful purple kohlrabi and a bunch of chives (far right).
We are taking shares right now. Here is the form.
Download the 2025 CSA Order Form
Volunteering at MHOF
We move to M, T, W, F from 8-12 (come at 7:30 for breakfast and stay for lunch at noon) on March 31st. Also, we are working on Saturdays with breakfast at 7 and work from 7:30 – 9:30. All of a sudden, we have to tarp, start seedlings, continue with pruning (now small fruits), finish up our wood for the season, and get all of our perennials ready for the season. And the chickens move out onto the field on March 31, so there is bird moving each day. Lots of fun things planned. And you get lots of good food in return for your efforts.
This Week’s Recipe from Jennifer: Golden Sunshine Detox Dressing
This dressing embodies Ayurvedic balance with warming, grounding, and cleansing ingredients. Turmeric and ginger reduce inflammation, support the liver, and enhance digestion, making this ideal for Kapha and Vata imbalances. Garlic further stimulates digestion, while lemon and apple cider vinegar aid in gentle detoxification. Dill’s carminative properties soothe bloating and improve gut health. Olive oil and honey provide hydration and stability, making this a well-rounded elixir for vitality.
Get the Recipe at Jen Zen Living
FDA to Review GRAS Rules
Jack Kittredge
“GRAS” is an acronym for the phrase Generally Recognized As Safe. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act any substance that is intentionally added to food is a food additive, subject to approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized to be safe.
Initially this phrase was applied to common items such as salt, but industry can self-affirm that the use of a substance is GRAS without notifying the FDA and over the years manufacturers have increasingly used this as a loophole to add synthetic dyes, hormones, artificial fats, oils and texturing agents to processed foods. Many have been banned in other countries as potential health hazards for genotoxicity, cancer, DNA damage, endocrine disruption and other issues. No one knows the exact number but considerably over 3000 such additives are currently used in American food whereas less than 300 similar additives have been approved in Europe.
Last Monday HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the FDA to explore potential rulemaking to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway. Eliminating the self-affirmation process would require companies seeking to introduce new ingredients in foods to publicly notify the FDA of their intended use of such ingredients, along with underlying safety data, before they are introduced in the food supply.
“For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the U.S. food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,” said Secretary Kennedy. “Eliminating this loophole will provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation’s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe, and ultimately Make America Healthy Again.”
Turkeys
I know that Thanksgiving is extremely far away, but it always comes eventually and sometimes folks are caught short without the bird of their dreams. We have been at the Thanksgiving turkey business since 1985, and have been glad to be part of hundreds of folks’ most wonderful meal of the year. We are proud to buy our poults from Bob’s Turkey farm in Lancaster, picking them up at 9 am on an early July morning, and having them under heat lamps by 11 am. Then the wonderful 20 weeks of turkey care ensues. These are my favorite birds due to their curious and responsive personalities. After their first month in the brooder house, when they are feathered out and on the field in their movable shelters, they greet us from afar as soon as they see us coming to make the day’s move. You really can’t beat farming, and having these inquisitive animals as part of the mix. We are truly fortunate.
Join Ellen for her 7 Day Spring Cleanse beginning April 7th!
Early Bird deadline is March 28th, so join now to save a little! 7 Day Cleanse
Learn about her top ten favorite ways to support springtime detox at this link.
“Ellen Kittredge’s 7 Day Cleanse was the most outstanding and comprehensive cleanse program that I’ve ever participated in.” – A Migliore
Spring Cleanse Begins April 7th. Register Now for the Early Bird Discount.
Wisdom of the Body, Wisdom of Nature begins April 25th!
And please feel free to join me for a free educational call about detoxification on March 23rd! Spring Detox Masterclass.
Flower CSA
Last year we reinstated our flower CSA. For folks who are signing up for any size vegetable share, you can purchase a flower share too. We provide about 25 stems each of at least 10 weeks of the summer, though I think we passed out flowers over 14 weeks last year. You can purchase your flower share here.
Gut Health
From Kiran Krishnan’s course “Build Your Resilient Gut Biome and Beyond with Rebel Health Tribe. Check out Rebel Health for lots of good info and you can always google Kiran on the internet if you want to go deeper faster.
What is happening to our Microbiome? Some background
There are over 2,000 species of identified bacteria in the human gut microbiome (GM) with the average person having 300-700 species. This is where over 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced, along with other neurotransmitters. The GM aids in digestion (30-40% of the food we eat), nutrient absorption and vitamin synthesis. It produces over 1,000 bioactive metabolites for human function. It also produces short chain fatty acids such as butyrate which are essential for gut and overall health. Additionally, it regulates and trains our immune system (over 70% of our immune system is housed in our gut).
Farm Doin’s
I don’t mean to complain, but this was one of those weeks where the weather was terrible on Monday and Friday, and really nice midweek! Just a game of odds, I suppose.
Regardless, on Monday Stu and Zach finished the second chicken house. Danny had to leave early to take Paula to Mass Eye and Ear for a retinal tear, which they were dealing with all week. All prayers for her eye to heal completely kindly accepted.
Zach was carpenter’s helper with Stu on Monday
Justin, Gary and Alex and I got one tarp down, filled the porch with wood, cover-cropped in the south and west fields after measuring out beds, and started some leeks in the greenhouse. Justin and I completed the fruit tree pruning in the afternoon. Hooray!
Gary cover-cropping in the south field
Friday found us smaller staffed than normal again. Matt, Justin, Marissa and I wrestled tarps all morning, getting 2 delivered to the west field, 4 to the north field, and succeeding in laying four 150 footers in the south. This with icy water, sandbags that need to be replaced as they are really starting to shred, and lots of cold wind. As earlier stated, I advise anyone who thinks of buying a 150-foot silage tarp to think twice on the matter.
Getting these monsters into the tractor bucket was no picnic.
The calm before the 30 mile per hour winds
Minus Matt we planted 27 trays of seedlings in the greenhouse, almost filling it up. At the moment we have nice germination on lettuce, chard and onions, and just started parsley, Asian greens, cabbage, more lettuce, kohlrabi, kale and collards.
What a seed team Marissa and Justin are
Then we went out to put one tarp back on (which has jumped ship again by Saturday morning).
Not being a complete idiot, I later ordered a load of sand and 250 new sand bags for us to use to batten the hatches next week!
On those nice days, along with helping Jack with figuring our taxes, I completed our 2025 organic certification application and got it sent off. Whew!
God, it sounds like I am complaining this week. Just the pre-April 1 ramp up tremors, I think. It will be just fine, as it has been for the past 43 years!
I was drooling all week about the old kale patch this week. As we covered it with tarps we noticed the incredible biological activity that is occurring after our sprays of last week. Lots of digestion going on. I can’t wait to plant this bioactive part of the south field.
Julie
Mike, an almost 50 year friend from Boston, came out with Becky, and we four spent some time pruning paw paws on Sunday – great fun!
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