So what IS a CSA?

Young Eggplants--MINUS Colorado Potato Beetles

This question was posed to me this week. The simple answer could be a "subscription" garden... you pay your subscription for the season and get your regular installment of produce. But really, it is, and can be, so much more. Think about sustainable farming, think about knowing where your food comes from, think about getting to know your neighbors, think about supporting the local economy... Consumer Supported Agriculture is all of these things.

For us, our CSA garden provides us with a way to afford being able to produce high quality non-chemical food for our family and friends. We have the land, but there is so much more expense involved--including seeds, water and irrigation, mulch, natural soil supplements, time, and of course, a method of deterring the deer from the HUMAN food. (Yes, maybe the kids are right about this obsession with the deer...) Pushing the limits on our short growing season can also increase the monetary costs of the garden--a greenhouse, hoophouses, and row covers to protect those tender plants from frosts and also to encourage early production. It takes a bit of planning and work to get tomatoes by July 1 in Minnesota! All of these things have monetary costs, but the benefits SO outweigh the costs. And those costs are minor compared to the costs of produce shipped from various parts of the world so that we have the luxury of out-of-season produce.

In these days of Big Ag, it's difficult to support a family by farming alone. This is where Community Supported Agriculture--in the form of subscription gardening, farmer-direct meat purchasing, local farmers markets--make a huge difference. We are far from supporting our family with our CSA garden, but it does support our quest for a healthier style of eating and living.

And not only are you sustaining a farmer's way of living, but consider how that farmer is sustaining the earth. While we are not organic-certified, we grow our fruits and vegetables by organic methods. Last year that resulted in our 2 older sons going out in regular intervals with a jar of sudsy water and a knife to look under each leaf of the eggplants in search of Colorado Potato Beetle bugs, eggs, and larvae. The adult beetles and larvae were sent to drown in the jars while the orange eggs were smashed with a knife and scraped into the jar also. We had only a minor infestation so were able to curtail it with about 2 weeks of the intense "beetle search." The boys learned more than they wanted to about the life cycle of the nasty beetles, but they can identify them in a flash! In a conventional garden, we may have tried a plethora of nasty chemicals, only to find the beetles already had an immunity or developed an immunity to them, while questioning if we really should eat anything that was within 10 feet of the chemical. And then what could the after-effects of whatever was used be on beneficial insects? This is just one small example of how we take seriously our role as stewards of the earth.

So, what is a CSA??? It's building a network, it's protecting the earth, it's getting to know where your food comes from, it's supporting a farmer... and it's GOOD EATING!

PingTung Long Eggplant

Random thoughts on Monday...

Snowflakes in the backyard

It's back to winter here in MN. Over the weekend we had above freezing temps during the day with rain. Now it's about 20 degrees and blowing snow. Below zero is forecast in the next few days. It's a good time to think about greenhouses and planting! :-)

Who has checked out what was left in their freezer from last summer. Mike and I went through our 2 chest freezers and condensed down to 1. We found a lot of frozen rhubarb, broccoli, snowpeas, and cauliflower from the garden. Other treasures we discovered were frozen strawberries and corn (from another local farm). We decided it's time to start using this stuff up! So yesterday I thawed some rhubarb and made rhubarb cake--what a treat! It was like a little taste of spring in the midst of this bleak landscape of winter foods. (Now don't get me wrong--I love winter foods: comfort dishes like hotdishes, good keepers like squash and potatoes, canned fruits, etc. But that cake brought the odors of spring. It reminded us of fresh peas, greens, and, of course, rhubarb!) Tomorrow we'll be having a side dish of cauliflower with our supper. So I encourage you to dig in the freezer and see what you find!

During the school year, I teach piano lessons on Mondays. I have decided to incorporate a little "me time" into the schedule, because when I'm home the rest of the week there is NO TIME for mom time. We are busy with school, housework, and keeping our family fed! This means MOM is busy doing all those things! :-) So today, I had some extra time which I'm using right now to blog. As I was driving up our driveway this afternoon, I came across a small group of turkeys, which after looking it up in Google, I now know that it is correctly called a "rafter" of turkeys. There were about seven meandering across the driveway, no doubt eating some gravel which they need for digestion. Quite close to the turkeys was a small doe, poking through the woods. This has been a rather common spectacle on our farm. Since we are somewhat isolated and surrounded by a lot of woods, there are large populations of deer and turkeys.

You may wonder if these cause some problems in the garden. Short answer=YES. The turkeys haven't been much trouble (although they enjoy visiting our domestic turkeys when we raise them), but the deer have caused much anguish during my gardening career. Last year we completed a deer fence around the entire fence. Even though it's only 5 feet high, it accomplished it's task quite well. I think it was just enough of a deterrent that the deer figured they could just as easily get lunch elsewhere. Now that the snow is drifted about 3 feet deep around the deer fence, though, the deer have decided to come visiting once more. You see, I made the mistake of leaving an uncovered round bale of straw in the garden. I used part of it for mulching the strawberries, and was planning to use the rest this spring for the same purpose and in the raspberry patch. Even though there are about 7 strawbales outside of the fence, the deer felt a need to destroy that one partial bale INSIDE the fence. One day I sent Greg up to chase the deer away--there were at least 20 inside the fence! Most of them easily cleared the fence, though a few had their hind legs tripped up on it. So, plan B will probably be put into place this spring--topping the fence with electric strands and colored tape-flags. My kids think I'm obsessed with my no-deer-in-the-garden plans. I even have a Plan C and D! Well, someday when they wander up there for a snack of sugarsnap peas to find that every last one has been nosed out by the evil deer, they will understand.

One thing that I did today as I was enjoying some quiet was finish going through the FEDCO/Organic Growers Supply catalog. I was reading through the descriptions of all the organic soil amendments and resolved to test the garden soil again this spring and see if needs some additional rock powders, greensand, etc. We use no synthetic fertilizers in the garden, depending on rotation, compost, composted manure, and cover crops to boost the fertility. It seems to be working, if you look at this jungle of tomato plants. This picture was taken a couple years ago. Last year's tomato plants were even more massive and loaded with fruit. I will be given them a bit more space this year, since I anticipate an even better season!

Well, my free time is up! Time to go back to the cold and snow, and leave my garden daydreams for another time.

2010 is here!

2010! Yes, it's here! I have sent in my seed order, and expect all those little gems to arrive any day. The onions will need to be started soon, quickly followed by the tomatoes and peppers. What fun! Little growing plants in the house will help to send away the winter doldrums!

We are continuing our CSA garden this year. Last year we supplied food for 8 families, including our own. What an accomplishment! I look forward to another wonderful season this year! I have added a few different varieties of peppers and tomatoes to the mix this year, and I promise the jalapenos will have some heat! Last year, they were so mild our 4-year-old could munch on them fresh from the garden! Over the next few days I plan on posting more of the photos that I took last season. The collage above features (clockwise from top left) Brandywine tomato blossoms, onions and leeks ready for baskets, a variety of cherry and grape tomatoes, and baby melon plants ready to be set out.

I just finished the brochure for our farm items for the 2010 season. Watch for it in the mail or at Ferndale Market in Cannon Falls.

July 23 CSA Night!

It is SO fun to head out to the garden these days--all kinds of goodies out there! Today I found the FIRST true ripe full-size tomatoes. I called Sue (CSA member and local newspaperwoman for the big Cannon Falls Beacon), so she brought out her camera tonight and snapped a few shots of it. Maybe I'll make the paper this week! Could it be that I have the first ripe tomato in Cannon Falls??? Last year I would've believed it, but this year they are much later. Last year I had a dozen ripe tomatoes on July 4!

Emily was excited to show off her garden tonight, too. Her sunflower has a very full bright blossom. I will get a picture of it on here soon.

Here is what the baskets held this week:
broccoli (and LOTS of it!)
jalapenos
Cabbage
green bell peppers
yellow cherry tomatoes (the orange ones will be ready next week!)
sugarsnap/snow peas
zucchini (green and yellow)
baby eggplant
leaf lettuce--speckled amish and green salad bowl

Enjoy!

DING! Round Two!

So this is the time each year that I think, "I really need to get some fall crops started." Then I usually let the chance slip by. Not so this year! Last week, with the help of my family, I planted beans, collards, kale, basil, cilantro, dill, and set out some more scallions that were started in soil blocks. Today I continued the push towards a fruitful fall--I made 200 soil block and planted seeded cabbage, red cabbage, more scallions, broccoli, and cauliflower. If it's dry enough tomorrow, I'll direct-seed a lot more in the garden--rutabaga, beans, carrots, radishes, and more lettuce for starters. I'd like to find some more chard, beet, kohlrabi, and pea seeds. I'll be checking Farmer Seed and Nursery in Faribault first chance I get. Many of the other stores are either sold out or the seed companies have already picked up the overstock. More sugarsnap peas would be sooooo nice.

Kids in the Garden!

Sometimes I wonder if our kids will enjoy gardening someday. They put a lot of hours into it beside us, weeding and harvesting. It starts out as all fun and stuff--planting beans and peas, corn and tomatoes--but it isn't long before that loses it's glamour. The weeds come up, the sun is hot, Mom is cranky, etc., etc. I like to believe that the kids appreciate our family time in the garden; or even if they don't appreciate that, they appreciate the good eats! Alycia is known to run up to the garden to grab cherry tomatoes for breakfast before going to school. (She has asked me if I can send her cucumbers at college! LOL!) Katrina and I spent quite a bit of time oohing and ahhhing over the soon-to-harvest peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and onions last week. Emily has "her" garden. Mikey is my A-#1 tilling man. Gregory would rather just eat the veggies, but will do manual labor if forced. Elias is always about if I'm in the garden, constantly on the lookout for worms--and if that's not exciting enough, the sandbox is right by the gate to the garden.

I like to think that the experience of helping in the garden will be a good memory someday, and that maybe, just maybe, someday they will want a garden of their own.

Elias, that cabbage is as big as your head!

Emily next to her garden--notice the sunflower ready to bloom!

Elias posing next to Emily's zinnias.

CSA Night #4

Tonight was our 4th CSA night! Tonight's basket included:
a bag of peas (snow and sugarsnap--all edible podded)
a cabbage
2 green bell peppers
some baby pac choi
2 heads of broccoli
a bag of leaf lettuce
some jalapeno peppers
the first yellow cherry tomatoes (many more to come!)

I better jot down what was in the baskets from a week and 2 weeks ago, since I didn't do that yet!
July 9 basket contained:
bag of shell peas
odd cauliflower :-)
a green Carmen pepper
leaf lettuce
green onions
Easter Egg radishes

July 2 basket contained:
beet greens
green onions
Easter Egg radishes
sugarsnap peas
leaf lettuce
sage


Each week the variety in the baskets is growing! You can see why in these pictures--the garden is growing beautifully! It's amazing to look back on pictures from just a few weeks ago and compare them with the plants now. In the first picture you can see the broccoli, with the cabbage and then leeks to the right. The tomatoes and peppers are behind. The second picture shows the pepper and tomato patches better. Be sure to click on the photos--they look much better in full size, plus they are much clearer.

Some things have not cooperated like they should--the cauliflower went a bit crazy and then immediately flowered (there will be a fall planting; hopefully that will work better), the chinese cabbage also flowered before reaching any usable size, and the okra is just not doing well. This week will be when many of the second crops and fall crops are planted--more green onions (some are already started), cauliflower, more beans (the first are flowering now--there should be green beans next week), cabbage, lettuce, rutabaga, kohlrabi... and the list goes on!

But for the few things that have not gone well, we have much more that is going GREAT! The cherry tomatoes are just starting, and with some warmer weather we can expect many many tomatoes of all sizes! The pepper plants are LOADED--I counted 9 bell peppers on one plant! The will start to turn red or yellow or orange with a little warmer weather. In the meantime we can start to enjoy the green ones! The eggplants are also proving to be abundant. Next week I believe we should have eggplant in the basket as well. The onions, leeks, celery, and melons are all well on their way to harvest! I've added a few pictures to make your tastebuds water--some nice bell peppers and a baby Ping Tung eggplant.

And finally, I need to share a couple photos of my fertilization program:

Meet Mr. T and Sir (as in T-Bone and Sirloin). These happy little fellows are currently residing in the first section of the garden, which is not planted. Each year 1/3 of the garden is seeded to a cover crop, which is then turned into the soil in the fall to build up the fertility. Section 1 was seeded to rye grass and clover, but as you can see, there is a lot of ragweed that has sprung up. (This may have something to do with the fact that my son didn't know I had seeded this area when he was disking up some space for me and used this area for turning the tractor around... not that I'm complaining or anything... I'm just saying.) The calves have clipped down all the grass and are now slowly working on the ragweed. As they clear (and fertilize) part of section 1, they will be moved into a fresh area of section 1 to continue their clearing and fertilizing. It is all very scientific. :-) Happy cows=better soil! They will be moved off section 1 later this summer, leaving us plenty of time for the manure to break down before tilling it into the soil.

In this last picture Elias is MOOOing. He seems rather at home in the pen with the calves, doesn't he?!