News and blog
Hello again!
Now that a few weeks of (more or less) successful deliveries have gone by, I thought I'd go over a few ways that you can ensure that you are getting what you need out of your weekly box. Every week, two days before the delivery day, I send out an email with the tentative share for the week. It is a good idea to read this email. Often I give you a choice of two or more items-- last week, for example, was spinach or kale-- and if you have a preference, you can email me what it is. Also, sometimes we offer extras free of charge to the family and couples shares. This does not replace anything in the share, we offer it when we have extras of things I feel aren't popular enough to give out every week, or that you may be getting tired of, or I am worried that it might not all get used. Such items are designated "by request" in the weekly email. Finally, there is the substitution option. If there is something on the list that you really don't want, you can request that we substitute it for something you do. To see what we have available, check the a la carte list (on our website under the header "purchase") and pick a couple. Please give us more than one option to substitute for your unwanted item, as some things may be in short supply. However, I would encourage you to give everything a try at least once-- you never know what will become your new favorite until you do.
In your boxes this week:
Strawberries
Lettuce
Spinach or Kale
Spring Onions
Radishes
Kohlrabi
Strawberries have not been the best crop this year, although this week's seemed a bit better than last's. We had a good year with them last year and so I thought I knew a bit about strawberry culture. Pride comes before the fall, I guess. Hopefully they have one more week in them.
New this week is Kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is unusual among vegetables in that it is the swollen stem that is eaten. (The leaves are edible but are rather tough and strong, so plan accordingly.) The flavor is about halfway between broccoli and cabbage, with a hint of turnip and a little bit of oakiness in the nose, with a lingering finish reminiscent of black plums and linden flowers. The only real drawback to kohlrabi, and probably the reason why they have yet to conquer the culinary world, is that their peels are quite thick and difficult to remove. Carrot peelers are useless, you must use a sharp knife, being careful not to cut off your knuckles or tip of your pinky. Once this has been accomplished, the real fun begins. Slice the kohlrabi thinly and try a piece raw. This is how many people enjoy it, sometimes with lime, olive oil, and salt. If you wish to cook it, treat it as broccoli.
For descriptions, pictures, storage and cooking tips, and miscellaneous vegetable trivia, you can visit the "our variety" page in our website under the header "us and our products". One of our summer interns, Kelley, is busy updating this page and adding the relevant information. It is still a work in progress, but is getting better every week!
Crop update: It has been extremely cool and wet for June. Crops are all one to four weeks behind where they were last year. I was hoping for peas and zucchini next week, but it looks unlikely, so next week's box will be quite similar to the last two. It is, however, the best spinach crop we have ever had. Every year is different.
Finally, my dad has become quite enamored of facebook and is constantly updating our facebook page with pictures, farm happenings, and who knows what. I've never seen the facebook page, or any facebook page for that matter. Dana tried to show me how to use it once, but I just bleated, like a sheep, curled up in the fetal position and shut down entirely.
Hello and welcome to the 2013 harvest! By way of an introduction, I'm John. Together with my lovely wife, Dana, I run Jade Family Farm. We have two children, Evelyn, age 11, and Simon, age 14, both of whom are actively involved in the farm. My parents also do a tremendous amount on and for the farm, and Dana's mother has agereed to move in with us and milk the goats twice a day, only she doesn't know it yet. Generally, though, you should direct inquiries and complaints, in the unlikely event that there are any, to me, unless you are really angry, in which case please direct them to our one neighbor we don't like. Neither Dana nor I come from a farming background, but were drawn to it by the lure of easy money. Apparantly, we were misinformed.
In your boxes:
salad mix
lettuce
Tender young spinach (Thursday people) or tender young Kale (Tuesday People)
Easter Egg Radishes
Spring Onions
Salad Mix is a combination of baby lettuces and other tender, tasty greens-- bok choy, mizuna, rapini, kale, tat soi and red giant mustard, to be precise. We wash it as well as we can and remove all bugs and weeds to the best of our ability, but as we do not possess a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture certified commercial kitchen, our salad mix is not considered ready to eat and so our attorney reccommends that we reccomend that you thoroughly inspect and wash all produce before consumption.
Lettuce is something I rerally enjoy growing. Different varieties have different characteristics. One of our summer interns, Kelley, is busy posting pictures and descriptions of all of them on our website under the "our variety" page under the "us and our products" header. And not just lettuce, either!
Tender Young Spinach-- see "Tender Young Kale".
Tender Young Kale-- see "Tender Young Spinach"
Spring Onions are a tasty spring treat. These mild onions will be with us a few more weeks until the pearl drop and mini purplette onions arrive.
Many people enjoy pointing out that radish greens are perfectly edible, very nutritious, and serve admirably in soups and stews. However, I am not one of them.
Those of you who ordered a la carte may have noticed that your account balance listed on your orders had only a very tenuous connection to reality, at best. I am currently in the process of coprrecting this problem and hope to have it sorted out by next week.
Crop update: Strawberries are starting to ripen. There should be enough to ditribute some next week, but I can't yet say how many. Other crops are looking pretty good, although everything is late due to the cold spring and frost event in mid May. Peas are almost all trellised and about to begin flowering and the pea field is a wonderous sight to behold, if you ignore the weeds. The sorrel, however, doesn't look so hot, mostly because I forgot it as there and ran over it with the disc. Oops.
Things went more or less smoothly with the first delivery, but there are always some bugs to work out. thank you for your patience. Remember, the most reliable way to reach me with a pressing concern is by cell phone, 717 585 4897. I don't get reception everywhere on the farm (like inside the walk in cooler) and can't always hear it, but it's worth a try.
In other news our hens have just begun to lay. we should begin offering eggs for sale in a few weeks. Also, our barn cat Lucy had three adorable little kittens! Even I am forced to admit that they are the cutest darn things I ever did see.
For more farm related pictures and info, you can visit our facebook page, although I have never done so myself. Dad takes care of that. I'm told its really great!
With the arrival of warmer weather we have finally been able to get into the fields and start planting. Peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, salad mix, kale, spinach, onions and radishes are all in the ground and are at various stages of growth. here is a picture of our latest lettuce and or spinach planting, which should be ready by mid May. Amazing how fast they grow!
I even planted a little yellow mustard seed (as in the popular condiment) -not as a commercial crop, but just for fun. Sometimes you to live it up a little. Apricots and plums are in bloom and fill the air with their intoxicating fragrance. The goats are enjoying the green grass and the myriad birds of field and forest sing all evening long. Springtime is lovely.
We welcomed our first intern of the season this April 5th. Stephen hails from Kutztown, Pennsylvania and is signed on to stay with us the whole season, if he can stand it that long. Every intern is required to take on a special project of his or her choosing, and Steve has chosen a static aeriated pile composting system, about which I am very excited.
Also new to our farm is this handsome sheep, shown here before shearing.
The little fellow in front is a lamb. I named her "peaches" (the sheep, not the lamb, who is a future ram named Agamemnon) because got her from a farm in Peach Bottom, Lancaster County. She is an East Friesian milking sheep, which is a pretty unusal breed, even in East Friesia. Most people dont think of sheep as being milking animals, but such famous cheeses as mozzerella, romano, and roquefort were traditionally made from sheeps milk. Probably, though, I'll just drink big frothy mugs of it, still warm from the udder.
In other news we finished our moveable chicken coop (in this case when I say "we" I actually mean "Hannah") and the high tunnel is moving right alond. Here is a picture of me perched atop a piece of expensive rental equipment, doing the job and trying to smile. Thats all for now!
John
The title just about says it all-- we're primed and ready, eagerly awaiting some halfway decent weather so we can get started. Not that we have been completely idle-- oh no, far from it. Our new chicken coop is almost done, including some very nice detail painting done by Hannah's mother who came to visit one day. I am waiting for it to be full of hens, though, before I send you another picture of it. But here is a picture of two baby goats, Inky and Binky, which Ramona delivered into the world two weeks ago.
Okay, that didn't work out so good. Trust me, they're very cute. The kids are fun to have around and of course the milk that Ramona gives is out of this world. Our other doe, Tulip, is due to kid any day now.
We're also moving ahead with out second high tunnel, shown here with the rafters up behind the stubble of last fall's crops. This new tunnel should enable us to grow well into the winter and offer a winter harvest share for the first time in 2013.
Despite the cold weather-- does anyone remember March of 2012, when it was 70 degrees?- we have managed to put a few things in the ground, which we then cover with plastic over wire hoops to create a kind of mini greenhouse.
Some of them are even growing a little, but all in all this March is making me glad we start our harvest share deliveries at the end of May, not at the beginning. Speaking of which, we are filling up rapidly, so if you are planning on joing the harvest share this year, but have not yet done so, I reccomend acting sooner rather than later.
Other farm activities this time of year include pruning the fruit trees and currant bushes, sending soil samples to the lab, and seeding all sorts of crops in the greenhouse. Also we are cleaning up the fields and making sure our tractors are in good working order, or at least able to start. We can't wait for some real Spring weather-- won't be long now!
John
Now that the days are getting longer and the sun brighter, signs of life are beginning to revisit the barren earth, and the farm begins slowly to wake up. We humans, too, are gradually emerging from our winter torpor and are getting back to work. I find that the nicer the weather, the more energy and enthusiasm we have and more gets accomplished. Fortunately there is plenty to keep us busy this time of year as we hurry to complete our winter projects before Spring truly arrives. As you can see from this photograph, our five star mobile henhouse is nearing completion (roosts to the left, nesting boxes to the right).
We have 50 pullets ordered for May, and although that probably won't be enough eggs to satisfy all our customers, harvest share enrollees get first "crack" at them, as it were. Also our greenhouse is in full swing, with most of the 20,000 onions we planted up and growing and in addition to early spinach, chard, beets, lettuce, kale and John's favorite, escarole.
I even forgot the trauma of 2008 and decided to try spring cauliflower again.
I'm also hard at work constructing a new high tunnel (that's just an unheated field greenhouse). Some assembly required. We received a NRCS grant for the thing, which is great, but it puts us on a tight schedule with regards to actually finishing it. We should be ready to set up the rafters next warm day we have.
In other news we are getting ready for the arrival of baby goats sometime in the second week of March and harvest share signups are ongoing-- see website for details. Your early signup is always appreciated, as it helps me plan out the season and purchase the neccessary supplies for the same in a timely manner. Plus, I just spent my last $400 on a sheep. Maybe not the wisest thing to do, but if there's one thing I learned these last ten years, it's that if you wait until just the right time to follow your dreams, you never will. how's everybody doing? Drop us a line!
John, Dana, Simon, Evelyn and the Jade crew
