WILD HARE WEEKLY WINTER #7/8
Loving those clear skies, but ooooooo we are feeling that chill in the air. As you can see from all of the happy ladies pictured above, we took some time out on a sunny day at the end of last week to move the October flock of hens out into their new digs out in the field. This oooold raspberry patch has sat fallow for many years, so after the ladies work their magic on this patch for a while, we hope to bring it back online for brassica crops by 2020. It is worth noting that since moving these girls out into the field, we’ve found three tiny eggs in the nest boxes. There are three hundred in this flock, so it isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. But it is an early reassuring sign that Spring is on the way! That and the two cubic yards of seedling mix that just arrived in our driveway. This could be a big seeding week at the farm, and I couldn’t be happier about it. My cup also runneth over knowing that many of you out there have already signed up for your Spring Shares and beyond. I cannot express to you how much this helps us out as your farmers. Those pallets of potting mix, chicken feed and shipments of seeds come with sizeable pricetags and a whole lot of implied effort, but there is great peace of mind in knowing that we’re about to do incredibly hard work for great folks like YOU. If you haven’t signed up for your Spring Share yet, there’s still time to do so online or in the farmstand this week.
The ingredients that we’re putting on the CSA tables this week are standards by this point in the year--standards being a glorious euphemism for “same veg, different day.” I get it, and I’m right there with you peeps. I’m not even going to tell you what I would give for a gem lettuce salad right now. Which is why I have assembled a list of recipes to share this week in hopes that you, like me, might be inspired to try something familiar in a slightly new sort of way. Don’t worry. I’m not signing you up for molecular gastronomy—just jazzing up those standards a bit. For example, a traditional Potato-Leek Soup might get a late season glow-up with the addition of other roots, or with a plant-based version that incorporates smoked paprika, or dream big, ditch the soup altogether and enjoy a Potato Leek Pizza instead. Savory Roasted Pears? Yes please! Same veg—different way!
Best,
Katie
Read moreWe’re back at it this week, and WOW. What a beast February has been, and what an amazing group of people you all are out there. I cannot thank you enough for the outpouring of understanding and kindness that flooded my email inbox and popped up all over social media after we had to close up last week. If your faith in community needs restoring, look no further than the people who are bagging up their farmshares alongside you this week. Thank you for being a part of this CSA.
While the weather was busy being unpredictable last week, we were getting the Spring & Summer CSA Signup info posted online and preparing for the arrival of 75 additional day-old-chicks, hatched on Valentine’s Day <3. We’re already thinking ahead to this time next year, when we hope to be a little less tight on eggs. If all goes according to plan (ha), these girls will be a JV or second string of players for team Wild Hare. Winter time leaves us contemplating many of the “coulda, shoulda, woulda” scenarios like these, given that much of what we’re experiencing in the here and now was set in motion a year or more prior. In spite of the fact that he spent so many days shaking snow from them, Mark is going to crunch the numbers and see what it would take financially and structurally to get a bit more leafy green stuff under hoop houses a year from now as we try to become more and more self sustaining with every year. We have to make changes gradually and affordably, but thanks to your extreme patience and support, we have every good reason to consider what year-round farming looks like for us in 2020 and beyond.
If it didn’t catch your eye on social media, Ashley Rood of Rogue Farm Corp interviewed Mark and I for an article that is part of a series called “Changing Hands” for Capital Press —A Full Root Cellar, Hard Earned: Wild Hare Organic Farm. This week, we’re going to pull something truly lovely from that root cellar—vibrant and delicious Purple Daikon Radishes. I’ve been holding onto these bright and beautiful babies for when the depth winter had really set in, knowing that they’d provide a much needed pick-me-up at some point. The snow finally disappeared over the weekend, revealing the snowstorm’s damage to the first round of harvest on the Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Meltdowns come in many forms. Gorgeous radishes help. Sunchokes do too—you can read on about them below, along with this week’s recipes.
Read moreWith several inches of snow covering our fields as of noon on Monday, and an uncertain forecast at hand, Mark and I have decided to CLOSE the Farmstand this week and CANCEL CSA pickup for February 12th and 13th, 2019.
There is an assumed level of risk involved in being part of a CSA, particularly a Winter CSA. However, Mark and I are very interested in minimizing that risk where we can, so in order to make up for the missed week of Winter Share pickup, we will defer and extend the Winter Share by one week into March, borrowing a week from Spring Share. It means we’ll have a week of lost revenue on the farm, but our Winter Share members will get their full value. So to recap, the revised CSA Calendar for the remainder of 2019 is as follows. As promised, I’ve adjusted and opened up registration for Spring & Summer online. Happy registering!
Winter Share - runs through March 6th
Spring Share - March 12- May 29th
Summer Share - June 4 - September 28th
Fall Share - October 1 - December 18th
Registration for Fall Share, and the Three-Season (Spring-Summer-Fall) Share will be up by the end of the day. I’ve got some desk time ahead of me. As I write, the fields and our driveway are still enrobed in several inches of snow, and the flakes continue to fall. We have witnessed some gorgeous scenes in the fields, but being a worrier as I am, I’m having a hard time with all of the fluctuations in forecasts and electricity. (On a scale of Holiday Inn to The Shining, I’m at about Groundhog Day). I’m extra grateful for Mark, Luis, Jade & Joshan (and Hazel too) who have spent all hours of the extended weekend looking after frost-prone pipes, puzzled hens and snow-laden greenhouses filled with tiny little plants that are hanging on for future harvesting and planting. The overwintering brassicas in the field look like they’re wearing snow helmets—we’ll check them out after things thaw.
Thank you for your understanding. I hope that this comes at somewhat of a relief to a handful of you out there. I know I’ll sleep better knowing that you’re not putting yourselves in harms way in the name of root vegetables!
Many Thanks,
Katie
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