WILD HARE WEEKLY, SUMMER #17

This week, we will celebrate the end of this year's Summer harvest, and before we dive headfirst into Fall, I want you to know just how thankful we are for the opportunity to feed you and call ourselves your farmers. With each passing season, I am continually humbled by the generosity that so many people show us from week to week and the kindness and support that our customers and crew give to our family, this farm and the community that we serve. Each year comes with its own set of victories and failures in the field, but it means so much to have a group of eaters to help us enjoy the high points, power through the lows, try new things and keep dreaming and thinking with future seasons in mind.

Some of you may have seen our farm featured in Yields magazine, thanks to Northwest Farm Credit Services. (If you didn't get a chance, you can see the article and video here). They did such a wonderful job of capturing what this farm is all about, and it was really fun to sneak back in time a few months and see us checking Sugar Snap Peas for readiness and Kim potting up baby celery transplants--they're A LOT bigger now, and I can't think of a better way to salute our transition from summer into fall than stacking our CSA and market tables with great big crisp and savory crowns. As some of our folks have commented, Wild Hare celery is a good reminder of why you would join a CSA or shop a farmers market on a rainy day. You'll never find anything like it from your grocer--your farmer has the good stuff.

Mark and I were truly honored to share some of this year's crop with Chef Tamara Murphy of Terra Plata An Incredible Feast last night, an event that she worked to establish fifteen years ago with the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets to benefit the Good Farmer Fund. Chef Murphy juiced our celery into a flavorful cocktail of Leche de Tigre, her take on a traditional Peruvian ceviche marinade which I could have sipped by the gallon.

In addition to celery, Mark is really proud to harvest napa cabbage for us this week. For whatever reason, napa eludes us year in and year out, and he was so happy to see it heading up this morning that he brought it in and stir fried it for breakfast. Bonus that it arrived as we say goodbye to Summer.

So with that, I hope that you'll join us for the Fall CSA, which begins on Tuesday, October 1st. We move straight onto the next season without a break in between, so if you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for? We would love to have you join us in feasting on all of this delicious squash and making warm and nourishing soups at home.

Again, we thank you for being a part of this farm,

Farmer Katie

WILD HARE WEEKLY, SUMMER #16

Here we are at the penultimate week of the Summer season at Wild Hare. We've used this cool but dry Monday morning to harvest bunched greens for the CSA, knowing full well that there are lightning bolts popping up all over the forecast. The guys have been crossing whatever we can off of the list before that brings us out of the field. It is a bummer, because we'd like to start cutting vines and hauling in some of the winter squash to cure. But, some days we have to take our to do list hour by hour. I'll tell you this though, it is time to bust out some white beans--we've got Kale, Chard and Escarole coming at you. There will be Super sweet Flavor King Pluots from Goosetail Orchard too, which are reminiscent of the Santa Rosa Plums that we enjoyed earlier on this season.

Peeking out at the Winter Squash fields has me very aware of and thankful for all of the hard work that our crew has already put into the Fall and Winter crops over the Summer, not to mention the year round support of our CSA and the boost from our seasonal markets. This year's Fall Share will start without skipping a beat on Tuesday, October 1st, which is only two Tuesdays away. Thank you to those of you who have already signed up. If you haven’t done so already, please do so ASAP, either online or at the farm when you pick up your share this week. You can always sign up online now, using the ONFARM code to temporarily bypass the online payment prompt, and make your payment during the first week. Payments indeed make the farm-go-round, but approximate headcounts are incredibly helpful too.

Many Thanks,
Katie