CSA News Week 2

It sure has been a season of re-planting!!! First following the late-May frosts and now after heavy rains. Especially our beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and swiss chard! Though we are very lucky only some of our smaller, newly planted crops, some greens, and radishes were affected by the rain. Many neighboring farms are still partially underwater and a CSA farm in Holland located near the Macattawa River was completely flooded last weekend.

Farm tour date set for Thursday, June 26th at 8:00p.m.
I would expect it to take 45 minutes to an hour. You will want to wear the grubbiest shoes you can find and some bug repellent. I will send out directions soon. Please let me know if you plan on attending!

Remember to trade in your crate this week with the mason jar if you received your sprouts in one. Leave it out by your cooler if you won’t be home or bring it along to trade if you are picking up at the market.


What’s in the Box:

Strawberries
Large bag of lettuce mix
Romaine heads
Sprouts
Baby red skinned potatoes or asparagus
Sweet cherries?
Broccoli Raab?
Snap peas?

THINK SALADS! We give your lettuce a good rinse and spin but always clean again as you use it, especially if we’ve had recent hard rain as it splatters more dirt around.

Coming Soon:
Blueberries - 1 to 2 weeks
Sweet cherries
Tatsoi and more arugula
Potatoes
Cilantro
Peas

We will be at the Spring Lake Market this week on Thursday from 9:00-2:00p.m.
We’ll have ever-bearing strawberry hanging baskets we’ve been growing in the greenhouse and 2 year old Brigitta blueberry plants we propagated (the variety that produces the monster berries you all love). We will also have strawberries and some additional produce – probably lettuce. You always receive 10% off anything from our market stand.

A few notes from last weeks delivery:
We had to dig the radishes a couple days early as they were beginning to crack from all the rain. We cleaned and stored them in water in the refrigerator to keep them fresh which is why they came with water. If you received rhubarb and haven’t used it yet – just chop into 1 inch pieces or so and put in the freezer. You can make blueberry rhubarb crisp in a couple weeks J

Loss of a farming legend – by Russ

The last couple weeks have been trying to say the least. It seems that I could go on and on about the trials and tribulations about organic farming in the Midwest, like late may frosts that destroy transplants and cut cherry production by 2/3 or torrential rains that destroyed any crop in a low spot, but it all seems irrelevant compared to what happened on Sunday morning. To say the least, life has been put into perspective for me and my family.

Sometime Sunday morning after the rain John Pekich, our neighbor farmer, passed away. John was taking out boards in the Worley Dam to help pull water out of neighboring farms and it is unclear if he fell in and drown or had a heart attack. It is hard to describe this loss to the farming community. John, 76, was the last of a breed. He had farmed his entire life and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon; he was even leasing some of my parent’s property, where he had planted corn a few days earlier. The only way I can give you all an idea of the perseverance of this legendary local farmer is the fact that he farmed or the last three years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. It didn’t slow him down one bit; he still farmed 300 acres by himself growing hay, corn, soybeans, and oats. He will be greatly missed.