Farm Message for Saturday, August 15, 2009

STAR HOLLOW FARM NEWS

For the week preceding Saturday, August 15th, 2009

General news & info

Hi folks,

Summertime, summertime, sum- sum- summertime! (the refrain from an old song...). Yes, it's finally here, those glorious 90 degree, 90% humidity days that make working outside such a joy. And boy, did I pick the right project for the week—working on our new cooler! It's really very pleasant working inside my former shop with the fan on, whilst my peons (what, is that pejorative?) here on the farm do the outside work. I'll be running out to pick up some produce this afternoon, but between this morning and tomorrow I think I have a good shot at having the cooler functional for Friday's orders and packing. It will more than double our cooler capacity, and make both Friday's and our 3 AM Saturday morning truck loading oh-so-much better.

This week's produce: (New items underlined)

• Greens: bibb lettuce, arugula, braising greens, cabbage, chard, dandelion, kale (Russian and green), pea shoots

• Veggies: beans (green, Lima, yellow wax), beets with tops, carrots, sweet corn, slicing cucumbers, eggplant (oriental), garlic, onions (cippolini and sweet), peppers (bell and some chiles), potatoes (red, gold, purple, La Ratte fingerling and rainbow mixed), shallots, tomatoes (standard red, yellow, Cherokee purple, Roma/plums, cherries), yellow squash, zucchini

• Herbs: basil (Italian and mixed), oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, sorrel, thyme

• Mushrooms: crimini, portabella, shiitake, white

• Berries, melons, fruit: blackberries, cantaloupe, Ginger Gold apples, nectarines, peaches

• Other items: the usual eggs, butter, cheeses, preserves and such, plus Mrs. Brechbill's own homemade garlic/dill pickles in a beautiful ½ pint jar.

On the farm: Surprisingly we had another large pick of cherry tomatoes again yesterday—and they're going into your CSA boxes again this week—but I sure think they're gonna be done soon, from the looks of them. There was an interesting blog post that Constance found about the blight and forwarded to us. If you haven't read much about it yet, it's pretty interesting (even for non-farmers) I think. http://civileats.com/2009/07/28/battling-late-blight-in-the-north-east/. The part where the farmer says that spraying (even the organically approved material) “feels like a sin” is pretty much how I feel when I've sprayed the copper several times now, but weighing that against losing everything keeps me at it. (The fact that we've had no rain now for 10 days means I've gotten out of spraying this week, as dry conditions are not conducive to the disease's spreading.)

ORGANIC—To be or not to be ... the ongoing question: A dozen or so of you responded via email after I first put this topic on the board several weeks ago. For those who are keeping score, we're running 50:1 right now with “do what you think is right.”

More than a few have remarked “Well, you'd drop certification, but you'd still be organic anyway, right?” to which I want to answer “NO.” The expense and the hassle is not the only reason we're talking about this. It's also the “one size fits all” approach to materials allowed, management of nutrient resources (specifically manure), seed sourcing, using effective controls – if needed, and more. Please talk to me if you're interested or this is important to you. I like openness, and don't want to feel like I haven't given all our customer a chance to be heard on this important issue.

Have you checked out our blog? I personally have no experience with blogs (being over 30—way over—and all), but seeing how this one has developed over the month or so it's been in existence, I sense that there's a critical mass needed using it until it sort of “gets going” and has enough happening to be worth checking out. Each week a few more people check it out, comment or post, and I think maybe it's getting there! Have you? (www.starhollowfarmcsa.blogspot.com)

CSA-Specific News & Info

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week the plan is for a head of bibb lettuce, bunch of rainbow chard, Lima beans, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, items of purple food (carrots, potatoes, garlic), and some nectarines. Enjoy!

Adams Morgan CSA volunteers: Thanks to Eric, Sarah and Steph for their help handing out orders last weekend. We appreciate your help!

Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm

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More photos...

I'd like to echo Constance's comments, and add my photos into the mix. Enjoy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phijo/sets/72157621975411422/

Many thanks to the Treichler's for being such generous hosts (and phenomenal farmers)!

~Phil

Farm photos and an interesting op-ed

Hi Everyone,

It was great meeting many of you at the Open Farm, which was such a delightful trip. I heartily recommend it to anyone thinking of going on Labor Day weekend.

Here are some photos from our trip to the farm:
http://tiny.cc/aazn9

And here's a really interesting NYT opinion piece on late blight. Thought others might like:
http://tinyurl.com/nkuamk

Constance Newman
(and yes, it's amazing, but there appears to be two Constance's on this blog!)

New day & time for Food Inc

I updated my earlier post, but it didn't pop up to the top, so I'm posting again. We've decided to see Food Inc Sunday (tomorrow) afternoon at 3:30 instead of tonight. You're all still invited; it would be great if you let me know that you're coming: gretchen dot lehman at gmail dot com

We're meeting in the E Street lobby at 3:15. It's supposed to be a scorcher tomorrow, why not escape the heat in a cool theatre?

STAR HOLLOW FARM NEWS

For the week preceding Saturday, August 8th, 2009

General news & info

Hi folks,

In addition to finally being hot outside, the produce that we have for you this week finally looks like a mid-summer list also, with beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant in good supply. I'm trying a new format below where you can see an overview of everything – but not a lot of detail. Of course, the fact that it's listed here doesn't mean that it will necessarily be around all day!

This week's produce:

• Greens: bibb lettuce, arugula, braising greens, cabbage, chard, dandelion, kale (Russian and lacinato)

• Veggies: beans (edamame, green, Lima, yellow wax), beets, broccoli florettes, carrots, sweet corn, cucumbers (hothouse and field), eggplant (oriental), garlic, okra, onions (several kinds), peppers (bell and some chiles), potatoes (red, gold, and rainbow mixed), tomatoes (standard red, specialties, Roma/plums, cherries), zucchini

• Herbs: basil (Italian and mixed), cilantro, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, sorrel, thyme

• Mushrooms: crimini, portabella, shiitake, white

• Fruit and melons: cantaloupe, nectarines, peaches

• Other items: the usual eggs, butter, cheeses, preserves and such.

Hey, wanna go to the movies? CSA members Gretchen and Jen were talking about the new food movie “Food, Inc.” while up here at the open farm this weekend, and decided to go see it in DC this Saturday (8/8). They posted on the blog the time and place. If you'd like to join them, and then possibly discuss it afterwards, their contact info is on the blog post. (www.starhollowfarmcsa.blogspot.com)

On the farm: We had our biggest pick of cherry tomatoes yesterday—they're going into your CSA boxes this week—but it looks like the plants will be done soon as the blight blackens about half of the remaining leaves each day. With the tomatoes there in the high tunnel, I don't want to spray anything at all since there are so many different kinds of crops all within close proximity.

Out in the fields, the potatoes haven't all collapsed yet so that means every day the tubers are getting bigger underground (YEAH!). We'll be digging some every week from here on out, into September probably, and with luck we'll achieve our plan of having our own potatoes for you all through the winter.

Jack and the others have gotten all of the walls and the rafters of our second cooler in place, and the insulation will be going up around it starting today. Hopefully we'll have it ready to use in a week or two.

We have a young man here volunteering on the farm for two weeks, learning what is involved in running a small vegetable farm after interning at the Family Farm Coalition headquarters in DC for the first half of the summer. Thanks for your help Scott!

Open-farm gatherings: We had a nice get-together here last Saturday evening and Sunday morning with three carloads of CSA members and friends up from DC to see the farm and socialize. The third and final open-farm this season is on September 5/6. Three families with young children have already RSVP'd, so it's looking to be a family affair this time. (And we don't think we'll make it to midnight and beyond around the campfire on this final version, but it was fun last time!)

ORGANIC—To be or not to be, that was our question: And there continues to be lots of discussion on the topic, which is good as it is helping us formulate our plans. We also had our first “may choose not to continue supporting you as we have” comment, which we knew would come, and is good as we realize not all will agree with our decision to change, if and when it happens.

CSA-Specific News & Info

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week the plan is for green beans, a couple of ears of sweet corn, a healthy pile of mixed summer squashes, some green bell peppers, and ingredients for a tomato/fruit salad (mixed cherry and specialty tomatoes, some French sorrel leaves for a lemony bite, a peach and a nectarine). Enjoy!

Adams Morgan CSA volunteers. Thanks to LeighAnne and Karin for their help handing out orders last weekend!

Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm

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Cantaloupe Salsa

I saw this post on cantaloupe salsa from Smitten Kitchen, and it's like she had some inside knowledge of what our CSA boxes had in store for us this week... cantaloupe, sweet Walla Walla onion, jalapeno.

This was great: you could eat it like a salad or more like a salsa with chips, etc.

I bet you could add some mint to this, too, if you have any leftover from a couple weeks ago.

UPDATED: Wanna see Food, Inc.?

Update: We've decided to go on Sunday at 3:30 instead of tonight. Meet in the E Street lobby at 3:15.

At last weekend's open farm, Jenny & I discovered a mutual interest in seeing Food, Inc., and we thought other SHF customers might also enjoy going as a group. If you'd like to see this documentary about the food industry with us and possibly discuss it afterward, we're going to catch it at E Street this Saturday evening (August 8), most likely the 5:40 showing unless a different time is better for others.

Email me (gretchen dot lehman at gmail dot com) if you're interested. If you've already seen it, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

If you haven't heard of Food, Inc., here's what Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post wrote about it:
In the muckraking tradition of Upton Sinclair and the slick documentary stylings of "An Inconvenient Truth," Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc." seeks to lift the curtain on the cynical and often sickening workings of the modern industrial food system. This absorbing film looks terrific and does a superb job of making its case that our current food ways are drastically out of whack. The trick will be getting "Food, Inc.'s" message beyond its natural constituency of the already-converted to the millions of shoppers whose choices in the marketplace represent a tsunami of untapped power.

Starting with the chicken and beef industries, the filmmakers trace how fast-food culture created the corporate concentration of agricultural production and the disappearance of the traditional family farm. With damning hidden-camera footage and interviews with such pioneering journalists as Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, "Food, Inc." deftly demonstrates how issues such as illegal immigration, public health and intellectual property law intersect at the largely hidden nexus of Big Meat. Most heartbreaking are personal stories of loss, including a mother's crusade for tighter food regulation after her toddler son died of E. coli poisoning and Midwestern farmers being sued by Monsanto for engaging in the time-honored practice of saving and cleaning seeds. See "Food, Inc." after dinner, but see it.

Also, some links:
Official site
Reviews at Rotten Tomatoes