(CSA Newsletter: Week 27)
Meet this week’s vegetables:
Believe it or not, mid-August is a relatively quiet time of year on the farm. Perhaps you might consider it the eye of the storm: the temporary calm between months of flurried activity on either side.
At this time of year, the majority of our sowing and planting has been done. We still have a few rounds of fall crops to get in the ground, but they’re nothing compared to the big spring push when we plant all our early succession crops as well as all the long-season summer and fall/winter crops — often within a month and a half timespan.
Also, although we’re busy harvesting the many abundant summer fruits, we’re not actively tackling any of our big one-time harvests. The garlic is already in and curing, and the onions and winter squash are still weeks away from needing our attention.
So, our weeks feel more or less the same for a period in mid-summer: we harvest, we weed, we water, we harvest, we weed, we water … It’s a lovely time of year (especially when we’re not battling intense heat) to simply enjoy the place we’re blessed to work. We can snack through the day on fresh beans, tomatoes and ripening blackberries. We can bike to the river to swim after work … It’s a nice break mid-season.
Yes, this is still the peak of summer, and it feels like it: the grass is yellow, the fields are abundant, the days are warm. But peaks are quickly followed by change. If you think in terms of graphs and math, picture summer as a sine curve, and early to mid-August as the top of the curve — there’s very little change at the moment, and yet we’re also very aware that we’re about to enter another, different period of intense change. We’re about to enter the “prepare for fall” phase of summer, wherein we harvest the aforementioned fall storage crops (onions, winter squash), finish planting all our over-wintered crops, and start tidying up the farm and sowing cover crops in preparation for the rain’s arrival in October.
Don’t worry — there’s still lots of summer left to enjoy (although I did notice “Back to school” ads in the Sunday paper!), but we recommend savoring these next few weeks before we start sliding slowly towards a new season. Enjoy this week’s summer vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
CSA Potluck coming up!: 5 pm, Saturday, August 22
You are all invited to join us on the farm for a fun community potluck a week from this Saturday. We’ll give a farm tour or two for those of you want to see the fields in their summer glory, and generally enjoy each other’s company while we eat good food.
Please bring a dish of food or beverage to share as well as plates, cups and utensils for your family. We’ll have extra available, but we don’t have enough for everyone (and we try very hard to avoid disposable plates, etc.). The gathering will begin at 5 pm, with food served soon after.
Directions to the farm: From McMinnville, take HWY-18 south out of town headed east. Take the Dayton exit and drive straight through town. Stay on the same road (Wallace Rd/HWY-221) for about seven mils until you see blue road signs for Heiser Pumpkin Patch. Turn LEFT onto Grand Island Rd. Stay on this road as it crosses the bridge and drops down onto the island. At the first 4-way intersection on the island, turn RIGHT onto SE Upper Island Rd. Our driveway is immediately on your left. We share the driveway with our neighbor, and our property is on the right side of the drive. Welcome! (Call if you have any questions 503-474-7661.)
