Meet this week’s vegetables
Reality check
As you know, this is week five of the summer CSA. I used to teach freshman English at a university, and this was always about the time in the quarter when we had the first real graded paper. It was also about the time that reality settled in for both my students and me—they realized this wasn’t just a fun class that they could coast through; and I realized that my students were writers in progress. Usually this was the time when we all agreed we needed to change some things—either that quarter or the next.
Similarly, here at Oakhill Organics, we’ve begun thinking about how we’re doing so far as vegetable growers. We’re beginning to see some of the mistakes we’ve made in marketing, planting, and planning; and we’re also able to think about how we might approach things differently next season. For example, although it allows us to produce quite a bit of food in less than an acre and a half—we’ve realized that our plant spacing is too close. Consequently, some vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, aren’t able to grow as large as they could. The close spacing also complicates our organic bug and disease control methods.
(I’m sure you’ve noticed the proliferation of ‘organic’ looking bug holes in the bok choy and cabbages. This is something we hope to diminish in future years.)
Honestly, although we’re humbled as we walk through the fields and see bug damage, it is wonderful to be part of a living experiment. I say ‘experiment’ because that is what farming feels like. There was a great essay by John Ikerd in a recent farming journal, in which he talked about the constant tension between chaos and order in agriculture. Natural chaos is what brings life—order is how we harness that power. Every farmer we’ve known seems to constantly be testing the limits of these seemingly contradictory forces. We’ve seen farmers that push order on their farms with wonderful results; and others that thrive on the more chaotic elements. How we let these factors play out in the fields is the experiment—an ongoing one that apparently has no end (since there is yet no ‘conclusive’ right way to farm).
Even though we’re disappointed with some aspects of our growing this year, we’re excited about trying new tactics next year (and even some with our fall planting this year).
Experiment or not—it sure is a delicious ride so far. None of this ‘reality check’ stuff is meant to sound negative, because overall we have entirely exceeded our own expectations for what we could achieve in a first year on our own as growers. But we are learners and growers and continually thinking about what we can do better tomorrow, next week, next season, next year. Since you are a crucial part of that ongoing process, we wanted to communicate some of the trials, thoughts and reflections we have while out here growing food for you. It is an honor that you have joined us in this experiment of farming (and eating).
We hope you enjoy this week’s ‘results’!
Your farmers,
Katie & Casey Kulla
Oakhill Organics
