Outer loop trail at Miller Woods
One of the very cool (and unexpected) results of having someone in our family running for office is that we’re paying attention more to this place where we live. I mean, regular readers of these newsletters know that, in general, we like to pay attention. And paying attention, as the wise older nun in Lady Bird (the recent movie) pointed out, that maybe love and paying attention are the same thing.
But, a change in situation naturally puts a fresh focus on everything. I have to admit, spring also puts a fresh focus on our perspective too. As Casey and I have traveled around Yamhill County recently, we’re both struck (again!) by how awesome this place is where we live. And, it just seems to be getting more and more awesome as the years go by.
The kids spent two days early this week at an Outdoor Education Adventure camp at Miller Woods. Need I say that they had a total blast? Friends and newts and hiking and mud and all the good things. Yay! Both days that I dropped them off, I took advantage of the opportunity to hike the newly lengthened 4.5 mile outer loop at a brisk pace. It felt like a rare luxury in our full farming life to hike by myself both mornings (a chilly foggy luxury!). I also marveled at how Miller Woods did not even exist when we moved here in 2006. Certainly, the land and the woods were there, but they had not yet been developed into something open to the public, filled with well maintained trails and educational opportunities for all. I am grateful that, many years ago, people had the vision for what Miller Woods could be come. It’s a place our family enjoys visiting frequently now, and I’m so glad that it continues to be thoughtfully improved and maintained.
Checking out the views from above
This evening, our family had the opportunity to visit a newer addition to Yamhill County as the brand new Atticus Hotel invited the community for an open house. What a blast! The halls were packed with locals, all curious to see the hotel we’d been watching get built from the outside. It was certainly fun seeing the careful attention to detail in all the rooms, but we also just loved seeing so many people we know from our community in one place, everyone having fun as they explored the new hotel.
I could go on and on talking about the cool places we love or find interesting in our community. I’m sure you could too. And, given that both of these particular examples from this week are new since our moving to the area over a decade ago, I can’t help but feel excited about the future and what it holds too.
I like to think that our little farm also brings some of that same “I-love-this-place!” feeling to the people who buy our vegetables. That’s certainly been our goal since day one.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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CSA payment due! Your next CSA payment is due to us by tomorrow, Thursday March 29. I emailed statements early last week. Please let me know if you have any questions!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Apples
- Sunchoke & kale ferment — This week’s ferment features a new twist: sunchokes and kale!
- Radishes
- Seasonal salad mix
- Kale with rapini — The kale is beginning to form rapini, as well as putting out lots of new tender leaves. The bunches this week feature both: the tender leaves, the thicker tender stalks, and rapini buds.
- Chard
- Cabbage
- Cabbage rapini
- Marina di Chioggia
- Butternut squash
- Carrots
- Beets
- Sunchokes
