Hello everyone! Jess and Sarah here. We wanted to share this photo of a beautiful pickup today:
While prepping to take a shot of the share box, we were looking for a green patch of grass to use as a backdrop. What occurred to us was that we didn’t want to sugar coat the reality – we are in a serious drought. Oh yes, there are clouds overhead and the occasional drizzle, but believe us when we say that this is doing very little to help our beloved plants and farmers. Farmer Jamie had mentioned that even after that flash thunderstorm, the soil could be pulled back less than half an inch to reveal dry dust underneath. Our little home and community garden plots have been showing the same dusty results, and the amount of tending and watering it has taken to just try to maintain our tiny gardens is pretty overwhelming. We can only begin to imagine how Farmer Jamie and others across the land are feeling.
Of the many crops greatly effected by this year’s strange weather, stone fruit in New England was probably the hardest hit of all this year. The burst of fake-out warmth this winter convinced the fruit trees to bloom way too early, and their tender blossoms were killed when the snows returned. So much for “in like a lion and out like a lamb!!!” Consequently, we are now seeing the effects to our share boxes, particularly at the moment in the “SuperFruit” section. We’ll see a bit of an emptiness where peaches, plums and nectarines usually sit. Melons are coming, but there is no size to them just yet. The blueberries in Groton are not irrigated so this crop has been effected as well, but Jamie managed to make sure we all had something fruity to bring home this week.
This seems like a good time to reflect for a moment. Farmers take an annual gamble in their line of work. If mother nature does not cooperate, a farming business can be lost quickly. Seeing how tired Farmer Jamie looked today made us realize how lucky we are to have folks like her around. We’re sure she’s losing sleep over the current weather conditions and their effect on her plants and customers. In the face of bad news, she maintained such a positive attitude as she spoke hopefully about the upcoming crops. The heirloom tomatoes are all green and suffering from a crazy-weather-induced calcium deficiency, they are abundant and big, but stuck in a holding pattern of not turning red, or even orange. Despite the stone fruit losses, the heirloom apples are reportedly going wonderfully and there are hopes that they will help to fill our shares in the fall! All this once again makes us grateful for the CSA model as we are reminded of how crucial it can be in providing stability in an otherwise unstable situation. We are so proud to be in this marriage with our fellow farmers, for better or for worse. We hope that you are too!
Regardless of the effects of this drought, our share boxes are still full and hard to carry. Let’s take a look at this week’s bounty!
- 12 butter & sugar Corn
- 1 box heirloom cherry tomatoes
- 1 green cabbage
- 3 bell peppers
- 3 banana peppers
- green beans
- salad onions
- 2 beefsteak tomatoes
- 2 salad cukes
- 1 slicing cucumber
- 1 bunch genovese basil
- 1 head lettuce
- 2 bunches of zinnias
- 1 box blueberries
- 2 bunches red Russian kale
- 1 bunch collards
Tonight’s dinner at Jess’ was all about the fresh lettuce, just a hodge podge of fresh flavors that tess lovingly refers to as “deconstructed lettuce cups”. The boys love this dinner as they can eat whatever they want on the table.
There you have it! As always, feel free to contact us via an email, comment, Facebook, or by filling out the website form “Get in touch” on the front page of the CSA365 website. Thank you so much for tuning in, we are looking forward to prepping all this great food with you this week!