CSA Day!

It's our first full-on CSA day today! Not the bounteous harvest we might hope for in the middle July, but good, fresh food for all our families. We'll be meeting some of the sponsored families from Samaritan House for the first time, we look forward to it! Special for today was the very first pick on our raspberries - only enough ready for the Full Shares, but next week there should be lots of everybody! Linda Boys made a great contribution for today - Linda has been growing organic veggies for Brandon's CSA for many years now, first with Menno and Evelyn Isaac, who brought CSA to Brandon. She brought the snow peas, gorgeous Deer's tongue lettuce and some of the nicest spinach we've seen in ages.

So, today's harvest for the FULL SHARES: 1 head of Deer's tongue lettuce, 1 large bag of Romaine, 1 small bag of spinach, 1 small bag of snow peas, 4 lbs of Norland baby potatoes, 1 bunch onions, 1 bunch baby beets, 1 pint raspberries.

Today's harvest for the PART SHARES: 1 head of Deer's tongue lettuce, 1 large bag of Romaine lettuce, 1 small bag of spinach, 2 lbs of Norland baby potatoes, 1 bunch of onions, 1 bunch of baby beets.

The baby beets will be delicious, as well as the greens. Many people don't realize that the greens, especially from young beets, are absolutely delicious steamed, boiled or sauteed. Farmers Boy likes his with a sprinkle of vinegar. They are good raw, torn up in salads, although not to every one's liking. The raspberries are absolutely divine! It's always so scrumptious to have that first pick of the season. Nothing like a fresh, sun-ripened berry; they are soooooo NOT like the hard, bland things often found at the supermarket. The baby potatoes are unwashed: they will keep better dirty, and should go in a cool, dark, dry place until they are used.

A new option for CSA this year: the Egg Club! The Girls are producing well enough that we can offer a dozen eggs weekly for CSA members with their pick-up. Members can choose to join The Club, or not; their choice. We can't say that the eggs are completely organic; certified organic feed is hard to find around here. We can definitely say The Girls are pastured, and are not fed any animal by-products, hormones or other medicines. And they seem pretty happy, although we can't say for sure that is reflected in the taste! We're working on making our own organic feed for both the chickens and the pigs; Farmer Boy is looking for sources for organic grains and is pursuing the purchase of his own grain masher or crusher.