The News from Windflower Farm
What’s in your share?
- Arugula
- Bok Choy
- Red Butterhead or Red Oakleaf lettuce
- Red radishes
- Sweet Japanese turnips
- Garlic scapes
- Broccoli
- Summer squash or zucchini
- Cucumbers
- Potted Genovese basil
Your fruit share will consist of sweet cherries from Yonder Farm. Our cucumbers are getting started and will be in shares soon. Tomatoes are green and plump and thinking about turning red but waiting for that to happen is like watching the proverbial pot of water come to a boil. I understand that garlic scapes can become tiresome, but they make for a good pesto. And each scape represents a future garlic bulb. Arugula can also be turned into a good pesto.
Our packaging is undergoing a transition. In our packing shed, we continue to juggle every manner of container, but we are working closely with site coordinators in your neighborhood to shift back to pre-pandemic packing. Please bear with us.
What’s new on the farm
The rain has just stopped, and the barnyard is full of puddles. If I take an average of what the rain gauges scattered around the house tell me, and they vary widely, we got 6/10s of an inch. Whatever it was, it was very welcome. It had been three weeks since our last rain and the land had become parched. Irrigation had become full-time employment. I recall being told that a vegetable farm needs an inch and a half every week to achieve good yields. I rest easier knowing that for this week we are already halfway there.
The packing shed is busy this morning. The harvest has been completed and now the work of washing, sorting and packing has begun. Victoria and Daren are our packing and distribution co-coordinators and, between the two of them, have over 30 years of experience. I tell new employees that it’s never too early to develop an exit strategy. I kid, of course. Six members of our staff have been with us for 15 years or more – a fact that gives me a good deal of satisfaction. Victoria and Daren have three helpers today, all high schoolers from the neighborhood – Abe, Charlie and newcomer Ezden. Their day will be spent first in building boxes and washing and sterilizing shipping tubs and then in washing and packing the eight or nine items that will go into tomorrow’s shares. It’s work that will take the five of them well into the afternoon to complete. I don’t spend a lot of time in the packing shed – my work is in the field – but Victoria and Daren must make it enjoyable. Whenever I do go in, there is laughter or an interesting conversation. And people keep coming back.
Have a great week, Ted
Central Brooklyn CSA 