Happy June! With the warming, lengthening days we are thinking about haying, irrigation, weeding, and…yoga! Today is the start of our weekly Veggies and Vinyasa yoga series, led by CSA member and RYT Molly Smith. Molly will be teaching every Tuesday at 5:30pm on the lawn behind the pick-your-own garden. Come for a session or the whole series!
With all the lifting, bending, carrying and endurance weeding we do at Sweetland we frequently joke about starting a farm-based exercise class! But paying attention to the ergonomics of our bodies and how we move on the farm is actually serious stuff. When you’re looking down a long row to hoe or a long career in the fields it’s important to think about pace, strength, and flow. Each day on the farm is almost like one long sun salutation! Today, for example, we’ll be weeding the asparagus. We’ll start on our feet, bent double as if to touch our toes, feeling the stretch in our calves as we move systematically down the row. But the beds are 150 feet long, and I suspect we’ll transition to a squat, a kneel, the butt scootch, and back to standing as we go. The trick is to keep up efficiency despite (or because of) the need to be kind to our bodies. Sometimes that 10 second stretch is worth an extra 10 minutes of stamina at the end of the row, or an extra 10 years of bringing food from the land with a strong back. So come on out and enjoy the farm from your yoga matt (BYOM), and you might see a few farmers there from time to time, limbering up for another day in the fields!
But now on to this week’s harvest!
Cheers, Norah and the Sweetland Crew
Week 3 Harvest, Brimming Basket
- Romaine lettuce, 1 head
- Scallions, 1 large bunch
- Asparagus, 0.5 poundsMesclun; spicy or sweet, 0.5 pounds
- Radishes, bunch of 7 (Friday folks got theirs last week)
Week 3 Harvest, Half Pint
- Romaine lettuce, 1 head
- Scallions, 1 small bunch
- Asparagus, 0.25 pounds
- Mesclun; spicy or sweet, 0.25 pounds
- Radishes, bunch of 4
Pick-your-own begins!
Red Russian and Lacinato kale are open in PYO. We’ll place scissors and bags/bands at the beginning of the bed. Please be sure to walk only in the paths. Harvest kale by cutting large leaves from the lowest part of the stem, leaving small upper leaves to continue to grow. Cut the leaf all the way back to the “trunk” of the plant. Submerge in cold water when you get home if they wilt after harvest. As a reminder, the PYO garden is open for all CSA members, and is open Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. While we do not give official limits on how much of each crop you can pick, please be respectful and leave enough for other members picking after you.
Market Table!
We are trying a new option this season in the CSA barn. In addition to getting your veggies from the CSA list, the pick-your-own garden, and the Barter Table, we will sometimes have extras for sale on the Market Table. These are crops that we don’t have enough of to distribute via the CSA, but we still want to offer them while supplies last. We got the idea from our customers who pick up their share at our farmers market booth and often purchase a few extras to add to the mix. We hope you like this new option!
Recipes of the Week
- *Romaine and Radishes are key ingredients in this Lebanese Fattoush Salad
- *Mesclun Salad with Goat Cheese, yes please!
- *Chicken Salad Pita Pockets; I suggest adding tender mesclun and spicy radishes to your pocket!