The April newsletter mentioned that we were eating asparagus already…well the deep freeze in the middle of the month took care of that. The freeze did real damage to a lot of the fruit crops here. We can write off the apricot and peach crops for this year. The cherries and pear trees are putting on a good show of blooms this past week, so hopefully they will come through. The berries were all frozen back to the ground, so we will just have to wait and see on those and the apples as well. The older farmers around here say that they’ve never seen a spring like this and no one says it with enthusiasm.
This past week was all about the rain…at least that’s more typical spring weather. The chickens were wading through the pasture…determined to stay outside in all but the worst of the downpours. Prepping and planting potatoes was the first major spring gardening project this past month. We planted more than 700 row feet of Caribe, German Butterball, Peanut and Red Gold seed potatoes. It was quite a project and we were very lucky that Jill’s parents and sister & brother-in-law all volunteered to jump in and give us a hand so we got them all planted before the rain started. Hopefully most of the excess moisture will dry up before the potatoes drown in some of the lower parts of the garden.
We’ve also been prepping and seeding a multitude of other spring crops including: salad greens, braising greens, beets, chard, choi, kale, kohlrabi, peas, radishes, spinach, turnips and edible flowers. On the recent rainy days we’ve been repotting the tomato, pepper, eggplant and basil transplants, getting them ready for their move outside later this month. We’ve also starting seeding the transplants that will go out to the garden later in the season like the summer and winter squash, cucumbers and fall leeks. We’re really ready for the transplants to go outside as its getting pretty crowded in the sunroom.
The crops are starting to come up in the new gardens, so this week has been largely about getting the fences up. We have a significant deer population here, so we have to work hard to keep them away from all those tender new leaves. Now if we could just fence out the moles and pocket gophers!
We’ve also been planting new fruit trees recently. It will be some time before you see any of this new fruit in your boxes, but so far this spring we’ve planted: pie cherries, nectarines, plums, golden raspberries, cornelian cherries and aronia bushes. These were added to the existing apples, pears, sweet cherries, gooseberries and red raspberries plantings, so sometime in the future we can look forward to quite the fruit buffet.
All this talk, when do we eat? At this time we anticipate the first delivery to be around May 29th. It is possible depending on the weather that it might be one week before or after that. We will keep you updated via email as we get closer and see what the garden is producing.
New member orientation: We will be hosting our annual orientation for new members on Tuesday, May 15 at 6:00pm at Beggars Banquet Deli, 13th & Locust on Des Moines. This is our regular pickup location and the meeting will provide new members with important info about the weekly deliveries, the upcoming season, etc. You will also have the chance to taste products from some of our optional shares (including the goat cheese), meet Lois the cheese lady and have one last chance to sign up for this season’s options. New members are strongly encouraged to attend this +\- 30 minute meeting and past members are certainly welcome to join us. For our southern Iowa members, don’t worry - we don’t expect you to make the drive, but you are welcome. We will contact you directly with info from the meeting.
Apiary update: Since the last newsletter we have lost two more hives which had made it through the winter. Not certain if it was Colony Collapse Disorder or a combination of weak colony and the serious cold snap of early April. Most of the remaining old colonies are very healthy and boiling with bees (to the point that yesterday we split the largest colony into two smaller hives). The thirteen new colonies which arrived in early and mid April are all installed and progressing nicely. We are deploying our hives to multiple locations in the area - farms of friends and relatives – to help pollinate there and reduce potential losses should a catastrophe hit our place.
The continuing adventures of Blue the Farm Dog…Blue’s days are very busy now, with chasing butterflies, digging for moles and attacking clumps of weeds thrown from the gardens. Her favorite new game is Frisbee, though she enjoys chewing on it nearly as much as catching it. During the recent “hot” weather she become a great fan of shade, anywhere she could find it, under a tree, under the hay wagon, under the wheelbarrow…
The latest news on our farm worker/friend/neighbor Krisi is that she continues to improve, though slowly. She continues to go back to Iowa City a couple of times a week for appointments and therapy, so she hasn’t been in school much since the accident and will have to go to summer school to make up for lost time. Last week our little community held a benefit dinner, auction and dance to help with some of her medical costs and we raised just over $10,000. It was really something to see everyone come out and support her and her family so generously.
Multiple Iowa CSAs are promoting/sponsoring Stir Cooking School Classes for Sustainable Cuisine: Out-of-the-CSA-Box Cooking. This class is especially designed for CSA members who want more cooking and eating pleasure out of their box. This class will help you expand your repertoire of cooking techniques and recipes especially suited to the produce of each Iowa season—Spring, Summer and Fall. Tips for preparing whole food fast and what to do with the unfamiliar or dreaded (stinging nettles, or okra, perhaps?) will also be covered in this demonstration and tasting cooking class. This three part Wednesday class is being taught by Susan Hoss and Joyce Lock in Des Moines. Cost is $76 + $30 food fee and registration deadline is May 14. If you would like more info, email us and we will send you the class flyer.
May 12th from 7:00 am-12:00 noon: The Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market opens. We’ll be there with some of our early season offerings. We hope those of you in town will make your way down to the market and stop in and say hello.
May 15th New
member orientation, 6:00pm at Beggars Banquet
June 17th CSA
Member Ice Cream Social at the farm 2:00pm-5:00. Come out for a relaxing farm visit and enjoy
tasty ice cream treats, too.
October 7th Farm Crawl 2007, more info to follow
October 13th Annual Harvest Party, more info to follow
Best from the farm,
Jill & Sean