Sept 22

The weather is our master!

More times than I can count, our daily (even weekly) to-do list is planned around the weather. It rained last night? The field is probably too wet to weed or till. Hot and sunny today? Harvest the leaf lettuce as early as possible, and get it out of the sun. Going to rain like the dickens tomorrow? Get outside tasks done today, and save the indoor stuff for tomorrow.

Today, we picked over five gallons of raspberries between the two of us. They are still going strong, and we're having trouble keeping up with them. Now we have a little issue with mold developing on some of the most mature ones, if we don't get them picked in time. And, of course it spreads like crazy once it gets going. We knew the rain that was predicted for tonight and all day tomorrow was not going to help the situation at all, so raspberries got bumped to the TOP of the list today.

Tomorrow, because the freezers (there are 3--one regular fridge/freezer unit, plus 2 chest freezers) are already full of berries (and other stuff, of course) it's going to be Jam Making Day for me! Also, because of the rain, for H, it's Drive-to-Green-Bay-Day! The clear panels for the greenhouse are ready, and in the interest of saving $300 for shipping, she's driving (almost 250 miles each way) to pick them up. Yikes. I'd rather make jam!

Recap of the last few days: Last Saturday's Pizza was a partial bust. Very cold for the regular pizza hours, so less than 20 pizzas total. A & K--the troopers!--came, and even brought friends!

After the "public" hours, the co-op from Winona held a staff party at the farm. They ordered about 10 pizzas over the 10 that is included in the party package. Lots of families/kids running and playing around, and checking out all the animals. A chilly evening, to be sure, but they all seemed prepared for it, and seemed to have a great time socializing.

This week's CSA box: Potatoes, garlic, peppers, "delicata" squash, broccoli (or cauliflower for some!), leeks, perpetual spinach, leaf lettuce and a bundle of cilantro and dill just for fun! I should also mention that, over the last few weeks, everyone has gotten a pint of raspberries, just not all the same week. The boxes are getting lighter (at peak, a full size share box weighed 30 pounds!) and some things are on their last harvest, like the broccoli and cauliflower--they were mostly the side-shoots from the main heads that were part of the boxes a couple weeks ago.

One other distraction in my day today was filling 5 additional 1/2 share CSA boxes. They were part of fundraiser for a local school. Instead of the normal gift-wrap/candles/candy sales that so many schools do, and people are sick of buying, or just plain don't want, the school (through some very dedicated and motivated organizers) decided to plan their own local-foods fundraiser. They approached  a lot of local food purveyors and asked them to offer products for the school kids to sell. The producers still got paid--it wasn't a donation, per se, but the school increased the price of each item by a certain percentage, that the school would receive. H offered a 1/2 share CSA box (5 sold), packages of farm-raised lamb kabob meat (4 sold) and pizza gift certificates (4 sold).

By-products: Raising awareness of local foods and local food producers, and getting her name out there.