TRADING TOMATOES

Two subjects come to mind we would like to share this week. The first concerns our friends at Red Door Family Farm in Athens who suffered a great loss Thursday morning when high winds destroyed their three high tunnels and a majority of the crops within and adjacent. What a tragedy! As we would expect, they already have plans for moving forward and these do not include dwelling on the loss. The rebuild is underway and their weekly CSA shares have been packed as they head to market as usual.

The irony of the situation is that back in May, when we lost our tunnel tomatoes due to a deep-freeze, Red Door was the first farm to insist we come get replacements. No questions asked. Last week we harvested the first tomatoes from those plants. Perhaps now is the perfect time to return their generosity. Our philosophy of doing good deeds and having it come back two fold continues to be exemplified. Their success as an organic CSA is our success as long as we work together getting people to value local food.

The second topic comes from the Tuesday market, where a person walked up to our stand, briefly browsed our products and stated, “Hmphf. I don’t believe in organic.” Not being one to debate in this situation, I let the opinion go unaddressed. Sharing the statement with Mr. Farmer, we both wanted to know what part of being organic is unbelievable to her? Building the soil to prevent pests and disease? Fearing cancer comes from chemicals in our food chain? The price? This woman, two generations older than us, is fortunate to have experienced life before organic had a label unlike our generation. Her blanket statement is hopefully derived from experiences with organics far from our farm.

Buying organics from a local farm cannot be equated to buying organics shipped thousands of miles. You’re helping more than just yourself. You’re supporting a local family that in turn supports the local economy with the side effect of getting more nutritious, chemical-free, non-GMO food. While there are skeptics, we realize there are more supporters. Summarizing everything labeled “organic” in the same group is a simply a lack of research whether you believe in it or not. Spread the word.

On the defense,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Eight Newsletter

LIFE’S SURPRISES

As our returning members are aware, garlic is an important crop for our farm for several reasons. We sell a lot of garlic at our market stand which equals income, we include it in our CSA shares as much as possible which means more tasteful meals for you, and it is a staple in our kitchen (and medicine chest) year-round. We have been pulling samples of each of the seven varieties we have on the farm this season to see which is going to be included in your shares in what order. So there will be a menagerie of garlic varieties without labels this first week. After this, we will have your garlic more organized with better details.

Things happen every day that we don’t necessarily plan. Of course, it seems like we always have a machine breakdown when we are trying to get chores done early. Or Tuesday, when we were on cloud nine after a great afternoon at market to find our pigs have been visiting the neighbors and are no where to be seen. But then there is the other side of the coin. Like finding out those stinky caterpillars that have been mowing down our fennel and parsley – those caterpillars that the kids have been harboring in a glass jar in their bedroom – are actually beautiful swallow tail butterflies. Or when Gus was doing his evening chores last night and came running into the house to exclaim that the big white hen hatched out some eggs. The whole family joined Gus in his excitement and marched outside to see it with our own eyes. She is now getting a chance that every hen only dreams of. What an awesome, adorable surprise!

It’s easy on a farm, or in any situation, to get caught up in all the unplanned misfortune because we work so hard all the time, but the reality is, there are far more great surprises that we probably realize. We just need to take a second to look around and find them. Dwell on those events, the ones we need to reflect on when we try to figure out why we do what we do.

With garlic on our breath and our hands,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Seven Newsletter

HEALTHY SOIL

Entering week six, we are getting excited about all the up and coming produce. The fresh garlic bulbs, green beans, red potatoes, tomatoes… the list goes on. Things are growing so much better than they were in 2015, we are elated with every small success. We actually have too much of some things! What a nice problem to have.

The photo above is our buckwheat planting gone to flower, adding a nice aesthetic quality to our main production area. We chose to plant this in an area just west of our existing high tunnel where we plan to construct our second large high tunnel next spring. Laying a good foundation will be key. We chose buckwheat because it suppresses weeds and attracts beneficial insects and pollinators. It is easy to kill, and extracts phosphorus from the soil better than most grain-type cover crops. The pollinators love the tiny white flowers. If only we could harvest the seeds off this buckwheat. It would be useful in Grandma Celia’s kishka recipe.

As we hit mid-growing season (we started in February!), we are looking ahead at our fall cover crops. We will be planting some new varieties in the coming weeks. The 2.5 acres of winter rye will be harvested for the seeds, which we hope to replant and put more acreage into production of small grains. We will also harvest the straw for valuable mulch in the coming season. Then in the rye field, we are going to grow a quick turnaround biomass building crop that will be tilled under either in late fall or more likely after the snow melts in the spring. The residue will keep the soil safe from erosion over the winter. We use on farm manure as our primary nitrogen source which complements cover crops that build organic matter, something we are seriously lacking in our heavy clay soil. If we have only learned one thing in the last two seasons farming organically, the success of our farm is entirely dependent on the health of our soil.

Dedicated to the job at hand,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Six Newsletter

BEING A FAMILY FARM

It was a pleasantly quiet week at We Grow with pigs staying in their new enclosure on pasture, volunteers heartily tackling weeds every day and no major break downs. We’ve been taking time to reassess what is growing and planning the next few weeks of planting with fall harvests in mind. We have many things that we tried to get in early this spring that did not turn out and need to be removed to free up the space. Some Asian greens that went straight to flower, radishes that got wormy, turnips in which only a few seeds germinated, kohlrabi the slugs ate, spinach that drowned, kale we simply have to much of and the jury is still out on the beets. They may live a few more weeks to see what comes of them yet. Seems devastating when you start writing it down, but it all part of keeping a garden. In our case, a really big garden.

We are starting to get a few cucumbers, but not enough for every member. About half of our cucumber vines inside the high tunnel froze on May 14 and about a third of the zucchini row (outside – covered) didn’t survive as well, so we have been anticipating being short come early July when they start to ripen. Since half of what we planned is not enough, we are going to give shareholders cucumbers OR zucchini. We would like to make sure each member gets to try both so we will make a note and give you the second item next week to the best of our ability. This is our plan rather than waiting several weeks for the replanted cukes and zucchini to catch up to where we have enough for all 48 of you. Thank you for understanding!

We’ve been having fun with our boys working on the farm this summer for a wage of $1 per hour. We find simple tasks for them like picking peas, composting weed piles, and weighing bags of carrots. They are starting to understand that we all need to work together to be successful. Except when one makes more money than the other and maple fudge is at stake.
Working as a family,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Five Newsletter

WRONG SIDE OF THE FENCE

The pigs have landed and so the fun begins. We couldn’t possibly get new little pigs home without them getting out their very first night. So at 9:00 Wednesday night the whole family was trying to round up two little pigs who slipped right through their electric fence. We have never been very good at keeping pigs on the right side of an electric fence and it is frustrating, because we see other farms containing pigs in some single strand, effortless little electric fence without any swine running circles. So we set up the hog panels until our new fencing materials arrive. We’re going to try keeping them in some electric netting. It is important that the enclosure is portable because they need to be moved to fresh pasture regularly.

In the photo above, Dene is trying to make friends while they eat their daily dose of minerals. These minerals are the key to keeping them from rooting so they graze instead. The two large black hogs, a heritage breed, are on the left and the two Idaho pasture pigs are on the right. We purchased the black hogs from a family in Catawba and for the Idaho’s, we traveled to White Bison Farm in Laona which was a very interesting place to visit.

We feel things are going a little better in season two. At this point last year, we were putting five items in a share and this week we have nine! The deer have gotten into everything the past few days and really wreaked havoc just like last year. The snap peas are completely mowed off, but coming back already. Kohlrabi and red cabbage will be lacking as many are gone. Thankfully, we had some much needed help putting up a huge fence around the main field – about an acre. When we contacted wildlife control about deer problems back in April, they brought us everything we needed for the fence. Fencing is a necessary step if we plan to ever take additional action (ag harvest tags) down the road if the damage continues. Two nights so far and they have been staying out. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Hopefully keeping the deer out and the pigs in,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Four Newsletter

TRIALING SWINE

With a dry weather outlook for the next several days, Mr. Farmer has been called to the fields to cut hay. Helping a neighbor cut for their beef cattle operation and then cutting our own which amounts to about eleven acres this first round. Then bailing it all! Some of this hay will be sold and some will go into storage for our various swine this winter.

We have a new breed of pigs we are trialing called Idaho pasture pigs and they’re a grazing pig. The upside is healthier, better tasting meat. The downside is that they take longer than conventional pigs to grow so we will need to put away some high quality hay to feed them through the winter. We will compare these grazers to the heritage large black hog/tamworth cross variety we just purchased this week. Growing our own feed and grain and keeping our own breeding stock is one of our end goals for our farm. Whether that be Idaho pasture pigs or not, we will decide in the coming months.

The area beekeepers meeting on our farm last week went well. Folks came from all across the county to talk bees. All were hobbyists with 3-6 years experience looking for information on what others are doing to combat parasitic mites, successful overwintering techniques, and splitting hives to grow your own bees. The group plans to continue meeting once a month throughout the summer to continue to learn from one another. If you know someone who keeps bees, please ask if they’d like to join the network. There is no charge. Don’t forget anyone can help stop the pollinator decline by planting things for them that are chemical-free.

Running in circles – it’s hay season,

Rebecca & Eric

Week Three Newsletter

FINDING BALANCE

We were startled by something in the grass at the end of the cat tunnel this evening. It was brown. Assumed it might be a bunny. Went after it. It was a toad. The biggest toad ever seen on our farm. The same adjective can be used for the garter snake we see in the high tunnel each day sunning himself on the straw mulch. And we spotted lady bugs last week. Real ladybugs, not Asian beetles. They are much more red and have nice big black spots compared to those stinky Asian beetles. It seems that Mother Nature is finally making the connections organic farmers hope for. The predators that will alleviate pest problems like mice, cabbage moths and aphids, just to name a few. These little critters are all good signs of a balanced system.

We had some excitement this week when a friend had a swarm and no one was around except Mrs Farmer to go capture it. Volunteer Sally was more than willing to take a time out from planting and the boys were excited for a road trip as well. The swarm was, luckily, very low on a tree just hanging out. The mass of worker bees surrounds and protects the queen before they leave the area. You have a short window of time to get them inside a box while the scout bees are out looking for a new home. Just line up your container and give them one big shake and – BUZZZZZ – you’ve got ~10,000 bees plus one queen in a box. And no one was stung, not once.

There are two things going on this week at We Grow. First, we are hosting a UW Extension Beekeeper’s Workshop on June 15 from 6-8 pm. Let us know if you need details. Second, we are collecting donations for the children’s museum Huey’s HideAway being built in downtown Medford. We want to encourage the museum board to include gardening in their outdoor exhibits. We feel passionate about teaching children food doesn’t come from a store, it is grown! We Grow’s sales from Tuesday’s market will be donated. We are asking members to join us in contributing and sending this message.

Supporting the community that supports us,

Rebecca & Eric

Week Two Newsletter

EMBRACE SALAD SEASON

Here we go – our second year. To our returning CSA members, “welcome back!” New folks, please bear with us as we learn the names and faces of our new members. Please read through your newsletter each week for important information about items in your share and coming up next week.

The spring garden is planted with such anticipation of things to come, but before all the “big stuff” starts ripening, fresh salads fill our plates. Enjoy the greens while they last, because when the heat turns on, the lettuce turns bitter and salad season will taper off until cool fall weather returns.

We are pushing our season extension tools a bit more this time around in hopes to get better shares earlier in the season for our CSA members exclusively. We have a few things in our caterpillar tunnel that are far ahead of last year including broccoli, peas, chard, scallions, kale, dill, romaine and mustard. The radishes were fantastic, but that ephemeral crop is nearly done already. We also have a beautiful crop of carrots growing in the high tunnel we started way back in March just for you that are getting very close to ready as well. Though Dene seems to think they are his secret stash.

So far, we’ve got 3 to 4 times the produce in the ground compared to season one and this is largely because of all the volunteer help we have had this spring. Not to mention having a real plan, which meant the groundwork was done last fall with increased acreage under cover crops. We’re also trying some new things like leeks, salad turnips, savoye cabbages and more which will give our CSA members a chance to try new things along with us.

Let us know if you have any questions about what is in your farm share. We want this to work for you. Thank you again for supporting our farm!

Still busy planting like crazy,

Rebecca & Eric

Week One Newsletter

LOOKING AHEAD

The end of our growing season is here. Despite the hot, beautiful weather Mother Nature is giving us this weekend, the garden is officially done! We have started removing all the plastic mulch, irrigation lines and weeds in preparation for next spring. While we get the groundwork done, we are  also setting some goals for next year: improve efficiency to get more done in less time, improve soil fertility, increase variety in products offered, and grow much more of everything.

While we are excited to get a break from planting, picking and packing, we aren’t looking forward to the long winter of eating out of canning jars and freezer bags. This time off from the garden goods makes that fresh food taste that much better next spring. All those broccoli shoots, the patty pan squash and all that arugula… we might be sick of it now, but we will be excited to see it again after almost a year away.

On the farm this week, we started the ground work for our packing shed. This building will be a modest beginning to a facility that will eventually be enlarged to include cool storage and perhaps even a greenhouse on the sunny end. The beauty of the CSA system is that we receive some income in advance to allow things like farm improvements to take place before the season. Everything will run more efficiently in 2016 because we will have a place to wash and pack vegetables, store tools and seed, and keep records. We are looking forward to better organization. We will not be able to expand without this facility.

As our members seek other means of obtaining vegetables in the coming months, we will be making a plan to provide more to our members in 2016 including extending the season with better fall and winter crops which may mean a winter storage “root cellar.” Time will tell.

Still working hard for you,

Rebecca & Eric

Week Nineteen Newsletter

FEEDBACK SURVEY

It is extremely important for us to incorporate your suggestions into planning the upcoming season. Please take five minutes to either fill out the paper survey included in your week nineteen share or got to wegrowfoods.com/survey to complete our brief questionnaire online and save a stamp. Your input will help us improve our program. Thank you!

THE MESSAGE

The message is loud and clear: People want more from We Grow!! With much excitement we are getting things tucked away in the garden in preparation for winter. Not to mention getting a few of those spring crops planted for overwintering. You’ve really got us wound up to move forward!

We have big plans in the garlic field. The garlic was the most requested item we had from members and at market. We could have easily sold three times what we had available, so that is exactly what we have planned. We’ve got 3,000 cloves ready to tuck under the soil and mulch which will in turn become 3,000 scapes in May and June and the same number of beautiful bulbs in July and August. We are adding a new variety from another organic farm, Persian Star which is large and has 6-8 cloves per bulb. We saved back more German Extra Hardy from our own stock as well.

This past week on the farm we had some major frost. The green beans needed for dinner were kept covered up as well as a few more delicate greens. The lettuces don’t seem to mind a little frost.

The carnival squash in your boxes this week is a gift from a good friend. Nancy Grote gave us our first organic seed catalog, Johnny’s, along with lots of gardening advice over the years. We consider her a mentor in this business. She and her husband Bill offered these organically grown, but non-certified carnival squash to our members. Thank you Grote’s!

The dinner event was incredible with an overwhelming outpouring of testimonials from you. We heard about your experiences with your shares. We also heard a few incredible weight loss stories! And some folks said, “just having it in the house forced us to eat healthier.” You will get out of your share what you make of it and it sounds like you made a lot of great food!

Grateful for such a supportive group,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Eighteen Newsletter

WHEN FALL COMES

This has to be the best time of year! Though as a gardening family, spring does rank pretty high. The amazing weather the past two weeks has only made everything that comes along with fall more enjoyable. With the full moon on Sunday night and still no frost, we are starting to wonder if this growing season will ever end. This is by far the latest frost-free fall we have ever experienced at our Westboro property. Not only does it feel awkward to be pulling out plants that are still green and alive, we are still putting in more greens just in case the weather holds out another two weeks.

You are receiving another variety of winter squash in your share this week. We call them winter squash because once the skins are hardened, they can be stored for months and months into the winter if kept at the right temp and humidity. We were both raised on acorn squash baked with brown sugar and butter. Little did we know just how many varieties of winter squash exist and the different flavors and textures they all hold inside. Today, we like to incorporate squash into soups, salads and roasted veggies. We also freeze it in small packages to use it as our “pumpkin” in pumpkin scones. Don’t be afraid to step away from the brown sugar and get out of your comfort zone when it comes to winter squash.

We started clearing space for a packing shed. All summer we washed and prepped your vegetables outside, rain or shine. Having a place to keep ourselves and the produce out of the elements is important as we move forward and improve our CSA. Eric’s father helped excavate some material and outline the area where we will begin construction this fall.

This week on the farm we started with the fall clean-up. Getting everything tucked away and picked up before this beautiful weather turns into piles of white snow. Yes, it’s coming. Don’t deny it.

In denial that winter could be here tomorrow,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Seventeen Newsletter

PLANTING NEXT SEASON

The vines are gone! The cucumbers that came up in early May and provided delicious fruit in so many homes for almost four months are gone, but they will eventually serve a new purpose in the compost pile. It was a priority to get new things planted in the high tunnel before we lose the heat needed for seed germination. Lettuce and spinach will overwinter in the high tunnel as small compact plants and be ready to harvest next spring when our growing season begins again. We will use a secondary row cover made of a thin fabric to give the plants added insulation in the dead of winter.

After pulling the old vines, we added well decomposed leaf compost to boost the soil nutrients and began planting our seeds. At this point, we are closing the tunnel’s roll-up sides and door every night to maintain about 60ºF overnight temperature . During the day, it can get up 100ºF or more if the sun comes out and we forget to open it up.

The winter rye we worked so feverishly on back in August is up and growing like weeds. We were so worried the cool weather would slow it down, but we were wrong! It is taking over the areas we planted it in and is already pulling up nitrogen for next season’s plants to use.

The Farm-to-Table dinner event is less than two weeks away! We’re getting a good idea of exactly what the menu will look like as the final harvests are taking shape in the garden. We’ve been having fun tasting wine and beer as well. You’re welcome. If you know someone who is considering joining our CSA in 2016, they should come to this event. Or if you know someone who loves great tasting, local food, ask them to consider attending. We are not advertising through traditional channels and need help reaching those people who would love to come to an event such as this. Thank you everyone who has committed to attend already! We can’t wait.

With seeds in our shoes,

Eric & Rebecca

Week Sixteen Newsletter