Hutten Family Farm
Sign Up or Login  
 

Hutten Family Farm Newsletter for Tuesday Apr 24, 2012

     This rain and wind is less than pleasant but the crops sure do need it. The wind here in the valley today was very gusty and strong. We had to spend some time this afternoon in the fields pulling row covers back into place. There were four sections of row cover that had blown off of the plants but only one of them was ripped up quite bad. Everything is back in place now. Crops are growing well under the row covers and there is lots of weeding to do. That should keep us all busy once the weather dries up. I think we will be picking the first spring radishes from the field by thursday or friday this week.  Japanese hakurei turnips and pac choi by late next week from the field.
     We had enough hahurei turnips from the cold frames to put them in the CSA boxes this week. You can eat the turnips raw or cooked a little. The greens are delicious steamed and tossed with a little butter. I use a lot of butter. Sometimes we saute the greens with sesame oil and garlic and salt; a pretty common Asian stir fry. The boxes still have apple cider in them but it is near the end of cider. I think only one more week after this one. Root vegetables are also nearly finished for the season. Hopefully you like greens of various types because they will be the mainstay of the CSA for the next six or seven weeks. We will soon have rhubarb and green onions as well. Mushrooms, cucumbers, and tomatoes will show up in the boxes sometimes which are grown here but not by us right now. In six or seven weeks crops like bunched carrots, bunched beets, kohlrabi, broccoli, and strawberries begin and eating a CSA box full of stuff becomes a lot more fun. Or at least a lot more diverse.
     It was my birthday on Sunday. I'm forty-six years old. Sometimes I think that I am getting really old but most of the time I feel pretty young still. I think that I am twelve years younger than the average age of farmers in Nova Scotia; at least it is something like that. That statistic should make people think a little bit about who will be producing food here in twenty years or so. I'm not being negative really; just thinking.
     Debra and I ate some baby pac choi with ginger root and tofu for lunch today. It was delicious; really tender and sweet. I'm hoping to put it in the boxes next week if there is enough. 
     I'm not trying to drive people crazy but I need to repeat myself again. Please sign the check off sheet at local source if you pick up a box in Halifax.If you cannot spell your name, just sign an "x". If you like, draw a picture of your favourite vegetable or fruit. Even a picture of your pet hamster. Just so we know who did not pick up a box on any given week. Thank you.
     The CSA is a fairly significant part of what our farm does. Managing the CSA takes a bit of time and part of that is tracking customers accounts. It is a big help to us if you check your balance on occasion and send us an email indicating that you want to renew (if that's the case). The less time I spend in the house typing (I am slow) the more time I can spend outside doing what I like. Many people already do this and it's great.
     Have a good week and enjoy the spring weather.
ted

Return to the list of newsletters