The Harvest Bee Blog

Good Morning, Friends: It felt like Christmas in February this past week with so many kind and thoughtful gestures from many of you: books, instagram posts highlighting ways you are using the food you receive, well-wishes and emails, and even a farm visit/tour from 2 of our members who are showing enthusiasm for growing food themselves! These and many other acts that you all show in support of growing local, organic food are both humbling and flame starting; they really play a crucial role in motivating the farmer to find that little bit of extra energy that may be shaded out by any possible feelings of tiredness or even exhaustion, especially as we find ourselves totally immersed in the crunch time of the growing season. Just when you want to put down the tools and wash up, one can find that next level of commitment in the field knowing that the love and passion for growing food is hardly confined to the field where that food is growing, but rather extends to all corners of Naples and beyond! I say 'crunch time' because right now (and happy CSA hump week by the way), we are just past the half way point of a typical growing season here in SW Florida and seemingly past the the coldest part of the year (and simultaneously hopeful that the weird weather that has been ever-present since November is finally gone). So, much of what we were growing (or tried to grow) since the season began is being taken out of the fields and replaced with new greens (kales, collards, chards, and lettuce/mixes), as well as warm weather loving plants like new beans, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and yes, tomatoes (we know many of you are anxiously awaiting them and we are very sorry that first plants have struggled so much). There are still some root crops in the ground so, we hope to be bringing you more varieties of carrots, beets, and radishes before it gets too warm. Also, broccoli, cauliflower, and other brassicas still remain in the growing stages and have not yet crowned, but as long as the temperatures do not spike they should start producing heads shortly. As we have explained to many of you, we really are less than thrilled with the early season results from the greens and lettuces, but we are keeping our fingers crossed for a better second half of the season specifically regarding those crops and now that we moved our cucumbers and zucchini to pots to give them better soil content we intend to be harvesting bringing those to you soon. Of course, we can only guess what the weather will bring, but we definitely are keeping our hopes high that the back end of the season not only produces a more diverse array of food than what you have seen so far, but also much higher yields so we can really fatten ya'all up as we head towards summer. Oh I almost forgot!!!! So far the potatoes are looking lovely and towards the end of March/early April we think we may be able to get a couple weeks of nice, new potatoes for everyone. That excites us because you really rarely find locally grown, organic potatoes anywhere! I have shared the struggles that Mother Nature has provided this season with you, but it is equally important, I believe, that people understand or are educated on when certain crops are typically grown and in what conditions they thrive in so that you have a better idea of what eating locally really means at it pertains to SW Florida. I will try to continue that discussion throughout the rest of the season, maybe highlighting just a few crops at a time, rather than all the crops I listed above. Obvious, at least to most connoisseurs of the local food movement, are the roles that abnormal weather patterns and working a new piece of land play. Not so obvious, though, may be the direct effects of these variables in influencing the growth of farm fresh food. In the end, we know what CSA members care about the most if making sure they get a return on the investment they've made and that is of course, our commitment to you all. We are just so thankful to have a group of members who have hearts bigger than any beet we could grown or lemon we could juice. I know I talk a lot, but honestly, I could never have envisioned starting a new farming venture with so many beautiful people. So at the expense of sounding redundant at the expense of sounding redundant at the expense of sounding redundant (just kidding), thank you all so very much, not just for your support as CSA members but for your support for a movement and an energy that resonates far beyond what we are trying to build with Harvest Bee! Please, as always feel free to ask any questions about when or how or if a specific variety of fruit or vegetable can be grown or any other question you may have about farming, in general. In this week's shares you will find the following: -Beets -Beans -Lettuce -Salad Mix -Packet of Herbs There are just so many awesome recipes for beets to choose from thanks to the sweetness of this root crop variety. So, we decided to include 2 recipes that take a not so common twist on this delicious vegetable. This one is for a Beet Soup or Beet Borscht: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017682-mushroom-and-beet-borscht And the second one is for a Beet Red Velvet Cake...yes you read that correctly and it is soooooo good: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016333-beet-red-velvet-cake Thank you, as always, and see you at pick-ups! "Onen," The Bees