The Harvest Bee Blog

Good Day, Friends: Simply cannot believe that we are already to week 18... Before the Health Summit lecture the presenter asked me why it is I farm. In response, I explained to him the best I could my passion for farming. As I was transplanting some new crops of tomatoes in the field yesterday it came across my mind that what I did not explain to this person was why it is I farm the WAY I do, which is to say, focusing on staying smaller and local. The reason is simple, because I absolutely cherish the whole environment of shaking hands with, fist bumping, and hugging the people who eat the food I grow, people that I come to know personally and can honestly say are just great, great people doing wonderful things for our society. While, I may not necessarily know each person who buys food at the market, I at least can see their faces when they purchase their goodies, as opposed to having some large conglomerate of a farm factory, shipping food away to people that I have no idea who they are or what they do. That disconnect and lack of companionship created by large scale food operations is, among many things, incredibly bland and altogether unappealing to me. Juxtaposed with this bland way of distributing food is, of course, the intimacy of the CSA model. Over the course of an entire CSA season, farmers can really get to know their members and even those of you who I knew before the season began, it has been an honor to become even more familiar with you, truly admiring and respecting the ways each of you enhance our community that supersede just supporting local farmers. I plan to maintain this CSA model of growing food for however long I farm if not for any other reason than because that bonding and surrounding oneself with really good people is motivation and encouragement that lifts me up when obstacles arise, as well as lift me higher when things are gravy! That bond sustains me in both farming AND life, in general. More often than not, I am thinking about this when I am in the field, along with tons of other weird and crazy ideas and thoughts. A few quick crop notes: As the temperature heats up, many types of vegetable crop varieties begin to bolt. Some root crops like the onions and fennel you are receiving this week will likely die off unless we pull them earlier rather than let them grow to maturity. So, they will not be quite as large as some earlier varieties, but still more than enough to fill your bellies. Also, this will most likely be the last week of lettuce, which also bolts rather quickly in warm temperatures. So, we hope you don't mind that we doubled up on the including both a salad mix AND a head of lettuce. They should last longer than a week in your fridge so that you don't have to worry about using it all up at once. On a sadder note, it does not look like Broccoli and Cauliflower are going to make it this season. We just never had a long enough cold spell to allow the heads to form. The plants still look healthy, but even if they begin to head now the warmth will encourage them to grow to flower way to fast, thus making them really inedible. We apologize for this inconvenience. In this week's shares you will find the following: Salad Mix 1 Head of Lettuce Eggplant Mix (Asian, Black Beauty, Kermit the Frog) Fennel 1 Bunch Scallions/Bunching onions 1 Pack of Parsley To continue on with the pickling theme we discussed last week, a recipe for pickled eggplant (you can use your parsley this week in the recipe, too) is included here, as well as one for eggplant burgers, which really highlights its incredible and uncanny smoky flavor. Either or both will hopefully encourage you to try a different take on what many consider to be an intimidating vegetable. People seem to have a love/hate relationship with eggplant, but often times I have encountered those that claim to hate the vegetable explore alternative recipes for it...preferably a way that really brings out its smokiness...and all of a sudden they begin to change their minds. Either way, have fun with these beauties and perhaps, if you are not an eggplant lover you may be persuaded otherwise. Pickled Eggplant: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/pickled-grilled-eggplant-recipe.html#! Eggplant Burgers: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/pickled-grilled-eggplant-recipe.html#! Thank you all for showing a commitment to knowing your local farmers. In the end, it is that sense of community that really makes this adventure so rewarding. See ya all when we see ya! Onen, The Bees