Full Share: Salad mix, Spinach, Kohlrabi, Butterhead Lettuce, Broccolini, Baby Boy Choy, and Collard Greens

Partial Share: Salad Mix, Spinach, Butterhead Lettuce, Green Garlic, and Beets.

Hello CSA members!

It’s week #6!!! The field is quickly filling up with plants, the weeds are going crazy, the tomato plants are starting to flower, and a thunder storm is rolling through as I type (and my sub-conscious is chanting “no hail, no hail, no hail, no hail). As a kid, I can distinctly remember sitting in the doorway of the barn with my father in lawn chairs when ever a heavy thunder storm rolled through and it poured rain. I love thunder storms for that reasons….But, once you become a vegetable farmer, and you’ve had your crops obliterated by thunder storm-based hail storms, suddenly they take on new. more complicated emotions. Someday, if I survive until retirement, I will look forward to enjoying these storms again.

But this brings up a good point, that I have been working on a lot this past year…which is that happiness truly is in our minds. Stress seems to be a constant in our world, especially if you hold a minority view in the way things are supposed to work. And it’s so easy to get stressed out and bogged down in issues, whether real or imagined. There are a lot of things not going right in our country and on the planet. Some people could care less. But for those who do care, it can be exhausting. And while we may choose to fight the good fight, or to live out our values, it’s also important to understand that we only get one go round (as far as we know) on this planet, and we need to be able to find enjoyment in life despite the troubles. To find a sort of balance between caring, and being crushed under the weight of caring. And this decision to find joy is a conscious decision. Every day lately, I have felt a sense of gratitude to live where I do….on a farm, in a quiet, beautiful part of the valley. Regardless of the craziness that seems to be descending on Montana and our town, I feel privileged to have an escape from that. To live in an area where my choices and my labors can be realized on the landscape….whether it’s in the production of healthy food, or the planting of pollinator habitat full of wild bees, or by creating wildlife habitat teeming with life and beauty. There are so many narratives in this country that are misguided, so much activity that is greedy, extractive, and short-sighted….that to have one small, seemingly irrelevant space, where we can actually have control to do the right thing is a saving grace. The farm is a refuge.

While you may not come out to the farm much to experience this, we hope that the love, energy and care that we have for the landscape is evident in the food that you receive. It is truly grown with the utmost of care. Sure, there may be a bug in there once a while…but that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Instead of being disgusted by a living bug, which proves your food is free of poison, it should be celebrated!

Your shares are about to start leaving the early season “greens” stage, and head into Brassica city. It starts with sweet Broccoli, followed by broccoli and cauliflower, which have over the years become some of my favorite vegetables. This week, you’ll also find Kohlrabi, which is a bit of an oddity, but we like to give it out once or twice a year because some people really love it. Slice it thin, and eat it raw with vinegar and sea salt, or cube it up and roast it. Or check in with Alison at Dishing Up the Dirt for numerous delicious ideas! The butterhead lettuce this week are beautiful….red with a yellow tinge….they are such a joy to pick! Well, I say that, but it was Nicole that had to pick 100 of them today 🙂 And the last new item is the collard greens. Many people just think about boiler greens, but there are so many great ways to use collards. Brush them with oil, fill them with cheese and all sorts of other things, wrap them like a burrito, and roast them on your grill. Or, use them as a sandwich wrap instead of a tortilla. Personally, I think cheese, bacon, and sun-dried tomato filling then lightly cooked on the grill is the way to go. And yes, it’s true, there are no carrots this week. I know. But it’s a little known fact that CSA does not stand for Carrot Shares of America. Carrots are a lot of work to grow, weed, harvest, and wash….and we think the crew needed a bit of break after dealing with close to a thousand bunches last week. Don’t worry though, they’ll be back next week.

Well, I’ve tried to half an hour to download photos from my phone, but Centurylink just continues to amaze. I’ll do my best to update the post in the morning.

Hopefully you are finding time to get outside, enjoy the sunsets, and enjoy Montana. And just a note for Whitefish, we’ll have your shares at The Farmers’s Stand from 10am until 6:30pm Wednesday. We’ll see you at CSA distribution!!

Todd