Full Share:: Salad MIx, Broccolini, Hakurei Salad Turnips, Cauliflower, Garlic Scapes, Basil, and Carrots

Partial Share: Salad Mix, Broccoli, Carrots, Garlic Scapes, Parsley, and Kale

Hello CSA Members!

I can’t believe it’s week #7 already! Looks like it’s about to warm up again as well. I should report that the Old Salt Festival in Helmville, MT was everything I hoped it would be. Lots of great people coming together on a beautiful cattle ranch to celebrate land stewardship and conservation, good food, good music, artisans and makers, thinkers and do-ers….these are my people.

I talked last week about the growing disconnect between urban and rural folks. There is a certain sense of solidarity and understanding when you are surrounded by people who do the same type of work, or have the same set of values as you. As a nation where 70% of people were once farmers, down to 30% around World War II, down to less than 2% of the population today, that is one thing that we struggle with. There isn’t a large community of farmers, and so instead of solidarity, it can often feel more like isolation. So, to go to a festival like this where I find people doing work like I do, there is just such a comforting sense of ease, understanding, and support. And as I reflect on the event, as much as I enjoyed being in such a beautiful spot eating good food, it was the conversation and interactions with new community that was most enjoyable.

One rancher, Cooper Hibbard, from Cascade, Montana (technically, Adel, MT) gave a great speech (right before exploding an 85 pound anvil up in to the air to kick off the event). He was frustrated that the commodity system in ranching is upside down (as is much of our industrial food system)…it’s hard on the land, on families, on rural communities, on the animals, on human health, and as a nation as a whole. When consumers don’t think about the values behind what they buy, they buy based solely on low price. And the lowest price leaves no room for care or land stewardship in the making of a product. It leaves no room for good practices or nutrition. But if you flip that system around, and you build a food system that is good for the land, good for people, good for communities….it’s a vision worth fighting for. These are powerful words, and similar to words I have spoken in the past regarding values. What our beloved Montana landscape looks like has everything to do with what type of food we buy and what values we support. And if you’ve ever driven up highway 200 through the Blackfoot Valley, and maybe hung a right to travel through the Helmville Valley, you see wide open, beautiful functioning ecosystems and working lands, some private, some public, all held together through the cooperation and collaboration of many people working together for this vision. It’s a very different view than what we see in the Bitterroot, Gallatin, and most parts of the Flathead Valley, where development runs rampant and the farm land increasingly grows houses and storage units. And to find a community of wonderful people who are all in solidarity around this issue made for a great weekend.

Sitting in a flower-filled pasture during an early morning festival “Pasture Walk” listening to talks about conservation with some music thrown in? Yes, please!

On the farming front, while I was only gone 3 days, I came back to a very dry farm that was bursting with food. Today was spent harvesting and irrigating. Things are cranking out in the field. There is a saying that sweet corn in the northern U.S. should be “knee high by the Fourth of July”….well, we’re already approaching waist high, and it’s still June. The farm crew has been doing a stellar job, and working alongside everyone has been a real pleasure this season. We are solidly in the season of broccoli, broccolini, and cauliflower, as well as the 3 week window where we have garlic scapes. So the share will have some of those this week, as well as the salad mix we try to have for you every week. And carrots, of course!

Broccoli and Green Cabbage harvest this morning!

Purple Broccolini is in full effect!

I hope you are all enjoying the fresh food, and getting outside to enjoy this beautiful spring/early summer. We’ll see you at CSA pickup!

Todd