From the Farmers….
What crazy weather! From 90 + degrees on Saturday to 51 on Monday – our poor plants don’t know exactly what to do. After sweating profusely as we worked on building the shower/composting toilet/sink house for our interns on Saturday, we have been enjoying the cooler weather – even wearing sweat shirts all day to work in the fields. We did a bunch more weeding on Monday and butchered fifty broilers on Tuesday. We do have a great crew of interns – all willing and enthusiastic to learn whatever we throw at them.
Just this evening after livestock chores, we made a new area of pasture for the sheep. Being so dry, the pastures just are not coming back after being grazed. We are planning to disk up one big area for the sheep and plant with rapeseed (a kind of grazing plant in the cabbage family), but are waiting for a forecast of rain so we know when to seed.
We have added another new intern. Sarah joins us from out east and will be with us for about six weeks. She is a great addition and brings new skills and enthusiasm. One of the perks of being an intern at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm is that Gigi will teach music lessons for banjo, guitar, mandolin, drums, ???? This year, everyone is participating - so the lesson has become a group one. Today we had Dale and Sarah on banjos, Avery, Jacq and Robin on guitar, Sue on the djembe drum and Gigi on mandolin – kind of crazy but a LOT of fun. Then back to the field to pick snap peas.
Until next week…. Robin and Gigi
What crazy weather! From 90 + degrees on Saturday to 51 on Monday – our poor plants don’t know exactly what to do. After sweating profusely as we worked on building the shower/composting toilet/sink house for our interns on Saturday, we have been enjoying the cooler weather – even wearing sweat shirts all day to work in the fields. We did a bunch more weeding on Monday and butchered fifty broilers on Tuesday. We do have a great crew of interns – all willing and enthusiastic to learn whatever we throw at them.
Just this evening after livestock chores, we made a new area of pasture for the sheep. Being so dry, the pastures just are not coming back after being grazed. We are planning to disk up one big area for the sheep and plant with rapeseed (a kind of grazing plant in the cabbage family), but are waiting for a forecast of rain so we know when to seed.
We have added another new intern. Sarah joins us from out east and will be with us for about six weeks. She is a great addition and brings new skills and enthusiasm. One of the perks of being an intern at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm is that Gigi will teach music lessons for banjo, guitar, mandolin, drums, ???? This year, everyone is participating - so the lesson has become a group one. Today we had Dale and Sarah on banjos, Avery, Jacq and Robin on guitar, Sue on the djembe drum and Gigi on mandolin – kind of crazy but a LOT of fun. Then back to the field to pick snap peas.
Until next week…. Robin and Gigi
Whats in your share this week
1 bag of salad greens – includes a variety of romaine, bibb, oakleaf lettuces, mizuna, red Russian kale, mustard greens, tatsoi, arugula, collards, chard.
1 bundle of Joi Choi bok choi
Walla Walla green Onion
Cascadia Sugar Snap Peas
Robin's Early Summer Soup
Just today we made a wonderful hearty soup with one head of bok choy - chopped, one green Walla Walla onion – chopped , a handful of peas, a big handful of greens chopped, , 4 cups of cooked Jacobs Cattle beans, canned tomatoes and tomato juice. I sautéed the onion and bok choi in about one Tablespoon of olive oil, then added two quarts of canned tomatoes and 1 quart of tomato juice (this all canned from last summer – or you could get by with purchased) Add the beans (you could substitute kidney beans) and 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon spike seasoning, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt and a little pepper. Cook for an hour or so on very low heat. It was delicious.
