THE BEET: VOLUME 18; WEEK 7
FULL SHARE & GREEN HALF SHARE PICK UP TONIGHT
Pick up today: 5pm - 7:30pm at PS 56 on the corner of Gates and Downing
This Week's Share
Red or ‘Caraflex’ (pointed) cabbage
Romaine lettuce
Zucchinis or summer squashes
Slicing cucumbers
Your choice of dill or cilantro
‘Electric Red’ onions
Red or golden beets
Your choice of kale or Swiss chard
Tomatoes (or broccoli)
Radishes or salad turnips
Fruit: blueberries or peaches
Letter from Windflower Farm
Delivery #7, Week of July 22nd, 2019
I’ve invited the farm’s talented staff to contribute to the News whenever they feel inspiration to do so. Andrea has written today’s piece. —Ted
Last weekend, I took a Friday off from farming and went camping with two friends and their families near the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey. One of the highlights of my getaway was going on a nature discovery walk with the kids. Lena (age 7) and Jack (age 4) carried little plastic buckets and diligently collected all kinds of interesting things: stones, wildflowers, worms, bark, butternuts, pinecones, you name it. We watched trout swimming in a creek and threw little stones off of a stone bridge, watching water rings form and disperse. Their curiosity and sense of awe was contagious and inspiring.
Wonder seems to come naturally to kids. As we get older, however, it tends to take a back seat to our roles and responsibilities and the entertainments that entice us. In my opinion, this is unfortunate, as wonder is good food for our bodies and minds. It helps us to stay connected with our surroundings and with each other.
At Windflower, there is no shortage of things that draw out wonder, one just needs to look and listen. There is an abundance of fascinating animal life at the farm, for example. Imagine a pair of monarch butterflies dancing over the calendula patch, hummingbirds darting in and out of bee balm flowers, a multitude of honeybees sipping nectar from red clover blossoms, little frogs hopping on sandaled feet while watering the transplants, dozens of tiny snails with delicate shells creeping along the lettuce totes as the lettuce waits to be washed (escargot with your salad anyone?), and a sweet black hen who likes to follow people around until she’s distracted by the promise of bugs and grubs in a shady flower bed.
The scenery around us also awes. Jan’s flower fields and tunnels are a riot of color due to the long, hot, sunny days. Then, there is the broad sweep of the hay field with its various crops marching up the hill: sunflowers, greens, peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, brassicas, to name just a few. The lush Green Mountains rise from the mist on dewy mornings. A hush descends upon the farm on hot, humid summer afternoons once the tractors have stopped and the workers have departed. Even the birds stop singing. There is only the sound of the cooler’s condenser cycling on and off.
The fruits of our labors tantalize too. What can be better than the first silky Cherokee Purple tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and aged balsamic, or a cold, crunchy cucumber, or sweet and tender grilled squash, zucchini, and onions on a skewer, or a colorful tossed salad with all the fixings? Soon there will also be sweet corn Mexican-style with mayo, chili seasoning and lime juice, smoky grilled eggplant, German potato salad from freshly dug yellow potatoes, and sweet, fruity red and yellow long Italian peppers. These are things worth waiting for!
People are endlessly interesting as well. With curiosity, thoughtful insights, humor, and a willingness to talk about things that move us, we slowly get to know each other better. Group weeding, transplanting, and harvesting tasks provide the space and time for us. Mingling with your fellow CSA members could be a way for you. There is always more that we can learn from and about each other.
Even though we are surrounded by beauty and interesting people, it takes intent to cultivate wonder in the farm world. We run around going from task to task. We zone out or plug in our earbuds when doing some of the more mundane jobs. We scroll through our newsfeeds and social media platforms on our smartphones during lunch breaks. We get grumpy and anxious and sometimes take our coworkers for granted. We ruminate about what we need to do and sleep doesn’t always come easy. Does this sound familiar? In my experience, making a space for wonder helps to break these cycles. It gives us an opportunity to discover something new and meaningful about the places we occupy and people we meet. It quells our anxieties and lifts our spirits. It’s a tonic to this crazy, busy, somewhat broken world. Maybe what we need is to look around and at each other with the eyes of a child.
Have a great week, Andrea
Save the Date...
...for this year's farm visit, which will be taking place the weekend after Labor Day, September 7 and 8.
It's a chance to meet Ted, Andrea and the rest of the team, learn more about how the farm works, see where your eggs come from, and capture that sense of wonder that Andrea so eloquently wrote about this week!
So mark your calendars, and look out for more details coming soon.