Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!
We hope everyone had a safe and happy July 4th. We had a simple picnic here on farm with Farmer Phil and his family. With illness and the pandemic it had been quite a while since we had people over for a meal. It felt good to plan the meal and cook for others! I think everyone had a good time, nothing too exciting, just a relaxing early supper on the back porch. Of course beware, because next time we are threatening to get the games out!
Welcome to Week 1 and Week 2 of our CSA.
I apologize for blending 2 weeks newsletters in to one. I need to get back into the habit of weekly newsletters. With that being said, I hope our CSA members enjoyed their Week 1 and week 2 boxes and are ready for their Week 3 Box. My plan is to have a Week 3 Newsletter out to everyone later this week.
First some CSA notes. Members, please remember we reuse the wax boxes your shares are packed in. This week we have a lot of brand new boxes being used. They are stiff and will require patience to keep them from tearing when you open them. Farmer Don says please remember to push not pull to avoid tearing the tops! Thank you, these waxed share boxes are an expense for the farm as they cost over two dollars each. We also reuse clean egg cartons and berry boxes. These items can be returned to your pick up site and we will collect them. Another reminder: The window to choose items for your share opens on Thursdays at 6 pm and closes Sundays at 6pm. Forgot to sign on or finding most items not available when you do sign on? Please consider a Farmer's Choice box. These boxes have looked really good going out this year.
The weather, what would a Farm newsletter be without me talking about the weather. What a roller coaster ride the weather in June provided! We had a heat waves early and late in the month with some chilly weather in between. We actually had an overnight low of 43 in mid June -- that is very cold for June! These cool overnight temperatures were good for our lettuce and kales, but not good for peppers or Asian greens. Peppers will actually drop flowers and fruit at these temperatures. Temperatures below 50 cause some Asian greens (such as napa cabbage) to bolt or set a flower stalk. For this reason we are in the process of re-planting our napa cabbage and our peppers may be delayed in harvest this year.
Speaking of harvest we continue to bring in some beautiful bok choy. Our kales and Swiss chard are also looking really good right now. Zucchini continues to be harvested and with any luck we should be able to keep zucchini and other summer squash going for the majority of our season. We have started harvesting romaine lettuce and it is looking really nice. Our pea harvest is pretty much over as the heat has taken its toll on the pea plants. Next week we are hoping to have spring onions and garlic available. This year we are again partnering with some other growers in our community to bring you the best selection of items. One of these growers has greenhouse space which is where the early tomatoes and eggplant are coming from.
Dilly is still ruling the farm. She has outgrown some of her puppyhood and is starting to settle down. Never did I think I would say Dilly and settle down in the same sentence!! But she is suddenly content to hang out with us on the porch or lay on the couch for an afternoon nap. She is learning the workings of the farm, learning what is good and what is bad and learning what to avoid! I am fairly certain she now knows porcupines and skunks are bad and she is slowly learning that chickens and barn cats are good. She has most definitely determined that groundhogs are bad and one of her personal vendettas is to eradicate the farm of them. Dilly s not a large dog, so she can handle the smaller groundhogs by herself, but needs help from Farmer Don for the larger ones. This leads me to a classic Dilly story!
The other afternoon, Farmer Don was off farm, and Dilly was patrolling the property. I was inside and heard a ruckus outside the garage door. Dilly and another animal seemed to be in the fight of their lives. Being an overprotective doggy Mom, I decided Dilly needed help and made the decision, the WRONG decision, to open the garage door. With the garage open barely a few inches in ran a groundhog with Dilly close behind. As the groundhog made a run for me and inside of the house, I screamed and quickly slammed the inside door. But, the fight continued, inside the garage now. Every time I open the door to check things out the groundhog seemed determined to run for the inside door. When I heard Dilly yipe, I opened the door to find that the groundhog had Dilly on her back! Now all three of us were screaming. Dilly had recovered and was now on all fours growling and barking at the groundhog, the groundhog was on its haunches hissing and squealing at Dil and I was standing in the doorway yelling for Dilly to get inside. Dilly did eventually listen and came running in the house with me. At about this time the back-up calgary (my sister!) arrived to help. She helped me back the car out of the garage and scoot the unhappy hissing groundhog out with the broom! Thankfully Dilly escaped the fight without a scratch. I am not sure about the groundhog, as handling a hissing, angry groundhog is not high on my list of things to do. If nothing else, I think Dilly convinced it to not hang out by the garage door!
There have been some changes here on farm over the last year. Most notable is that we have downsized quite a bit. Our CSA membership is less than half of the members we had last year and we do not anticipate attending farmers markets this year. Farmers Don and Phil will miss their friends and customers at market! We are trying to figure out the logistics of a setting up a pay as you go summer buying club, so our market customers can still order from us if they like. Pre-ordering will most likely be required and you will need to meet us at a designated place and time to collect and pay for your order. Watch up-coming emails for more information and details. Please send us an email if you think you might be interested! (dancinghenfarm@epix.net)
Ok, ok, I know this is getting really long! So, I will close this saga here.
Thanks again for your support of our farm and local sustainable agriculture.
And
as Farmer Don would say "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".
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