We'll be skipping market this weekend, in keeping with our every-other-week plans for the fall. This is especially necessary this week for several reasons:
(a) we expect a frost both Friday and Saturday night, and need time to deal with that (it's technically not our first, that was 9/14, but this one may be stronger). We'd rather deal with that properly than go nuts trying to do market prep and market itself along with frost management.
(b) with plans to attend various events in Columbia later on Saturday, including the Farmageddon film & disussion panel that night, we'd be overstretched and exhausted.
(c) sales of the non-garlic produce we brought were once again poor, including only 3 lb of the fantastic mixed baby greens that we've grown for years and never had trouble selling before. So we'll work harder to market that mix to other sources instead.
(d) the dry weather means that we can do a lot of important fall projects that will put us in a better position for next year; these include hauling and incorporating manure into beds, hauling leaves from the woods for mulch, cleaning up crops that are finished and composting them to limit overwintering of insect pests, and much more. Skipping market saves us several otherwise lost work-days we can invest in the future.
We'll be back next weekend, October 8, with more garlic, onions, another shot at greens, possibly cabbage, green peanuts (if frost kills them back), and more.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
More CSA Details
We've collected many names from folks potentially interested in the 2012 CSA, and will continue trying to hold on-farm events to build that connection. Meanwhile, we've roughly fleshed out more details on the CSA's structure, though these are all open to discussion with interested parties. For information and reference, here's what we're leaning toward at the moment (also available on our website).
The CSA will be a single-farm CSA; everything distributed will come from this farm only, and customers will share in the risks and rewards of this single farm. As Localharvest.org accurately puts it: "...implicit in the CSA concept is the idea that members share with the farmer the risk that some crops might do poorly due to bad weather, pest problems, and the like. With so many crops included in a CSA, it is expected that even if some languish, others will flourish and there will be plenty of food overall. Members pay the same whether it turns out to be a bumper year or a skinny one." We strongly suggest potential customers, particularly those new to CSA, read through Localharvest's excellent collection of information and guidance on defining and choosing a CSA.
Farm tours for prospective members
Starting in October, we'll be hosting several on-farm events for prospective members interested in learning more about the farm and the CSA. The first two will be held on:
Saturday October 8, 2pm
Sunday October 9, 2pm
If you're interested in attending any of these events, or to discuss the CSA, please contact us or call 474-0989.
Details While we haven't settled on the exact structure of the CSA, partly to wait for input from potential members at fall on-farm events, here is a rough look at the structure we're leaning toward:
Share sizes:
Full share, suitable for a family of four that uses some produce or a single/couple household that cooks regularly.
Partial share, intended for one-person households. In theory we'd like to do just one share size, but we know of interest from a number of one-person households. These may be limited in quantity, because the reality is that the work of administration, packing, delivery, etc. is the same for a full share as a partial share, and so it is less efficient overall.
Price: Not yet set in stone, but approximately $1100 for a full share, $700 for a partial share, plus sales tax.
Deposit: We generally want to wait until after Jan. 1 to accept full payment for accounting/tax purposes. But we will likely set up a system for households to guarantee a membership slot by putting down a small deposit in advance.
Payment plan? This can be a difficult single payment for customers, but part of the core value of CSA is financial & planning stability for the farm, which means up-front payment. We're considering how to balance these needs and don't want this to be a deal-breaker. Payment plans also mean more administrative time, so we're likely to offer this option but charge a fee to offset the extra time that it takes us to track, request, and handle multiple payments.
Limited share customization: We intend to build an online system that allows members make limited requests to customize their shares. A day or two before each share distribution, we plan to post online what we anticipate to be the "standard share" for the week. Members will have the option to opt out of given items, and when available, request extras. This is a compromise between full customization, which is not practical on our end, and complete inflexibility in share content. A CSA should encourage members to try unusual produce, but some folks simply don't like certain products; if certain products won't be used or appreciated in one household, we'd rather be able to free those items up for a household that really likes them. Similarly, we want to share the bounty when it is available, but we don't want to overwhelm a member's kitchen with lots of extra product unless they are prepared to use it. Those who request a lot will get the best overall deal, but this allows others to take lesser amounts when desired.
Share splitting: We request that shares not be split among more than one household for several reasons. Customization of shares (described above) would be neither fair nor effective with multiple households drawing on one share. Membership also includes benefits such as on-farm events, and we cannot provide these benefits to multiple households for a single share price. Finally, we feel strongly that a core strength of CSA is the members' connection to the farm and their understanding of the farm's methods, and this is diluted by share-splitting.
Distribution pattern: Each household will receive a weekly share during the core growing season. Most shares will be distributed late week (probably Thursday?). There will also be an early week share-distribution day (Sunday/Monday?).
Distribution calendar: Weekly May-October/November, monthly or occasionally through winter and spring.
Share contents: Diverse seasonal produce and herbs May-November. Storage or off-season items through winter/spring (garlic, onions, root crops, mushrooms, possibly dried beans/corn, etc as available).
Disribution location: We're leaning toward home delivery for those who live in central Columbia or along our route into/out of Columbia. There may be an extra fee for deliveries that require a lot of extra driving. This is a detail we'll have to work out based on where member live &/or work. On-farm pick up could be a possibility for a small number of members, but we don't want to do too much of this out of respect for neighbors' privacy and the practicality of receiving regular visitors while running a farm.
Are work shifts required? No, we will not require paying members to take part in work shifts. While this is ideally a way to involve members more directly in the farm, it can also be hard to organize and manage effective work for very short-term and occasional visitors, and we don't think the hassle will be worth the benefit.
Special benefits: Farm events like bird & nature walks, on-farm meal invitations, kids' activities, newsletter with cooking/preservation advice & ideas, etc. Limited quantities of eggs and raw goat milk (for cooking or cheese/yogurt-making) may be offered for sale to members, depending on production and circumstances.
The CSA will be a single-farm CSA; everything distributed will come from this farm only, and customers will share in the risks and rewards of this single farm. As Localharvest.org accurately puts it: "...implicit in the CSA concept is the idea that members share with the farmer the risk that some crops might do poorly due to bad weather, pest problems, and the like. With so many crops included in a CSA, it is expected that even if some languish, others will flourish and there will be plenty of food overall. Members pay the same whether it turns out to be a bumper year or a skinny one." We strongly suggest potential customers, particularly those new to CSA, read through Localharvest's excellent collection of information and guidance on defining and choosing a CSA.
Farm tours for prospective members
Starting in October, we'll be hosting several on-farm events for prospective members interested in learning more about the farm and the CSA. The first two will be held on:
Saturday October 8, 2pm
Sunday October 9, 2pm
If you're interested in attending any of these events, or to discuss the CSA, please contact us or call 474-0989.
Details While we haven't settled on the exact structure of the CSA, partly to wait for input from potential members at fall on-farm events, here is a rough look at the structure we're leaning toward:
Share sizes:
Full share, suitable for a family of four that uses some produce or a single/couple household that cooks regularly.
Partial share, intended for one-person households. In theory we'd like to do just one share size, but we know of interest from a number of one-person households. These may be limited in quantity, because the reality is that the work of administration, packing, delivery, etc. is the same for a full share as a partial share, and so it is less efficient overall.
Price: Not yet set in stone, but approximately $1100 for a full share, $700 for a partial share, plus sales tax.
Deposit: We generally want to wait until after Jan. 1 to accept full payment for accounting/tax purposes. But we will likely set up a system for households to guarantee a membership slot by putting down a small deposit in advance.
Payment plan? This can be a difficult single payment for customers, but part of the core value of CSA is financial & planning stability for the farm, which means up-front payment. We're considering how to balance these needs and don't want this to be a deal-breaker. Payment plans also mean more administrative time, so we're likely to offer this option but charge a fee to offset the extra time that it takes us to track, request, and handle multiple payments.
Limited share customization: We intend to build an online system that allows members make limited requests to customize their shares. A day or two before each share distribution, we plan to post online what we anticipate to be the "standard share" for the week. Members will have the option to opt out of given items, and when available, request extras. This is a compromise between full customization, which is not practical on our end, and complete inflexibility in share content. A CSA should encourage members to try unusual produce, but some folks simply don't like certain products; if certain products won't be used or appreciated in one household, we'd rather be able to free those items up for a household that really likes them. Similarly, we want to share the bounty when it is available, but we don't want to overwhelm a member's kitchen with lots of extra product unless they are prepared to use it. Those who request a lot will get the best overall deal, but this allows others to take lesser amounts when desired.
Share splitting: We request that shares not be split among more than one household for several reasons. Customization of shares (described above) would be neither fair nor effective with multiple households drawing on one share. Membership also includes benefits such as on-farm events, and we cannot provide these benefits to multiple households for a single share price. Finally, we feel strongly that a core strength of CSA is the members' connection to the farm and their understanding of the farm's methods, and this is diluted by share-splitting.
Distribution pattern: Each household will receive a weekly share during the core growing season. Most shares will be distributed late week (probably Thursday?). There will also be an early week share-distribution day (Sunday/Monday?).
Distribution calendar: Weekly May-October/November, monthly or occasionally through winter and spring.
Share contents: Diverse seasonal produce and herbs May-November. Storage or off-season items through winter/spring (garlic, onions, root crops, mushrooms, possibly dried beans/corn, etc as available).
Disribution location: We're leaning toward home delivery for those who live in central Columbia or along our route into/out of Columbia. There may be an extra fee for deliveries that require a lot of extra driving. This is a detail we'll have to work out based on where member live &/or work. On-farm pick up could be a possibility for a small number of members, but we don't want to do too much of this out of respect for neighbors' privacy and the practicality of receiving regular visitors while running a farm.
Are work shifts required? No, we will not require paying members to take part in work shifts. While this is ideally a way to involve members more directly in the farm, it can also be hard to organize and manage effective work for very short-term and occasional visitors, and we don't think the hassle will be worth the benefit.
Special benefits: Farm events like bird & nature walks, on-farm meal invitations, kids' activities, newsletter with cooking/preservation advice & ideas, etc. Limited quantities of eggs and raw goat milk (for cooking or cheese/yogurt-making) may be offered for sale to members, depending on production and circumstances.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Farmageddon film in Columbia this weekend
This Saturday, October 1, the Citizen Jane Film Festival in Columbia will be showing a film we've been eagerly awaiting. Farmageddon is a documentary covering the increasing intrusiveness of government regulation in the small, direct-to-consumer farm world. This is an issue we've been writing about for years, both from our own experiences and those we've been told of and read about. I don't know whether a film can change anything, but we're interested to see it. One review sums the concept up nicely:
Farmageddon explains that there are "two competing food systems" in the US — Big Ag and Small Farms — and the shows how the Federal laws created to help large corporate businesses now are being used to harass and destroy the healthy competition from small sustainable farmers.This is a difficult issue, because it challenges many of the boundaries in our political system. Small farms and local foods tend to be supported by liberal-leaning citizens, who also tend to believe in government regulation and intervention as a force for good, such that stories like these are jarring. On the other hand, most advocacy for deregulation and smaller government comes from corporate Republicans, who don't know (or care) that people like us exist, and still view farming as something that government should be heavily involved, through subsidies, protectionist tariffts, price supports, and lobbying influence from Big Ag. You won't find many small-government Republicans willing to grant farmers the right to sell raw milk or butcher meat on their farm, and you won't find many Democrats willing to pull back from food safety and other regulations to grant more personal responsibility to citizens, even if it benefits small farmers and personal health.
Under the banner of "food safety," burdensome new Federal fees and regulations are being instituted that will drive many small food producers out of business. Proposed laws would give USDA expanded powers to conduct raids on small farms. In chilling detail, Farmageddon documents repeated instances of government agencies resorting to surveillance, intimidation, search warrants, criminal investigations of innocent farmers, confiscations, destruction of property, media distortions and outright lies.
In another quote from the review above,
As D. Gary Cox, General Counsel of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund tells Canty: "Consumers have a fundamental, inalienable right, to produce and consume food of their own choice. And a consumer has a fundamental right to enter into a one-on-one contract with a farmer or even an agricultural producer to obtain the food that the consumer wants."
But that's something that runs against the grain of established wisdom and policy from both our main party platforms. There is great potential for stimulating discourse here, and I hope many people who are at all interested in food and farming will attend. There will be a panel discussion after the film, in which I have been invited to participate. Should be an interesting time, and I hope many people come out to take part. Here's the official brochure from the festival:
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Market plans, September 24
We'll be back this week with an array of interesting items. Overall the stand will be smaller from now on, as we intentionally cut back on fall planting to allow more freedom to work on our CSA transition. For example, we've recently been establishing plantings of spring-yielding items like sorrel, spinach, and strawberries which we intend to use for early shares.
That being said, there will still be produce into October, and I think we'll continue our every-other-week market attendance. I realize that's probably annoying to customers and less than ideal business practice, but it works very well for us in terms of still making sales while gaining more time to work on the farm.
We're starting to do some restaurant sales on the weekend, especially to Red & Moe. This cuts into our market supply but makes our harvest & sales workload more balanced and reliable compared to the uncertainty of market. Thus, most of the items below may or may not show up on the stand depending on restaurant orders through Friday.
AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Garlic: 11 varieties available. This is a good time to start thinking about stocking up for winter, or buying seed stock for October planting. We'll start bringing more than usual to account for the uptick in demand this time of year, and several varieties are starting to run low (Chet's is already gone).
Onions: Long braids work really well for households who want to stock up for a few weeks. These are really efficient for us to offer, and we like selling them this way, but at some point we may offer loose onions as well.
Green beans: Nice, young mix of heirloom beans with nice texture and flavor.
Mustard greens: Large leaves excellent for sauteeing or soups; I love these skillet-cooked with garlic and vinegar.
Mixed baby greens: A nice mix of spicy, flavorful greens good for cooking or strong salads.
Summer squash: These are still producing wonderfully, especially for a long-lived organic planting. Young, tender, and tasty.
Cucumbers: These are nearing their end, but there should be some of our tasty color mix available.
Sweet & hot peppers: Color mixes of sweet peppers, along with mildly hot Anaheim peppers.
Herbs: We will have cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, oregano, mint, tarragon, sage, and possibly more depending on what looks good at harvest time.
That being said, there will still be produce into October, and I think we'll continue our every-other-week market attendance. I realize that's probably annoying to customers and less than ideal business practice, but it works very well for us in terms of still making sales while gaining more time to work on the farm.
We're starting to do some restaurant sales on the weekend, especially to Red & Moe. This cuts into our market supply but makes our harvest & sales workload more balanced and reliable compared to the uncertainty of market. Thus, most of the items below may or may not show up on the stand depending on restaurant orders through Friday.
AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Garlic: 11 varieties available. This is a good time to start thinking about stocking up for winter, or buying seed stock for October planting. We'll start bringing more than usual to account for the uptick in demand this time of year, and several varieties are starting to run low (Chet's is already gone).
Onions: Long braids work really well for households who want to stock up for a few weeks. These are really efficient for us to offer, and we like selling them this way, but at some point we may offer loose onions as well.
Green beans: Nice, young mix of heirloom beans with nice texture and flavor.
Mustard greens: Large leaves excellent for sauteeing or soups; I love these skillet-cooked with garlic and vinegar.
Mixed baby greens: A nice mix of spicy, flavorful greens good for cooking or strong salads.
Summer squash: These are still producing wonderfully, especially for a long-lived organic planting. Young, tender, and tasty.
Cucumbers: These are nearing their end, but there should be some of our tasty color mix available.
Sweet & hot peppers: Color mixes of sweet peppers, along with mildly hot Anaheim peppers.
Herbs: We will have cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, oregano, mint, tarragon, sage, and possibly more depending on what looks good at harvest time.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Late summer on-farm meals
We were drawn into farming for the food, and do our best to maximize the quality, freshness, and diversity of our meals. Here's the latest in our series of photo essays documenting some of the on-farm-sourced meals we eat, which we hope serve as inspiration to customers and others interested in the value of local foods. These photos cover late August through mid-September. As always, ingredients sourced from our farm listed in italics.
At left, enchiladas: fresh-made tortillas, fried potatoes, fresh goat cheese, onions, peppers, roasted pepper sauce, topped with cilantro. At right, skillet greens: baby brassica mix (mustard, arugula, tat soi, mizuna) sauteed with garlic, sweet red peppers, and balsamic vinegar.
Similar vegetables, different treatments. At left, vegetable stew: onions, garlic, okra, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, cowpeas, water. At right, curried vegetables: organic coconut milk, onions, sweet peppers, hot peppers, zucchini, okra, potatoes, green beans.
At left, simple pasta: organic penne, sweet red peppers, onions, garlic, herbs, Goatsbeard aged cheese. At right, one of many pizzas: fresh-made crust with tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, fresh-made goat ricotta, pesto. Other recent pizzas have included potatoes, rosemary, caramelized onions, peppers, herbs, and more.
Bland colors but great taste. At left, shepherd's pie: potatoes, fresh sausage (goat, pork, garlic, sage), shittake mushrooms, sweet corn, garlic, herbs, goat cheese. At right, roasted potatoes with rosemary.
Easy skillet meals. At left, quick saute of red onion, sweet & hot peppers, garlic. At right, fried potatoes.
Desserts. At left, fruit salad: watermelon, cantaloupe, blackberries, local peaches, local apples. At right, caramel layer cake (including our eggs & goat milk) with local peaches.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Farm visit for prospective CSA members
Now that we're officially converting to a CSA model for 2012, we've updated our website with more information, including the current official brochure. Take a look if you're at all interested.
We are scheduling several farm tours in early October for potential CSA members. These events will provide a chance for interested folks to visit the farm, see how we manage it, and discuss details and options for the 2012 CSA with us directly. We feel strongly that all customers should visit the farm before signing up, and this will be the first official chance to do so.
There is no obligation or payment attached to these events other than an expressed interest in CSA membership next year. We would like to start truly gauging interest and making serious contacts with potential members, and this is a good way to start. Occasional off-season shares may begin as early as January with storage items such as garlic, onions, root crops, and more. We will also be working on seed orders and planting plans in early winter, so having an early understanding of potential interest and membership is important to us.
EVENT TIMING
Based on feedback from those who have signed up at market, weekend afternoons are the best option for the majority of people. Thus we will be holding the first two events on:
Saturday, October 8, 2:00 pm
Sunday, October 9, 2:00 pm
It usually takes a couple hours to show people around the farm and discuss all the different things happening here. There will also be discussion of CSA details, so we expect these to potentially last until 5:00 pm. Because the farm is very spread out and not really set up for people to wander about on their own, we do ask that visitors arrive punctually at 2 pm so we can all move about the farm as a group and discuss things together.
Even if you've been here before, this will be an excellent chance to come back, and take part in important discussions of next year's setup. If you're at all interested in joining up next year, please consider coming out that weekend.
HOW TO ATTEND
Please email (contactus@cherthollowfarm.com) or call (573-474-0989) to reserve a place on one of the days. Knowing the tour size and attendees ahead of time will make life much easier for us. If you cannot make either of those dates, but are interested in the CSA, please let us know that too and we will work on having you out another time.
For those who have not been here before, we are located 12 miles north of Columbia, not far off US-63, roughly a 20 minute drive from downtown. Access to the farm is via a gravelled private road that can accommodate most vehicles except the fanciest and lowest-riding (our 1993 Honda Accord handles it just fine).
Friday, September 16, 2011
Market plans, September 17
We will not be at market this weekend. Last week's income didn't really justify returning with the same mix of items, so we've been working to arrange other sales venues for some of it, and just preserving the rest or sending it home with our workers. In addition, we have a lot of on-farm projects to work on and with fall coming on (we got a light frost Wednesday night) we'd like to truly get started on our off-season task list.
We still have a good quantity of garlic remaining, and have recieved numerous inquiries from people looking for a winter supply and/or planting stock. From this point on we'll probably come every other week or so, as we did last year in the fall, balancing the long time commitment of market with the desire to meet demand for fall garlic sales. There will be some other fall items available, like cabbage, radishes, and greens, but these are more stable in the field and so can adapt to an alternating market schedule the way regularly-harvested crops can't.
Our apologies to those who will miss us, but it's just not worth it overall right now.
We still have a good quantity of garlic remaining, and have recieved numerous inquiries from people looking for a winter supply and/or planting stock. From this point on we'll probably come every other week or so, as we did last year in the fall, balancing the long time commitment of market with the desire to meet demand for fall garlic sales. There will be some other fall items available, like cabbage, radishes, and greens, but these are more stable in the field and so can adapt to an alternating market schedule the way regularly-harvested crops can't.
Our apologies to those who will miss us, but it's just not worth it overall right now.
Monday, September 12, 2011
How bird watching helps our chickens
We keep our chickens truly on range; they have a large fenced-in yard but are otherwise unrestricted during the day (we lock them in a secure shed at night). This gives them all the room they need, but doesn't protect them from aerial predators, which can be a real problem (chicken is a much easier, and tastier, treat than most wild game). Many folks raising chickens on range end up using various forms of moveable enclosed pens, so that the chickens are on open ground but still protected (and restricted) within that pen. As avid birders, however, we've been able to observe and predict many aspects of hawk behavior, allowing us to manage our chickens more effectively on range while minimizing restrictions and losses on our farm. For example, in our location, only certain types of hawks bother our birds. Summer resident populations of Red-shouldered Hawks and Broad-winged Hawks seem to ignore our birds; we've never knowingly lost a chicken to these hawks, though they're present nearly every day and certainly capable of taking one. All the hawk losses we know of have come from Red-tailed Hawks and Cooper's Hawks, almost always during spring and fall migration as new and hungry hawks move through the area. Knowing the difference between these hawks, by sight and by call, helps us decide what to do with the chickens. A Red-shouldered circling directly overhead is no problem; hearing a Red-tailed scream, even far away, may have us heading for the chicken yard to chase them under cover. Interestingly, the chickens themselves seem to have learned this. The dominant rooster, who watches over the rest of the flock, will ignore a Red-shouldered's call too, but will react strongly to a Red-tail.
Paying attention to migration patterns also helps. For example, we know that September is a peak time for migrating hawks, and we are always more alert for hawk behavior (and chicken noise) during that time. In past years, we've found that once a migrant announces its presence by taking a chicken, it will continue to hang around looking for another one (smart bird). Locking the chickens under cover for a few days will eventually convince the hawk that no more meals are to be had, and it moves on.
Toward that end, our main chicken shed has an enclosed run attached, made of old chain-link dog kennel panels that we've picked up here and there at auctions and garage sales. Though it's hard to see in the photo above, this is covered by a mixture of cattle panels and other fencing, just enough to keep a hawk out. Most of the year, we just leave the doors open on this so the chickens can come and go as they please. During hawk season, we can shut the doors, giving the birds some room to move around while keeping the hawks out. It usually only takes a few days. This approach is ugly as sin, but effective and flexible; we can easily take it down or rearrange it as necessary, unlike a more permanent structure. We do intend to build a better and more permanent chicken house/run in a different location this winter, but this setup has worked very well for the first few years of experimenting with chicken management.
Another aspect of chicken protection involves raising young birds to maturity. We've had several batches brooded by good hens, and also started incubating our own this year. Younger/teenage chickens are by far the most likely to get nailed by a hawk. Like human teens, they think they know everything but have no clue, don't listen to their wiser elders (like the roosters that tend to warn of hawks), and thus are vulnerable to threats the adults are better at avoiding. So we take extra care to protect, or restrict, any young birds we have around during migration season, because they're far less likely to stick to cover and pay attention to what's overhead.
Simply paying attention to bird behavior on the farm can pay real dividends. This past Friday, while working on market harvest on our main field, I heard an odd noise and glanced up to see what looked like a Cooper's Hawk land in a tree over our pond. I investigated (having binoculars with me) and was able to get very close to this beautiful and often hard-to-observe bird. They have a subtle call, which I've learned to identify; it can be the best alert to their presence since they like to skim through woods and otherwise stay hidden. These guys are really neat birds, but absolute death on chickens (they also have a reputation for raiding bird feeders and picking off snacks in front of horrified suburbanites). Having noticed the farm's first migrating hawk of the fall, I was able to go get Joanna and chase all the chickens in under cover, where they've been restricted the last few days (it was hanging around the field again on Sunday). Without close attention to bird patterns, we likely wouldn't have known it was there until a chicken went missing.
Protecting our layers from hawks is particularly important this year, as we've begun expanding our flock through on-farm breeding. We purchased a basic incubator, and have hatched several rounds of eggs from our existing layers (a mix of Black Ameraucanas and Rhode Island Reds, with roosters of both breeds). These birds, like the young ones shown above, should give us a good batch of chicken meat for the winter (we haven't had much in the past few years) as well as a larger supply of eggs so we can offer at least some to 2012 CSA members. Thus we're happy to combine the enjoyable hobby of birding with the practical value of paying close attention to the farm's wider ecosystem and applying such knowledge and observations to better farm management, such as only restricting our chickens when we really need to.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Market plans, September 10
AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Green beans: Nice mix of heirloom beans, picked small for good tenderness and flavor.
Summer squash: Small, tender, high-quality squash for all sorts of uses. Try making a batch of zucchini relish; we tried this recipe this year and really like it (we replaced some of the bell peppers with Anaheims).
Cucumbers: A mix of standard greens, sweet heirloom yellow/whites, and picklers. The whites and yellows are extra-sweet but seedier, while the greens are pretty standard. This last planting is starting to decline, so they may not be available much longer.
Hot peppers: Green anaheim & jalapeno hot peppers.
Sweet peppers: Delicious red and yellow sweet peppers are yielding nicely. We have several varieties of open-pollinated/heirloom sweet peppers that we think have amazing flavor and can be used just like bell peppers: Doe Hill Golden Bell, a sweet, roundish, yellow-orange pepper that is Joanna's favorite; Sheepnose Pimento, a sweet red pepper shaped similarly to the Doe Hill; Chervena Chushka, a pointy sweet red pepper with nice thick walls; and Jimmy Nardello's Italian Frying Pepper, an all-purpose narrow pointy pepper that is Eric's favorite.
Edamame: Last week for these. The two plantings timed to continue past this were ravaged by rabbits while young.
Okra: Our usual two varieties.
Garlic: We're nearing the end on one or two varieties, but there's still plenty of diversity.
Onions: Market table space is currently very limited for us at the moment, so we're selling onions by the braid; look for them hanging off of the tent. Both yellow and red onions are now cured. These are good storage varieties, and we personally plan to be eating from this batch of onions through March. We expect some percent loss in storage over a period of seven months, but storage of few weeks to a couple of months should be no problem for these when hanging these braids in normal kitchen conditions.
Herbs: Parsley, sage, thyme, mint, tarragon, oregano, and possibly more depending on what looks good at harvest time. Green coriander from the spring cilantro planting is done, but we may have a very limited quantity of fresh, young cilantro leaf bundles from our fall planting. We'll also have bundles of garlic chive flowers; these edible blossoms can be put on salad, snipped onto pasta, or used as a garnish, for example.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Why market isn't working for us
When we founded this farm, and especially when we decided to go full-time, we assumed we would be production-limited. That is, our main challenge would be growing enough product to meet demand and make the income we needed. We figured that with good quality, good marketing, and organic status, our products would be popular and in demand in a generally educated, liberal college town with a large farmers market and many locally-oriented restaurants.
We were wrong. This year especially, we aren't coming close to selling what we grow, and that's a real problem. After a decent spring, our market sales have gone down significantly compared to last year. We've also had some crop failures or disappointments, but even judging just by what we actually bring to market, sales are well below production. I ran some numbers from last week's market (we keep clear records on exactly what we bring to, and from, market) and the data bear this out. The table below uses numbers from all the perishable items we brought to market (everything but garlic and onions), in other words everything fresh we need to sell that day or it's lost income. The first column shows the product's value as a percentage of the total value on the stand; the second column shows the percentage of that item that actually sold. The products are in order of lowest total value on the stand to highest. I've intentionally left out the actual product names; the point is the overall pattern.
%value %sold
1 100
3 78
4 83
4 100
6 100
9 96
9 59
10 27
12 33
12 100
13 33
17 66
Overall, we only sold 68% of the total potential value on the stand last weekend. While we can often sell out of small specialty items, we are not making the larger-scale sales needed to really bring in income. We can't make a living selling just niche products like garlic, herbs, and edamame; we need the regular sales of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and the like, but customers are choosing not to buy those items from us in meaningful quantities. Running these numbers confirmed what I'd been instinctively seeing all summer: we're bringing home a lot of very high quality produce, while overall earning less than last year. That doesn't work for us. So what's going on?
First, here's what I think we've done right over the past few years:
Good marketing. We have a good web presence, with a website that draws many compliments and a reasonably well-read blog that provides useful and timely information, including cooking ideas and advice. We've been featured in most Columbia-area publications, sometimes more than once, and have been written up in many local food blogs. We're still one of the few area farms with a decent online presence. We've held multiple on-farm events targeted at our core audience, including open houses, multiple on-farm meals for the local Slow Food chapter, and other events. We've also cooperated with Slow Food in doing many events at area schools. We have a clean, attractive farm stand with clear branding that we receive compliments on every week. We've presented ourselves, accurately I think, as good examples of the kind of farmers consumers say they want to support: ethical, organic, foodie-minded, hard-working, full-time, environmentally aware, professional, etc. We refuse to mess with Facebook and Twitter, but given that virtually no other farm in the area does those things either, I can eliminate that as a core problem. I can't see what more we could reasonably do to present our story, our message, and our products to the intended customer audience.
Good quality. I know our products are as good as you can get around here. I know it because we have extremely high personal standards for food, and we eat mostly our own products. I know it because some of the best chefs in town, like Mike Odette and Trey Quinlan, tell us our products are excellent and continue to buy what they can from us. I know it because we go out of our way to grow, and market, really fresh items. We never sell fresh produce more than a few days old (other than cured/dried items), keep multiple storage areas at different temperatures to ensure proper storage conditions, handle things carefully, cool produce quickly, keep backstock in insulated coolers at market rather than piling it in the open, minimize sun exposure on produce at market, and so on.
Good philosophy. People say they want organic. Survey after survey, media story after media story, the growing demand is for organic. We're as organic as it gets; we stay away from all sorts of inputs and methods that are technically allowed but not as philosophically organic as customers think. We live the ethics we propound; generating little waste, emphasizing environmentalism and conservation, growing our own food, going out of our way to support other local farmers and businesses, etc. We are who we say we are, and we are who the general consumer base says they want to buy from.
What's wrong? So why aren't our products more popular? Why do most market customers not buy from us at all? Why do those who do, tend to buy $5-$10 at most?
Price. I can only see one place where our farm does not match up with others in the pantheon of consumer desires, and that's price. We're expensive compared to most stands at market, though I'd argue we're pretty competitive with most organic produce in area grocery stores, especially when relative freshness and quality is taken into account. And our market prices match up well with the other few certified farms at market; we're not out of line relative to our niche.We're often more expensive than wholesale organic, but that's hardly surprising since much of the industrial organic system is built on cheap migrant labor and subsidized desert irrigation, just like its conventional counterpart. We can make sales of items other market stands don't have, like diverse garlic and edamame, but not anything for which we have competition, like squash, cucumbers, or tomatoes. That tells me it's a price issue, because the quality is good and the quantity is there.
When you walk down the aisle at the farmers market, we look expensive because we're directly competing largely with part-time farms which, even when well-meaning and well-run, have off-farm and/or retirement incomes and otherwise aren't treating their business the way we treat ours, as a full-time long-term profession and not a source of cash on the side. It's not hard to make a profit selling produce (especially if you don't account for the value of your labor), but it's awfully hard to make a real living. Our prices have to include insurance, retirement savings, health costs, long-term rolling averages of inevitable crop failures, home repairs, etc...all things that people with jobs or outside incomes just don't need to think about earning from produce. I think I can count the number of real full-time professional farms at our market on one hand (there are over 70 overall), though I suspect most customers don't realize that, and some of those farms have to make sales in big-city markets like St. Louis to stay in business, despite our market location in a city of 100,000. It's like trying to run a professional auto repair shop with five neighbors doing quickie $10 oil changes in their garages because they like working on cars in their spare time.
Customer spending. In no way do I intend to demean the many loyal and interested customers we do have. But the reality is, there just aren't enough of you, and the per capita spending just doesn't work for a full-time farm. I wish I had time to keep data on every transaction amount at market, but I'd confidently say that our median purchase is less than $10, with a long tail toward $2-$4 and only a couple people who spend more than $20. If you figure a professional market farm has to earn at least $1000 per market (gross) to even have a chance (30 markets x $1,000 = $30,000 gross income, still not very much), then that's roughly $4/minute in sales for a 4-hour market. Business isn't anywhere close to that, either in quantity (lots of customers) or magnitude (significant single purchases).
According to 2009 USDA numbers, the average weekly grocery bill for a 2-person household could range from $80 to near $160. Assuming we're targeting the middle-upper range of that spectrum, our normal market sale of around $10 is anywhere from 6%-8% of the total weekly grocery budget of an average market customer (even at the low end, it's only 12%). Given that the USDA thinks vegetables should be 25% or more of any given meal, that's a big gap in potential spending, and that's really hurting us. Either people aren't eating many vegetables, or they're not buying them from us despite being theoretically/statistically able to do so. Granted, we don't grow everything people could want, but we have a lot more diversity than most customers choose to purchase from us.
Using the $1,000 threshold mentioned above, even at $4/customer we only need 250 customers per Saturday to buy from us, out of the 3,000-4,000+ customers the market estimates attend every week. Our internal numbers tell me we're getting far less than that; I think we're more in the 70-100 range. That tells me that a farm like ours simply is not of interest to most market customers, even though it's theoretically supposed to be. People vote with their wallets, and we're not getting elected (note that I wrote about concerns with market last year, too).
Recession. This is the easy out, simply accepting that we're in a bad economic time and lots of businesses and individuals are hurting, and people are cutting back and looking for cheaper options. Overall, it's true. But what I'd like to know is, are people cutting back the same everywhere? Our sales this summer are down roughly 30% from last year (still not a great year). Is the same true for cell phone and electronic sales? Jewelry? Clothes? Cable/satellite TV? Tobacco? Will the Mizzou football stadium be 1/3 empty this year, with people refusing to pay huge markups for generic food and beer? If all of that is true, then fine, the recession is really here. If not, I'm curious why our food is high on the list of early budget cuts when other things apparently are not. Even with tightened belts, there are enough people in Columbia and/or enough coming to market to make even $5-$10 individual sales worth it, if the total purchasing activity was there at our stand (which it isn't; see above). Virtually anyone can afford $4-$5 at a weekly farmers market, if they chose to spend it with us; that's just not happening.
Going CSA. The situation described above is one, among many, reasons we've decided to change our business model to a CSA next year. While we still have to do the work to find and retain customers, going CSA gives us access to the entire area population instead of the small niche of market-goers. It guarantees an end home for what we grow, and lets us focus our work, skill, and stress on production, not marketing. It removes individual product prices as a factor in consumer behavior, replacing it with an annual return on investment that will be easier for them to judge and value. Long-term we still have to manage the farm well enough to grow enough product to support enough customers to make a good living, and that's an ongoing learning experience, but it takes most of the uncertainty and inefficiency out of the sales end of things. And so CSA, we think, is a far more sensible business choice for us than the farmers market, with its increasing uncertainty, cost, and inefficiency, has become.
We were wrong. This year especially, we aren't coming close to selling what we grow, and that's a real problem. After a decent spring, our market sales have gone down significantly compared to last year. We've also had some crop failures or disappointments, but even judging just by what we actually bring to market, sales are well below production. I ran some numbers from last week's market (we keep clear records on exactly what we bring to, and from, market) and the data bear this out. The table below uses numbers from all the perishable items we brought to market (everything but garlic and onions), in other words everything fresh we need to sell that day or it's lost income. The first column shows the product's value as a percentage of the total value on the stand; the second column shows the percentage of that item that actually sold. The products are in order of lowest total value on the stand to highest. I've intentionally left out the actual product names; the point is the overall pattern.
%value %sold
1 100
3 78
4 83
4 100
6 100
9 96
9 59
10 27
12 33
12 100
13 33
17 66
Overall, we only sold 68% of the total potential value on the stand last weekend. While we can often sell out of small specialty items, we are not making the larger-scale sales needed to really bring in income. We can't make a living selling just niche products like garlic, herbs, and edamame; we need the regular sales of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and the like, but customers are choosing not to buy those items from us in meaningful quantities. Running these numbers confirmed what I'd been instinctively seeing all summer: we're bringing home a lot of very high quality produce, while overall earning less than last year. That doesn't work for us. So what's going on?
First, here's what I think we've done right over the past few years:
Good marketing. We have a good web presence, with a website that draws many compliments and a reasonably well-read blog that provides useful and timely information, including cooking ideas and advice. We've been featured in most Columbia-area publications, sometimes more than once, and have been written up in many local food blogs. We're still one of the few area farms with a decent online presence. We've held multiple on-farm events targeted at our core audience, including open houses, multiple on-farm meals for the local Slow Food chapter, and other events. We've also cooperated with Slow Food in doing many events at area schools. We have a clean, attractive farm stand with clear branding that we receive compliments on every week. We've presented ourselves, accurately I think, as good examples of the kind of farmers consumers say they want to support: ethical, organic, foodie-minded, hard-working, full-time, environmentally aware, professional, etc. We refuse to mess with Facebook and Twitter, but given that virtually no other farm in the area does those things either, I can eliminate that as a core problem. I can't see what more we could reasonably do to present our story, our message, and our products to the intended customer audience.
Good quality. I know our products are as good as you can get around here. I know it because we have extremely high personal standards for food, and we eat mostly our own products. I know it because some of the best chefs in town, like Mike Odette and Trey Quinlan, tell us our products are excellent and continue to buy what they can from us. I know it because we go out of our way to grow, and market, really fresh items. We never sell fresh produce more than a few days old (other than cured/dried items), keep multiple storage areas at different temperatures to ensure proper storage conditions, handle things carefully, cool produce quickly, keep backstock in insulated coolers at market rather than piling it in the open, minimize sun exposure on produce at market, and so on.
Good philosophy. People say they want organic. Survey after survey, media story after media story, the growing demand is for organic. We're as organic as it gets; we stay away from all sorts of inputs and methods that are technically allowed but not as philosophically organic as customers think. We live the ethics we propound; generating little waste, emphasizing environmentalism and conservation, growing our own food, going out of our way to support other local farmers and businesses, etc. We are who we say we are, and we are who the general consumer base says they want to buy from.
What's wrong? So why aren't our products more popular? Why do most market customers not buy from us at all? Why do those who do, tend to buy $5-$10 at most?
Price. I can only see one place where our farm does not match up with others in the pantheon of consumer desires, and that's price. We're expensive compared to most stands at market, though I'd argue we're pretty competitive with most organic produce in area grocery stores, especially when relative freshness and quality is taken into account. And our market prices match up well with the other few certified farms at market; we're not out of line relative to our niche.We're often more expensive than wholesale organic, but that's hardly surprising since much of the industrial organic system is built on cheap migrant labor and subsidized desert irrigation, just like its conventional counterpart. We can make sales of items other market stands don't have, like diverse garlic and edamame, but not anything for which we have competition, like squash, cucumbers, or tomatoes. That tells me it's a price issue, because the quality is good and the quantity is there.
When you walk down the aisle at the farmers market, we look expensive because we're directly competing largely with part-time farms which, even when well-meaning and well-run, have off-farm and/or retirement incomes and otherwise aren't treating their business the way we treat ours, as a full-time long-term profession and not a source of cash on the side. It's not hard to make a profit selling produce (especially if you don't account for the value of your labor), but it's awfully hard to make a real living. Our prices have to include insurance, retirement savings, health costs, long-term rolling averages of inevitable crop failures, home repairs, etc...all things that people with jobs or outside incomes just don't need to think about earning from produce. I think I can count the number of real full-time professional farms at our market on one hand (there are over 70 overall), though I suspect most customers don't realize that, and some of those farms have to make sales in big-city markets like St. Louis to stay in business, despite our market location in a city of 100,000. It's like trying to run a professional auto repair shop with five neighbors doing quickie $10 oil changes in their garages because they like working on cars in their spare time.
Customer spending. In no way do I intend to demean the many loyal and interested customers we do have. But the reality is, there just aren't enough of you, and the per capita spending just doesn't work for a full-time farm. I wish I had time to keep data on every transaction amount at market, but I'd confidently say that our median purchase is less than $10, with a long tail toward $2-$4 and only a couple people who spend more than $20. If you figure a professional market farm has to earn at least $1000 per market (gross) to even have a chance (30 markets x $1,000 = $30,000 gross income, still not very much), then that's roughly $4/minute in sales for a 4-hour market. Business isn't anywhere close to that, either in quantity (lots of customers) or magnitude (significant single purchases).
According to 2009 USDA numbers, the average weekly grocery bill for a 2-person household could range from $80 to near $160. Assuming we're targeting the middle-upper range of that spectrum, our normal market sale of around $10 is anywhere from 6%-8% of the total weekly grocery budget of an average market customer (even at the low end, it's only 12%). Given that the USDA thinks vegetables should be 25% or more of any given meal, that's a big gap in potential spending, and that's really hurting us. Either people aren't eating many vegetables, or they're not buying them from us despite being theoretically/statistically able to do so. Granted, we don't grow everything people could want, but we have a lot more diversity than most customers choose to purchase from us.
Using the $1,000 threshold mentioned above, even at $4/customer we only need 250 customers per Saturday to buy from us, out of the 3,000-4,000+ customers the market estimates attend every week. Our internal numbers tell me we're getting far less than that; I think we're more in the 70-100 range. That tells me that a farm like ours simply is not of interest to most market customers, even though it's theoretically supposed to be. People vote with their wallets, and we're not getting elected (note that I wrote about concerns with market last year, too).
Recession. This is the easy out, simply accepting that we're in a bad economic time and lots of businesses and individuals are hurting, and people are cutting back and looking for cheaper options. Overall, it's true. But what I'd like to know is, are people cutting back the same everywhere? Our sales this summer are down roughly 30% from last year (still not a great year). Is the same true for cell phone and electronic sales? Jewelry? Clothes? Cable/satellite TV? Tobacco? Will the Mizzou football stadium be 1/3 empty this year, with people refusing to pay huge markups for generic food and beer? If all of that is true, then fine, the recession is really here. If not, I'm curious why our food is high on the list of early budget cuts when other things apparently are not. Even with tightened belts, there are enough people in Columbia and/or enough coming to market to make even $5-$10 individual sales worth it, if the total purchasing activity was there at our stand (which it isn't; see above). Virtually anyone can afford $4-$5 at a weekly farmers market, if they chose to spend it with us; that's just not happening.
Going CSA. The situation described above is one, among many, reasons we've decided to change our business model to a CSA next year. While we still have to do the work to find and retain customers, going CSA gives us access to the entire area population instead of the small niche of market-goers. It guarantees an end home for what we grow, and lets us focus our work, skill, and stress on production, not marketing. It removes individual product prices as a factor in consumer behavior, replacing it with an annual return on investment that will be easier for them to judge and value. Long-term we still have to manage the farm well enough to grow enough product to support enough customers to make a good living, and that's an ongoing learning experience, but it takes most of the uncertainty and inefficiency out of the sales end of things. And so CSA, we think, is a far more sensible business choice for us than the farmers market, with its increasing uncertainty, cost, and inefficiency, has become.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Bird list & other natural events, August 2011
Good riddance to August, honestly. We won't miss it overall, from low sales to production problems to intense heat and more. We recieved less than 2" of rain for the whole month, which is preferable to overly wet though still problematic. But even an obnoxious month has its bright spots, and some pretty neat things happened within the farm's ecosystem over the past 31 days.
Birds. Mostly a quiet month similar to July, with a lot of increased activity in the last few days of the month as the early fall migrants begin to pass through. Most of the new birds for this month have shown up in the past week. Some we haven't been able to identify, due to typically drab fall plumage and brief views (especially within the context of farm work), but we do our best. All sorts of birds like our sunflower planting, with even Downy Woodpeckers clinging to the heads as they work out seeds. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been especially prevalent lately as well.
Interestingly, the Broad-winged Hawks which were so prevalent throughout their breeding season have been entirely silent and mostly unobserved this month with only two sightings (which I think are the juvenile), while the Red-shouldered Hawks which are usually quite active (but mostly vanished while the Broad-wings were here) have returned with style, soaring and vocalizing every day lately. Not sure if there's a direct correlation, but it's interesting. And we went all month without seeing or hearing a single Red-tailed Hawk, which is great for chickens but unlikely to last. September is the month when migrating hawks tend to start preying on our flock.
NEW IN AUGUST (10 species, some observed earlier this year but not in July)
Fish Crow (unusual for us, identified clearly by voice)
Eastern Kingbird (only one other record here in five years)
Red-winged Blackbird (flocks passing over and through, mixed with Grackles)
Grackle (same as above)
Black and White Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-throated Green Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler (we're 90% certain of this)
PRESENT IN AUGUST (36 species)
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Mourning Dove
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Whip-poor-will
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Peewee
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Black-cappeed Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Parula
Louisiana Waterthrush
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
American Goldfinch
MISSING/UNOBSERVED SINCE JULY (5 species)
Red-Tailed Hawk
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Chipping Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Friday, September 2, 2011
Market plans, September 3
NEW THIS WEEK
Green beans: These are just coming on, with small quantities this week, but they're quite tasty.
ALSO AVAILABLE
Summer squash: Lots of small, tender, high-quality squash for all sorts of uses. We go through many pounds of these a week ourselves. Try making a batch of zucchini relish; we tried this recipe this year and really like it (we replaced bell peppers with Anaheims and cut the sugar a bit).
Cucumbers: A mix of standard greens, sweet heirloom yellow/whites, and picklers. The whites and yellows are extra-sweet but seedier, while the greens are pretty standard. Pickles, cucumber salads, gazpacho, fresh snacks...there are many ways to use lots of fresh cucumbers.
Hot peppers: Green anaheim & jalapeno hot peppers. Stuff anaheims with chevre and roast for a tasty meal or snack; roast with tomatoes and/or tomatillos for excellent salsa; include in any sauce or stew for good flavor and a light heat. Jalapenos make great salsa and more.
Sweet peppers: Red and yellow sweet peppers are starting to yield well, though slowly. We don't grow full sized bell peppers, but we've found several varieties of open-pollinated/heirloom sweet peppers that we think have amazing flavor and can be used just like bell peppers. These include: Doe Hill Golden Bell, a sweet, roundish, yellow-orange pepper that is Joanna's favorite; Sheepnose Pimento, a sweet red pepper shaped similarly to the Doe Hill; Chervena Chushka, a pointy sweet red pepper with nice thick walls (& very slow to ripen this year); and Jimmy Nardello's Italian Frying Pepper, an all-purpose narrow pointy pepper that is Eric's favorite.
Salad/sauce tomatoes: Golf-ball-sized tomatoes with firm, meaty flesh and good flavor. Great for roasted salsas or sauces; also for salads because they hold together and don't splort everywhere.
Edamame: Nearing the end of these. We were both stung by ground-nesting bees while picking this week, and have just about had it with edamame.
Okra: Two varieties, really producing well right now. Fry it in salted cornmeal, add to soups/stews/beans, use in Indian cooking...Okra also freezes very easily; just pop it in a freezer bag (no blanching) for easy use in winter stews. We freeze it by the gallon this way.
Garlic: All varieties available this week. Roast it, grill it, make salsa, make pesto...what meal doesn't use garlic this time of year?
Onions: Market table space is currently very limited for us at the moment, so we're selling onions by the braid; look for them hanging off of the tent. Both yellow and red onions are now cured. These are good storage varieties, and we personally plan to be eating from this batch of onions through March. We expect some percent loss in storage over a period of seven months, but storage of few weeks to a couple of months should be no problem for these when hanging these braids in normal kitchen conditions.
Herbs: Parsley, sage, thyme, mint, tarragon, oregano, green coriander, and possibly more depending on what looks good at harvest time.
Green beans: These are just coming on, with small quantities this week, but they're quite tasty.
ALSO AVAILABLE
Summer squash: Lots of small, tender, high-quality squash for all sorts of uses. We go through many pounds of these a week ourselves. Try making a batch of zucchini relish; we tried this recipe this year and really like it (we replaced bell peppers with Anaheims and cut the sugar a bit).
Cucumbers: A mix of standard greens, sweet heirloom yellow/whites, and picklers. The whites and yellows are extra-sweet but seedier, while the greens are pretty standard. Pickles, cucumber salads, gazpacho, fresh snacks...there are many ways to use lots of fresh cucumbers.
Hot peppers: Green anaheim & jalapeno hot peppers. Stuff anaheims with chevre and roast for a tasty meal or snack; roast with tomatoes and/or tomatillos for excellent salsa; include in any sauce or stew for good flavor and a light heat. Jalapenos make great salsa and more.
Sweet peppers: Red and yellow sweet peppers are starting to yield well, though slowly. We don't grow full sized bell peppers, but we've found several varieties of open-pollinated/heirloom sweet peppers that we think have amazing flavor and can be used just like bell peppers. These include: Doe Hill Golden Bell, a sweet, roundish, yellow-orange pepper that is Joanna's favorite; Sheepnose Pimento, a sweet red pepper shaped similarly to the Doe Hill; Chervena Chushka, a pointy sweet red pepper with nice thick walls (& very slow to ripen this year); and Jimmy Nardello's Italian Frying Pepper, an all-purpose narrow pointy pepper that is Eric's favorite.
Salad/sauce tomatoes: Golf-ball-sized tomatoes with firm, meaty flesh and good flavor. Great for roasted salsas or sauces; also for salads because they hold together and don't splort everywhere.
Edamame: Nearing the end of these. We were both stung by ground-nesting bees while picking this week, and have just about had it with edamame.
Okra: Two varieties, really producing well right now. Fry it in salted cornmeal, add to soups/stews/beans, use in Indian cooking...Okra also freezes very easily; just pop it in a freezer bag (no blanching) for easy use in winter stews. We freeze it by the gallon this way.
Garlic: All varieties available this week. Roast it, grill it, make salsa, make pesto...what meal doesn't use garlic this time of year?
Onions: Market table space is currently very limited for us at the moment, so we're selling onions by the braid; look for them hanging off of the tent. Both yellow and red onions are now cured. These are good storage varieties, and we personally plan to be eating from this batch of onions through March. We expect some percent loss in storage over a period of seven months, but storage of few weeks to a couple of months should be no problem for these when hanging these braids in normal kitchen conditions.
Herbs: Parsley, sage, thyme, mint, tarragon, oregano, green coriander, and possibly more depending on what looks good at harvest time.
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