A few words about member work hours.

I have been thinking about this blog for quite awhile. And this past Sunday I was reminded of exactly why I decided to add member work hours to the CSA membership this year. We had 2 members volunteering and weeding carrots. I was talking about how I love to teach and interact with customers. For me farming is not just about growing the crops. It is about educating people about why it is important to eat local organic produce. It is about why it is important to eat healthy. I want to show people the rewards of doing so. I love the farmer’s markets and interacting with customers. As I was talking a member was weeding chickweed out of the carrots and eating it. It reminded me of why I started this in the first place. The sheer joy of being in nature, being subject to nature, being close to God and feeling that awesome childlike spirit.

CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Although the financial support is crucial the community aspect is just as important. By doing a CSA in which boxes are delivered the farmer/ consumer contact is eliminated. That is also why I have chosen an ordering system. I want to know you all personally and know the produce you want to eat. Emails are great but I want one on one contact. That is one reason I didn’t do the CSA last year. I felt a lack of contact with many of my customers. And it never fails that the CSA members I have no contact with are the least satisfied.

Having you work on the farm is important to let you know the immense, and I mean immense, amount of work it takes to produce one of those boxes each week. The volunteers who have come have been extremely helpful. But it is not about the labor for me. It is the interaction. It is the realization that we are humans working extremely hard to share our labor of love with you. And by you working with us you too are participating in that labor of love.

If you cannot or do not want to work on the farm fine. Just let me know. If anyone understands busy it is someone like me who works 80 + hours a week. I don’t want to be a drill sergeant. I want you to come because you see that value in where your food comes from.

I am surprised at how many people are opposed to the whole idea. Many CSA’s are run solely on member labor. So instead of forcing anyone to work I will have to reward those who did work hard. I will let you know the reward as we see how the season finishes out.

I am blessed to have wonderful supporting members. I am grateful for all of you. No matter what your contribution has been. And yes, financial contributions are crucial.

This labor of love is important to many of us for many reasons. And with out your support I don’t know where I would be.

Many blessings to you all,

Erica

This week's harvest;

Full share: (you may receive any of these items)

• Fingerling potatoes 2 lb
• Lettuce- 2-3 heads salad mix 1/2 lb
  
• Beets 1.5 lb or carrots 1.5 lb
  
• Mixed colors and shapes of sweet peppers 1.5 lb
• Eggplant (small purple, green, large purple or orange) 1.5 lb
• 3/4 lb of komatsuna or kale or collard greens
• Winter Squash- Butternut. 1 fruit.
  
• Beans ¾ lb or cabbage 1 head
  
• Parsnips- 1.5 lb
• Frisee- 2 heads.
  
• leek 1#
• Daikon or Watermelon Radishes 1 lb
  

Half Share:

• Any 4 of the above full share items.

Optional Items: (these count as an item in your share) Some of these items are in limited quantities so can be ordered on a first come first serve basis.

• Fresh cut flower bouquets

Extra Items: (these do not count as an item) - Please let me know the quantity you would like.

• Hot peppers - 6 peppers – we have tons so order more.
• Tomatoes- cherry 1/2 lb - limited quantities
  
• Aji Dulce Peppers- ½ lb. These are also known as Caribbean Seasoning Peppers. They look; taste and smell like a hot pepper but have no heat. They are excellent for seasoning.
• Italian Parsley- 1/8 lb

Thank you and have a great week,
Erica

As promised here is Miriam's blog about beneficial insects from our 3rd annual Rt 10 Tour on August 27th.

September 2011

A couple of weeks ago we held a tour at the farm and I gave a lecture on beneficial insects. I filled myself up with a lot of information leading up to the talk, so I thought I'd share a little while it's still fresh.

Beneficial insects fill two very important roles, as pollinators and pest killers. Traditionally, farmers hired honey bees to do the pollinating work, but with the current colony collapse crisis we aren't seeing many honeybees in the field. So who's doing the pollinating for our squash and tomatoes? A combination of native bees, wasps, butterflies, and flies. Native bees are by far the most efficient pollinators in that list. However, native bees tend to be solitary insects, meaning that they don't build hives or swarm. They nest in abandoned insect holes in wood or in tunnels in the ground. We've installed a nesting site for mason bees near our store, a 2x6 with holes drilled in it under an eave for protection.

Wasps perform in both roles, as pollinators and pest killers. In the case of wasps, the killing is in order to provide food for their young. The adults generally eat pollen and nectar (which is why they can pollinate). Some wasps are parasitoids, laying eggs in caterpillars and other insects. The larval wasps develop inside the caterpillar, sapping its strength from within. The larvae will then eat their way out of the worm to form cocoons and eventually hatch out as adult wasps. If you see these cocoons, try to resist squishing the worm so that there are more wasps in the garden to work for you. You may want to move it away from your tomatoes, though. Other wasps will kill or scavenge insects to bring back to their nests for the young to eat. To encourage nesting near the fields (and away from our buildings), we've put up bird houses without bottoms. The house will be a protected space and removing the bottom makes it unsuitable for birds, so there won't be competition for the space.

Other insects are hunters, like ladybugs and praying mantises. Ladybugs love aphids but will eat other soft-bodied insects as well (like caterpillars, scale, even potato beetle eggs and larvae). We get a lot of ladybugs here at the farm and generally don't have much trouble with aphids, so I think we're doing something right. It's important to recognize the different life stages of the ladybugs so you don't squish them by mistake. The larval stage looks very different from the adults. (There are some pictures in this article about ladybugs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybug )

In general, to attract beneficial insects into your garden, the best thing you can do is have flowers mixed in with your veggies, especially native plants with clusters of small flowers. You can also allow your herbs and some of your brassicas to flower (like broccoli, arugula, and mustard greens). Here at B&H, we plant our flower crops and herbs in the same fields as our veggie crops. We also have the advantage of being surrounded by pasture which provides food and habitat. However, the biggest thing we do is to avoid using insecticides. This means that sometimes we have the unpleasant task of squishing a lot of bad bugs. However, nature tends to do a better job of keeping the pests in balance when we don't interfere.

Tips:

• Attract beneficial insects with a variety of flowers interspersed with your vegetables (native plants with many small flowers are best). You can allow some of your crop plants to flower as well, especially herbs like dill and parsley. Try to choose a wide range of flowers so that there are a variety blooms throughout the season.
• Avoid using pesticides, since they will kill your good bugs as well as the pests. If you do use pesticides, try to target the pests directly and use sparingly.
• In dry weather, provide a shallow water source, such as a saucer filled with pebbles or a hose dripping onto a board.
• Mulch your garden and include some low-growing plants to provide habitat and retain moisture.

Web Resources:

Penn State Cooperative Extension, Center for Pollinator Research

http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

http://www.xerces.org/

Fine Gardening, “Attracting Beneficial Insects”

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/attracting-beneficial-insects.aspx

This week's harvest;

his week’s harvest list:

Full share: (you may receive any of these items)

• Purple potatoes 2 lb
• Lettuce- 2-3 heads
• Beets 1.5 lb
• Mixed colors and shapes of sweet peppers 1.5 lb
• Eggplant (small purple, green, large purple or orange) 1.5 lb
• 3/4 lb of chard or kale or baby pac choi or ½ lb dandelion or ¾ lb collard greens
• Winter Squash- Spaghetti or Butternut. 1 fruit.
  
• Beans ¾ lb
• Parsnips- 1.4 lb
• Tomatoes- cherries or larger. More cherries. 2 lb. Limited Quantities.
  
• Frisee- 2 heads.
  
• leek 1#

Half Share:

• Any 4 of the above full share items.

Optional Items: (these count as an item in your share) Some of these items are in limited quantities so can be ordered on a first come first serve basis.

• Fresh cut flower bouquets

Extra Items: (these do not count as an item) - Please let me know the quantity you would like.

• Hot peppers - 6 peppers – we have tons so order more.
• Poblano peppers- 1.5 lb – these are the peppers used to make Chiles Rellenos.
• Basil 1/4 lb
• Aji Dulce Peppers- ½ lb. These are also known as Caribbean Seasoning Peppers. They look; taste and smell like a hot pepper but have no heat. They are excellent for seasoning.
• Italian Parsley- 1/8 lb

Thank you and have a great week,
Erica

Pictured above:
1. Field 1 flooding- our fall crops
2. Field 2 flooding- our potato and squash field
3. Our driveway.

Dear Friends and Members,

I know I said I would post Miriam’s information on beneficial insects. I will postpone her blog until next week. For now I believe a flood update is in order.

Please visit the blog to see photos of the flood.

I was delivering the CSA boxes when the flooding occurred. I am so thankful I did not have to witness the event. Seeing the photos Miriam took was enough to make my heart race.

Thank you Hartz Members for braving the flood waters when possible to pick up your veggies. And if not for taking the time to come back the next day to pick up.

We were very lucky compared to many of our fellow farmers up north and to the west. At this point it seems we suffered minor damage. Although, the flooding occurred in the field with our last plantings of greens. So we will just have to wait to see if anything comes up. This includes our fall spinach.

The main way you will be affected by the rains is that you will find that the crops picked after the rain will not store very well. There is excessive moisture in the fields. This creates spoilage in the vegetables.

Take care this week. Eat the greens as quickly as possible. Keep greens and other cold items in the refrigerator. Try to let all items have access to air. (Don’t store items in plastic). If you cannot eat greens right away keep them cold and put paper towels in your crisper to soak up the excess moisture.

We will do our best to clean the veggies as much as possible. However, when veggies are clean they tend to spoil faster. The dirt keeps them longer. Perhaps it is the minerals in the dirt. Actually, I have been told that in farmer’s markets in Europe no one washes the veggies before selling. I have worked with Europeans who were appalled at how we wash vegetables in this country.

Tomatoes are few and far between. Tomatoes hate cold wet conditions.

At this point we will take everyday as a blessing and be grateful for what we get. On that note I think you will find we still have quite a bit to offer this week.

And here are some recipes to try out for all the beautiful winter squash:

Two different recipes for pumpkin chili. Remember any of the squashes can be substituted for pumpkin.

http://www.ordinaryvegetarian.com/2010/11/vegan-mofo-8-pumpkin-black-bean-chili.html

http://kitchenwithbrina.blogspot.com/2009/10/veggie-pumpkin-chili.html

Two recipes for stuffed pumpkin:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/dining/271NREX.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2250,154182-225200,00.html

This week’s harvest list:

Full share: (you may receive any of these items)

• Purple potatoes 2 lb
• Lettuce- 2-3 heads
• Beets 1.5 lb
• Mixed colors and shapes of sweet peppers 1.5 lb
• Eggplant (small purple, green, large purple or orange) 1.5 lb
• 3/4 lb of chard or kale or baby pac choi or ½ lb dandelion or ¾ lb collard greens
• Winter Squash- Giant pumpkins, red kuri or delicata squash. Super tasty and nutritious. 1large or 2 small.
• Beans ¾ lb
• Fennel – 1 bulb – only for members who have not yet received fennel.
• leek 1#

Half Share:

• Any 4 of the above full share items.

Optional Items: (these count as an item in your share) Some of these items are in limited quantities so can be ordered on a first come first serve basis.

• Fresh cut flower bouquets
• Italian parsley
• Frissee

Extra Items: (these do not count as an item) - Please let me know the quantity you would like.

• Hot peppers - 6 peppers – we have tons so order more.
• Poblano peppers- 1.5 lb – these are the peppers used to make Chiles Rellenos.
• Basil 1/4 lb
• Aji Dulce Peppers- ½ lb. These are also known as Caribbean Seasoning Peppers. They look; taste and smell like a hot pepper but have no heat. They are excellent for seasoning.

Unfortunately, I have to change the date on our CSA potluck. We are changing the date from September 17^th to October 1^st. We will also change the time to 5 pm. Something very big came up for the 17^th. http://www.wyebrookfarm.com/news/2011/8/11/wyebrooks-first-pig-roast.html

This is an event no one will want to miss. You should make it out if you can.

Don’t forget to contact me with your work schedule.

Here is our blog.

Next week Miriam plans to give you all a summary of her “Beneficial Insects” talk at our Rt. 10 tour last Saturday. So I decided to talk about the other side of it all.

Killing pests.

As an organic farmer my main job is an insect assassin. I am not a killer by nature. In fact I was a vegetarian for 16 years. I feel sick every time I have to “take care of “ a groundhog. But, I have realized that in my garden it is survival of the fittest and I do intend to survive.

With that said I refrain when possible from killing bugs and creatures that eat our crops. I am willing to share. The fact is that they all have a lot more time and drive than I do.

I previously worked at a farm where I spent many hours dressed in suits with a loud sprayer attached to my back spraying for insects. Although the sprays were organic in nature they were still dangerous to inhale or to touch the skin. The suits were very hot to wear and the sprayer very uncomfortable.

I decided when starting my own business that I would not spray. And for the first 4 years I did not spray a bug. I spent a lot of time squashing by hand or forcing the insects into a bucket of soapy water.

We have lost quite a few crops to insects and yields are always affected. Last year we lost our whole Brusselsprouts crop. This year I drew the line. When I saw the Brusselsprouts dramatically decrease in health I broke out the neem oil. Neem is not harmful to humans. The main ingredient in my toothpaste is neem. It doesn’t burn the skin or irritate the nasal passages. No need for protection when spraying.

So we decided to spray the Brusselsprouts and it worked. The next day there were very few of the harlequin beetles that suck the life out of those scrumptious veggies.

For a measure of safety I sent out my crew to do another spray today. Midway through I saw our trusty volunteer, Beth, charging down from the upper field. She ran up to me with the most beautiful praying mantid in her hands. “ I had to save her. She is laden with eggs.” So Beth washed off the praying mantid and we placed her in our overgrown asparagus patch. She was saved.

I thought the neem was a miracle cure for those bright colored Brusselsprout assassins. But, in the end I realized once again that spraying, organic or not, harms the good with the bad.

I hope we all enjoy the sprouts this fall. I will certainly think very hard before spraying again.

This week’s harvest:

Full share: ( you may receive any of these items)

• Purple potatoes 2 lb
• Lettuce- 2-3 heads
• Beets 1.5 lb
• Tomatoes - 2- 3 lb many shapes and colors.
• Mixed colors and shapes of sweet peppers 1.5 lb or Eggplant (small purple, green, large purple or orange) 1.5 lb
• 3/4 lb of chard or kale or baby pac choi
• Winter Squash- Giant pumpkins, red kuri or buttercup squash. Super tasty and nutritious. 1large or 2 small.
• Beans ¾ lb– half shares only
• Fennel – 1 bulb or leek 1#
• Garlic- ½ # all members will receive garlic unless they request otherwise.

Half Share:

• Any 4 of the above full share items.

Optional Items: (these count as an item in your share) Some of these items are in limited quantities so can be ordered on a first come first serve basis.

• Fresh cut flower bouquets

Extra Items: (these do not count as an item) - Please let me know the quantity you would like.

• Garlic chives 1/8 lb
• Hot peppers - 6 peppers – we have tons so order more.
• Basil 1/4 lb
• Aji Dulce Peppers- ½ lb. These are also known as Carribean Seasoning Peppers. They look, taste and smell like a hot pepper but have no heat. They are excellent for seasoning.