2021 CSA Farm Update: Week 12

Welcome everyone to week 12 of the Katchkie Farm CSA. There was a moment yesterday when I caught a slight sent of fall in the air. The smell of leaves, soil, and vegetables with earth still clinging to them. It was only a moment, then back to summer. The fall produce is also just around the corner. Last week looked like the delicata squash were ready until I cooked one. The squash was delicious, but there is just a little more time needed to make them sweeter.

When I was a child, my parents would bring me around to the local farm stands to buy produce and talk with the farmers. My father grew up in the same county and his father and mother had been going to those same farm stands to buy summer produce with him when he was a child. There was always lots to talk about much to the chagrin of young boy. The farmers all had a quality that I could not describe. They all had the physical characteristics of working hard, but there was something they carried, hidden inside. I did not find out what that something was, until I took this vocation on.

There is something that happens when a seed planted in the ground. Seeds are only planted in hopes that they will spring to life and form a plant that will come to fruition. Regardless of past weather, woodchucks, or weeds, this is a new opportunity. There is almost a childlike anticipation of when they will come up. Radishes in late summer may only be a few days, but carrots in spring might take weeks before germination. Once those first green cotyledons are seen, ever so faintly against the dark earth there is joy that cannot be described. Over the many weeks that lie ahead, there are weeds to cultivate, water to give, and an eye for just the right time to harvest. Lots can happen in those weeks between weather, insects, and diseases. Most of the time the crops turn out ok. If all fails, there is always next time.

Until next time,
Farmer Jon