CSA

I woke feeling a bit drained as I did not get enough sleep due to late blogging.
No worries. Fresh hot coffee is never more than a 5 minute wait. Pour. Fill. Push button (twice). Wait...
Automatic awake.

Ready for the first distribution of 2008!

Oatmeal was the breakfast. Greenhouse was the first destination.
I was happy to see that our 6 flats of fennel were standing again. Yesterday I set the dill out to harden off. It was windy. Fennel is not so sturdy due to its broad top and comparatively narrow base, so the wind had it all laying down by the end of the day. By midday today, it was back to its healthy vertical self.
Note to self: Watermelon leaves are about the diameter of a baseball; Corn is just showing sprouts; It took only 3 full days for tomatoes in 20 rows to sprout; Lettuce is ready to be transplanted again.

From the greenhouse we motored straight to W1 to harvest for today's distributions.
Radishes
Turnips
Mustard Greens

Some pics, perhaps?











Satisfied with our take we laid out irrigation (as it was already hot and aiming to get that much hotter) and headed for the barn to prepare the shares for the drop off location.

Every member received:

3/4 lb Arugula
1/2 lb Spinach
3/4 lb Salad Mix
1/4 lb Tatsoi
1 Head Lettuce
1 Bunch Radishes

Putting it all together.





All together now



After it was all prepped and loaded in the van,



(aaaand after a long-ish lunch) we headed toward the city for our drop-off.

Parkway. Pretty. Hazy.





Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from the drop-off as I forgot my camera in the van during the visit. Suffice to say that the grounds on which the pick-up occurs are stunning. The mighty Hudson rolling by... The old stone buildings, grandiose and quiet... Rooms with views.
(Thanks to the director for the research information she gave me. Very thoughtful.)

On the way back upstate we encountered quite a deluge. 2-3 miles of blanket rains. 3-4 inch pooling on the roadway. Traffic slowed. As quickly as it happened, though, it was done.

We made it back to the farm just as the last "Tuesday" member was picking up their share.

The set up.





A brief clean up was followed by my usual trip to the greenhouse for closing.

Pats on the back all around for our first distribution day! Maaaany more to come. I hope all are enjoying some wonderfully tasty greens, radishes and turnips tonight/tomorrow. As I alluded to last night: The connection one feels to the community, through CSA, is something truly special/unique. It stands only to grow...

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