"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."
- Rachel Carson

What’s in the box this week:

Strawberries
Arugula
Braising mix
Broccoli
Carrots
Chard
Cilantro
Green garlic
Kale
Lettuce
Onions
Spinach
Summer squash
Mystery Item

... and if you have an extra-fruit share:
three additional baskets
of strawberries!

CALENDAR


Sat. June 8 -Farm Work Day, 8am on

Sat. Jun 22 - Summer Solstice Celebration 4pm - 10pm, with The Banana Slug String Band!

Sat/Sun Aug. 3&4 - Children’s Mini Camp,
10m Saturday - noon Sunday. Optional early arrival Friday night.


Sat. Sep 21 - Fall Equinox Celebration,
3pm - 9pm

Sat. Oct 26 - Halloween Pumpkin U-Pick,
all day

Reminder: Farm Work Day coming up Saturday June 8th
Several members expressed a desire to participate in a 'Farm Work Day,' and so we have finally set one up! We have many tasks to do (which will help us stay on top of things), such as planting flowers, drying fruit, weeding, staking and pruning tomatoes, setting up irrigation lines for our newly planted hedgerows, and thinning the apple trees. I would like to start working at 9am sharp. Breakfast will be served at 8 o’clock, and children are welcome. Please call 831.763.2448 and let us know if you are planning to come, so that we have some idea of how many participants we will have. Outdoor work clothes, a hat, and sunscreen are recommended.

Of Interest
Slow down you move too fast... think twice about that urge to control! A common question I get asked as an organic farmer is how I deal with pest control. I usually reply that we don’t have a big pest problem! Just like people, when they get enough rest, eat well, and take care of their bodies, likewise our crops are rarely susceptible to insects and disease when they’re properly nurtured, grown from good seed, and planted at the right time into a well balanced and biologically active soil. There are exceptions, of course, like this year's outbreak of peach leaf curl, or last year's infestation of two-spotted spidermites on the strawberries, or late and early blight on our potatoes and tomatoes. Typically when I see a problem the urge is to do something immediately. But rather than rushing to a sprayer to blast or soak a problem away, I try instead to slow down and determine whether the infestation has reached an economic threshold, and how the ecological balance of the farm might be affected by intervening to save a few peaches, plums, or heads of cabbage. Organic growers today have an arsenal of products available to them which are far less toxic than conventional products such as parathion, but they still come from that same mentality of solving-problems-with-a-miracle-cure, rather than addressing the source of the problem. Though botanical and biological sprays are mostly safe for humans, they are still poisons, and don’t just affect the targeted pests but also our beneficial insect friends. Spraying is the worst way to solve a pest problem and is usually a last resort. I have noticed that if an infestation is out of hand, it is generally a sign that something more fundamental is lacking in the system. Was the crop planted at the wrong time? Was it too wet or too dry? Is the soil lacking in fertility or is the balance between beneficial and predatory insects out of whack? Every season we have the opportunity to understand and experiment with new situations that fit our special conditions on the farm, whether it is trying new varieties of tomatoes that show more resistance to late blight, preventing outbreaks by applying compost teas, timing crop plantings and watering, covering young seedlings with floating row covers, creating more habitat for beneficial insects, or continuously improving the fertility of our soils.

Q&A
Q: What do you mean by 'mystery item' under "What's in the Box?"
A: The "Mystery Item" category is something we started last year, and I decided to revive the concept again this year. It works like this: although we do our best to let you know exactly what you will be receiving each week, sometimes crops aren’t quite ready to harvest when we think they will be (good ol’ Mother Nature!), and so the box contents can be difficult to anticipate. So in order to give us some flexibility, we will occasionally add or change the box contents depending on crop ripeness/availability in the field. Look for a mystery item if you can’t find what’s on the list in your box! But if you know we really left something out that should have been there (i.e. it was in others’ boxes, but not in yours), please let us know and we will do our best to compensate you.

Member to Member Forum
We've got some more specifics on the 'share-splitter' I told you about last week. If any of you out there know someone who is inter-ested in splitting a share at the Aptos location, please have them call Reina Gonzales at 831.662.3370. Thank you!

Notes from Debbie’s Kitchen . . . . . . . . Have a recipe you’d like to share? Contact the newsletter editor.

First off I want to give everyone Heddi Craft's recipe for that versatile 'pasta with light cream sauce' I mentioned last week. And it must be summer (or a close facsimile thereof), because we're getting our first summer squash! Let's see what interesting recipes I can find, and after that, let's see what I still have room for. - Debbie

[Virtually any veggies in] Pasta with Light Cream Sauce
(Heddi says she got this from the May 2002 issue of Fine Cooking Magazine)

It's a formula that has four basic steps. It goes fast so you cook the pasta first and have veggies cut and ready to go!

1. Sauté - veggies over medium high heat, adding long cooking things first. Leafy greens (if using) should be added last, followed immediately by:

2. Flavor - add flavorings such as herbs or liquor and 1/3 cup broth and reduce by half. (It is such a small amount of liquid, so this happens quickly – maybe a minute at most.)

3. Enrich - add 1/2 to 2/3 cup cream and reduce a little bit.

4. Toss – veggie/cream sauce with pasta and a little grated cheese, if desired.

Here are two interesting and easy to make zucchini recipes from the cook-book "From Asparagus to Zucchini." I like the sound of them because they introduce interesting seasoning flavors (caraway in one, nutmeg in the other) to a simple, unassuming veggie.

Zucchini Salad
serves 4

1 lb. zucchini, sliced
4-6 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. caraway seeds, crushed
pinch of paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Steam zucchini or boil in salted water 2-3 minutes. While they are cooking, whisk olive oil into lemon juice. Add garlic, caraway seeds, salt and pepper. Drain zucchini and place in a serving dish. Pour the dressing over, and mix well. Sprinkle a little paprika on top before serving, either hot or cold.

Grated Zucchini
serves 4

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
3 medium zucchini, unpeeled, grated
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet, add garlic and cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes. Do not brown. Toss zucchini in hot garlic butter until tender, 2-3 minutes. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

A simple sauté for Tom's "Braising Mix"
– Debbie's Kitchen

This is what I've been doing with that baby-winter-greens mix Tom's been giving us: wash and spin dry greens, chop coarsely. Slice up some onion and sauté it in olive oil until soft, then turn heat down and stir in greens and 'sweat/wilt' them in their own moisture (they should still be bright green). Sprinkle with a little salt and champagne vinegar and serve as a side dish. Don't add vinegar until just before serving or greens lose their color.

*Click Here* for a link to a comprehensive listing of recipes from Live Earth Farm's newsletters going back as far as our 1998 season! You can search for recipes by harvest week OR by key ingredient. Recipe site is updated weekly.