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Live Earth Farm (Com)Post
1st Harvest Week, Winter 2006/2007
Nov. 29, 2006
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in this issue
-- Greetings from Farmer Tom
-- Greetings from Debbie
-- Just yesterday, in the barn...
-- What's in the box this week -- Recipes!
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Carl Sagan |
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Greetings from Farmer Tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My family and I just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving
break in the majestic Teton Range in Wyoming with our very
good friend Tony Lewis, his wife, and two Australian shepherds.
[The photo, at right, is of our children, Elisa and David.] Our
friendship predates Live Earth Farm and he has witnessed the
change from Tom the city boy and long-distance runner to Tom
the farmer. In the early years, Tony came to visit a lot and he
was the first to help me remove the fences of the old horse
pastures that subdivided the farm. I will never forget when he
came to the rescue to re-roof our greenhouse after a
windstorm ripped the plastic film of the newly-erected
structure leaving our spring crop of seedling exposed to the
winter cold. His friendship has always been a source of
encouragement and support during all these years, and sharing
a Thanksgiving meal with him was wonderfully energizing as
we start our first ever Winter CSA share. Tuesday morning was
frosty as we woke to harvest the crops; I could feel the urge to
just curl up with my daughter and sleep in. It's interesting how
one's body mimics the rhythm of the farm. Winter's short days
give the spirit a rest, gives one time to slow down, meet with
friends, talk, reflect and sleep. We repair and build things we
don't have time for during the "busy" season. Plants parallel
this pace as they move nutrients more slowly, and you will
notice how the carrots are crisper and the red Russian kale,
together with their its cousin, the collard greens, are much
sweeter and milder than other times of the year. The soil and
microorganisms are slowing down and winter workdays start at
8am and go until 4:30pm... what a contrast to long summer
days, when we have to force ourselves to stop working,
knowing we can accomplish one more task while it's still light
outside late into the evening. Our planting cycles will stop after
this week, at least in the fields. I am grateful the rain has held
back and we can take advantage of these clear days to plant
the last variety of strawberries (Seascape), a batch of
raspberries, and onions ? all in preparation for next season. By
the time you taste the first raspberry next year, winter and
spring will have passed! But for now it's time to slow down, be
patient, prepare and wait so that when we bite into that juicy
tomato again next year, sometime in July, we can fully
appreciate the cycles that dictate the life of our crops and
therefore also the rhythm of our own lifecycles.
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Greetings from Debbie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Just yesterday, in the barn... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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What's in the box this week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 bunch golden beets, 1 bunch carrots, 2 to 3 butternut squash,
1 bunch cilantro, 2 bunches red Russian kale, 1 bunch chard
1 bunch collard greens, 8 apples, 2 avocados and 5 to 6 sweet
bell peppers! (from Lakeside Organic Farm)
Tom has hinted to me that next week we may be seeing fennel, potatoes, and leeks...
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Recipes! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I hate to do this to you guys... I know you always look
forward to new recipes, but I'm still trying to figure out this
system, and clearly there are some wrinkles I need to iron out!
So for this week, I'm just going to send you to my online recipe
database. There are LOTS of recipes there, and if you haven't
been there yet, it's high time you checked it out!
By next week I hope to have spent some more time with this and should have some new recipes for you. - Debbie |
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
farmers@cruzio.com
phone:
831.763.2448
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