News from Loon Organic Farm
by Laura Frerichs, Tastemaker in Residence - Laura shares real news and kid adventures from the farm. She also provides you with the contents of your next, hand-picked CSA box.
News from the Farm
We are mid-way through the CSA season (Week 8 of 16!). Here’s a check-in with some of our family and staff about the state of the farm in early August.
Farm kid Willie’s report (age 4): Do you know we grow watermelons? They are pretty good. Better than I thought. I wish we grew sweet torn (sweet corn).
Workshare Bev: Loon Organics Farm has great produce and great staff! All workers on the farm have excellent work ethics which contributes to the very high quality of produce that people get from the farm!
Farmer Adam’s report: It’s dusty. I feel bad for the soil right now. But luckily we got some cover crops in before the dry spell. I do think that the things that are seeded are more capable of getting moisture from the ground versus the transplants that we put in the ground. There is moisture down 1- 1 ½ inches. Buckwheat cover crop roots are slurping up the moisture.
Farm Manager Angela’s report: Things have been going pretty smoothly. We have had plenty of help which has been really nice and some decadent coffee breaks thanks to a few work shares (Jenn’s daughter made sourdough zucchini bread and sourdough brownies. Bev makes zucchini bread, rhubarb coffee cake, squash cake and more).
Farm kid Eli’s report (almost 9 years old): I’ve been helping out with the carrot bagging and box packing and that has been fun. There are lots of frogs like leopard frogs that I’ve been catching--8 in one afternoon!
Farmer Laura’s report: The watermelons and cantaloupes are on the verge! Many appear ripe but flavor and sweetness are still developing—it will be worth waiting for them to reach peak flavor. The first harvest of the red new potatoes next week too—get ready, they are good! And like Willie, we are hankering for sweet corn too. We source some from our friend Jeffrey Nistler in Delano and he will have some for us sometime in August or early September. We are even talking of growing a bit of our own corn again for next year though. The coyotes, deer, raccoons, and ground squirrels would be excited if we grew some too… We will see!
**Lastly, if you are ever missing an item from your box, let us know and we will send a replacement the following week. Also, if you happen to get an underripe or overripe watermelon, shoot us a quick email and we will also replace it. We aim to pick perfectly but we all know perfect just ain’t always possible. Have a great week folks!**
Next week’s box: red norland new potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash/zucchini, carrots, arugula?, kale?, watermelons and/or cantaloupe, eggplant and sweet peppers and more.