Red Wagon Farm

Here is our tentative list of what we hope to bring you for Week 3 of CSA !

Regular Share
Garlic Scapes
CHOICE: Mint OR Sage OR Nasturtiums
CHOICE: Radishes OR Topped Turnips
CHOICE: Green Garlic OR Scallions
CHOICE: Lettuce OR Arugula
CHOICE: Kale OR Chard

Large Share Additions
Beets
Two Kale or Chard Choices
One Other Item

Here is our tentative list of veggies we hope to bring you this week:

Regular Share
Green Garlic
Lettuce
CHOICE: Pea Shoots OR Fava Bean Tops
CHOICE: Hakurei Turnips OR Radishes
CHOICE: Mint OR Sage OR Chives
CHOICE: Kale OR Collard Greens OR Bok Choi OR Mustard Greens

Large Share Additions
Bok Choi
Rhubarb
Pea Shoots AND Fava Bean Tops
Hakurei Turnips AND Radishes

Today marks the beginning of our CSA season. It also marks a day of gratitude. We are so grateful for all of our CSA members. You are the core of our farm and every one of you  contributes to making Red Wagon Farm possible. Farming for a living is beyond difficult and we are only able to do it with the support of our CSA members. Farming is also risky in many different ways. We experienced some of that risk this past week. The big storm that came through brought hail and snow. The hail shattered things like our spinach leaves. As a result, your shares will be a little bit smaller this first week of CSA. But if all goes well we should be able to make it up to you later in the season. CSA is about sticking with your farm through thick and thin. Thank you for sticking with us and thank you for letting us feed you!

Today is a gorgeous day with only a hint of the inclement weather we experienced on Thursday. The late Spring snow comes as a stressful surprise and a partial gift.

It comes with stress because it is planting season and we have begun to plant our summer crops. Heavy snow and freezing temperatures can cause irreparable harm to the more tender crops, like tomatoes.

Wyatt has been walking the fields today to see how things fared. He reported that the tomatoes pulled through at our 63rd location and is going to check our planting at our Teller location. Fingers crossed. Our new planting of spinach didn’t fare so well, so we have to adjust and adapt in the aftermath. Even when planting schedules are on point, the variability of nature of the can throw a wrench in the mix.

On the positive side, the moisture from the rain and snow is a gift because it solves some water and irrigation issues we may face later in the season.

Regardless of the roller coaster of weather and water, we look forward to the season ahead, the start of our CSA, and the bounty that is to come! As normal for the start of the CSA season, the shares may seem smaller than normal and green heavy, but as the height of the season approaches come July, the size and variety in the shares will expand!

See you guys next week!

Lauren

Here we go! It’s week 1 of the 2017 Red Wagon Farm CSA!

Regular Share
Pea Shoots
Egyptian Walking Onions
Red Russian Kale
CHOICE: Lettuce OR Spinach
CHOICE: Hakurei Turnips OR Radishes

Large Share Additions
Bok Choi
and another item

Welcome New and Returning Red Wagon CSA Members to the 2017 season!

With the snow today it is crazy to think of  all the beautiful green fields of vegetables we have waiting for you. But waiting they are! Wyatt and the Farm crew have spinach, green garlic, lettuces, turnips, kale, chard, and lots of other beautiful crops tucked safely in the ground to be harvested for you, next week and beyond.

I wanted to let new members (and remind returning members) know that every week I’ll write a blog with ideas for preparing, cooking, and storing the weekly CSA share you get from us. You will also get an email each week with a list of vegetables we will be distributing that week. Hopefully these two forms of communication will help you expand your vegetable preparation horizons, plan your weekly meals and use up your share without being overwhelmed.

I have been writing the Red Wagon CSA blog for quite a few years now and we have a pretty good backlog of ideas and recipe for CSA members. You can see them here.

Another useful link we have on our website is a weekly archive of the food we distributed in the past years. This can give you some rough idea of when certain crops might be coming into season for you, at our Farm. Check that out here  .

Please comment below or email me with questions or anything you would like to share.

I’m really looking forward to the season. I’ll be at the Farm CSA pick-up on Thursday’s so I’ll see some of you there.

Mo

I have sad news to share: Red Wagon Farm will not be at the Boulder Farmers’ Market this year. There were many factors that went into this decision, but the main one was my health. It was my job to manage our market booth every week for 8 years. But 5 years ago I suffered a health crisis and was left with a debilitating chronic illness. Wyatt has had to fill in for me at the farmers’ market for the past 5 years. This is in addition to his already too-full schedule. We’ve both been struggling to keep going during this time and something had to give. We had to simplify and have chosen to focus on our CSA and our restaurant accounts.

The hardest part of this decision was knowing that we would let down our farmers’ market customers. We appreciate all that you have done for us and hope that you will support Red Wagon in whatever the future might bring. ~Amy

At the beginning of each farm season, I intend to write a lot of blog posts to communicate with our CSA members. Some years I am better at it than others. This year I think I got a D- in communicating with you! Nonetheless, I am so thankful for each and every one of you. We could not, COULD NOT have a farm without you! Our CSA members are the backbone of support for out farm. We try so hard to do our best for you and I hope we succeed each year.

Growing vegetables for a living is beyond difficult. The uncertainty, the low pay, the all-consuming nature of farming, and on and on. But Wyatt and I get to make a living (barely!) doing something good in the world. We get to grow healthy food for our community. We get to see kids grow up loving our vegetables (how many of you have been CSA members since your kids were born??)  I took some vegetables over to my friend (and CSA member), Elizabeth’s, house. Her kids tore into the bag, demolished the hakurei turnips, dug into the other vegetables, and when I left they were eating the kale raw. My sister is a CSA member. Her kids always ask “Are these Uncle Wyatt carrots?” They will grudgingly eat store-bought carrots, but they know they don’t taste very good.

I don’t know about you, but I was born in 1971. I grew up eating frozen green beans and peas & carrots because it was what you ate then. Oh! And lots of iceburg lettuce! Talk about tasty veggies! Somehow I liked vegetables through all that and continued to eat them as an adult. I am so delighted that my work today involves making vegetable snobs out of kids! I hope that many of these kids continue to love good vegetables throughout their lives.

Wyatt and I also get to do something that feels like a net positive for our ecosystem and environment. The way we farm provides habitat for birds, reptiles, and many other critters. Wyatt has been learning about soil health and micro rhizomes and has been implementing the things he’s learned on our farm.

I could go on with a lot more, but this is a start. Thank you so much from me, Wyatt, and all of our hard-working farm crew. We truly could not do this without you. We hope you will join us again next year!