Red Wagon Farm

CSA Week 5

Posted on June 12, 2015 by leonieredwagon

We’re missing the sun a little, oh well. It’s week 5, and this week we hope to bring you:

Regular Share
-Garlic Scapes
-Hakurei Turnips
-Baby Walla Walla Onions
-Choice: Lettuce OR Braising Mix OR Arugula
-Choice: Kale OR Collards
-Choice: Mixed Herb Bunch OR Mint OR Cilantro

Large Share Additions
-Grilling Fava Beans
-Strawberries

Posted in 2015 | Comments Off

We try to communicate what we do on the farm to grow your food. In some ways it is simple in that we plant, water, weed, and harvest it. The complicated part is the planning and then the execution of the plan with constant changes to the plan due to ever changing conditions. The last six weeks have been the most challenging that we have ever experienced. It has been too wet to work in the fields with tractors for much of the spring planting season.

Normally we use May 15 as the frost-free date for spring and September 15 for the first frost in the fall. Many of the crops we grow cannot tolerate frost and need to be grown in between these two dates. We normally plant half the farm in the May 15 to June 15 time period. Around here it is usually dry for most of that time. The constant rain has made it so we could not plant very much during this critical time period. I managed to plant a little if it was even close to dry enough to plant. This week we got the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and melons planted as well as winter squash. Both tractors ran all day for the last few days. We also hand-transplanted the Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower (we normally use our water-wheel transplanter for this job). We did not get the next planting of beets, carrots, or beans planted. There is only so much we can do in a day. Normally most of these crops would have been planted weeks ago and we would only have the winter squash left to plant and then successions of other crops (like carrots, beets, beans, and greens) to plant throughout the summer. It is supposed to start raining again tonight and the next few days so we will see what we can plant.

The effect of the rain has been to slow down the growth of many crops. The beets leaves turned red and they almost died from too much water. I planted the beets in March and they were doing great until the rain and cold started in mid-April. For comparison, last year we had beets by the 3^rd week of CSA. The transplanted kale, cauliflower, collards, and chard are also weeks behind normal. The Fava beans don’t normally like our climate, but they are happy this spring I am hoping for an impressive harvest on Fava beans. The peas are also cool-weather crops that are doing very well and should be ready next week.

I always plant some “insurance crops” that are easy to produce, hold well in the field, and are crops people like. Zucchini, potatoes, chard, kale, beets, and carrots are some of my normal “insurance crops”. This spring many of these are struggling. There are some early potatoes, but our main planting rotted in a field with standing water. Fortunately I only planted half of my seed potatoes (and still have the rest unplanted), but we had over 1,000 pounds of seed potatoes rot. We had to plant the zucchini and cucumber seeds 3 times because they kept rotting in the wet ground. Now these plants are many weeks behind where they should be in early June. The kale is almost ready, but still growing slowly and not loving how saturated the soil is.

This season we have a crew of 17 and last year we had 23 people working in early June. This is about 300 less hours worked per week than last season. Our crew missed work one day per week for 4 of the last 6 weeks because it was too wet to work. I was worried about our crew having to quit to find more reliable employment. Fortunately, the crew we have is great and we are accomplishing a significant amount every week.

I am hoping it will not be a terrible farm season. We do actually have a good amount of food growing right now. We could use some luck and warm weather. We are working to give our CSA great quality food and to improve on the variety from week to week. We have to choose between giving you food that you have had enough of for a while, or not giving you anything. I know the turnips have become a bit much, but I had another farm buy Red Wagon turnips for their CSA because they did not have hardly anything ready. We want our CSA members to be happy and are doing our best but we cannot control weather. Wish us luck for better weather for the rest of the growing season!

Posted in 2015, Farm | 5 Comments

Reinventing the Turnip

Posted on June 9, 2015 by lnmayer

Hello CSA Members,

This is Lauren- you may recognize me as the one who checks you in at the pick ups. Every week, I’m hoping to write to you to give the inside scoop from the farm, ideas for your veggies, and perhaps anything that is coming to mind that is relevant to you as CSA members.

Today, I want to give you some ideas for your Hakurei Turnips. Of course, the easiest and a farm worker favorite while working in the wash station is to simply bit into one of those tender white turnips. Sprinkling a little chili salt makes it extra special. It’s a great quick healthy snack while we await lunch time and our stomachs are rumbling with hunger. I also love to add a thin slice of one of the turnips to a sandwich for a little texture and crunch. This, however, can only go so far, right?

So, I’ve been searching for recipes. One really great recipe for summer is on the recipes section of our web page – a Turnip Slaw. I, personally, am a fan of pickles of all kinds. I’ve found a couple recipes for a quick pickle, which basically includes white vinegar, salt, sugar, and any herbs or spices that sound good to you. Stick it in a mason jar and let it sit for a day or two in the fridge. Yummy. If you’re a fan of curries or a looking for a substitute for milk or cream, these white globes are a great addition to any creamy sauce. Roast the root portion of the turnip with a little oil, salt, and pepper until tender, puree, and add to the base of the sauce.

And of course, don’t forget the greens. If you are a meat eater, saute garlic, onion, in olive oil…add some ham hock or bacon (my personal favorite), throw the greens in for a minute or two and a savory quick side dish is ready to be enjoyed.

Be inventive and try something new with these Hakurei turnips. If you come up with anything good, please share your recipes with me!

Happy turnip eating!

Posted in 2015, Farm, Newsletter | 2 Comments

CSA Week 3

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Amy

I love our geese! All the other animals (and people!) on our farm are miserable with this rain. But the geese are almost always unphased by the weather.

This week we hope to bring you:

Regular Share
Choice: Green Garlic OR Scallions
Hakurei Turnips
Choice: Arugula OR Lettuce
Pea Shoots
Choice: RR Kale OR Bok Choi OR Mustard Greens
Choice: Mixed Herb Bunch OR Mint OR Garlic Chives OR Lovage

Large Share Additions
Choice of 2: Arugula OR Lettuce
Choice of 2: RR Kale OR Bok Choi OR Mustard Greens
Rhubarb

Posted in 2015 | Comments Off