Dear KCSA community,
That’s right! The harvest season is upon us…where did the time go!? All our Tuesday and Friday Full, Box and Partial Share Group A share members will start their pick up this week. Partial Share Group B will have to wait for one more week before their first pick up!
As a quick reminder here are the cliff notes of our 2020 pick-up protocol:
All shares will be prepacked and boxed for a quick pick up.
Members must wear a mask on the farm.
Only one member per share is allowed to pick up and u-pick.
Members must bring their own scissors and containers for u-pick.
For those wanting a more a more in-depth rundown, please view your introduction package or last week’s newsletter.
A few weeks ago, we informed you of a few issues with the cold wet spring and how that had exacerbated a bit of a bug problem. Although we were looking on the bright side, and have recently had a nice spell of warm dry weather, Mother Nature doesn’t play catch up! We are still a few weeks behind. A tell-tale sign are the strawberries. They are not ready to be picked yet! Furthermore, for the first time ever, we have staked our tomatoes before our peas! Anyway, we will be cobbling a decent first share together this week (and next) but it won’t be until the third or forth week of harvest that I believe we’ll be back on track.
Below you will see our: “WHAT’S IN THE SHARES THIS WEEK!” section. This was a nice addition to our newsletter last year. This year, we have added an interactive element. Thanks to our wonderful Assistant Manager, Becky Brett, we have a blog post for (almost) every vegetable we grow! You can access them via the hyperlinks. The posts provide you with some fun facts, cooking and preservation tips, and recipes! Hopefully, it will also double as an identification guide for some of our new members for the lesser known crops grown at KCSA like kohlrabi and ground cherries.
WHAT'S IN THE SHARES THIS WEEK!
LETTUCE, KALE, SWISS CHARD, DANDELION, RADISH, SPINACH, DILL, PARSLEY, SPRING GARLIC, BEET GREENS.
U-PICK:
HERBS
Members should, however, note a few things. First it is a guide. There is no guarantee that these crops will be available. A lot can happen in a few days on the farm, but we will try our best to be as accurate with our predictions as possible. Full and partial share members should still check the u-pick board for quantities as well as availability during their pick up/u-pick time window. Strawberries are coming in very slowly and will be on the share when they are ready.
Quantities are too difficult to predict, especially as summer is in full swing. You can presume that greens will be bunched. Bunches will vary in size throughout the year. Items like arugula and spinach, however, will sometimes be bagged. This goes for lettuce as well. As the season progresses, items like carrots, beets and turnips can go from being bunched to being loose to being bunched again to being loose again. This is related to its yield and storage capabilities.
And finally, the idea of the Box Share (pre-pandemic) was to give us a little more freedom with the ability to swap a couple of items around if we have too many of one thing and not enough of another on harvest days. So, just to confirm box shares will have a selection of the items of “WHAT’S IN THE SHARE THIS WEEK”. As Frank likes to say “it’s farmers choice!”
See you (only one person per share) outside the shed (masked and 6ft away from anyone else)!
Cheers,
Andrew
