The Farmers' Return from Winter

Every year, as the farm winds down for the year, friends and customers ask Rachel and me what it is we actually do in the winter.  What we do during the growing season is apparent—long days of sun, fifteen employees, fifty plus crops—plenty to keep us busy.  But what happens after the ground freezes and the snow flies?  I think some romantic visions about winter farm life may exist:  steaming cups of tea, a soft sofa, a stack of books to read.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

It’s true the operation slims down: we lay off the bulk of the staff, shutter the market, and winterize equipment.  December is spent reviewing the year’s performance and crunching a mountain of numbers…hopefully we finish with enough time to enjoy the holidays a bit!

Then we try and get away for a little bit and get some midwinter sun.  This year we spent 10 days in San Diego.  During my time off, I like to practice being a tourist in other places—it always gives me insight into how we can serve our own customers here better.  So, in addition to lounging around the beaches of Del Mar and eating fish tacos, we paid a visit to the wine region of Temecula and stopped by the “agritourism” town of Julian to try their famous apple pie.

Of course, being on vacation with a toddler isn’t really much of a vacation!  We got what little R & R we could while trying to keep Jessie on a reasonable sleep schedule—spent a lot of time touring the various playgrounds of San Diego!

Now with Jessie happily back with her full complement of blocks, books, and dolls, we begin to focus on 2011.  Outside, Esteban has been steadily pruning his way through the apples.  He will start on the cherries next week.  Renae, our vegetable manager, has been squeezing in field planning and seed ordering in between holidays with her family in Wisconsin and a bike trip down the California coast.  She will return at the beginning of February to warm up the greenhouse and plant the first seeds of the season.

That leaves Rachel and me to plan, strategize, and hire.  Yesterday we sat down to plan our events calendar and marketing strategies for the year.  Later discussions will focus on farm projects we hope to complete this spring.  Each year we enjoy the return of some employees, but there are always vacancies to fill.  There are job descriptions to write and post, interviews to do, references to check.  And then there is wine to finish making!  From now until mid-March, I will be busy blending, filtering, ordering labels & bottles, and lining up every last detail before the mobile bottling truck pulls in.

Each week brings perceptibly longer days and the return of life begins to hum beneath the soggy ground.  And without even recognizing the change, I will wake up some day in April, with that steady hum alive inside me as well, renewed and ready to hit another season!

Renae Writes: Simple Black Bean & Poached Egg Soup

With the threat of cool nights, I can officially say (for myself at least) it is crock pot season.  This cool weather has provoked three crock pot meals in the last week.  I can remember the transition of the season, the shorter days, the tree’s turning colors, was always the trigger for my mom to start Sunday soups.  She would throw a soup together mid morning let it stew all afternoon and right around sun downwe would sit around the ‘novel’ woodstove and enjoy the day’s creation.  Although 3 out of five times it was a variation of lentil soup my favorite was always any kind of black bean soup.  

This black bean soup recipe is one that I put together after traveling around Costa Rica.  It is a combination of a soup that I had with a family I stayed with and soup that I had at a small ‘Soda’ in San Isidro.  Very simple, but the key ingredients far as I am concerned is the perfectly poached egg added at the end.  Oh, and the cilantro!

Simple Black Bean & Poached Egg Soup

2 cups dried black beans
5 cups water/chicken stock
5 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 pepper, diced
¼ poblano pepper, diced
1½ Tbsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste
handful of cilantro, chopped
eggs
sour cream (optional)

Put the black beans and water or stock in crock pot on high for 4 hours (add more water if necessary).  Put half the beans into a blender and return to crock pot.  Add everything to the crock pot except the cilantro and egg.  Let the mixture simmer for 1.5-2 hours. 

Scoop out portion needed for your meal (this recipe is enough for 6 portions) and place in a saucepan.  Set stove top to Med/High, once there is a rolling boil crack desired amount of eggs in soup.  Carefully continue to mix so soup does not burn to the bottom of the pan but allowing the egg to cook thoroughly.  I like to add as many eggs as portions so everyone gets a poached egg in their bowl!  Top with cilantro and sour cream. 

Rachel Writes: Succession Planting

I was looking at the weather report early this morning.  98 degrees today!  But then by Saturday we’re supposed to be back down to 78 as a high.  Time to plant spinach, I thought.

We have a “Crop Book” that we’ve put together which lays out the plan for how and when we plant each of our vegetable crops.  Most planting dates are decided on in January and February.  On the spinach page, we set the first three spring planting dates by the calendar, but the fourth planting is a little more variable:  “Plant on the first cool spell in August,” it says.  We usually get one such cool spell and here it is.

Spinach doesn’t germinate well when the soil temperature is above 70 degrees.  Even though the air temperature won’t be quite that low, we might be able to keep the soil temperature down by shading the spinach bed with shade cloth on wire hoops, plus irrigating every day at least a bit.

It seems like kind of a lot of trouble, but spinach is a high value crop for us, which makes it worth it.  If this planting comes up, we should be harvesting spinach by the third week in September.

The next planting of spinach is scheduled for mid-September, when the soil has cooled down.  We’ll get one or two pickings off of it in late October and then leave it to sit during the winter.  Spinach is a hardy crop, which can survive winters here without any protection—though we may decide to throw some hoops and row cover over it to give it an extra boost.  In the spring, it will start to grow again, and we’ll be able to start harvesting in March or April.  We’ll also be putting some spinach in our high tunnel, which will give us something to harvest in the dead of winter.

The majority of our crops are planted multiple times a year.  The exceptions are things like pumpkins, eggplant, and peppers, which we only plant once.  But to keep a steady supply of vegetables coming out of the field, we have to plant most crops in multiple successions.  We plant salad mix and arugula every week; head lettuce and cilantro every other week; beans, carrots, and beets every three weeks; and so on.  We get a succession of corn by planting varieties with different maturation dates several times a year.

All this succession planting can get complicated, but it’s one of the things I like best about growing vegetables.  It keeps your mind engaged, while the physical work keeps your body engaged.  I love the challenge of keeping a consistent supply of  fresh vegetables on our shelves and in your CSA box. 

Right now we’re involved in the challenge of scheduling winter plantings in our high tunnel in order to extend the season as long as possible.  Renae is trying her hand at this plannint work this winter, so we’ll keep you updated on how she’s doing!  At the very least, we will be selling a 6 week winter share and it’s not too early to sign up for yours.  Through the deep of winter, I’m hoping we’ll be able to continue to provide boxes at least once in a while that contain fresh greens from our high tunnel….including some of that yummy spinach.

Succession Planting. You can see month-old beans on the left, brand new beans next to them, and Renae preparing a bed for yet another planting of beans. On the right is a young sucession of corn, while another sucession grows in the field in the background.

Winter Season CSA

Here we are over two-thirds of the way through the CSA season!  CSA members—Thank you so much for joining us this year.  I feel like we have a very cohesive, supportive CSA group—perhaps because so many of you are returning members.  Many of you have stuck with us since our first year in ’06.  I love having the new blood of our new members this year too!

You’ve heard a lot of talk about our new high tunnel this year.  Once we figure out soil and temperature dynamics, it’s going to be a great source for early tomatoes.  (And in fact, our blossom-end rot seems to have decreased once we amended the soil.)  Once we take the tomatoes out, the plan is to use the high tunnel to supply fresh greens during the winter.  We’ll be able to grow lots and lots of salad mix and spinach, and we’re also going to trial crops from broccoli to chard to turnips.  Combine that with storage vegetables like onions, potatoes, and winter squash and you’re set for a yummy early winter!

We’ve decided the best way to get these crops into people’s kitchens is through a wintertime CSA.  The Winter CSA will be a mix of greens from the high tunnel and storage crops such as onions, potatoes, and winter squash.  (See below for details).  We will only be accepting a limited number of members, so don’t delay in signing up!

Since the winter CSA is a bit experimental, we want it to be a no risk proposition from both sides.  If we cannot fill up 6 boxes for you, we will refund you in credit toward a 2010 summer CSA share.

Thanks for supporting our farm this year!  Thanks for all your good efforts toward eating well, learning about new veggies, trying new recipes, and spreading the word to friends and family!

WINTER CSA DETAILS

SEASON: 6 weeks, October 27 to December 1

COST: $150

PICK-UP: Tuesdays starting at 3:30 at the Sunshine Farm Market, pre-packed boxes

WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN YOUR BOX:  8-10 different items from the following:  salad mix, lettuce, chard, kale, collards,bspinach, arugula, radishes, turnips,bbeets, carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, parsnips, celeriac, kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli, bok choy, Jerusalem artichokes, winter squash

TO SIGN UP:  Contact Rachel by email or phone to check on availability.  Bring your check payable to The Sunshine Farm by the market or mail it to 37 Highway 97A Chelan, WA 98816.