Mulberry Creek Farm CSA

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog - published occasionally at the whim of the editor

Volume 2: Issue 3 – 5/20/10

In this issue:

Introduction

2010 Summer Share Confirmation: Please double check yours

2010 Summer Share Drop-Off Locations: Please check your slot

Garden News: Winners of sign-up bonuses

Poultry Products: Need to hear from spring egg shareholders 

Hog Hearsay: New piglets coming soon!

Jams, Jellies and Honey: More honey expected

Miscellany: Our move

Question of the Month: Is Mulberry Creek Farm organic?

Introduction:  

It has been a very busy spring here on the farm! It’s hard to believe May is nearly over and our Garden Share season is just around the corner.

In the last Newsblog I mentioned that I was working on website updates and, like most indoor activities, it’s been mostly on hold while we get your crops planted and do our best to keep the weeds at bay. That has been quite an undertaking with the rain coming as it has – the weeds are growing like crazy and it’s often too wet to do much about it. Of course, the crops are also growing like crazy. As a reminder, we do love having extra help from our members – remember, it’s your farm, too! Our regular workday is Wednesday. We do ask that you give us a holler to let us know when you plan to come. Just remember that farming continues on rain or shine. If Wednesdays don’t work for you, let us know. We’d be happy to work out a different arrangement. (And, don’t forget, generally when you come to lend a hand, that hand doesn’t leave empty!)

2010 Summer Share Confirmation

Recently I sent out an e-mail about summer shares and I’m reposting it here just in case you missed it. If you already got it, skip on to the next section! Following is the list of everyone from whom we've received orders and checks for the 2010 season. Check the list to be sure I have you down correctly. If you're on the list, we have received a check from you however if you're on the installment plan, I'll send a reminder e-mail with your remaining amount due. Also, if you’ve sent an order for garden share, eggs, poultry, or anything else and have not received an e-mail from me saying your order arrived, please contact me ASAP.

BTW - the summer share season will begin Wednesday, June 16. If your egg share is for the spring and you want one for the summer, don't forget to send in your order! Also, Glenn has processed our spring chickens and everyone should have received spring orders by now. I have not included duck or turkey on this list or winter garden shares.

Summer 2010 Garden Shares:

Family: Aker, Brown, English

Couple weekly: Campbell-Blake, Fairchild, Gilhooly, Glidden, Manson, Novicki, Ramey, Shapiro, Sinnokrak, Stubbs, Temkin, Vance, Welch, Wilson

Couple alternating: Becker, Duffy, Kovacs, Spriggs-Trobridge, Sterling

Summer 2010 Egg Shares:

Half: Brown, Duffy, Glidden, Manson, Sinnokrak, Spriggs-Trobridge, Wilson

Summer 2010 Poultry Shares:

per week (coinciding with summer share season): Wilson

biweekly/2 per month: Campbell-Blake

per month: Becker, Gilhooly, Welch

Any questions, let me know.

Summer Share Drop-Off / Pick-Up Locations

Last year we had four locations: the farm, United Theological Seminary in Trotwood, Five Rivers Vineyard in Englewood, and Hoffman UMC in West Milton. Because of the different demographics with this year's participants in the CSA, we need to make some changes. We need at least three weekly customers for any given location but, unfortunately, not enough of you requested the West Milton location and we ask you to select a different pick-up location. It is entirely possible that we will not have enough for the Englewood location, either. That makes the farm the only location north of Trotwood, but we will consider adding a pick-up day at the farm if Wednesday afternoon/evening is problematic. The Trotwood location is safe as there are several people in that area. We have mentioned the possibility of adding drop-off locations in the Dayton View Triangle and Huber Heights / Beavercreek and I’ll address that further down.

Here are the drop-off locations with current arrangements. If you did not select a location, the default is the farm:

West Milton (please select a different location): Manson

Englewood (Sunday, 12-1): Cowley, Thomas, Powers

Trotwood (United Theological Seminary parking lot, Thursday, 4-5): Campbell-Blake, Dodds, Fairchild, Forbess, Kuker, Park, Ramey, Temkin

Farm (Wednesday, 4-7): Aker, Becker, Brown, Dakin, Duffy, English, Gilhooley, Glidden, Hitchcock, Kovacs, Moore, Novicki, Shapiro, Sinnokrak, Spriggs-Trobridge, Sterling, Stubbs, Vance, Welch, Whitehead, Wilson

We do remind you that CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. We are together a part of a community. As much as we'd like to find a drop-off location in the Dayton View Triangle and/or near the base, Glenn and I are very busy planting, weeding and so forth and depend on your help. We'll be happy to follow up with any contact information you provide for potential pick-up locations, but we ask that you do the initial contacting. I do have one contact for a possibility in the Dayton View Triangle, and will send an e-mail to interested share-holders when I know more. Possibly interested shareholders are as follows: Dayton View Triangle: Becker, Fairchild, Ramey ; Huber Heights/Beavercreek: Brown, Duffy, Powers, Sinnokrak, Stubbs, Temkin

You might like to know what we need in a drop-off location. First, of course, the owner of the property needs to be open to the idea. Glenn will only be able to be on hand at the farm and Trotwood points so for any others we need to be able to drop off your baskets each week and leave them at the drop-off location for you to pick up. Of course, if you happen to get there right when baskets are dropped off, Glenn will be happy to talk with you. With that in mind, drop-off locations need to be relatively secure and out of the sun and it would be best if there were someone on hand to give assistance as needed (carrying, loading etc).

Garden News

Several of last years’ members will get something free for bringing in new members. Your option is to have a week free (per your new member) or eggs / chickens. So far our members who have received or will receive a bonus are: Dakin, Dodds, English, Ramey, Temkin, Vance, and last year’s members, Berman’s (if I can track them down!). If you have not yet received your bonus, let me know what you’d like. If you already told me, please tell me again so I’m clear! We’ll get it all worked out as the summer rolls along, but don’t let me forget!

This year we are planting an additional 6 acres. I am still overwhelmed at the idea of 10 or 11 acres of vegetables to tend. The rain pattern this spring has made it weed heaven out there. Additionally, as I write, we’re still working on getting everything planted.

Last newsblog I told you about Glenn’s larger and sturdier greenhouse. Well, some of you have already heard about the greenhouse disaster (especially if you follow us on Facebook). Only a week after it was completed, we had very strong winds – remember the first weekend in April? The greenhouse collapsed. Fortunately, we didn’t loose many plants and got the greenhouse back up pretty easily. Then we had more wind, on and off, with the greenhouse collapsing every time. Now we know why we don’t see PVC and plastic greenhouses in this part of the world. Too much high wind! Thankfully, we got the use out of it we needed and plants are thriving.

So far we have a lot of crops planted – mostly early greens and root crops, but also peas, beans, corn, herbs, tomatoes and some peppers. We have to wait for it to dry out enough to get the rest of the tomatoes, peppers, and vining crops in. If you have some spare time, we could sure use the help, especially if you have some experience in transplanting sets. A couple blogs ago I listed everything we intend to plant and I don’t think it’s changed significantly.

Poultry Products

It’s been exciting to have our first 6 Pomeranian goslings and watching them grow up! Last newsblog I mentioned that we had gathered 11 eggs prior to Pinky’s disappearance. Only 6 hatched successfully, which is about average from what we’ve been able to tell. Pinky was eaten by coyotes. We were able to obtain another goose from a farm that had lost all its ganders, though, and Maggie named her Pinky, too. Unfortunately, not long ago coyotes got one of our two ganders, Goofy. So now we’re down to the adult pair and the six goslings. We keep careful watch on them, but they’re impossible to contain. For those of you who have asked about goose for Christmas, we won’t be processing any until our flock is built up. These are a critically rare breed and their preservation comes first.

We also have a small flock of turkey poults – can’t beat it if you’ve never had pastured heritage turkey for your holiday meal! Send in a deposit now to reserve yours. I have no idea how quickly they’ll sell out and we have several potential customers interested in purchasing live birds. Just as an aside for those who are interested in these things, we’re going to downsize to only one breed of turkey, the Narragansett. It’s difficult keeping the breeds separated during their laying season forcing us to confine them. Additionally, the tom turkeys all fight constantly with each other. If you’ve been out at the farm and noticed our bare-breasted turkeys, that’s why. If we stick to one breed, life will be a lot simpler for everyone. Narragansett turkeys are one of the best tasting out there and were one of the most popular breeds for the old fashioned farm. They are critically rare, too, which puts them higher on our interest list than other breeds.

We will have a few ducklings available, so if you’re interested, they’ll be ready before the holidays.

We have processed a batch of 20 chickens and have more broiler birds growing to meet the orders for a chicken a week or month. Glenn is continuing to incubate broilers to keep up with the meat demand so if you haven’t tried one yet, give it a thought. Rarely do we have negative feedback. We will always send out a flash when we have fresh poultry, but remember, our poultry will be fresh for only a couple days after processing then everything as yet unspoken for will go into the freezer.

Egg Update: Egg production has been steady this spring with only occasional dips or bumps in laying. We have enough egg share customers that if everyone who is getting eggs now re-orders for the summer, we won’t have room for new customers. This is a great problem to have! However, whether you do or don’t intend to continue eggs once the spring season ends on June 15, please let me know ASAP. Here are the shareholders I need to hear back from:

Half: Becker, Cowley, Forbess, Gilhooley, Kuker, Powers, Temkin

Full: Campbell-Blake, Dodds, English, Moore, Park

I am assuming that you all want to continue with your eggs but they do need to be reordered. If we do not hear from you by June 10, we will assume that you intend to discontinue your eggs. The shares are paid for by season, Feb-Jun, Jun-Oct, Oct-Feb. We do egg shares by season because some people want to alter the amount they get from one season to another. If you thought you paid for the full summer when you ordered, let me know right away and I’ll double check.

Once again, as the spring season nears it’s end, while I believe we’re on track with everyone now, we may still owe eggs to some of you from those blizzard weeks back in February. Please don’t let us forget. Drop me a line ASAP.

Hog Hearsay

Our December piglets are growing! Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and Luana are all strong and healthy and will be reaching pig puberty soon. We won’t intentionally breed them for a while yet, though. In fact, we’d like to trade one or both of our boars for boars from more distant lines to strengthen the gene pool.

Both Luna and Nova are due any minute! We’re getting very excited about having another bunch of piglets to care for. By the time summer season begins, you’ll be able to see the new babies (however, we recommend bringing footwear suitable for the farm, especially if it has rained.) We will again be offering the litters for sale to others interested in Mulefoot preservation and they’ll be weaned at the end of July and able to be transported.

Jams, Jellies and Honey

We’ve been having bee adventures this spring! Our one hive from last year made enough honey during last summer that they had plenty for the winter and actually a lot left over by spring. They are a strong and thriving hive.

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned our other hives. We have a hive in the big catalpa tree at the end of our little walk and we have two hives who took up residence in the walls of the house some time ago that we have been working on extracting a bit at a time. In case you may wonder why we don’t just call an exterminator, honey bees were almost wiped out a few years ago and are only just making a comeback. Honeybees are crucial to agriculture, regardless of whether it’s sustainable, organic, conventional, or whatever. The bees pollinate fruit trees, tomatoes, squash, and pretty much anything that flowers. So we’re trying our best to get them out of the house and into hive supers, those white bee boxes. Thus far we have four additional hives contained.

That being said, if you have an allergy to bees and are coming to the farm, please let us know. The bees are more active than usual with all the disturbance. We are planning to set up our pick-up spot well away from the house this year because of this.

On jams and jellies, see the previous newsblog!

Miscellany

This month’s “miscellany” is actually pretty big news. Glenn, Maggie and I will be selling our farm and moving back to Glenn’s family farm. We are in great hopes that someone likeminded will purchase Mulberry Creek Farm including the CSA and continue the relationship with you.

This was a very difficult decision to make. It has some to do with the fact that Glenn’s back simply cannot handle the work that he is required to do to maintain the farm and build the outbuildings, never mind that the house needs major work. He is simply not up to it. It also has to do with God. We responded to God’s call on us to plant a church and laid out fleece to help us determine the specifics. God has made it abundantly clear to us that we are to do our ministry work in Spencer County, Indiana, not Montgomery County, Ohio.

Maggie and I will be moving in time for her to begin the school year in her new school in mid-August, but Glenn will remain here through the end of the summer garden season - unless, of course, someone wants to buy the farm and take over the CSA. We’re still trying to decide exactly how to handle the winter shares that have already been purchased. Holiday turkey orders will still be honored – we may need to travel this far to get our turkeys processed, anyway.

We thank you for the prayers and encouragement many of you have already given and we ask that they continue. We also ask for boxes!

Random Question of the Month: Is Mulberry Creek Farm organic?

We are frequently asked whether we are organic and often see communication from shareholders referring to our organic produce. We practice sustainable farming and use as many organic practices as possible. We use pesticide and herbicide only as a last resort/rescue and our fertilizer is organic. However, we are not an organic farm – although we use many organic practices, we cannot legally call our vegetables organic unless we’re Certified Organic. We are sustainable. As always, if you have questions, just ask.

One of the big pieces of sustainable farming is that it’s high maintenance. Because we don’t use pesticides or herbicides, we have lots of weeds and bugs. (A lot of organic produce is grown in greenhouses where weeds and bugs can be controlled. Even “vine-ripened” produce is usually grown in a greenhouse!) Weeding is something that we can always use help with, and some of the creepy crawlies we get can actually be physically removed and we need help with that as well. While most CSAs require shareholders to spend a few hours working on the farm, we do not. We chose to leave working on the farm voluntary because we recognize that not everyone is physically able to work. However we do encourage you to join us occasionally for an hour or two. Those of you who have done so have made positive comments about the interaction with your garden. We have one family who come every Wednesday for about an hour and seem to look forward to the time. As I stated in the introduction, our regular work day is Wednesday, but if that doesn’t fit with your schedule, just let us know and we’ll be happy to work something else out. There’s always something to do, rain or shine.

As always, please e-mail us or call us with any questions, concerns, comments, etc that you have. Those of you who are new to us are encouraged to browse back through recent newsblogs. Those of you who’ve been around for any amount of time know that we’re more than happy to discuss all things farming pretty much any time. We have recently been described as “chatty” – we won’t deny it! We love discussing and sharing the things about which we are passionate!

Eat local!

Peace - Gail

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog

Volume 2: Issue 2 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor

4/1/10

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

How the CSA Works

Poultry Products

Hog Hearsay

Jams, Jellies and Honey

Miscellany

Question of the Month

Goodness! Can it really be over 2 months since I posted a newsblog? Wow! That just goes to show how hectic it’s been here. No “slow living” for us! I guess it’s about time I let you all know what’s been going on and what’s coming up.

A word on the website – I know it is woefully in need of updating and it’s something that I’ve worked on between crises. Thank you for your patience! I do have a few recipes to add and will accept others that you’d like to share before the season starts.

Also, if you’ve sent an order for garden share, eggs, poultry, or anything else and have not received an e-mail from me saying your order arrived, please contact me ASAP.

Garden News

We have 16 Garden Shareholders as of this writing, but expect at least a couple more orders any day. Last year we ended the season with 16 so we’re well ahead of the game. (For those of you interested in numbers, we have 9 full-share equivalents.) There is still room for more garden shareholders so tell your friends! Our official membership deadline is April 1st. However, as many of you know, we will accept new members throughout the season as long as we have room. An added bonus for those of you who live at a bit of a distance, we are in the process of making arrangements for additional drop-off locations in the Dayton View Triangle and in the Beavercreek area. And, by the way, if you did not note your drop-off/pick-up location on your order form, the default is here at the farm. And those who pick up at the farm often get extra goodies, an added benefit of a farm pick-up!

Several of last years’ members will get something free for bringing in new members. Your option is to have a week free (per your new member) or eggs / chickens. We’ll get it all worked out as the summer rolls along, but don’t let me forget!

This year we will be planting an additional 6 acres. I am still overwhelmed at the idea of 10 or 11 acres of vegetables to tend. The added acreage, to the west of us, will give us a lot less likelihood of crop failure since we’ll be able to plant things in multiple places. It will also create more of a buffer between us and the conventionally farmed fields upwind.

Glenn has thousands (literally) of seeds started already and has a new much larger (and sturdier) greenhouse up. We’re already anticipating the tomatoes that will come off some of those plants! Yum! We haven’t yet got the first seed into the ground outside – it’s been too wet this year. Last year’s members may recall that we had peas in the ground on March 19th in ’09. It’s drying and warming, though, and we’re planning on getting peas and early greens planted over the next week or so. And, of course, we always welcome extra hands! I posted a blog just before this one with the full list of what we’re planting this year.

As always, I need to remind you that we practice sustainable farming and use as many organic practices as possible. We use pesticide and herbicide only as a last resort/rescue and our fertilizer is organic.

Please e-mail us or call us with any questions, concerns, comments, etc that you have. Those of you who are new to us are encouraged to browse back through recent newsblogs. Those of you who’ve been around for any amount of time know that we’re more than happy to discuss all things farming pretty much any time. We have recently been described as “chatty” – we won’t deny it! We love discussing and sharing the things about which we are passionate!

Poultry Products

We’re very eggcited to have turkey and goose eggs in the incubator! We have no idea how many of any given breed we will have available, but it won’t be many. If you’re at all interested in a Thanksgiving turkey, better get that deposit in now so we know if we’ll have to order poults. If we need to order some, it will need to be within the next few weeks for them to be ready for Thanksgiving.

I doubt we’ll be offering any goose this year – the breed we raise is extremely threatened and we’ll work on strengthening our flock before we offer any to eat. If we do have geese for the holiday table, we will advertise that closer to time. At the moment, our hen goose, Pinky, has disappeared. While we fear that she may have been dined on by local coyotes (who also have to eat), we’re hoping that she’s merely hiding somewhere on a nest and will reappear sometime in mid-April with goslings in tow. We were able to collect 11 eggs (yay!) for the incubator and are hopeful.

Ducks, on the other hand, have not been cooperative at all. We’ll keep you apprised of the situation as to duckling. We will have duckling, but thus far it won’t be pure-bred Cayuga.

Chickens will be ready for processing soon! That should come as good news for those of you who have ordered chicken by the week or month. Glenn has a rotation all worked out and is incubating our meat birds so we should have a regular supply throughout the year. Remember, our poultry will be fresh for only a couple days after processing then everything unspoken for will go into the freezer. We will let you know when processing is scheduled and when fresh birds are ready for pick-up.

Egg Update: Chickens are interesting birds. Just as soon as we think we have a good, steady egg production, they stop laying for no apparent reason or start laying in hidden locations. Add to that the fact that Glenn has been incubating eggs from all our chicken breeds and, well, you get the picture. Of course we could cage them up and feed them all kinds of whoknowswhat to get them to lay more productively, but we much prefer our chickens to have access to fresh air, sunshine, bugs (when there isn’t snow on the ground, that is), and limited/no chemicals. So, we have to put up with their fickle laying behavior. It just keeps us on our toes, always wondering from week to week either whether we’ll have enough eggs to meet that week’s shares or, alternatively, what we’re going to do with all the extra eggs. Thus far this year we’ve been able to keep things worked out by occasional shifting (your vacations often help a lot!) and haven’t had to supplement from another farm. Please, if we owe you eggs, don’t let us forget. It’s easy to lose track of who is where in eggs, especially since our egg seasons run together.

By the way, the queen of unorganized (that’s me) has come up with a way to keep track of who gets how many eggs when. I have created an egg calendar and will send an e-mail out to all our egg customers (later today?) with that calendar attached. Please, please let us know when you plan to be out of town, when you might anticipate needing extra eggs, etc – anything that will help us plan ahead. Of course, if you don’t know until the last minute we understand. You’ll see from the calendar that some weeks are fairly light while others are pretty heavy in egg share pick-ups.

Hog Hearsay

In February, we sent our first piglets to their new homes. Both Luna and Nova are (we believe) expecting again and we anticipate more piglets in mid-June. We’ll keep you up to date on when we’ll have piglets as well as pastured, heritage pork available.

Jams, Jellies and Honey

The bees have already been busy! Glenn has already added the honey super to the top of the beehive and we anticipate being able to add at least one more beehive this summer. This means that we’ll have more honey! I’ve heard all kinds of things about honey (what I’ve learned about much of the honey in the grocery stores would curl your hair) so I’m thrilled that we are producing our own. We do still have a bit available from last year’s crops. Did you know that honey is one food product that never goes bad? When it crystallizes, just warm it in a pan of water and it will be back to honey in no time.

As we move closer to the growing season, we know we will be making more jams and jellies. Don’t forget – we have many varieties of old fashioned jelly and jam right here on the farm – no junk added, no chemicals, just fruit, sugar and pectin (which is natural). You are welcome to add a jelly or jam share to your basket orders – a jelly a week or a month or whatever. You pick, or let us surprise you! Of course, you will probably find a jar of jelly or jam in your share baskets from time to time. And by the way, if you get a flavor you know you won’t eat, ask for a trade.

Miscellany

Boy has it been muddy this spring! If you want a good laugh, just come out any day at feeding time and watch me slog through the mud to feed the hogs. It’s a hoot! Especially when they manage to knock me down (which, I’ll add, isn’t often).

The lane is in much better shape – we dumped about 6 tons of gravel into the worst holes last month and once it dries out some we’ll see about grading it and hopefully getting some more gravel down. We’ll also be working on getting those pesky shrubs along the lane trimmed back before they get thick. Glenn would like me to remind everyone that this is a farm and not a subdivision.

Once it dries out and everything is planted, we’ll continue work on the barn. Both wings are up, and this summer’s project will to be to build the main middle section. As always, we love helpers! In the meantime, we’re working on cleaning up trash blown in and around over the winter, restacking stuff that got knocked down by wind, snow, or livestock, and generally getting the place looking good. Any time you have free days, feel free to come on out. Glenn can always use help with planting, transplanting in the greenhouse, general clean-up, and so forth. Life has been such that we haven’t been able to actually schedule specific work days. We just dig in whenever the day looks good and we aren’t otherwise occupied. Last night we had a marvelous fire going of deadwood. And there’s lots more!

Random Question of the Month

We occasionally get asked where the money goes from your shares. The answer is: straight back to the farm. Your early bird payments allowed us to pay the rent on the 10 acres we rent, order seeds, pay for feed for the animals, and help with supplies for the structures. Ongoing installment payments and orders yet to come in will go to fertilizer (organic), feed (they still need grain even in the summer), fuel and maintenance on the equipment, and various supplies for the building projects. We scavenge as much material as we can and you’ll notice various bits of rolled fence and equipment scattered here and there that we’ve acquired from one farm or another. In order to live off the farm, we’d have to have at least 50 full-time shareholders. So I hope that answers this question! Have something you’re burning to know? Just ask!

Eat local!

Peace -

Gail

Mulberry Creek Farm NewsBlog

Volume 1: Issue 13 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor

12/01/09

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks

Egg Update

Hog & Hive Hearsay

Jams & Jellies

Miscellany

It's hard to believe we're in the first week of December and it's been as mild an Autumn as this. As I write, however, the weather forecast calls for much colder temperatures within the next few days - I think winter may be upon us!

The big news on the farm is that in the next couple days we expect to have babies! Luna and Nova are both due to farrow this week, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. We'll welcome visitors to see the piglets.

Garden News

Amazingly, there are still several of the hardier fall greens in the garden - we're hoping they'll still be thriving when it comes time to pack our Christmas Winter Share baskets in a couple weeks! We did have a huge disappointment with our potatoes - the reds are holding out fine, but the whites haven't kept at all. We're not sure why, but that's the way farming goes sometimes.

Speaking of the garden, we're in the beginning stages of planning for next year's planting so if you have any input you'd like to share, please let us know. I posted a few survey questions in last month's NewsBlog and I'll try to get them sent in a separate e-mail as well. 

Glenn already has his grow lights set up indoors and is getting ready to start planting seeds shortly after the new year. He is also making arrangements for about 5 or 6 additional acres for next season which will give us more flexibility in planting, and should help aleviate the flood issues of this year. Additionally, that acreage will act as a buffer between our livestock and the conventional farmer upwind.

Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks

We had rave reviews over the heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving! Donna and John Moore told us it was the best turkey they'd ever had. I'll have to say that we won't be going back to those dry, mushy store turkeys! This was our first pastured, heritage turkey and with my first taste I thought: "This is how turkey is supposed to taste!"

We do have 6 more turkeys that will be ready for processing sometime around Christmas. If you're interested in giving one a try, let us know. Again, we need a $25 deposit to hold your bird and the remaining $5 per pound is due at the time of pick-up. Next year we'll probably need to raise the price, but hopefully not to the $12-$15 per pound for the same birds from farms listing on Local Harvest!

We still have chickens in the freezer and Glenn is growing more. The first batch is due to hatch within days and he's considering hatching on a schedule to keep fresh birds available as much as we can. Again, chickens are $8 each.

Ducks are available on order. If anyone hears of a local poultry processer who does waterfowl, please let us know. Ducks are $10 each.

Egg Update

Our hens are producing around 3-4 dozen eggs a day now and we can cerrainly support more customers. We're offering a discount to any current shareholder who gets another signed up - that goes for eggs, poultry or garden shares. More to come on that later on, but be sure to have your friends mention your name when they contact us.

Glenn is in contact with Bushel and Peck, just a mile or so from us, about carrying eggs from us. We'll keep you updated as we know some of you shop there.

Hog and Hive Hearsay

I already shared the news that Nova and Luna are nearing delivery. We are very excited about having our first piglets on the farm! Glenn has already sold one breeding trio and we anticipate being able to sell others for breeding or feeding out for pork. Mulefoot is supposed to be one of the best tasting porks around. We will likely feed out at least one or two ourselves and hopefully have freezer pork available next fall. Let us know if you might be interested in all or part of a hog - we'll work on coming up with some kind of share plan over the winter.

The bees have hunkered down for the winter but on warmer days we can see some out and about. Glenn's uncle used to keep bees and has given us all his old hives so over the winter Glenn will be cleaning them up. Hopefully next spring we'll be able to begin to expand our honey business.

We do have some honey available. Let us know if you'd be interested - it won't last long!

Jams and Jellies

Our first shipments of jam and jelly have gone out! There's still plenty back there and they make wonderful Christmas gifts. Contact us with your order and we'll make arrangements with you for pick-up. Again, everything is $4 per jar except the seedless varieties which are $5 per jar.

Miscellany

Our fall building projects have come a long way! Glenn has the chicken house nearly complete enough to hold them for the winter, the hog farrowing houses are done, except for light and heat which Glenn is doing today. The spot for the farm stand has been leveled so construction can start as soon as it's warm enough in the spring and Glenn is in contact with two or three people about renting or purchasing an unused greenhouse. It's always busy around here!

We had a bit of an interruption in barn buidling a couple weeks ago when a neighbor created a stir because a turkey pooped on his patio (turkey poop is big!), so we put a fence along the north and west property lines. The down side is that the lane will have to remain muddy for a while as we spent the gravel money on the fence. The good news is the fence will help keep our critters a lot safer. Once we have the fence extended all the way around (west of the creek) we'll be able to do more with livestock. Excellent lawn care!

I guess that's the news from Mulberry Creek Farm! Thanks as always for your support! Please continue it by purchasing a share for next summer and selling us to your neighbors! Don't forget ... eat local!

Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All!

Gail

Apple Butter

Apple Jelly

Apricot Jam

Cherry Pie Jelly

Currant Jam

Elderberry Jelly

Gooseberry Jam

Grape Jelly

Red or White Mulberry Jelly

Mulberry Syrup

Peach Jam

Plum Jams:

Purple Plum

Red Plum

Yellow Plum

Yellow Plum Wine

Sugar-Free Yellow Plum (and this has NO sweetener whatsoever)

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry-Currant Jam

Rhubarb-Peach Jam

White Mulberry Jam

Seedless Blackberry Jam

Seedless Red Raspberry Jam

We're finally there!

OK ... we had planned on having a roadside stand on our place by mid-June. Then the weekend of July 4th. By the weekend after that, we'd finally accepted the fact that we won't get a farm stand on the farm this year. Sigh.

BUT we do have our produce at the TransPlant Project farm stand, which is probably more convenient for many of you, anyway. If you haven't had a chance to see what we're doing with TransPlant, check out the link to the article on our home page. It's an awesome opportunity for ministry. (Although the Big Boss keeps reminding us that TransPlant isn't a faith-based organization, we see everything as being an opportunity for ministry!)

So. TransPlant is at the former location of Yard Barber, across from Stillwater Medical Center on OH-48, 8051 N. Main, Dayton. (Dayton mailing address, location in Clayton. Go figure.)

The farm stand will be open 7 days a week and, while we'll be living into our hours, here's the initial plan:

Sat 9ish-3ish

Sun 10ish-3ish

Mon-Fri 10ish-6ish

Lots of "ish's" but it all depends on when we get each day's offerings from participating farms and when we sell out of stuff each day. Glenn or I will be there some of the time, especially since I'm the TransPlant office manager and Glenn's the volunteer site manager!

Since we're but one of the farms represented, you also get to select from stuff that we don't have, particularly fruit. Today, for instance, there were raspberries and blackberries to die for, cantaloupe and watermelon sweeter and juicier than any you'll ever get at a chain grocery, and early season apples that (I'm told) make excellent sauce.

Of course, we're well represented! Glenn is taking a load of green tomatoes tomorrow, for instance. Where else can you get green tomatoes?!? We also have marvelous slicing tomatoes and a plethora of other stuff, too.

Come on by after church! Our prices are competitive with other markets specializing in sustainably and locally grown produce.

Enjoy!

Gail

Tips from this week's issue of Farm 2 Form Fresh:

Many of us don’t get to cook as much as we’d like to—a meeting runs late one night, you’re too tired the next, then you have plans to go out another— and meanwhile, your farm-fresh produce sits forlornly in your fridge. But we’re not trying to make you feel guilty—it happens! Here are some tips for easy bulk-cooking methods—you can cook a lot of produce at once, and use it wherever you like.

The easiest thing to do with a lot of varied veggies is to roast them. We recommend doing this outside if at all possible—no point in getting your house all hot with oven heat and then having to cool it down with air conditioning. If you have a grill, obviously you can simply grill the veggies; they’ll taste fresh and great. But if you want mellower flavors, make a foil “bag” by folding a long sheet of aluminum foil and folding in the edges. Toss in small, even-sized pieces of all the vegetables you want to use, but don’t think you’ll get time to cook individually. Toss them with a light amount of olive oil; you’re not trying to coat them, just dress them. (About 1 tbsp. per pound of veggies is plenty.) Then just add a small amount of sea salt, a crackling of fresh ground pepper, and whatever herbs you’d like to the bag.

Hearty herbs, like rosemary, thyme, or oregano you can add right at the beginning, but lighter, leafier herbs like cilantro, parsley or basil should be added about 2/3 of the way into the cooking time. You can also add a couple spoonfuls of balsamic or sherry vinegar to the dressing now, or drizzle it over the veggies when you’re ready to serve them.

Fold the bag shut and toss on the grill! About 40 minutes will do it, although you might want to slice the bag open and check about thirty minutes in if you’ve got a very hot fire going. Some denser vegetables, like beets, onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes can also take a few minutes longer.

If you are cooking in an oven, just put all your sliced, dressed vegetables onto a shallow baking sheet, and spread them out as thin as you can (to brown the veggies, rather than steam them. Roast at 400 for about 50 minutes. The good thing about baking in an oven is it’s easier to add cheese if you want it, about 40 minutes in.

These roasted veggies are great just piled onto focaccia for a veggie sandwich, as a topping for steaks or other proteins, added to pasta dishes, baked on top of a pizza (just add at the end of the pizza’s cooking time), or pureed as part of a soup. This way, you do all your prep: washing, cutting, dressing, and roasting once, and then cooking throughout the week is just assembling and finishing a dish.

Other ideas:

adding garlic cloves to the foil bag or cookie sheet

basting the vegetables with apple juice

adding a bit of mustard to the dressing

adding ginger to the dressing

add a gremolata (a mixture of finely crushed nuts, parsley, lemon peel, and fresh lemon juice and garlic just before serving)

Volume 1: Issue 8 – published occasionally at the whim of the editor 7/10/09

In this issue:

Introduction

Garden News

Poultry & Egg Update

Hive Hearsay

Miscellany

This week’s basket contents: green onions, lettuce, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, tomatoes, green &/or yellow wax beans.

Intro

What?!? It’s the middle of July and it’s been a month since I posted? My oh my oh my! What will our folks think who want to know what’s in their basket and how to prepare it. Sorry!

But I do have great news – in just a few days, I will be moving to a different job, and one that should give me more time to keep both this site and our virtual retreat center site up to date. But please don’t take that as a promise or guarantee! When I can tell you more, I will do so because I think some of you will be very interested in some of the ways Mulberry Creek Farm is becoming involved in our greater community. So stay tuned!

I can tell you this: Mulberry Creek Farm is becoming an official member of Miami Valley Grown and are in the process of becoming members of The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and other organizations relevant to who we are and what we do (find links on our links page). We will be adding more organizations as the bank account allows.

We have had awesome help from some of you who have dropped by to lend a hand. Glenn is always happy to have help and company in the day to day work of the farm. Besides tending the gardens, he has gotten a turkey shelter built, and is working on getting more fence up to protect and contain our poultry (and, more to the point, keep them away from your veggies!), building the farm stand, building a barn, and the list goes on and on. We may be scheduling a work day with a potluck picnic and fun activities at some point in the not too distant future. This is something other CSAs do and it gets the members to know one another and the farm, and it’s a lot of fun!

On to the Garden …

Garden News

The thing with farming is that you never know what’s going to happen next. Sometimes we are delightfully surprised and blessed by a bumper crop of something, or a swarm of bees successfully hived, and other times we are dismayed when a sudden turn in the weather does untold damage to a crop. Such has been the case this summer with rain. Sigh. We’ve lost a lot of produce due to flash flooding from the fields above us and Glenn is in the process of trying to figure out how to deal with that problem.

The good news is that there is still plenty of stuff out there with which to fill your baskets each week. You’ve had a plethora of greens, both for cooking and for salads, and if you’re not sure what to do with them, please see our recipe page. I have also added a separate blog entry on how to process fresh produce for freezing so you can enjoy this summer’s bounty even in the coldest, greyest days of winter.

The early peas and radishes and many greens are done, but don’t despair! Glenn has a fall crop planned, and has already planted many of these delicacies, so we’ll have another run of peas and greens later in the season when it cools off.

Green and wax beans are coming on as are tomatoes and we expect sweet corn in the next couple weeks. There is still summer squash to be had and carrots have been turning up in baskets. There may even be some new potatoes appearing shortly.

Here are a few tips and reminders about your garden produce:

• Since we have pick-up dates all week, what comes in a basket on Wednesday may be somewhat different from what comes in a basket on Sunday.

• Remember, if you know you won’t use something in your basket, please either give it to someone who can or donate it back to the farm. We donate excess produce, un-claimed baskets, and “no thank you’s” to needy families in the area.

• We don’t wash anything before you get it. We rinse it, yes, but you still need to be sure to wash everything before you use it. There will be dirt/mud residue, as well as extra protein! I like to use “Veggie Wash” myself, an all natural produce cleaner. You can get it in the produce section of many groceries. Another method for ridding, especially broccoli and cauliflower, of uninvited guests is to soak it in salt water for 15 minutes or so prior to rinsing and cooking.

• We use sustainable farming methods, which means we do as much as possible with means safe for our eco-system – we do our best to avoid chemical pesticides and herbicides. However, we do occasionally have to do a rescue treatment of a particular crop if the critters have gotten too voracious.

• Our neighbors upwind and uphill are traditional big crop farmers. We cannot guarantee that the chemicals they use don’t blow or wash onto our crops. The good news is that they only spray a couple times during the growing season and very little of our fields are in the drainage or windage.

While we were visiting Stockslager's Greenhouse and Garden Center in New Lebanon (they supply our organic fertilizer), I noticed a sign on the wall and I share it with you: Accept, then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as though you chose it. Work with it, not against it. This will miraculously transform your life. - Eckhart Tolle

Poultry & Egg Update

Don’t forget to get your orders for pasture raised chicken and duckling in soon! The first broilers will be ready in just a couple weeks. Your bird will come dressed … not in coat and hat, but minus feathers, ready to cook! Dressing is included in the price.

Speaking of price, I do need to update our broiler pricing, don’t I? If you’d like to purchase just one bird, you can certainly do that. I’ll try to get Glenn to nail down a per pound price on chicken. Our prices are going to be a bit higher than what you’re used to paying in the store, but our birds are also living a much healthier life out there in the grass than the commercially raised birds. See our Poultry page for more information on why this matters.

We continue to have chicks and pullets available, as well. Drop us a line or, better yet, give Glenn a call for more information.

Hive Hearsay

Our beehive is doing phenomenally well! They are working hard, busy as … er … bees, making the comb and honey for themselves and Glenn is preparing to add the super that will produce our honey within the next few weeks. It is likely that we will have our first honey this season!

We are delighted to have the bees, not just for the honey, but also for their skills in pollination. Without them and other pollinators, many of our crops would be unable to grow. Thank you, God, for bees!

Miscellany

I have added a few more recipes to our recipe page, including a couple sent in by members. At the moment, the organization is simply “most recent entry on top” and I hope to be able to divide it by categories. An unfortunate quirk of our web space provider is that I cannot create sub-pages, which is why the menu is so overwhelming.

By the way – I’m sure you noticed the new look to the site. Do you like it? I think it’s cute, and a better fit, even if we don’t have pigs (yet)!

Enjoy your fresh food!

Peace –

Gail

The following article was featured in the Dorothy Lane Market Farm 2 fork Fresh CSA newsletter (1:4) July 9, 2009.

Here at the height of summer, we’re in the times of plenty, with so much good stuff coming out of the ground, every meal is a treat. But, as hard as it is to even imagine winter right now, now is the time to be acting like an ant rather than a grasshopper if you want to have our own local produce to eat in the lean times of winter.

If in January you’ll be yearning for a taste of summer, now’s the time to get cooking—and freezing. The best way to preserve vegetables’ taste and nutritional value involves both cooking (blanching, actually) and freezing. Both are very simple. If you just stick your squash in a baggie and chuck it in the freezer, you’re probably not gonna like what you defrost months later. The problem is, freezing alone won’t stop the enzyme action in vegetables which causes them to deteriorate over time. Blanching the vegetables first will deactivate those enzymes, and allow you to preserve food up to a year.

Blanching is super-easy. All you need is a large, several-gallon pot, a big bowl of fresh ice, and either a wire basket or one of those large scoop colanders. Bring one gallon of salted (optional) water per pound of vegetables to a full rolling boil, or 2 gallons for leafy greens. Drop the vegetables in, and leave them in just until they change color.

What’s happening is that that gasses that obscure the chlorophyll in plants are being forced out, bringing the chlorophyll to the surface of the vegetable and making it appear greener and brighter.

Here are suggested times for different kinds of vegetables:

• Green / Yellow Wax Beans: 3 minutes

• Broccoli, chopped or stalks: 3 minutes

• Beets (small): 25-30 minutes; (medium): 45-50 minutes

• Carrots (tiny, whole): 5 minutes; (slices): 2 minutes

• Cauliflower, 3 minutes

• Corn on the cob on the ear: (small) 7 minutes; (medium) 9 minutes; (large) 11 minutes

• Corn on the cob (to cut for whole kernel corn): 4 minutes

• Kohlrabi (whole): 3 minutes; (cubes): 1 minute

• Peppers (halves): 3 minutes; (slices) 2 minutes

• Spinach, other leafy greens: 2 minutes

• Shelled Peas: 1½ minutes

• Snow or Sugar Snap Peas: 2-3 minutes

• Summer Squash: (slices or chunks): 3 minutes; (grated): 1-2 minutes

The water should return to a boiling within 1 minute of adding the vegetables.

Stick to these times (recommended by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.) Over blanching will rob your vegetables of flavor and color, but under blanching is even worse than not blanching at all: under blanching will actually stimulate the enzyme action you’re trying to inactivate.

Take the vegetables out after the recommended time, and plunge them into a large bowl filled with ice water (more ice than water). This is shocking the vegetables, and it keeps them from cooking any further. Keep them in the ice bath for the same number of minutes you blanched them. Then, drain the vegetables of all excess moisture, and put them into freezer bags or plastic containers and put them in your freezer. Remove as much air as possible from bags, but leave an inch of head space in any rigid containers. Label and date right now—you’ll be thankful when you’re looking for it later.

Your freezer also matters. This is one of those times when the deep freeze in the garage really comes in handy, but you can use your regular freezer provided you don’t overload it. To preserve food for up to a year, your freezer needs to remain at 0 degrees. Don’t try to freeze more than 2 pounds of frozen food per square foot of freezer space; more than that will slow the freezing process and might raise the temperature of other frozen food.

This sounds like a lot of work, but really, all the description and explanation is just in the interest of food safety. The process itself is very simple: blanch, shock, pack, freeze. If you do a couple of pounds once a week during these flush summer months, you’ll find your options far more heartening in the frigid winter ones.

Volume 1: Issue 7 - published occasionally at the whim of the editor

.

In this issue:

Important Dates and Other Important Info

Introduction

Garden News

Poultry & Egg Update

Miscellany

.

Important Dates!

Last week: Did you remember to send your second installment payment?

This week: Share baskets begin at your pre-selected pick-up location.

.

Other Important Info

Still available: Pastured Poultry, chicks. More below.

This week's basket contents: green onions, lettuce, turnip greens, mustard greens, radishes, peas, spinach, broccoli, strawberries and (hopefully) mulberries. More info below.

.

Intro

.

I'm always amazed that so much time has passed since my last newsletter posting. The changes in our lifestyle this spring have definitely impacted my ability to stay on top of farm business and communication and I thank you for being patient!

.

It's mid-June and crops are insisting on being harvested! We are constantly amazed at the way God can create something wonderful out of a tiny seed, or an egg, or from a dead looking tree. We are well into summer - the meadow smells lovely, bees and birds are in the air ... as are mosquitoes and deerflies. We've been lucky so far, had a great spring and a nice early season. At times it's been a bit on the dry side, but lately we've been getting plenty of rain, almost too much! Our early-season crops are coming in nicely: spinach, lettuce, greens, peas, and other cool-weather leafy things. We'll plant many of the cooler weather crops again in time to bring you another round once the harshest summer sun is past. For now, we'll keep harvesting all our early crops each week (we pick as close to your pick-up day/time as we can so the produce in your basket is as fresh as can possibly be), and then other than that, everything's in the ground and all we're doing is cultivating, fertilizing and weeding. We're sustainable here at Mulberry Creek, which means we use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides and limit chemical use to "rescue" only, which means more labor but much better-tasting, safer, healthier food for you and your family. We hope you enjoy it.

.

Glenn has recovered well from the upper back surgery he had in early May and we thank you all for your prayers and support. Maggie has finished school for the summer and is excited about first grade in the fall. She's a great help around the farm, especially with the chicks and ducklings, many of whom she has named! She loves to show visitors around, too, as some of you have discovered.

.

Garden News

.

We were so excited last week when we realized that our mulberry trees would be producing in time for our first share baskets! How awesome for Mulberry Creek Farm to be able to actually include fresh mulberries in our very first CSA shares! Alas, we don't know whether we will be able to after all. We've had two short but extremely hard rains in the past couple of days and most of the mulberries were knocked off the trees. We're still hoping, though! If you don't have fresh mulberries, you will have mulberry jelly (one of my personal favorites!)

.

Our share baskets will be loaded up for the first time this week and here is what you can expect: green onions, lettuce, turnip greens, mustard greens, radishes, peas, spinach, broccoli, rhubarb and (hopefully) mulberries! I have been placing some recipes on this website so if you're not sure what to do with something, check there. First of all, please remember: the produce in your basket is truly farm-fresh - it's straight from the field or the tree and has not been washed or processed in any way, so you'll definitely need to wash before using!

.

We also provide the bulk of fresh produce for the Dorothy Lane Market CSA shares and here is what their newsletter for this week will say:

There's so much you can do with any and all of this produce:

* Toss the salad greens with the lightest drizzle of olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, and a dash of sherry vinegar. You won't need a powerful dressing with greens as fresh and flavor-packed as these!

* If you've never had turnip or mustard greens, they can be used any way you use spinach - cooked or fresh in a salad. They are a marvelous source of vitamins and quite yummy!

* Ever tried a radish sandwich? Simplest early-summer sandwich ever: just mince some radishes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a few chopped sprigs of parsley, and place on bread smeared with your favorite butter. (European butters are nice and light for this, but Amish butter, which luckily is widely available throughout Ohio, is especially great!)

.

The great thing about farm-fresh produce is you don't have to do much to it. We think you'll find, as we have, that farm-fresh produce tastes so good, you won't want to limit yourself to one or two vegetable sides along with dinner. You'll want to take fresh, fun salads in to work with you, or maybe throw some veggies into whatever pasta you're making, or experiment with stir-frys. The key word is experiment - there's no way to go wrong with ingredients this good! Here's a hint: instead of choosing a recipe out of a book and then shopping for the ingredients, take a look inside your farm-box and see what you'd like to cook with today - then find a recipe that uses it. With the many popular recipe search engines on the internet today (www.Epicurious.com and www.allrecipes.com, just to name two), it's easy to build your menu around your produce. You'll find yourself trying new recipes you never would have looked at just glancing through your cookbooks and building a shopping list! Also, have confidence in yourself - just because your risotto recipe calls for carrots doesn't mean you can't use peas or broccoli or whatever you have. You might have to watch the cooking times a little closer, but eating seasonally is about twisting your favorite recipes to contain whatever produce is at its peak. If the recipes are good ones (simple, time-tested classics, not tricky or finicky) they'll hold up under changes and be only the better for using the best ingredients.

.

As always, we remember that God is in control and the weather and climate impacts the eventual harvest. For instance, the extreme cold we had this winter wiped out our peach crop, the freeze we had in mid-May took out over half the apples, and the heavy rains we've received lately have downsized our mulberries and flooded some of the fields where new seeds are trying to grow. On the other hand, these same conditions have produced salad greens and other early veggies "out the wazoo"! We just never know what's going to happen. To adapt an old phrase, don't count your berries or beets before they're picked! And please keep your gardens and trees on your prayer list.

.

Poultry & Egg Update

.

Now that incubation season has slowed, egg production is up. There are still summer egg shares available so let us know if you'd like to add a dozen eggs to your share basket. You can't get better eggs than these in the store!

.

We have had huge success with incubating both duck and chicken eggs and have a plethora of poultry on the hill growing toward being available for your dining pleasure later in the summer and fall. Dressed chickens will be available by mid-summer, and ducks and turkeys will be available in time for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. We have poultry shares available (see the poultry page for more detail) and will be accepting orders for single broiler chickens, too. If you're interested in your own chicks for backyard eggs, give Glenn a call. If you don't have his number, e-mail me and we'll get that to you.

.

We again remind you that your early orders and payments help us more easily care for the birds in a safe and healthy manner - healthy for both the poultry and you.

.

Miscellany

.

Up above I mentioned that bees are in the air, which, depending as we do for them to pollinate our crops, delights us. Add to general bees, about a month ago we were able to add a beehive to the farm! I haven't had a chance to add a bee page to the website yet, but it's coming. The short story is that Glenn was able to contain a swarm of honeybees long enough to get them moved permanently into a beehive and they are madly working toward honey production. Definitely by next summer, but possibly sometime yet this year, we will have farm fresh honey. We are astonished - honey was something we'd talked about but neither of us has any previous experience managing a hive so we're learning as we go.

.

The long awaited recipe page is finally a reality and there are a few egg recipes and tips as well as some yummy dessert recipes. As I have time, I'll add our favorite recipes for produce in your basket. As with everything else, if you have something that could benefit the community, drop me a line or post a comment to this blog.

.

Enjoy your fresh food!

Peace -

Gail

Volume 1: Issue 2 – 3/9/09

published occasionally at the whim of the editor       

In this issue:

Important Dates and Other Important Info

Introduction

Cycles and Customs

Garden News

Victory Garden Plots

A Prayer for Springtime

Poultry & Egg Update

Miscellany (recipe update, Glenn’s upcoming back surgery)

Important Dates!

March 15, 2009        Garden Share Early Bird orders and full payments due

April 15, 2009          Garden Share orders and first installment payments due

Other Important Info

Ordering deadline extended indefinitely for Pastured Poultry. More below.

A few spring egg shares are still available! Amount due is pro-rated based on date order is placed.

Checks payable to Glenn Stevens Shourds.

Intro

Here on Mulberry Creek Farm the pussy willows are in bloom (and sure to have a shock this weekend when temps are supposed to dip back to the low twenties!) The weather here has been “unseasonably warm” for the past few days, even getting into the mid-70s on Saturday. That, to a snow-belt born and bred girl, is just wrong. Oh well! We take what comes and are thankful to be well cared for.

I thought it was high time for an update. Now that things are starting to happen, I’m hoping to post one every Monday.

Cycles and Customs

We are well into the season of Lent, a time of reflection and spiritual development. Lent is traditionally a time when many Christians “give something up”, originally intended to give us pause to consider what Jesus gave up in going to the cross. For many, however, it has become a time to get rid of an unsavory habit, remove some unhealthy item from the diet, or even to simply complain about having to sacrifice. Probably not the best of purposes.

A practice that is more and more popular is to take something on, sometimes in addition to giving something up, sometimes not. For instance, some will give up a specific meal (either each day or each week) and give the money they would have spent to a food pantry, homeless shelter, or other charity. Others will simply take on a task such as serving at a soup kitchen.

It’s no mistake that Lent bridges the end of Winter and beginning of Spring. Whether or not you are particularly religious or even Christian, Spring is a wonderful time to cleanse the body, soul, and spirit. Deep cleaning of the house and of the spirit, getting the cobwebs out of the corners, is a wonderful way to welcome this season of new growth.

Garden News

First, here’s a little reminder that Early Bird orders for garden shares must be received and paid in full no later than March 15th. That’s this coming Sunday! This is one of the few dates we will be absolutely firm on. Many dates are somewhat flexible and we will continue to offer shares beyond order deadlines as long as there are shares available. However, please note that your payments help us pay for seed, garden preparation, fertilizer, appropriate weed control, and so forth. We anticipate that next year and beyond these dates will be much more important for you to follow as we know of virtually no CSA in operation more than a year who is not already either sold out for the season or getting close to sold out.

Glenn is in full planting mode and has started hundreds of seeds in his make-shift indoor greenhouse, which consists of our furnace room with grow-lights arranged cleverly to expose the growing plants to maximum simulated sunlight. Today, as I write, he is finishing work on our first greenhouse, a 9’x10’ structure made from PVC pipe, wood and plastic. Glenn’s planning on moving crops out there to expand on our available space for starting seeds. We’ll also be able to extend the fall season considerably for some things, which is exciting.

Seeds that are in soil include primarily tomatoes and greens. Check out the Garden Shares page on this site for an updated and complete listing of the crops and varieties we will plant this year and the dates we anticipate planting as well as harvesting. Of course, God is in control and the weather and climate will play a huge role in when we can plant, how well things will grow, and what the harvest will look like.

Victory Garden Plots

Mulberry Creek Farm is offering you the opportunity to have your own garden plot here on the farm! This is an ideal option if you would like to have a garden plot (for vegetables and/or flowers) but are unable where you live. A Victory Garden plot also gives you immediate access to Glenn’s gardening expertise.

There are three different options available, which you can check out on the Victory Garden Share page. And, by the way, we'll fill our available space by the beginning of May, so if you would like a plot, contact us ASAP.

A Prayer for Springtime, from the Book of Common Prayer:

Now winter is gone, and spring is here: now tiny leaves, and blossoms sweet, lambs in the fields, and baby calves, and budding flowers about my feet, O teach me gentleness, please God, to care for all things weak and small, that I may grow strong and brave and helpful in my love for all.

Poultry & Egg Update

I am eggsited to finally have photos of our own chickens on our breeds description section of the Poultry page! It is so frustrating to have to rely on other people’s photos and I can’t wait for our turkeys to be mature.

Speaking of turkeys, we do have a variety of pastured poultry products available, including turkey, duckling and chicken. We’re taking orders from now until the available birds are gone. We were able to extend the season for pastured poultry across the board as we are only starting our meat flocks this year and had to order a minimum number of birds so we know we’ll have several available. After this, though, we will be hatching our own so will need to return to that order date in early spring to give the birds time to mature.

As with Garden Shares, we do remind you that your early orders and payments help us more easily care for the birds in a safe and healthy manner. Supplemental food, water, shelter, and so forth all cost us money and your financial support early on will make a much better bird for your table.

We now have three chicken tractors, two of which are home to two of our heritage breeds (currently Rhode Island Reds are in one and Dominiques are in the other) so that Glenn can begin incubating and be assured of breed purity. Not sure what we would get from a union of any of our heritage breeds and a certain very randy Golden Comet rooster who is destined for the soup pot! Two weeks after isolation and they should produce breed pure birds. We are hatching laying hens and will be offering great soup chickens of our older hens later in the summer. If you’re interested, you can’t beat their flavor and you’ll know what you’re getting.

If anyone out there is interested in fertile heritage breed eggs or chicks for 4-H or science fair projects, or even for your own backyard egg producer, contact us with your phone number and Glenn will give you a call and work out arrangements.

Our layers are in full production and the eggs they’re producing are delicious and fresh! If you haven’t had a chance to try them yet, call and ask for a free sample to try before you buy. Several folks who have had this opportunity have come back and purchased shares.

A reminder, although we currently have more eggs than we know what to do with, once more shares are purchased and we begin incubating, that may not be the case. Please order your share or half-share now. We are pro-rating the rate for spring shares until the shares are gone and there are only a few shares left. Should I sound like a radio announcer and exclaim, “Act now before they’re gone!”?

Miscellany

Last issue I announced that we would be starting a recipe page and asked for submissions. Honestly, due to our own life circumstances I just haven’t gotten there just yet. Similarly we haven’t worked out details of how to make jellies and jams available for shipping, although they are available for sale right here.

So. When you saw “Glenn’s upcoming back surgery” listed on the contents list above, did you immediately scroll to here to see how that will impact the farm? Probably very wise of you. Glenn will have surgery on his upper back (neck, really) on March 19th. He is historically a fairly quick healer and the doctor is confident he will be recovered in time for mid-late April plantings. In the meantime, we have promises from a few folks to help out until he is back in full swing. Your prayers are appreciated.

Peace –

Gail

Here are a few questions particularly for those of you who have participated in CSAs before or who are interested in year-long healthy eating.

When your CSA is off-season, what are your practices for healthy eating?

Do you preserve your veggies? If so, what's your technique of choice?

Where do you purchase fresh produce?