Craig Daly - Media Sensation

Click here for an article in this week's Portfolio mentioning our very own Craig Daly and his summer job on a certain "organic farm in Virginia Beach". It's worth picking up the print version, however, as it includes a centerfold shot charming photo of Craig. Expect to have to wade through throngs of admirers to get to your box on Saturday ...

Organic Tomatoes

In my experience, the difference in quality between CSA and store-bought produce is nowhere more evident than in tomatoes. But does the improvement in taste and texture translate into nutrition? A new study finds that organic tomatoes are more nutritious.

Organic Trumps Local?

Here's an article from today's NYTimes on "food miles". I thought the conclusion was going to be "eat local AND organic/grass-fed", but the author has a different suggestion - hub-and-spoke food production. In other words, (if I understand rightly) main-stream agriculture like we have now, with all our spuds coming from Idaho, all our lamb coming from NZ, etc., but organic/grass-fed and (possibly on a somewhat smaller scale to mitigate the cruelty and environmental costs)?

UPDATE: Here are some more, one (from the Times) about food production vs. transportation and two more on the varying costs of how food travels, here and here.

Frittata with Swiss Chard

The recipe for this Frittata with Swiss Chard comes from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook entitled World Vegetarian. It calls for 3/4 lb swiss chard, which was a great use for all the chard we received in our box this week. Both leaves and stems went into this dish. The white splotches you see are feta cheese that I added (not part of the recipe). What is your favorite frittata recipe?

High Summer- Great Produce

Okay now. The daily temps are rising and the produce continues to roll in! John soaks several shirts a day and everyone who works has to hydrate regularly.
This is the time of year when having a volunteer or two or three makes it possible to get farm chores done. Thanks today for Kristen, Ted, and Rich who helped weed the sweet potatoes - completely! John, Craig and Jonathan carried on till 2 p.m., and John continues to make compost with the heaps of ingredients that have gathered beside the barn.

Thanks to all of the CSA members who are bringing positive comments and ideas for using the produce! We had some lovely visits with members this morning, including Daphna Sonenthal, who shared that the CSA membership has enabled her and her children to have deeper experiences of cooking and planning meals! Lori Barnhill offered great words about our eggs, veggies and recipes. We both loved the Thai Basil Cucumber dish.
Hope y'all are enjoying everything that the Farm team is providing!

Week 12 (August 4)

Two photos from Saturday's pick-up ...


Field Notes: On the farm this week, some peppers were planted, and earth is being readied for fall seeding next week. Other vegetables, such as parsley and peppers below, are coming on.

Week 11 (July 28)

Some photos from Leah.

This week's share ... carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, okra, potatoes, squash (yellow and zucchini), swiss chard, tomato		Craig is holding his 'garlic staff'.
Cleaning garlic ...

Farm Bill

Kathleen just wrote to folks about the Farm Bill. Here's a link to Michael Pollan's recent article which investigates why junk food is so cheap.

The Countess Kathleen

Here's a great photo that Jacob took ...

Just add water

Field Notes: Remember this plot that John planted back at the end of May? Now (July 21st) it looks like this ...