Week Eight

In the Bag
~Lettuce
~Carrots
~Summer Squash and Zucchini (some of you will get a big one... I reccomend making zucchini bread).
~Potatoes!
~ Onions
~Cherry Tomatoes (Black Cherries and Sungolds)
~One Tomato (Some are your standard hybrid, some are brandywines, some are Japanese Trifele, which have yellow shoulders and dark purplish skin—soon there will be Yellow Brandywine, Green Striped Zebras, Prudens Purple and Great Whites—I think if they feel soft and look a vibrant color, you can consider them ripe).
~Basil
~Garlic
~Green Beans or Broccoli
~Cucumber or Eggplant Surprises in some shares...

Why Farm... from Erin

(Something I wrote back in February when I was very excited for the summer ahead, but a good thing to go back and read now to remind me why I like my job...)

I farm because I am either overqualified or underqualified for everything else I apply for. I farm because I wish to spend my life outdoors. I farm because I like to physically exhaust myself, use my muscles, run my fingers through the dirt and watch my toes turn a shade of black that doesn’t come out until November.

I farm because sometimes there are moments, like before a storm, when the air is sticky sweet and the barn swallows and tree swallos are dive bombing from the power line in graceful swoops and thunder is rumbling in the distance, then closer and the earth shivers and shudders and I am witness to that.

I farm because I am by nature a loner who hates marketing, phones, cities and loud parties, but at the same time I want to be connected to the world, to changing our food system and to knowing that my actions and my work does affect other people’s lives.

I farm because organically grown vegetables market themselves these days—if they didn’t, I would seriously reconsider. I farm because I spend my winter in words, holed up, isolated, and by spring I am trying to plant while the ground is still frozen.

I farm to watch the ground I have sewn open for the birth of a pea, that is a slight cracking of a green seed that becomes a tendril, then a vine, then flowers, then fruit.

I farm to sit inside and watch a heavy rain hammer all that life out there, pelt it, soak it, and even stifle it so that it appears the ground is underwater and the line between air and dirt melts into a haze. Even with all that violence, I imagine the plants taking all that water in.

I farm because people want healthy food and fresh vegetables. Everybody eats. Most everybody eats vegetables.

I farm because successful farming requires more intelligence and knowledge than most people realize.

I farm to get a farmer’s tan, but sometimes I farm in a tube top to erase my tan lines.

I farm because I like driving the tractor—it feels powerful—but I hate fixing the tractor.

I acknowledge that there are good reasons to farm and that most days, I like farming, but farming is hard work. Some days farming, there is potential for everything we touch to break and there is always the possibility that everything we have done will come undone in a single storm or early frost.

I don’t believe I will farm all my life, but then, I never thought I’d be farming at all.




Linquine with Golden and Green Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Pine Nuts and Gremolata
(from Hope’s Edge by Francis Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe)

½ pound summer squash (combination of types and colors are nice)

1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
½ pound fresh or dried linguine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
grated Parmesan to taste

Boil a pot of water.

Slice summer squash into ¼ inch thick pieces. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Set aside 1 tsp. garlic to saute with the summer squash.

Make the gremolata by combining the remaining garlic with the lemon zest and parsley in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the squash, the reserved teaspoon of garlic, ¼ tsp. of salt, and pepper. Saute over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, just long enough to heat the squash through.

When the water is boiling, add 1 tsp. salt. Add the linguine and cook until just tender. Before you drain the pasta, add ½ cup of the cooking water to the saute pan, along with the cherry tomatoes and remaining olive oil. Immediately drain the pasta then toss it with all the ingredients and gremolata. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.