Opening Day at the CSA! Hooray!

Saturday, May 31st was opening day at the CSA!  I've been farming my butt off for the last three months with no food to show for it and no people to share it with....until now!  I can not describe what it feels like to feed people healthy, local, chemical-free food.  Awesome, up-lifting, beneficial, hooray, rock star, yummy, productive, motivate, fantastic, super duper, get in my belly, nutritious, hollar, yes.  OK, well those are a few words to describe what providing food to families feels like.  So here are some pictures for you to enjoy our opening day extravaganza!

Saturdays start at 6:30 a.m. for us farmers which means breakfast is usually a small snack on the way in to work.  Shareholder Andy (on the right) started our day off by bringing us egg sandwiches (with Fernbrook scrapple for the omnivores) on homemade bread that he had just made.  Another shareholder brought us delicious banana bread.  I venture to say that we have the best shareholders.  One of the benefits of having a "small" CSA (375 members!) is the community.  We get to know our shareholders and they bring us food if they like us.  So I hope all the shareholders like us and bring us food.  

You know how the saying goes, "A well fed farmer produces the most nutritious and abundant crops."  I just made that up but it sounds good!

Larry Kuser, owner of Fernbrook Farms, opening the doors at 

8:00 a.m. to begin our first CSA pick up of the season!   

 Nicole, Taylor, me, Jeff!  Missing Julie who had the day off.

A great picture of me (thanks whoever took it) showing 

that I dressed up for opening day by wearing earrings!

Fancy Farming!

Kale and Collards

Lots o' Greens!  Kale, Mustard, Arugula, Bok Choy, Spinach, and more Kale.

The possibilities are endless with these delicious leaves that you can eat raw or lightly saute.

 The blackboard has the distribution for the week.  Two heads of lettuce, kale or collards, 

and 1/2 bag greens.  Also, strawberries and five herbs in the u-pick fields.  The first two to three 

weeks are rather light with food and then it gets overwhelming the amount that we harvest and provide!  At least that was my experience last year as a shareholder and I am sure we will keep that trend going!  

Farm shop

Another farm shop view

We have so many awesome products for sale!  Ketchup made with Jersey tomatoes,

 honey, jam, asparagus from a farm down the road.  

We even have some bird houses and vases for sale by a local artist!

This is the u-pick area.  The blackboard tells you what is available for picking 

and where, cartons to hold your strawberries, and scissors to snip your herbs.

Farmshop manager and head chef Chistine tallying up a happy customer.  And look how happy she is! 

The cement pig is a big hit for kids to lounge out on. 

Happy farmer with three happy and hungry shareholders!

Me giving an awesome tour to new shareholders.  

Because I'm an awesome fancy, earrings-wearing-farmer.

Picking chives - the flowers are edible too!  Toss them in a salad!

These Colorado Potato Beetles are gettin' it on to produce more 

potato eating potato beetles.  Oh no they don't!

We do not use chemical-based pesticides so insects still swarm to our fields.  One way of managing them is to collect them and then kill them.  Look at all those beetles!  This may seem cruel, and I am one of the last people to kill insects, but smooshing them with our hands is way better than spraying chemicals that would not only kill the Colorado Potato Beetle, but also many other insects such as the beneficial ladybug or the amazing honey bee.  So yes, killing these cute little beetlejuice looking bugs makes me sad.  But at least no other insects were harmed, the food stays toxin-free, and our potatoes (and other crops like this eggplant) get to grow and continue produce us delicious food!

What will the farm shop have in it for week #2?  Only a few more days to find out!