• Pac Choi
• Carrots
• Turnips
• Lettuce
• Kale ~ either Curly Purple or Lacinato
• Green Onions
• Strawberries

Some Sites Only

• Spinach

RECIPES:

Chili  Ginger Stir-Fried Broccoli & Pac Choi

Beef Noodles & Pac Choi

Sesame Noodles w/Tofu   *this recipe uses baby Pac Choi but you can just cut yours up!

Turnips w/Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese & Sesame

Pickled Baby Turnips

Spicy Kale & Corn Stuffed Chicken Breasts

What a beautiful morning here on the farm! The sun is shining, a lovely breeze is blowing and the scene just couldn’t be more bucolic….and it’s Summer Solstice  to boot! We welcome the longest day of the year with joy and gratitude for all of our blessings, and look ahead to the bountiful season unfolding.

Here is the new crew this year….some familiar faces, some newbies, and I’m excited to share some of their stories with you as the season progresses.

Front row: Carlea, Chris, Jabrila, Kevin  Back Row: Arissa, Lucas, Wali, Shenoa, Kiegan, Jack, Lucero, Chad, Andrea, Jimi, Josh, Steve, Erik, Shannon

Last week I talked about the haying that is going on right now on the farm. Another important task that is happening is the creation of our compost. Each Fall our cow herd heads up to the barn area for the Winter months, to give them some shelter from the weather and also to protect our sensitive pasture land from many trodding hooves on often wet land. We use a layering system in the barn, so the cows have fresh straw to walk and bed down on, and when the cows are turned out to pasture in the Spring, we are left with a wondrous blend of straw and manure with which to build our compost piles.

Wali Via, long term farmer/owner, is our compost aficionado and he shares his thoughts and expertise on compost below for you:

“May and June is the time to build compost piles on the farm. Compost is the heart of our fertility program and one of the great loves of my life. Composting connects one, to that often ignored but critically important, arc in the circle of life that constitutes decay and disintegration that ultimately produces a new seedbed for life. Fertilizing with compost allows Mother Nature’s wisdom to determine how and when plants choose to uptake their nutritional needs. Nutrients become incorporated into the humus structure of the soil, a far cry from the 20^th century human conceived soluble chemical input fertility systems. The result is healthy soils that produce nourishing and tasty crops.

I like to view composting as an alchemical process. The composter must pay close attention to the classical alchemical elements of earth, water, fire, and air. The earth is seen in the mineral/physical nature of the feedstocks (ingredients) of the pile. Attention must be given to providing a rich diversity of feedstocks in correct proportion. Water must be present for life processes and in composting the ideal is moisture equivalent to a wrung out wet sponge. Fire shows itself in the heat produced from the metabolism of the billions upon billions of microorganisms that proliferate within a properly composed pile.

Temperatures of our piles reach between 140 and 160 degrees within a couple days of building the pile. The type of composting that we do is aerobic (with air).   The breathing process of the pile brings health to the pile. If you have ever smelled a stinky compost pile that is because it is no longer breathing. It has become anaerobic.

Turning actively composting piles early in the morning produces clouds of steam and is quite dramatic. One becomes immersed in the energy of the dynamic life process that encompasses the environment of a pile being turned.

After several turnings we add the biodynamic preparations that we make on the farm. These preparations are a life’s study in themselves, but can be conceived as catalysts for bringing the pile, and ultimately the farm, into a fuller connection with the broader spheres of life. They work in homeopathic dosages working through the potent forces they catalyze rather than material substance.

To compost is to transform that which is considered “waste” into a rich treasure, or one could say to turn lead into gold. If one ever doubts the miracle of life contemplate a compost pile. Better yet, build one!”

We hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and enjoy your veggies!

Linda and all of your Winter Green Farmers