Cutting Hay with a Slice of Farm History

One of the many joys of our new farm is that we have additional acreage to plan into cover crops to help rebuild the soil health.  We also have a large horse that eats a fair bit of hay in the winter.   This spring, I seeded 7 acres with oats and a grass/clover mix, and recently, we were able to cut and bale hay for Belle to eat this winter.  We hired our neighbor Jerol, who grew up just down the road on a dairy farm and still farms the same land today, to cut and bale the hay for us.  He also spent a little time telling me the history the land that we are now farming.

The 25 acres that we own were originally owned and farmed by a man named Earl.  Our particular fields were known as Earl’s Flats.  When you come to visit the farm it is very apparent why the fields were called this.   The original homestead and a few farm buildings are still visible just to the east of our land.  Earl was a dairy farmer, and he farmed here until the mid-nineties.  He then sold the farm to one of his hired farm hands.  This man farmed for a few years but was unable to make a successful living at it, so he decided to sell.   A date was set for an auction to sell the farm equipment and the dairy cows.  The week before the auction, the dairy barn caught fire and burned to the ground, taking with it some equipment and most of the cows.

Our neighbor Jerol was there the night of the fire and for the next few days to help clean up what they could and bury the cows.  Jerol remembered it as a very difficult and sad week.   After that, the land was parceled up and sold to the Hopkins family who we bought from last fall.  It was a fascinating story and told with great detail.  As I sit here and write this, I know I am not doing justice to the story.  I have always enjoyed history and was very appreciative of this small slice of what came before us on this land. I look forward to another story in a few weeks when we make a second cutting of hay.   

On to this week's vegetable share: Edith's vegetable of the week is Fennel!  On a recent field walk, we stood chatting and looked up to see Edith taking a bite out of a fennel frond.  She loves to chew on the stems (all natural tooth paste).  The bulb of the fennel is what is commonly eaten though.  It is great raw, roasted, sauteed, or grilled.  Fennel is often paired with beets.  The stems and fronds can be chopped and used as garnish in salads or on pasta.  The fronds were too big to fit in the box, so we had to cut most of them off.

It is Christmas in July with green beans and red potatoes in the box this week.  Both are picture perfect and taste delicious.  The green beans are in a cloth bag handmade by Megan's Grandma Joan, so please return the bag with your CSA box.  We reuse them throughout the season so that we don't have to use as many plastic bags.

We harvested the last of the garlic scapes and threw a few in the bottom of everyone's box.  You can use them chopped as you would garlic cloves.  Soon enough, we will have bulb garlic.

Broccoli is coming to an end (it will be back in September) and there was still quite a haul this week.  About half the boxes have cauliflower and those without have extra broccoli.  This is the last week for scallions as well since we will start putting fresh onions in the box next week (yahoo!).

Rounding out the box are carrots, beets, romaine lettuce, squash, zucchini, and several cucumbers. 

We hope to see you this Sunday on the farm.  Enjoy this week's harvest!

Your Farmers,

-Megan, Adam, and Edith