May 31, 2020
Welcome/Welcome Back to Delicious Local Eating!
By Linda Dansbury

Several years ago, I began this article in the hope of helping and inspiring members on how to enjoy the weekly harvest, which at times can be overwhelming, especially for new members. I do add or recommend recipes, but in addition, I like to provide ideas without specific recipes. The Farm is a community, so as such, I invite fellow members to send me the ways they like to use the harvest - be it a recipe or method. I will then post to the next newsletter for all members to see. Please email me at lindadansbury@comcast.net. Questions are welcomed too - if you have a question, it is likely that other members are wrestling with the same thing.

I was so excited to start the harvest and used much of it up pretty quickly.

Bok choy, radicchio (picked out of the salad mix), green garlic, radishes - made Asian Style Cole Slaw. The recipe is flexible and you can use many different ingredients, including cabbage, turnips, spinach, etc. It comes together quickly and you can prep the veggies ahead of time and then dress it shortly before serving. I have served this dish to family and friends for years and everyone has enjoyed it.

Radishes, mint, chives - made a dip that is so delicious when we have such fresh radishes. It is 4 ounces plain goat cheese, 4 ounces plain yogurt, about 2 Tablespoons chopped chives, a Tablespoon of chopped mint, some lemon zest. Original recipe calls for using a food processor, but I just mix it up in a small bowl and save on dirty dishes. Place the bowl in the middle of a serving platter with whole radishes with their greens still intact around the bowl. You can use other/additional veggies as you like.

Kale - made a Caesar salad - there is a complete recipe on this site if you want to make it from scratch, but I use a bottled dressing (rare for me) by Litehouse - it is Greek yogurt based and is nice and light. I julienned the kale, placed in large bowl and massaged kale to soften it - you can actually feel the texture of the kale change to be softer and silkier. Add as much dressing as you like, mix well and enjoy.

Fresh Garlic and Rosemary - been using both in different ways - use the entire garlic; it is more mild than garlic cloves and delicious. Used garlic and rosemary as seasoning for fish grilled in foil packets - season fish with salt and pepper; place chopped garlic on bottom of sheets of foil along with cherry tomatoes; place fish on top; drizzle a little olive oil and white wine (or broth), then place rosemary sprig on top. Wrap up and place on grill and cook until fish is cooked and tomatoes burst - about 5 minutes, depending on fish thickness.

May 31, 2020
Kohlrabi and Turnips
By Linda Dansbury

These are 2 of my favorite spring veggies - they are both equally delicious plain as a snack or sliced into salads for crunch. Use along with, or instead of carrots and celery with your favorite dips or hummus. They are great shredded as components for cole slaws - check out Asian Style Cole Slaw recipe on this site - it is one of my favorites and great for cookouts because with no egg or milk based products, you don't have to worry about it spoiling quickly.

They are equally delicious cooked up and make delicious side dishes. Try the Asian Turnip Green and White Saute. The greens are so delicious and this recipe sweetens the turnips by caramelizing them. I really like this recipe served along grilled chicken, fish or pork.

A really interesting and delicious way to cook the kohlrabi is by making it into fries - Kohlrabi Fries - perfect for accompanying your favorite burger! And kids will love them. Check out this site for additional recipes.

Use the greens separately as additions into soups and stews, saute them and add to a frittata, or saute with oil and/or butter, some chopped fresh garlic, chili flakes if desired, and cook until as tender as you like. Top with a squeeze of lemon juice, toasted breadcrumbs, or grated cheese - so yummy!

Both of these wonderful veggies are in the same family as broccoli and cauliflower, and are very nutritious! To store them, it is best to separate the greens from the bulb and store separately. I like using large Tupperware (showing my age) or other good quality plastic containers to store greens - a towel placed on bottom of container captures excess moisture preventing rotting, and the container traps moisture inside - plus you use it again and again. For the bulbs, I usually do store in plastic bags, which I rinse out and reuse as well. The greens are best used within a few days and the bulbs will keep for at least 2 weeks.

May 31, 2020
New Week, New Crops
by Farmer Dana

Harvest #3 (Week A) should include kohlrabi, romaine lettuce, mini head lettuce, salad mix, bok choy, swiss chard, escarole, green garlic, strawberries (just starting!), dill, and cilantro. Some items will be a choice. U-pick should include perennial herbs from the herb garden (sage, thyme, mint, lemon balm, oregano, tarragon, garlic chives, catnip). Peas and strawberries should be available as a u-pick crops soon. Like most crops in the ground over the winter or since early spring they're a bit behind due to the cold early-to-mid spring weather.

May 31, 2020
Workshifts for Week of 6/1
by Farmer Derek

Workshifts scheduled for this week:

May 31, 2020
Blue Sky Beauty
by Farmer Derek

Following another satisfyingly ample Friday rain event we rejoice in some quintessential late spring weather. To beckon Friday's circumspect rain cloud performance I turned the irrigation system on for a few hours. After water communicated with water, we were doused by a nice trailing storm cloud that dumped just what the farmer ordered. It doesn't happen often, but when it does we're appreciative and thankful for the exact right amount of rain, especially at the end of the normal Mon-Fri work week. And by right amount I mean enough to give plants a good drink but not enough to keep us out of the fields (in this case .7").

Last week was full of farming (planting, seeding, weeding, cultivating, harvesting, mowing, plowing, bed-shaping). Into the ground went the 4th and 1st plantings of beans and edamame, respectively. The 2nd zucchini and cucumber succession went in and was covered to keep the pesty/pesky striped cucumber beetle at vine's length. The 10th planting of lettuce, the 5th scallion, and the one and only eggplant and okra patch was planted. The eggplant was hooped and covered just like the zucchini and cucumbers to keep the nightshade flea beetle away while the plants are young and getting established. The acre of potatoes and the new raspberries were fertilized and tractor cultivated. Three successions of beets are almost finished being weeded while the onions were wrapped up. Beans, flowers, lettuces, and herbs were manually cultivated. Fields were mowed in preparation for upcoming fall crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage that we will transplant in early July. Seeds of beans, edamame, lettuce, dill, and cilantro were sown. Crops were harvested, binned, and distributed.

Upcoming this week we have leeks, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro, beans, and edamame to plant; more crops to seed and harvest; prepare soil for summer planted crops including the 2021 strawberry patch that goes in at the end of June; and begin setting up the trellising systems for field, heirloom, and cherry tomatoes. See you around!

May 24, 2020
Grin for Greens
by Farmer Dana

Harvest #2 (Week B) should include salad mix, head lettuce, hakurei/salad turnips, green/spring garlic, bok choy, rosemary, and kale. U-pick should include perennial herbs from the herb garden (catnip, mint, thyme, oregano, garlic chives, lemon balm, sage).

May 24, 2020
Wild For Salmon Buying Club Taking Orders
by Farmer Dana

Wild For Salmon is now accepting orders for our buying club. Delivery to our farm will be Thursday June 4. Please pick up your order by 8pm that day. We cannot hold orders this year. Orders need to be placed by Monday June 1. To place an order or to join our buying club follow this link.

May 24, 2020
Workshifts for Week of 5/25
By Derek McGeehan

Workshifts scheduled for this week:

May 24, 2020
Always a Challenge
by Farmer Derek

Now that we're into the harvest season (I don't think we can hit a pause button) my spirit(s) were saved by some much needed rain Friday afternoon and evening. Because if it didn't rain in order to coax crops along to eke out some more early season springtime shares I was going to have to spend much of this weekend setting up irrigation (and grumbling in my head). It had been a full two weeks since we enjoyed a meaningful rainfall and within that span we had plenty of windy days. I'll never complain about dry soil, except when we need rain perhaps once a week (and maybe just a half inch or so). Every season brings its own unique set of challenges and this year has fully succeeded in providing us a with a new experience to endure. Most seasons there's a fairly reliable transition from our tunnel crops, which enjoy a protected and warmer environment, to our outdoor crops, most of which are protected with and covered by sheets of floating fabric row cover. Because April and early May temperatures were mostly 10-15 degrees below average and there were quite a few frosts and even a few freezes late this spring many of the outdoor crops just sort of sat in stasis for a while. Normally the 5/1 date sparks an exponential burst of growth and the fields begin teeming with a green sheen. This year the tender new growth that attempted to snatch the suns rays amidst the lengthening days was then checked by a low in the upper 20s with some serious solid ice accompanied by warmth-stealing winds on a day that didn't pass the upper 30s. This was May not March. I think we're safely past those conditions and I believe crops will now show their true colors and eat up those sunrays with reckless abandon. But without rain and water, plants aren't able to grow because they need that hydrogen molecule from H2O to combine with carbon dioxide to produce the sugars to fuel growth. Thus we rejoiced, whispered a silent thank you and appreciation for our luck, and danced a jig with Friday's gentle life restoring rainfall. Once in a while we feel a confidence and a contentment with the progression of the season and growth of crops, but we do not want to think too hard nor dwell on it nor even fully acknowledge for fear of dispersing any luck we were given. Plus the long list of tasks and work beckons our attention. But Friday night, boy was I happy.

We did enjoy a good and productive and super busy week besides. There's quite a transition to the harvest portion of the season and especially this year with the new COVID precautions. Most of the fear and anxiety with this new system is dispelled now that we've been through Week 1 and there's no longer an unknown. Outside in the fields we accomplished many feats of farming. Winter squash was planted and mulched with a thick blanket of straw. The second watermelon planting went into sheets of landscape fabric. Irrigation was set up and used on sweet and hot peppers, field/slicing/u-pick/cherry/heirloom/tunnel tomatoes, strawberries, husk cherries, tomatillos, snow and snap peas, watermelon, zucchini, and cucumbers. Speaking of peas and strawberries, these will be the first of the u-pick crops available and they're looking great and will hopefully be ready in a week or two. Spring/summer carrots have been weeded (for now) and very soon the onion patch will be finished. Weed pressure hasn't been too great this spring, probably due to the cool and recently dry weather. If it wasn't for last season's buckwheat cover crop that we let drop seed there wouldn't be much to pull out. Another positive within some of the negative weather conditions we've had this spring is that 2-3 buckwheat weed seed germination successions were killed from the late cold. However, with ample rain and surely rising temperatures, summer annuals will need to be cultivated and/or plucked from their homes on a regular basis. So sign up for a workshift if you can!

One perk that has come with these new COVID distributions is that it has connected us to you, our members, a bit more. It has been so gratifying to see and talk with so many farm members, thank you for everyone's patience and good humor as we make our way through this new pick up routine. Here's to another week of harvests!

May 24, 2020
First Pick-Up Essentials and Switch Reminder
By Farmer Dana

- E-mail us if you need to switch your pick-up day temporarily or permanently. Signing up for a time slot on an alternate day does not satisfy this request because we don't go through the time slot list. The time slots just ensure crowds are spread out a bit. To switch temporarily please e-mail us by 5pm Sunday prior to your pick up week.

- You should have received an e-mail with your share and pick up information. Please E-mail us if you did not.

- Bring your own bags/baskets/boxes to take your personally binned share home.

- Bring your own scissors for herbs as well as the farm-dispersed quart, pint, and 1/2-pint containers in case other u-pick crops are ready.

- Make sure you've signed up online for a pick-up time slot (log in and sign up on the calendar). For instructions click here (same process as workshift sign up).

- Harvest pick-up is from 1-8pm on Monday and Thursday, 10am-12pm on Saturday. We are open Memorial Day and all holidays during the Main Season.

- Remember we are practicing mask wearing and 6-foot social distancing on the farm.

- Driveway speed limit is 10 mph; there are children, animals, and the potential for dust.

Email or call us if you have any questions, we are looking forward to seeing you all!

May 17, 2020
The First 2020 Share!
by Farmer Dana

Main Season Harvest #1 (Full, Medium, Week A Half Shares) should include head lettuce, lettuce mix, green garlic (whole plant is edible at this stage!), bok choy, kale, rosemary, and radishes. U-pick should include a small handful of perennial herbs (catnip, oregano, lemon balm, bee balm, thyme, sage, mint).

May 17, 2020
Workshifts this Week (5/18/20)
by Farmer Derek

Workshifts scheduled for this week:

May 17, 2020
Pick Up Guidelines During COVID
by Farmer Dana

We will be pre-assembling shares in harvest bins. Members will collect their shares from a harvest bin at a table just outside the barn hallway entrance under a tent where a Farm Staffer will verbally sign you in. This process will require members to bring their own bags/baskets/boxes to collect the share (same as pre-COVID). Shares will be assembled by staff during pick-up hours. Harvest items which are Choices will be specified on blackboards on the outside of the barn that you'll be able to view while you wait in line (if there is a line). You'll be able to tell the Farm Staffer which Choice you'd like included in your share when you are transferring your share to your own bags/baskets/boxes. To make this process easier, greens that in the past have been harvested loose will be either rubber banded or put in bio-degradable bags. Bins will be washed and/or sanitized after share collection before they are reused.

To reduce crowds forming on pick up days, and to give staff time to assemble binned shares, members will sign up in advance for hour-long time frames in which they can pick up their shares (a maximum of 25 members will be able to pick up their share per hour). Signing up will take place through the calendar feature on our website the same way members sign up for workshifts. Time slot sign up will open Saturday morning at 9am prior to the pick up week. Only one week will be open at a time. The first hour of pick up will be reserved for senior citizens and members with high risk medical conditions.

You can now sign up for your Pick Up Day Time Slot for this coming week if you have a Full, Medium, or Week A Half Share (log in then go to calendar). The first hour of pick up, 1-2pm, is reserved for senior citizens and members with high risk medical conditions. Sign up the same way you would for workshifts. Instructions can be found here.

We plan to keep the u-pick portion of the harvest open with a few changes. A collection of quart, pint, and half-pint containers will be sent home with each member in their first binned share of the season. These will be yours to measure and collect your u-pick crops over the course of the season (use them to measure then dispatch produce to your own bags). Members will need to bring their own scissors for cutting herbs and flowers. Please respect the 6-foot social distance minimum in the fields. The u-pick list will be displayed on the outside wall of the barn, instead of inside the barn, to facilitate social distancing.

Farm staff will use necessary pandemic and food safety measures while harvesting and working around harvested crops. Whatever scientific rules and regulations are in place will be followed which may include gloves and masks, and will be worn during the harvest and handling of all farm produce. We ask members to respect the guidelines issued by Governor Wolf regarding the wearing of masks in public.

Please reach out to us if you have questions and concerns.

May 17, 2020
Let the Season Begin!
By Farmer Dana

What a spring this has been! We had snow and mid-80 temperatures just last week, an apparent switching of places by March and April, and, oh yeah!, a global pandemic. But fear not, this is our 12th season and pandemic or no, we got this. The first harvest is here! We are excited for salads and greens and hope you are too. The first shares of the season tend to be smaller and are typically greens heavy, giving us ample opportunity to get creative with salad dressing recipes. Given the severity of the cold this late in the year, please expect to see some frost damage on some of the kale and radish leaves. The lettuce and salad mix, however, appear to be the picture of perfection since they rode out the extreme late cold in the comfort of one of our tunnels.

All things considered, we are in good shape on the farm, albeit a little behind in the herb garden. The first carrot seeding has been fully weeded as of this afternoon. Sugar snap peas in the hoop tunnel and strawberries are both flowering. Heirloom tomatoes settled into their high tunnel home last week. Many frost sensitive crops which were itching to leave the greenhouse finally got their chance as we rounded zone 7's frost date of May 15th. Thus last week was a marathon of transplanting watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, husk cherries, tomatillos, basil, beans, and u-pick flowers.

It finally feels like the growing season is upon us and we are eager to see our returning and new members come to the farm and collect their veggies! We've missed you, welcome and welcome back!

May 10, 2020
CSA Shares Are Sold Out!
by Farmer Dana

2020 Main Season CSA shares are sold out. Thank you for signing up and supporting Anchor Run CSA! We will do our best to satisfy your produce needs during this 26-week season.

May 9, 2020
Soon
by Farmer Derek

We're eager for CSA harvests to begin. We're hungry for fresh produce. We can't wait for the first spring salad. But Mother Nature tempers our yearning by reminding us that sometimes spring can take a while to fully arrive. Winter was mild, March was spring-like, April started well, then for the past month we've endured temperatures suspended 10-15 degrees below average with plenty of cloudy and rainy days. A month ago I would have forecast an early harvest; now it appears it'll 'hopefully' be a normal start date, but it could be a week later than that. It's hard to know for sure too far in advance. With days lengthening and the crops really itchin' to grow, once we get a stretch of warmer weather they'll probably grow exponentially. It's not a risk free assessment. If we start too late, some of the spring crops could decide to focus on reproduction before we even get through a full harvest week. Start too early and the crops are too small, perhaps not filling out all shares equally. But don't worry, most of the time we get these decisions correct, mostly by waiting until only a few days prior to the first pick up to announce the commencement of share distribution. That said, harvests will not begin this Monday, May 11th, but may begin next Monday, May 18th. We'll reassess after we get past this weird arctic blast vortex shenanigans. Ice, flurries in May; go figure.

Even though spring is having a difficult time establishing itself in our region, we're flying through our to-do list. Mostly soil and field conditions have been almost if not totally ideal, as long as we've been patient and wait for those conditions to present themselves. And they do. Warm temperatures in March sparked emergence of blossoms and blooms and initially warmed the soil, sparking dandelion flowers one or two weeks before we normally see them, which is when we try to plant our potatoes. However right after the blooms temperatures plummeted, moisture was omnipresent, and we had to wait to plant the potatoes instead of risking their deterioration in cool wet soil since they're planted around 4" deep. We wrapped up all spring crop planting with the 3rd and 4th installment, respectively, of beets and chard and are now on the cusp of planting a mountain of summer produce once we emerge on the other side of frost risk. Lined up to be planted this upcoming week (hopefully) are zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, cherry/grape/slicing/heirloom tomatoes, sweet/hot peppers, snap beans, husk cherries, tomatillos, and flowers. Since we were unable to plant these crops last week we were able to spend more time getting ready for future crops by getting their future homes ready. Fields had to be mown, chisel plowed, primary shaped, final bed shaped. Some crops go into ground covered in fabric to suppress weeds and warm the soil so we did that where able to. It's a good feeling to be caught up and/or ahead with field work.

It's interesting to acknowledge that the bulk of seeding, planting, and prepping work is done prior to the harvest portion of the season, which perhaps it intuitive, even though while utilizing season extension techniques harvests stretch 32 weeks for us. Once harvests commence approximately two full days each week will be devoted to harvesting and distributing crops. So maybe one silver lining to a later start date is more time to devote to all the other necessary farm tasks. When harvests commence our pace kicks up a notch and hours worked each week increase maybe 25%. That said, we love harvesting and sharing the produce with you. It is very satisfying to harvest, distribute, eat food whose seeds were sown months ago and carefully nurtured since. We're grateful for to our food community for sharing in this endeavor.

May 9, 2020
Workshifts
by Farmer Derek

It might not look like much, but there is a mile of carrots on those beds. We were ecstatic to have a window of time to cultivate them a couple of weeks ago. They've since grown and have a few true leaves. While we're able to cultivate with tools in between carrot rows, we still need to go back and hand weed in row. Pulling the weeds from the carrot rows and also from around our small onion transplants will probably be our focus during the first couple of weeks of workshifts.

Workshifts scheduled for week of 5/11/20:

May 9, 2020
CSA COVID Pick Up Guidelines - Updates
by Farmer Dana

We will be pre-assembling shares in harvest bins. Members will collect their shares from a harvest bin at a table in the barn hallway entrance where a Farm Staffer will verbally sign you in. This process will require members to bring their own bags/baskets/boxes to collect the share (same as pre-COVID). Shares will be assembled during pick-up hours. Harvest items which are Choices will be specified on blackboards on the outside of the barn that you'll be able to view while you wait in line (if there is a line). You'll be able to tell the Farm Staffer which Choice you'd like included in your share when you are transferring your share to your own bags/baskets/boxes. To make this process easier, greens that in the past have been harvested loose will be either rubber banded or put in bio-degradable bags.

To reduce crowds forming on pick up days, and to give staff time to assemble binned shares, members will sign up in advance for hour-long time frames in which they can pick up their shares (a maximum of 25 members will be able to pick up their share per hour). Signing up will take place through the calendar feature on our website the same way members sign up for workshifts. Time slots will probably open 48 hours before a scheduled pick up day and members will choose a new time slot for each pick-up. The first hour of pick up will be reserved for senior citizens and members with high risk medical conditions. To see what the sign up process may look like, follow this link, then navigate to May 11th for an example.

We plan to keep the u-pick portion of the harvest open with a few changes. A collection of quart, pint, and half-pint containers will be sent home with each member in their first binned share of the season. These will be yours to measure and collect your u-pick crops over the course of the season (use them to measure then dispatch produce to your own bags). Members will need to bring their own scissors for cutting herbs and flowers. Please respect the 6-foot social distance minimum in the fields. The u-pick list will be displayed on the outside wall of the barn, instead of inside the barn, to facilitate social distancing.

Farm staff will use necessary pandemic and food safety measures while harvesting and working around harvested crops. Whatever scientific rules and regulations are in place will be followed which may include gloves and masks, and will be worn during the harvest and handling of all farm produce. We ask members to respect the guidelines issued by Governor Wolf regarding the wearing of masks in public.

We're confident that workshifts will proceed normally, albeit with safe social distancing involved. For information on how to sign up, please follow this link. This will also be the process for signing up for pick up day time slots.