Sorry for the desperate subject line, but our situation here is so desperate at this time that the best course of action seems to be to postpone harvesting our crops for a week: There will be no CSA distribution Friday, July 11th or Monday, July 14th. We will plan on extending the season an extra week in the fall, thus ending on Monday, December 1st instead of November 24th, if weather permits us to do that (which it most likely will). We also plan to "buy in" produce to supplement the distributions from the farm for the week you return from this hiatus, namely Friday, July 18th and Monday, July 21st. (I would have "bought in" produce right away, rather than postpone the two pick-ups, but it was not possible to do so.) After that, we should be returning to some sort of normalcy and abundance in our distributions.

The reason for our poor productivity so far this season is, in a word, labor, the "other" factor beyond the farmer's control. While the weather has made the season difficult for us (a cold grey spring, then a shocking heat wave, then excessively dry conditions), labor, as always, has had a much greater impact. It's well established that I need a good crew of 5 or 6 hard workers in March, April and May or the farm will be hopelessly behind as the season opens. This spring I had only one Intern, a very capable Intern who averaged less than two days a week before moving on to a great opportunity at Duke University in mid May. I had a Farm Manager who accomplished a surprisingly small amount, made some very major mistakes and then disappeared in mid April. I had various Hispanic workers put in some time until I found a few who could meet my Board of Directors requirements for legal status, finally reaching 4 full time Guatemalans only two weeks ago. And their effectiveness as workers has been slow in developing, due to both my limited command of even "Spanglish" and their lack of experience with farming - like hundreds of millions of Third World residents, they grew up in cities, totally removed from food production. I've received some much appreciated help from several former Interns and from our two "work-share" members, but have only recently been able to say that we now have two full time Interns. (Nicolas, from France, is here for his second summer, and Emily, from South Carolina, is doing a great job preparing to become an "Agricultural Specialist" in the Peace Corps in Africa this fall.)

So our work force is coming together and our productivity has improved hugely, but in agriculture it's not possible to catch up for productivity lost to disasters - like the potting soil the Farm Manager made for our cucs and zucs, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants and melons and watermelons: all those summer crops will be a little late because I had to restart them after the first plantings failed to thrive. Or the several generations of lettuces we lost to careless watering despite me having stressed, again and again, that it's necessary to use the "mister" head rather than the "shower" head on the newly seeded lettuce trays. Or the beds of lettuces and mesclun mix lost to deer and flea beetles because the row covers were not replaced after weeding, despite Ême having explained, again and again, the importance of keeping the beds covered. Or the time that was lost between the demise of the old tiller and the introduction of the new one . . . .

But this is farming . . . .

And I hope you'll bear with us through our difficult times.

I apologize for our CSA's low productivity so far this season and I greatly appreciate your support of local food production.

And I'll also mention that if you have an interest in more fully enjoying the farm experience and could create some spare time, we certainly have the volunteer opportunities for you!

Thanks,

Sam

REMINDER for you Friday pickup people — because of the July 4 holiday, your pickup this week is on THURSDAY JULY 3 from noon-6pm. If you tried to change your July 4 pickup on the website and had trouble, that problem has been corrected (it also had to do with the holiday). ÊThanks for your patience.

More details about the Fermentation Workshop at the farm on Sunday, July 13 from 1-5pm: We are fortunate to have renowned fermenter Sandor Katz (aka Sandorkraut) showing us the how-to's of fermentation. Ê(Check out his book Wild Fermentation when you stop by the farm store!!)

Fermenting vegetables through the use of lacto-fermentation was used across all cultures to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. ÊPreserving vegetables like this has numerous health advantages:

Beneficial organisms produced during lacto-fermentation produce life supporting enzymes as well as antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic substances.

• The lactic acid promotes healthy flora throughout our intestines and the digestibility and vitamin levels of the fermented vegetabes increase
  
• Studies show that fermented cabbage (such as that which is found in lacto-fermented sauerkraut) has 300% more vitamin C than regular cabbage!
  
• The lacto-fermentation also keeps these vegetables preserved for months and months!

Please join us and learn how to ferment the wonderful vegetables you are receiving at the farm...so you can preserve them and add valuable nutrients to your diet! ÊWe will be sharing a small meal at the end of the demonstration — full of lacto-fermented morsels!

Cost is $35/person...children are welcome at no cost. ÊPlease bring blankets or beach chairs to sit on. ÊRSVP to Annmarie Butera, ambutera@verizon.net or 610-466-7593.

See you at the farm!

~ Colleen