Dino

I can't stop thinking about Dino. For those of you who follow us on Facebook, you know what I'm talking about. 

I recently read an article about Dino, a fully autonomous robot that weeds vegetable fields. The creators of Dino have a great video on their website showing off what Dino can do. After watching the video, my only question for the engineers is, Why didn't you name it Yoshi?!

Robotic weeding tools are not entirely new, but usually they are implements that are pulled by a tractor, which still has a driver. Dino not only senses the vegetable crops and weeds between the rows like other robotic tools, but he even FINDS the rows by himself, no tractor or driver necessary. Way to go, Dino. Seriously, watch the video! 

Technological advances such as Dino bring along the usual debates about farm size and labor. Will Dino take away jobs, hiking up unemployment rates? Or is the robot just a necessary tool, just like any other tractor cultivator, that helps improve a farmer's profitability? Do tools like this make mono-crop agribusinesses so efficient that the value of vegetables will go so low as to put small farms like Old Plank Farm out of business?

For now, Dino is neither a big threat or a realistic prospect at Old Plank Farm. The engineer-geek within me just thinks it's a pretty awesome toy, and I'm jealous I didn't invent it! You may not know that in high school and college I studied computer science and engineering. After which I started a farm. These things happen. Anyway, I've never looked back, but I'll admit that watching Dino's video made me think wow, I could've worked on projects like this if I'd followed a different path! 

Digging a little deeper in my memory, I realize I probably never was suited to the task of engineer inventor. I remember my first attempt at inventing something, which was for the 5th grade "Invention Convention" at my grade school. The project I came up with was inventing a robot that would wake me up in the morning and help me get dressed and make my bed. In my head it made perfect sense, like most terrible ideas do. But after much debate with my ever-patient mother, I realized it wasn't a realistic project, given the three-week deadline and the fact that I was 10 years old.

So I settled on inventing a handheld tool that would help pull shoelaces tight. I could make this out of a clothes hanger and add some rubber padding to make comfortable handles. It hooked around shoelaces and gave the user good leverage, especially helpful for getting ice skates tight. This was a fine invention and should have been a relief for my mother since it didn't have a 1 million dollar production budget. The only trouble was my innocent 10-yr-old self decided to call the invention The Hooker. It's a wonder my mother didn't get grey hair while I was growing up.

So yes, inventing robots like Dino looks like fun to me. As I watch Dino’s video, my engineer shoulder angel thinks you could totally build something like that, while on the other side my wise-and-experienced shoulder angel is rolling around laughing so hard at me it falls off my other shoulder. I will stick with keeping my hands in the dirt, growing your vegetables, and being more grateful to have the opportunity to do this than to do anything else in the world.

Dino’s Weeding Fingers. We have a tool like these at Old Plank Farm, but not robotic controlled!

Food as Medicine

I'm not a big football fan, but once in awhile I enjoy watching a Packers game or the Super Bowl with friends or family. I mostly just enjoy it for the chance to sit around on the couch for a few hours, and to eat snacks, and to spend time in good company. Sometimes I wish I could get more excited about what's happening in a game, especially if I'm with friends who take it seriously. But I'm the one who gets up to help myself to another handful of maple spiced nuts while everyone else is glued to some game-changing event. And when that friend who always makes the maple spiced nuts (you know who you are!) slams her hand down on the table and starts yelling advice to the players on the TV, then I know the Packers messed up. Oh well, if there's a veggie tray with maple cream cheese dip to eat from, that's enough to keep me happy.

The times that I want to holler and throw my shoes at the TV are when I listen to commercials for pharmaceutical drugs. One in particular comes to mind, although I can't remember what drug it was, which is probably for the best since I have no real authority to critique the pharmaceutical industry. I think it was some preventative drug to help maintain heart health for middle-aged folks, or something along those lines. The point is, I was livid at the way the drug company portrayed diet in their commercial (in particular, eating vegetables) as ineffective. They showed a piece of kale and said wouldn't it be great if a piece of kale could keep you healthy. But since it can't, you should try our simple pill instead. Just one pill can keep you healthy...blah blah blah. 

But WAIT. That's a pill you have to take EVERY SINGLE DAY. Of course it can't be compared to one piece of kale. Neither one bite of kale or one pill are a silver bullet to maintain your health. Not one single anything can do the trick.  Maintaining health, whether through food or drugs, is a daily, repetitive act. One of the best approaches to a healthy lifestyle is to use food as medicine; this means that healthy food, especially vegetables, needs to be consumed every single day, just like the drugs so many people bet their lives on. This organization from Minnesota is a great resource for more ideas about Food as Medicine. (If only they were also Packers fans, then they'd really be living right!) You can't swallow a bottle of pills and expect to be healthy forever, and you can't devour a whole tomato plant and expect never to get sick again. In fact, either of these actions would probably send you to the ER. 

A healthy life requires making a habit of good eating. And one of the best ways to make a habit of eating vegetables is to become a member of a vegetable farm! An Old Plank Farm membership ensures that you have nutrient-dense vegetables in your fridge every week during our 20 week harvest season. And, as our members tell us, having our vegetables in their fridge makes them much more likely to eat well every day.

I'm not a doctor, and I can’t say for sure that we can get rid of pills just by eating vegetables. But I do think it's the best place to start. So instead of throwing my shoes at the TV, I'll put them on and get back to being your farmer.

Wisdom from the Six-Fingered Man

The Princess Bride is one of the most loved and oft quoted movies here at Old Plank Farm. This past Halloween Angelica and Jake even dressed up as Buttercup and Wesley and won the costume contest at a Halloween dance that we went to. One of the reasons it's such a great movie is because it's chock-full of wisdom. Look at this, even the bad guys got it right some of the time:

"If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything." This is how I feel when I look at life. There is nothing I want or need more than my health, and I find that one of the most important ways to maintain and improve my health is by eating vegetables every day. Physical, mental and even spiritual well-being benefits from the effects of eating vegetables. I might say, if you haven't got vegetables, you haven't got anything. 

And I'm running low on vegetables these days. But thankfully the growing season at Old Plank Farm is getting closer every day. I hope to be able to share good health and great vegetables with you this season. In the meantime, I'll share a few more of my favorite Princess Bride quotes.

“Miracle Max : Get back, witch.
Valerie : I’m not a witch, I’m your wife!”

“Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?
Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead.
Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it.
Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut?”

Okay, I may have made this last one up…!

Get fit, Get healthy

My friend Ryan Laswell, from NOURISH, has a great way of explaining the value of joining a CSA farm like Old Plank Farm. He says, "if you want to get in shape, join a gym. And if you want to get healthy, join a farm." He is right to suggest that your commitment to a seasonal farm membership benefits more than just the farmer...it benefits you, too, by making healthy eating an easier and more enjoyable experience.

Joining Old Plank Farm means you will be given tasty vegetables fresh from our gardens week after week during our entire harvest season. Many members have told us that they eat better since joining our farm, because having our vegetables in their fridge every week makes it so much easier to choose to make healthy meals. It becomes a habit to include vegetables in your daily diet once you've committed to joining a farm. Our farm becomes your support team too, reminding and inspiring you all season long to eat healthy. And we love to do that just as much as we love the work of growing the vegetables for you. Even this time of year Angelica is sharing recipes for healthy eating made simple, and you can find these on her new page on our website.

Potato soup Angelica made yesterday. Recipe found on her new page on our website.

I really like Ryan's advice, although I don't need to join a CSA farm since I live at one! But I'm not in very good shape these days, so I decided to buy a seasonal pass for cross country skiing at the Greenbush trails. This is the nearest outdoor gym by me, and I can't wait to make the most of it this winter. I've been skiing there a couple of times this past week and I feel fitter already.

The trouble with gym memberships is that it's hard to remember to stay committed to getting fit. But with an Old Plank Farm membership it's easy to remember to keep eating healthy because the vegetables included with your membership are there in your kitchen every week during harvest season. Perhaps I should bring some snow home with me from Greenbush and put it in my freezer. Then every time I go looking for ice cream I'll remember to get out the door and go skiing instead. 

Meanwhile, if you want to get healthy, or stay healthy, take Ryan’s advice and become an Old Plank Farm member. We’re gearing up for the fast-approaching growing season here…in less than six weeks the first crop of the season will be started in our greenhouse!

Fiddlin' Farmer

Winter at Old Plank Farm is moving along slow and steady. Tis the season for learning things, and that's what I've been doing a lot of, although not so much related to farming, these days. I've spent many of this winter's cold, dark evenings learning new tunes on the violin. Nothing brightens a winter's night like lively music. And getting to share that music with other talented musicians...well! Nothing beats that. 

The Fig and The Pheasant (previously called 52 Stafford) in Plymouth is gracious enough to host an Irish music session where I and other folk musicians can gather and play together every week in an informal setting. We aren't a band, we don't rehearse together, and we don't decide on a tune list ahead of time. We just take turns swapping tunes and enjoying each others' musical company. As the beginner in the group, I'm humbled by the other fiddle players vast song banks and skills, and I'm so grateful they've let me tag along with them. In addition to learning new music on the violin, I’m learning to keep my hands clean, and that’s a feat for this farmer! Though I am eagerly waiting to have my hands in the soil again, for now I am content to wait a little more.

If you enjoy live music, I hope you'll stop by The Fig and The Pheasant on a Wednesday evening this winter. We play every week starting around 7:30pm. 

Review of Kristin Kimball's "The Dirty Life"

by Stephanie Bartel

If you’re looking for a good read this winter related to farming, you might try either of Kristin Kimball’s books, “The Dirty Life” and “Good Husbandry.” The latter was just published this fall, which is what drew my attention to this particular author. Nonetheless, I hadn’t read her debut book yet, written several years back, so I decided to pick that one up first.

“The Dirty Life” is a memoir written about Kimball’s move from New York City to starting a CSA farm in rural New York. Her story is about her transformation in life from city girl to farmer, and the trials that came with her first year running a diversified farm with her partner, Mark. It’s funny, honest, and certainly full of detail. It’s not written with the audience of solely farmers in mind. A range of people could enjoy this book, especially those who are members of CSA farms anywhere in the country. As a farmer, I can relate to some of the stories she tells, reminding me of the early years here at Old Plank. Most of what she writes captures the essence of farming pretty well. Writing about farming often lends itself to vivid imagery and sensory detail, and Kimball’s is as good as any.

Kimball has a brief discussion about how her partner Mark views farming as his way of artistic expression, which I was thrilled to read, because I feel the same way. Writing payroll programs and generating sign-up forms draws on my high school and college studies in computer science and math, important elements to a successful farm business. But the heart of work in the farm fields, for me, is so very artistic and is probably why I enjoy it year after year. I recall my elementary school days when I would say, upon being asked the usual question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, that I want to be an artist. So there it is. Thirty years later, I am what I am.

“This time of year, I find that the thing I miss most is not being able to walk outside, pick a vegetable up off the ground, and eat it. Dropping food on the kitchen floor is no substitute.”

I’m not one to enjoy reading too much about the details of one’s private relationships, so I didn’t enjoy all of Kimball’s stories in “The Dirty Life.” Although I do understand how they were important in her journey, and they certainly were well written and kept her book moving along.

I also didn’t particularly like Kimball’s choice of titles. At face value it is an accurate description of the book to come, meaning her hands and her clothes were always dirty! But farming is far from a dirty life; rather it is often as pure and clean as it gets. Healthy soil, where our organic produce comes from, is in my opinion clean to the most sacred level. And eating that produce keeps our bodies clean in the same way. No amount of chlorine (yes that’s right, that’s what’s on those clean-looking baby carrots at the grocery stores!) can have the same effect. This time of year, I find that the thing I miss most is not being able to walk outside, pick a vegetable up off the ground, and eat it. Dropping food on the kitchen floor is no substitute.

The main highlight of “The Dirty Life” was the underlying theme about the importance a community has to a sustainable farm. Kimball’s farm needed strong support from the surrounding community in order to thrive. She does a beautiful job relating stories about people pulling together and helping each other to succeed. In return, her farm produces the highest quality food to nourish that same community. Her farm’s members value the passionate, energetic, and hard working traits that she and Mark share. As farmers they are willing to stand up for their core beliefs in sustainable agriculture, and to share the results with all those who believe in them. “The Dirty Life” echoes the untold stories of so many community farms across the country, including my own.

Kimball’s new book, “Good Husbandry,” is next on my list. The title makes me think of an outdated farmer’s manual from the 1890s. Nonetheless, I’m pleased this book is out and I look forward to a good read.

Beetie's Auld Lang Syne

When Beetie went out on New Year's Day,

he found that his farm was frozen and grey.

He wasn't sad very long,

skilled at rhythm and song,

he grabbed his drums and shouted “let’s play”!

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Old Plank Farm! 2020 farm membership information and sign-up will be available soon!

An Old Plank Farm Carol

by Stephanie Bartel

The end of the growing season at Old Plank Farm left me feeling a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge. Our short summer flew by quicker than ever, shouldered on either side by a wet spring, a wet fall, and a lot of equipment breakdowns. And the bitter cold November took away all hope of fall field work, making for a quick and uneventful season finale here. Bah Humbug! I say to the soggy spring fields. Bah Humbug! I say to November. Bah Humbug! I say to anything with an engine.

But as I prepared our holiday card, the spirit of Old Plank Farm's past came to light in the photos I was perusing. Unlike Scrooge's bitter and regretful past, I found myself reflecting on the joy and progress surrounding memories of our past season. It was a soggy spring to be sure. But in the end we got everything planted on schedule thanks to our raised bed system, speedy field prep, and efficient planting methods. So I really can't complain about spring; we got our crops planted, which is not something every farmer in Wisconsin was fortunate enough to do. 

And what of the frozen November? Our garlic was in the ground ahead of schedule (mid-October!), and our bumper crop of potatoes was tucked safely away in our packing shed. That final warm weekend in October was spent harvesting the last of the crop, and a well-spent weekend it was. I've been hearing that nearly a third of the state's potatoes have rotted in the ground because farmer's couldn't get them out in time. So I really can't complain about fall; we got our crops harvested before the freeze set in, not something everyone was fortunate enough to do. 

And in between spring and fall we enjoyed eating cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and melons. We filled our members’ veggie boxes week after week with about as much variety as in a usual season. And we enjoyed the farm on parade as we celebrated the wedding of Angelica and Jake. Sunshine, vegetables, flowers and smiles are a part of all the photos from our past season. I'm extremely grateful for the variety of crops that did well for us, for our merry band of workers, and for the continued support of all our farm members. I didn't say it enough this season, but I am so thankful to all of the people and plants that sustain Old Plank Farm. 

One of the few pieces of equipment we didn’t have mechanical problems with this year. Of course, it runs on Christmas spirit…

But my office work of the present is dreary compared to the rush and bustle of the growing season, as are the dark days of December on the farm. Sunshine and flowers are in the past, so what now? I've been in a Bah-Humbug-sort-of-mood as the darkest day of the year approaches. To break the monotony of my office, I sometimes take a walk to our dormant fields. It was on the path through the woods and out to the fields that I saw the spirit of Old Plank Farm's present early one morning last week. Fog and gloom surrounded me, and I nearly walked right under an unusual dark colored lump of a creature perched on an overhanging branch. It only caught my attention when it's head swiveled 180 degrees and it's huge eyes stared down into mine. 

The tufts of feathers on top his head gave him a cat-like shape. He was low enough in the tree that I could see the feathers in each of the beautiful half-moon patterns on his face. I widened my eyes to match his. Then this great horned owl and I had a staring contest, in which the owl eventually won. Afterwards, I tip-toed under him to continue towards the field. Each time I glanced up, his head swiveled some more to follow me on my path and out of sight. His body never flinched.

About fifteen minutes later I headed back into the woods to go home. Sure enough, Henry Howl (the great owl had a name and a backstory by the time I came through again) was still on the same branch, eyes wide, head swiveling, body as still as the tree trunk beside him. I again stopped to stare, and wonder, and then tip-toe past him. What a crazy bird, I thought. I hope he felt the same towards me.

I've gone out every day since then trying to catch a glimpse of Henry Howl. I hear him sometimes, but don't really expect to see him again, let alone spend time interacting with him. Rather, the experience of walking to the field with my eyes wide open helps me to see that Old Plank Farm is alive and thriving this month and always, even if the soils aren't cranking out produce 365 days of the year. There is not always productivity, but there is always value on the farm.

While spending time each day looking for Henry Howl keeps me happy in the present moment, it's not enough to keep the farm heading down a path for a bright and productive future season. So what is? I have been quite slow to get things started for next year. Our website is not yet up to date, and our sign-up season is not yet open. More office work...bah humbug! The spirit of Old Plank Farm's future came to me through a friend, and farm member, last weekend. We were at a Christmas sing-along. The house was warm and brightly decorated and there were tons of holiday treats and hot apple cider. I played piano, a favorite pastime during the holidays, and everyone sang Christmas carols. Farm business was the last thing on my mind. At the end of the evening my friend came up to me and reminded me that she wanted to help my farm by doing a strategic planning meeting with me. How about on New Year's Day? she suggested. How kind of her to give up some of her holiday to help jump start our farm's new year, I thought. 

Being reminded that friends and farm members are rooting for our future season rekindled my excitement for the winter's work. So many local produce farms have gone under in the last few years, yielding to the frustrating weather and unpredictable nature of...well...of nature, to say nothing of the challenges of a small business of any kind. But we won't be seeing Old Plank Farm's name on any headstones in the near future. Growing vegetables is our way of spreading health and good cheer all summer long. So I will be announcing next season’s offerings in January. Until then, wishing you happy holidays from me (Farmer Stephanie), Angelica, Henry Howl and everyone from Old Plank Farm!

Late Summer Crop Update

by Stephanie Bartel

The crops at Old Plank Farm are rolling in with some ease right now. Of course, they don’t actually roll in, they are hand-picked by Angelica and myself day after day and week after week, along with the help of our lovely Monday morning crew! Here’s a brief overview of what’s going on in the field. As we start to hear geese flying by overhead, we also start to see a change in the fields under foot.

Summer crops like tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are ripening ripening ripening. We should have several more weeks of each of these. Eggplant is a bright spot right now, but I know it’s not a favorite so we’re trying not to force it on everyone. Still, give it a try in the next couple of weeks…grill it with a little oil, salt pepper and steak seasoning and you’ll be wishing summer could last forever!

Melons have good flavor, but there haven’t been enough yet to go around. We’re trying to get one to everyone, and looking at what’s still ripening in the field, that should be possible in the next week or two. There’s another late planting of melons that may yield something before frost as well. Yellow doll watermelon is just beginning to ripen; we have less than last year, as our first planting didn’t take too well in the cold June weather we had. But as of now we anticipate getting one to each member in September!

Potatoes are the brightest spot on the farm this year, and well on their way to earning the “vegetable of the year” award here. We’ve dug both varieties, a gold one and a red one, and both have been delicious and bountiful. We’re so thankful to have a little root-digging machine that our tractor pulls, because we’ve already dug 1800 lbs, and we are only about 30% done. That’d be a lot of shoveling for Angelica and I to do. We expect potatoes regularly for the remainder of the season. Hooray!

Basil and summer squash both mostly flopped this season. Basil is getting eaten by a bug I haven’t seen too much before. It suffered sitting in soggy spots in the field (there’s a poem in there somewhere…), and now it’s paying the price getting eaten by bugs. Still, we’ll put some in the choice boxes next week, so if you want to pick around the bad leaves and make some pesto, you should have the chance at least once this season.

Winter squash looks like it may be a close second for the “vegetable of the year” award, but without starting the harvest, we can’t say for sure. The deer have been devouring the spaghetti squash variety (it’s their favorite, they must be gluten-free deer), but we anticipated this to happen and planted an extra row for them. So far, it looks like we’ll have some for you as well as our friendly neighborhood deer (I have many more unfriendly choice words for those who damage my crops but I shouldn’t post such things here). Meanwhile, the acorn squash and the delicata squash are large and fruitful and untouched by deer. Both varieties enjoyed the regular rains and the hot July.

What else? So many crops, so little time to talk about them. A couple things to look forward to towards the end of the season include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. I hope overall you as members have enjoyed the first half of our delivery season. We’ll do our best to make the fall harvest season as bountiful as the summer’s been.

A Cucumber a Day Keeps the Heat Strokes Away

While cucumbers don’t have quite the same following as Gatorade, I swear by them to help me stay healthy working outside all day in the hot weather. Sliced with a little lime juice and salt. Try it tomorrow!!

High Tide

Is there anything more fascinating than the movement of water on a farm?

Yes, there is. Lots of things I’m sure. Nonetheless, watching water move is interesting enough to capture my attention during our growing season.

There’s very obvious places to watch water move. Like watching the changing water levels in ponds or even puddles. Or watching the slick spots while slip sliding through the path in the woods and knowing exactly how to drive on the path to avoid getting stuck in the muck on the way to the veg field. Or in a dry year I like to watch where the water is missing, as I kick up dust everywhere I walk, feeling a little like Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown.

But what interests me the most is watching the water move day to day within the plants and the soil. It’s the subtle movement of water, the daily tides around the farm, that I’ve been noticing more this season. For instance, on hot sunny dry days the fields look bone dry in the afternoon. But the next morning, early, I’ve noticed that moisture has moved up from deeper in the earth and is back near the surface again. Not the dew on the surface, but the moisture just within. This high tide on an otherwise dry day is a perfect time to get tractor work done, when it’s not too dry and not too wet. Even far away from the ocean, water pushes and pulls in the earth and in everything that grows from it.

And on a year like this, water gives us a few big surprises out in the field, too. Like this area of the tomato field that I came upon yesterday morning.

High Tide at the end of our tomato field.

Ok, that is high tide in the field, I thought when I saw it. Maybe we’ll be swapping out tractors for kayaks if we get any more rain this week. The Tuesday morning storm dumped more water than parts of our fields could process, and we had areas of standing water like this one in our tomatoes, our fourth sweet corn planting, and our third bean planting. Most other areas handled the rain well enough, shedding it into the low spots on the edges of each bed and into the clover cover crop on either side of the veggie beds. Hooray for cover crops helping mitigate moisture!

The good news is the standing water is just in a small percentage of our crops. And already it is receding deep into the earth, and our plant roots are following it.

The Summer Crops Forecast

With the cold weather (hopefully!) behind us, the summer fruiting crops are starting to grow finally. Cucumbers and peppers in the greenhouses look nice and those will likely be the first of the summer fruits in our veggie boxes in a few weeks. Initially they may only be in the choice boxes in small quantities, because there is usually just a small percentage ready at the start of a harvest. Other outdoor grown fruiting crops (that’s most of ‘em) are not near harvesting yet (such as tomatoes, melons, eggplant). Until they are, we are looking to our greens and our roots to put into the boxes each week. Upcoming greens include kale and cabbage and more lettuce, and upcoming roots include more scallions along with onions, carrots, garlic and leeks. We will probably have some decent broccoli in a couple of weeks, and the snap pea plants are loaded and likely to offer us enough to go around to everyone a couple of times if not more. I’m hoping for new potatoes towards the end of July, or as soon as they are an edible size! We have a lot of nice looking potato plants in the field, and several nice sweet corn plantings too. But they will just barely be “knee high by the fourth of July.”

We are in one of our busiest times of the season right now. Harvesting is taking some time now, and planting season is still in full swing (lots of fall crops like cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, more carrots, etc still need to get in the ground), AND the weeds are growing growing growing. I spend a lot of time cultivating when I am not planting or harvesting or caring for the greenhouse plants or doing the office work or helping with delivery or getting things ready for pizza nights to start! The warm weather and long days make it easy to get things done, and we are making the most of them here at the farm. There still isn’t a lot to show for the last 18 weeks of work we’ve put into this season so far, but the harvests will start to include more variety soon enough. It’s the last 18 weeks of work that bring out the best in a veggie farm’s season!

More on Spring

I keep getting comments about the hockey sticks still in my car. My reply is that you never know when you may find a patch of ice to play on, this is Wisconsin after all. That’s never more true than this season, the coldest wettest spring in my 11 seasons on the farm. Thankfully there isn’t actually any ice around, but I’m still wearing a sweater and winter boots today.

While I always enjoy a good game of hockey, I enjoy the growing season on the farm even more. I love planting vegetables, tending the fields, and most of all sharing our harvests with all our wonderful members. Oh, and I love eating our fresh vegetables too! So I’m getting a little impatient as the cool days linger. Looking around, it seems we are almost a month behind a normal season. The crops look like May crops, not June crops. Most of the large dairy farms only just have corn poking out of the ground, if they even have it planted yet. Asparagus was very slow in coming…and likewise our vegetables just aren’t ready yet like they usually are.

We’ll see what we can get out of the veggie fields over the next couple of weeks, but I don’t think it will be much besides a few greens. Looking around the fields I feel that our summer crops are off to a good start (all planted at opportune times, well weeded and certainly well watered). By next month we will probably be so hot and sweaty all the time that we won’t even remember what it feels like to be cold and to have nothing fresh to eat except spinach. This way of experiencing life on the farm reminds me of my favorite quote from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden: “During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”

And it will always be that way.

Spring Season Update

I can smell summer in the air today, finally, but I can’t quite taste it yet. Aside from a little spinach, the crops aren’t quite ready for harvesting yet. Some years deliveries are just around the corner in early June, but this season the crops need more time to grow. Despite the routinely wet weather, we squeezed all our Spring plantings in on time. This includes snap peas, carrots, beets, spinach, lettuces, broccoli, kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, melons, watermelons, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and let’s not forget parsnips this year! All of these are in the ground and starting to grow. In order to get all this done on the few dry days we had in May, there were several long weekends of field work and planting before the Monday rains. I figure if God wanted vegetable farmers to take Sundays off, he wouldn’t leave the faucet on all week.

Even though we got everything planted on time, things are slow to get growing because of the cool weather and cold nights mixed in with all the rain. Just two nights ago we hit 39. That’s not cucumber growing weather. Nonetheless, our crops look nice. But we can’t harvest them yet! We’re now expecting a first CSA delivery of Tuesday June 18th.

Meanwhile, we are busy planting the late-season crops (second and third rounds of sweet corn, melons, lettuces, broccoli, cabbage, etc). And now that drier weather is upon us, we’re setting up irrigation, doing lots of weeding, and getting organized for the harvest season to begin. We can’t wait for the fresh veggies to start coming in, and I know lots of our members feel the same way. But the plants themselves have decided to wait, so that is what we’ll do!

Customized Vegetable Boxes!

There are two trends in the CSA farm share movement that have been dominating the scene the last several years. The first is that CSA farms are going belly up, all over the country. CSA farms struggle to compete with big box stores that have taken over the same marketing language that CSA farms used to use. Local, sustainable, organic and fresh used to be real words used to describe real food like the vegetables we grow for our farm’s members. Our own vegetables are still among the healthiest and most responsibly grown, but the language surrounding what we grow is getting a bit stale and wilted. Unable to compete with the convenience and never-ending selection of a large store, many small farms have had to call it quits. For the first time in 11 seasons, Old Plank Farm is struggling to fill all it’s membership spaces for the upcoming year. But we are a long way from beaten, and so we are among the lucky ones.

The other trend on small farms is to offer customization of CSA shares for farm members. We think this is a GREAT idea! That’s why the last few years we have been adding customization options for our farm member’s weekly vegetable boxes. This year we’ve got a great system in place. After several years of asking for member feedback, we’ve been able to categorize all the vegetables we grow into three groups.

The 1st group, STAPLE CROPS, are what we plan to pack into every member’s box each week that they are available (4+ of these crops each week). Most of these are available regularly during the season. Old Plank Farm staple crops are onions, green onions, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, summer squash, salad mix, lettuce, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and winter squash.

The 2nd group, SEASONAL FAVORITES, will also be put into every member’s box when they are in season, which is usually only a few times during the year, or a shorter window of harvest than the STAPLE crops have. (1-2 of these favorites on most weeks). Old Plank Farm seasonal favorites are watermelon, cantaloupe, sugar snap peas, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, garlic, and basil.

The 3rd group, CONTENTIOUS VEGGIES, are the “love ‘em or hate ‘em” crops. Mixed CHOICE BOXES of these crops will be sent to each pick-up site every week, and as a member you get to pick 1-3 of the items you find and add them to your own box. (You’ll be invited to do our survey to rank your favorite/least favorite vegetables before the season begins, to help fine tune our Choice Boxes). Old Plank Farm contentious veggies are beets, spinach, leeks, radishes, chard, bok choi, eggplant, turnips, fennel, kohlrabi, herbs, and arugula.

Finally, an EXCHANGE BOX at your pick-up site is a place where you can leave any unwanted item from your box. This way, you never have to take home something that you know you won’t eat. And if you see something in the exchange box that you want, you can swap it with whatever you decided to get rid of.

If you don’t like vegetables, then no amount of customization will help make you a happy farm member. But if you like most staple vegetables, and want some choice of what you take home each week in your box, then our CSA may be just the right place for you. As an Old Plank Farm member, you’ll be sure you never have to take a box full of kohlrabi home. But if you like kohlrabi, you’ll have the option to take one on any or all of the weeks that we have them available for harvest!

Sign up today, and come visit us at our upcoming Open House, Saturday May 18th. I look forward to being your farmer.

Stephanie Bartel, May 1 2019