CSA Pickup – 6/17/20

The first photo of these lettuce heads was taken just minutes after the hail storm passed through the farm a few weeks ago. The second photo was taken two weeks later. The lettuce heads are recovering miraculously. A true testament to the resiliency of our food.

Greetings,

I want to tell you how grateful I am for each of you and your commitment to eat from this farm. We are honored to feed you in these uncertain times. While the world feels like its trying to buck us off, we are hanging tough on resilience and reciprocity. After the hail storm we sustained a tremendous electrical storm that sent storm water ripping through our fields again. As we emerged to check the farm we found two of our good horses were struck by lightning and killed. These were our dear friends and most valuable players in our cattle operation. We have been struggling with some deep sadness and choosing daily to be grateful for their time in our lives and the safety of the rest of our farm and our team.

Times just feel extra tough right now. The veggies feel small. The weather has been erratic and brutal. I was up at 3am again last night protecting from frost again and looking ahead to a swing to super heat. I want you to know that you are our super priority. We are only offering veggies to our members right now and none are available at market or wholesale. We are harvesting everything that we have and we are enjoying the market-style pick up. It is new to us and we are working out the kinks to have sustained options through the entire pick-up. Thank you for your patience and your adventurous spirit.

Please remember that we have lots of recipes on the website. Also a lot of interaction on the facebook group about what things are and how to use them. We are here to support you in learning to cook with what actually grows where you live.

Please remember your bags as well as containers for things like loose greens, and small things like basil and peas and radishes and things. We offer these in serving containers, which are meant to be emptied into your own container and left to re-fill. The more organized you are at pick-up the easier it is to get stuff in the fridge at home. Most of our veteran CSA members go home and really wash and chop and prep the food so that it is broken down and ready to use throughout the week. It is also in washable/reusable containers that are more sustainable and keep the veg fresh through the week. I store my food in the field but that also means its a half-mile walk for a lettuce head at 11pm when I finally get around to making dinner 😉

Lastly, remember your mask. We all hate wearing them. We all wonder how effective it is. Its dumb that its become oddly political. But our team wears them to protect you and we’d like you to remember to protect your farmers. If we can’t farm, there won’t be any food and we’ll all be shit out of luck.

 

Love hard, ya’ll.
sarahlee.

Kale is a farm classic. You will be seeing kale in our CSA share options pretty much every week this summer. Right now we just have a few rows in our hoop houses that are producing nicely, but before we know it, our big field will be pumping out more kale than we’ll know what to do with! Below is a recipe for a crunchy, salty kale chip recipe. So easy!

We hope you can join us this weekend for our first yoga class in the garden on Sunday! The weather is looking lovely, and we’ll be soaking in the sunshine while we center ourselves and stretch our bodies.

25% of the proceeds will be donated to Soul Fire Farm, an organization devoted to helping end racial injustices and disparities in the food system. We hope our Rainshadow community can contribute to food access and securtiy in all ways beyond Central Oregon.

Pre-regestration is required for this class, follow the link below to sign up!

Thank you for your continuous support and genuine creativity! We love seeing all your amazing recipes and food creations on our Facebook group! Remember to reach out if you need inspiration or ideas for working with our ingredients.

Also just a reminder that CSA members can pre-order add on items such as pickles, flour, broth, lard, drinking vinegar and more to your share each week! Just remember to place your pre-orders before Tuesdays at NOON for Wednesday pickup.

 

Lots of farm love,
Rainshadow Organics Crew.