From the Farm

Summer is here. Fireflies light up at night down in our wetland.

We are making hay this week. Lots of grass was growing with all this rain. The cows have abundance of pasture now and it looks like they will have abundance of hay for the winter.

It is weeding and hoeing time in the garden. Consider to have your work out in the garden, give us a call 278-0499 to schedule a time.

Saturday July 4th we will have a farm day for our members. We will do some work from 9-12 am and share a potluck lunch afterward. You are welcome to stay around the farm in the afternoon and join us cooking supper at the campfire at about 5pm.
Please RSVP.



In the Share
Peas
Greens
Herbs


Ursula Holmes' Farm Bread

You have a real treat in store for you with Ursula's Farm Bread. Ursula starts soaking
and fermenting the grain the day before baking, in the traditional manner. This process improves the digestibility of the bread, and gives it a delicious taste and aroma. All of the ingredients are organically grown.
Ursula makes two varieties of sourdough rye bread, leavened with her own sourdough starter. She also makes three varieties of wheat and spelt bread leavened with a yeast sponge, starting with a small amount of baker's yeast. Each bread has its own unique flavor and character.

Ursula bakes her Farm Bread on Thursdays. If you wish to receive an order form,
please email Ursula at cresset@frii.com

For more information and order forms: phone 970-278-0499 or email cresset@frii.com



Ursula's Tips
We planted fennel this year and we're thinning it out so you'll get nice big bulbs
in the share later. So this is what you got last week. These can be chopped
up and used in salads, soups, stir fry.

From the Farm

New members and returning members,
Welcome to the first summer distribution for this year! With the cool June weather, the vegetables are getting slowly ready for being harvested. The moisture is sure a blessing. Especially the plants from the Cabbage family enjoy this kind of weather. We only had one time a little hail. You will notice that the spinach was damaged some. Please note the TENTATIVE next to the In The Share box. Ursula and Lawrence make their best guess in the beginning of the week what vegetables will be ready for harvest by the time of the distribution. That is what will go into the newsletter. By the end of the week, this might look different.

This year, we are providing everyone with a basil plant. It was exposed to the hail and also does not like the cool weather. When you keep it in a warm spot it will soon recover. You can plant it in your garden or put it in a bigger pot and keep it in the kitchen window to use as you need.


For our fruit share members, Jeni at Ela Farms says:

Hi Tina,
I just spent the weekend at the farm and things are moving right along. Steve has been busy putting in a new water filtration system so that the whole farm is on a more water saving drip system. Unfortunately, the first test run of the system blew pipes for thirty feet and he had to virtually start over. There is a light cherry crop out there. Hopefully, the birds will leave some for us all. It is too early to tell. The peach and apple crops look great. There was a frost in early Spring that did some damage so some apple varieties fared better than others, but there will be a nice selection for the CSA. If we do not have cherries, our early peach crop looks good so we could move the start date up to Aug. 6th and fill in with some fruit products if needed. We can assess that as we get closer.


URSULA’S TIPS

We pour boiling water over our peas and let them sit for a couple of minutes before putting them in salads, etc. Leave a bit longer if you want them cooked all the way.
Our favorite greens recipe is to sauté them. First wash and shake or spin dry. Stack them and roll into a roll and slice thinly. Sauté garlic in olive oil. Add the greens. Add a splash of vinegar and a small bit of honey, salt and other spices.
Garlic tops - Cut and use like garlic in salads or in a stir fry.
How to use fermented veggies - We use as a salad dressing with oil and salt. Or add to a salad or soup or sandwiches or like any condiment.

There are still fruit shares available.

The enrollment form is on the website or contact Tina at tina_tyg@hotmail.com

In the Share (Tentative)
Peas
Basil Plant
Greens
Fermented Vegetables
Cilantro, Dill
Spinach
Garlic Tops


We have vegetable, milk and fruit shares to sell. Shares can also be shared with a friend or neighbor.


We apologize for the late notice of the change of time for the Farm Day this month. For our new members, Farm Day is a time for members to visit and help on the farm. After the work is complete, we share a pot luck lunch together. The July farm day is going to be on July 4th for those of you not going out of town.

What’s been happening
Again, we had some rain and the pastures and the garden are growing beautifully. We finally got water to irrigate and we were able to transplant onions, leeks, the first lettuces and cabbages into the garden. The basil and melons, squash, and more lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabi and kale followed.

Because of this rain and early irrigation water we will start distribution on Saturday, June 13th. Your site coordinator will be contacting you shortly.

Last week we had the Denver Waldorf School 10th grade class of 10 students camping out on the farm. Gratefully we received their help with the transplants and the weeding and hoeing an ongoing activity these days. They also helped Joseph and Garth with preparation for laying flagstone for an adobe oven. In addition they helped with the building a shelter for cooking and baking on the north side of the summer kitchen.

Joseph, one of our apprentices, has three donkeys that are staying on the farm most of the time. They are moving our milking shed every day and harrow the pasture besides giving Joseph a ride to the farm and back home once in a while.

This year’s calves are out together on pasture with their nurse moms: 6 bull and 1 heifer calves so far.

Lawrence’s Corner
Lawrence decided not to grow sweet corn this year. A neighbor is growing big fields of GMO corn that will undoubtedly cross pollinate with our corn. We do not want to give GMO corn to our members.

We thank you all for supporting biodynamic, diversified fertile farming.

I invite everyone to help support the Food Justice Project and to check out these books:
· Education for Earth Citizenship by Bija Vidyapeeth
· Monoculture of Mind by Claire Hope Cummings, Lois Gibbs and Vandana Shiva ,
· God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy
· Diet for Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe


Calendar
June
6th Farm Day 9 am - 12 pm
13th Pick up start date
27th St. John's Festival 6 pm

July
4th Farm Day all day
25th Farm Day 9 am - 12 noon

August
2nd Ice Cream Social 3 pm - 5 pm
22nd Farm Day 9 am - 12 noon

September
12th or 19th Farm Day 9 am - 12 noon
19th - 20th Sustainable Living Fair
26th Shepherd Valley Waldorf Harvest Festival
29th Michaelmas

October
3rd Preparations
10th Farm Day 9 am - 12 noon
17th Tentative last pick up
24th Tentative first pick up winter

November
7th Farm Day 9 am - 12 noon
14th Martinmas

December
5th Shining Mountain Waldorf Winterfest
24th Sing to the Animals 2 pm


We invite you to our first farm work day of this season on Saturday, June 6th 9am-12pm with a potluck lunch following. RSVP: tina_tyg@hotmail.com

We have vegetable, milk and fruit shares to sell. Shares can also be shared with a friend or neighbor.