Care of the Earth

We are a community-supported agriculture farm (CSA) serving Knoxville and East Tennessee

Layout E1

Weekly post

By

We are having internet/email issues.  I am unable to send out emails from our home computer.  I can receive them and can send emails on my phone (but not mass emails).  Please see website for weekly emails until it can be resolved (careoftheearthcommunityfarm.com).
Email from earlier this week:
As it heats up and dries out, the farm begins its final transition from spring to summer.  In the next ten days, we will stop harvesting all spring veggies and make the move to early summer veggies.  Although we could continue to pick kale, we will mow it down and till it in (like other seasons) to break pest cycles and prevent pest infestations in the fall.  We will begin seeding old spring fields into summer cover crops (buckwheat, chicory, and soybeans) this weekend ahead of the rain chance and continue through next week.
What else is going on on the farm?  We started harvesting garlic on Monday, all three Asiatic varieties are now drying in our shaded greenhouse.  “China Stripe” was a real standout, and we will begin handing it out this week as green garlic (uncured).  Early potatoes are ready (although we won’t harvest until next week), and we are in full swing maintaining summer plantings: weeding, staking, and trellising.  This is also when we begin to dedicate quite a bit of time to seed saving observations and field trial data collecting.
This week’s share will include: scallions, summer leeks (the skinny ones), green garlic (treat like regular garlic except store in the fridge), carrots, beets, fennel (may have something to swap for it for those of you who really can’t stand it…last week), sugar snap peas (these may become green beans by Friday), green cabbage, cauliflower for T/W Sustaining Members, summer crisp lettuce, and a choice of herb.  We also started picking summer squash and cucumbers yesterday.  They are just starting to come in (they went in a week late because of cold in April).  We may have by F/S pickups.
Storage notes: again loose bag everything (or ziplock with cut corners), removing leaves from beets and fennel and storing separately.  Fennel fronds can be dried and used like you would dill weed.  These carrots are fresh carrots (not storage type that come in plastic bags in store).  They will not store more than a couple weeks.
Recipe ideas: the leeks and green garlic have such a good flavor when picked so fresh that I wouldn’t just fold those into any old recipe.  Consider making some green garlic butter (http://www.inerikaskitchen.com/2011/04/green-garlic-butter.html) or butter with slow cooked, creamy green garlic and leeks.  As Erika said, bread will have never been so happy.  Same thing with carrots!  If you don’t eat them all raw (pretty yummy), make carrot pancakes, carrot muffins, or a carrot tart.  If you like to use everything, try this: https://cuesa.org/recipe/carrot-pancakes-and-green-garlic-carrot-top-pesto (uses carrots, green garlic, and carrot tops…you’ll also need parsley).  The beets are also really at their prime, very juicy, which if your into juicing is a great thing.  They also make great burgers, and this new to me recipe also looks good: https://food52.com/recipes/21136-rustic-beet-tart-and-wilted-greens (again, uses greens and beets).
I hope everyone has a good week.

CSA Starts This Week!

By

Well, after several weeks of below average temperatures, the CSA will start this week!
Several bits of good news: the tomatoes, strawberries, and potatoes survived 28 degrees last week under row cover!  They look great.  Evan Shea and Lalo actually picked some ripe strawberries yesterday.  I’m hoping we will be able to pick them for shares starting next week!  They were incredible.  There is such a difference between local, sun-ripened strawberries and the ones that must be picked underripe to survive be shipped from CA or FL.
Also, we think our bee hive has divided successfully!  We have had one strong hive for a few years now.  She takes care of herself and doesn’t need much help, which is why she’s still here.  It appears that the hive divided itself successfully on Friday, and we were able to catch the swarm (thanks to a cool morning and Lalo’s attentiveness).  We are hoping to have two healthy hives now!
Belen: we are watching Belen the sheep closely now as the full moon approaches.  She is starting to swell and her utter is starting to fill and her back is swaying, so I don’t think she will be long now.  Jessica is hoping for twins, and with Belen’s small frame that would probably be good (as twins are normally smaller).
I will email the veggies that we harvest tomorrow as well as recipe ideas, but I think it will likely be: spinach, bok choy, maybe kale and chard (at least for Sustaining Members), arugula, maybe radishes, overwintered carrots, and cornmeal.  We are close to having enough perennial herbs ready to be able to hand out herbs.
Also, we have quite a few new members this season.  I will try to email out more information than I have the past couple of seasons.  Also, it is likely that I may get behind the first few times we deliver as new folks introduce themselves, get use to the system, etc.  If you pick up at one of the later stops, I may be a few minutes late.

Wet and Warm February

By

Two words: wet, hot.

Like most farmers in the area, we have been trying to make the most of the little dry windows and the wet days alike.  We seeded our first seeds in the ground this week between two rain showers at dusk with the help of the truck headlights, while Evan Shea cheered me on and Eila wondered (sometimes aloud) why we weren’t getting ready for bed.  Yesterday, in slightly too wet soil, Jessica, Lalo, and Anna Laura planted potatoes right up until another hard shower halted their progress (see picture…its the one that looks like just dirt).  Lalo even seeded several acres of cover crops on Tuesday thanks to a lot of sun and wind that helped dry out the soil.
Despite all the rain, we aren’t behind yet, and the transplants growing in the greenhouse (see pictures) look beautiful.  We have also had a chance to work on several big projects: clearing an acre of overgrown cedar saplings to make way for native plantings and a summer area for animals (we did lose the first round of chips to major flooding), bending hundreds of pieces of metal to create low tunnels for winter growing and relocating the apple trees to clear space for the tunnels, and extending the shed so we can park both tractors under cover.  And…I handed over the farm tax information to our accountant on Wednesday and I’m almost done with all the records for our annual organic certification inspection.  I’ll be a different person when I’m done!

Sign-up for a 2018 CSA Share!

By

Although most people don’t think about local food in early January (in single-digit temperatures), we have begun seeding for the 2018 season, and it is the perfect time to sign-up for your 2018 CSA share.  We are welcoming 10 new CSA shares this season.  Applications are available here on the website (see CSA Program), and deliveries will begin mid-April.  New in 2018: Amarant red cabbage, Steadfast spinach, Brune Percherone lettuce, Lila Sari tomato, Slogun lettuce, TN White Crowder peas (our seed), Tsakoniki eggplant (our seed), San Jose x Waltham Butternut F2 winter squash (our seed), Joy’s Midnight Chard, and Western Front kale (among others).  Also, Nancy lettuce, Rosa Bianca eggplant, and Sand Hill sorghum are back this season! We also hope to expand our winter share offerings.

Eat Your CSA – Week 31

By

This week,  my box included:

  • black beans
  • carrots
  • chard/kale
  • cornmeal
  • garlic
  • lettuce
  • popcorn
  • potatoes, sweet
  • salad greens
  • spinach
  • turnips

Ideas for Food Prep:

  • Pre-wash your salad greens! Make sure you’ve got salad dressings on hand. Here’s a great article on weekly salad prep.
  • Wash and cut up your carrots and turnips for snacks.
  • You can pre-roast some of your sweet potatoes to have on hand. You can use them to top pizzas, throw in quick curries or add to pasta.
  • Go ahead and cook your beans to have them ready to use.

Here are some recipes to try!

[Read more…]

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is
our only hope.”

-Wendell Berry

Connect With Us

4314 Varnard Lane
Corryton, Tennessee 37721
(865) 978-0561
Contact Us
Directions