Hi Everyone,
1. CSA pick-up start this week! Days and times
As I hope you all know, we will be starting our Summer Session of the CSA this week. If you pick your share up at the farm, this is the week you should come in to get your first produce of the Session. Please note the times of pick-up below:
If you don’t remember what day you signed up to pick up your produce, please drop us a note at jubileefarm@hotmail.com
If you are a member that has signed up for delivery, you should pick up your first box this week at your depot. If you don’t know where your depot is or what time your box will be available for pick-up, please send us a note.
2. A brief summary of what's going on at the farm
It has been a spring unlike any I've experienced as a farmer or that I can remember. I heard someone say recently that instead of "global warming" we should have picked up the more experientially accurate term "global wacky weather." It's hard to "experience" a small, annual increase in temperature (although it seems to be occurring), but it seems that the vast majority of the globe is certainly experiencing very unusual weather. We are too.
I had intended to get an update out in early June, but as you know, "good intentions..." In farming, every thing we do is predicated on weather. When the weather is stable and decent in the spring, it's pretty easy to do soil preparation and plantings; it's always clear what needs to be done next, and managing a crew of six to eight people is pretty straightforward. But when you go from what needs to be done to "what can be done," it gets complicated. And six straight work days of rain posed not only a problem in following that nice, sequential program of spring planting, but it created a bit of a management nightmare. We probably should have all taken a few days off. But that wasn't feasible, and so we kept busy—but not doing what we wished we could have been doing.
There have been other distractions as well. A granddaughter that had to be visited, a new home that requires being shepherded through the final phases of permitting, a new water system to build and get permitted (in the reverse order, of course), a new green house to build, a herd of cows and other animals that, rain or shine, need daily attention, and a lot of APD agricultural-political issues that required our attention—all this, and the occasional strategic "plant" when we could dive into the fields between the squalls, has kept us busier by far than most springs.
But I'm happy to say we're doing very well. We read with sadness, as I'm sure many of you did, about the Church group from the Central District that tried to launch a new farming venture for local food distribution this year (on property in Duval). It was a tough year to start, and especially without experience. There are so many ways to go wrong. We've gone wrong in almost every way possible (we even "pioneered" a few innovative ways that could easily put us in the agricultural "hall of shame"), but we have done that over many years. And now (I hesitate to say this... "pride goeth before a fall") but we've gotten to where I think we can weather pretty much the range of what Nature can give us, although I've thought that before.
I think those of you who visit the farm this week will be surprised. For all the wet and especially cold weather, most of our crops are in, growing, doing well, and are only about two weeks behind. The tomatoes are doing great. Usually in the spring we open the doors and sides to the green houses to keep the tomatoes from getting too hot. This year they've been closed up almost constantly, but they've stayed warm and have grown well. Greens have done well this spring, and the alliums are doing great. But they are weedy. It's been too wet to do much weeding, and we will be spending the first few weeks of summer trying to catch up with our weeding that we are dreadfully behind on.
3. This week's box
We need to remind people every year that our first box will not be the boomer that you remember from last September. The content of each CSA box needs to be assessed in terms of a season average. We start slowly, and even in the best of growing seasons (which this has certainly not been) the early boxes have less quantity and are mostly "green." That's not necessarily a bad thing; it is just reflective of the growing season in our area. This year I would expect the first two to three weeks to be green. We may have a very small box next week or the week after, as we feel the impact of that six days of abominable wet and cold May. But we will bounce back, and over the year, I believe you will all be pleased with our efforts.
4. Availability of Summer Shares
It has been about a week since we have totaled up the number of shares we have sold so far. Wendy's done a great job of processing applications, but she wears a few other hats on the farm as well. We think there might be a couple more shares available for this Summer, but we, as of yesterday, are not guaranteeing that. We will be taking a waiting list of people who would like to join.
5. CSA Handbook
Wendy and I have written a CSA Handbook. It is posted on our web site at http://jubileefarm.org/handbooks/summer.html. It is not long, and is written in an easy-to-read question and answer format. We would very much like each of you to read the Handbook, as it answers many questions that we get asked, and it establishes policies and guidelines of our CSA that have evolved over the last twelve years.
6. Global Justice
The Community Alliance for Global Justice (http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/) is having a dinner and fair on Sunday, June 29th. Wendy and I attended this event last year. Beyond the evening being an enjoyable and inspirational time, we have found the CAGJ to be a dynamic and effective group that is involved in making a difference both throughout the world and here at home.
We will be at the dinner again this year,-they've even asked us to say a few words at the dinner-and I hope many of you will come as well. We believe it is an event that is worth attending, a cause that is vitally important, and a group that is worthy of our encouragement and support. Hope to see you there!
Sunday June 29, 2008 PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN DATE!
Garfield Community Center: 2323 East Cherry Street, Seattle, WA 98122, in the Central District of Seattle
Fair 3 – 6pm: Free & Open to the Public
Want to learn more about supporting local and global alternatives to corporate-led globalization? Meet local organizations, small businesses, and food producers dedicated to food justice, fairer trade and farm policies, urban gardening, and immigrants' rights. Also enjoy Live music with Old Technology, Local Farmer Meet & Greet, Community art project, and food and beverages from local wineries and breweries!
Dinner 6-9pm: See info on how to buy tickets below*
Join us for a delicious dinner prepared by local chefs and restaurants, including La Medusa, Portage Bay Café and Stumbling Goat Bistro, using Fair Trade products and ingredients produced sustainably by small growers in the Pacific Northwest. Local wineries and breweries also represented. Dinner program features keynote by Carlos Marentes, who works with Via Campesina and Committee for Immigration Reform and Social Justice, and discussions at each table with local food producers and farmworkers. Music with Sin Fronteras.
Tickets:
*Individual tickets on sale now at brownpapertickets.com (800-838-3006): $10 Low-income, $30 Regular Admission, $50 Support a Farmer/Farmworker: Buy a ticket for yourself and ensure that a local farmer or farmworker can be one of our honored guests!
This dinner is a fundraiser for CAGJ's organizing: please bring cash and checks to participate in the silent auction and dessert auction! The event is wheelchair accessible and child-friendly. Childcare and fun activities provided.
Current Co-sponsors:
Acting Food Policy Council, Alter-Eco, BALLE Seattle, Bonnie River Fair Trade and World Friendly Store, Cascade Harvest Coalition, Cascadian Edible Landscapes, Chaco Canyon, Chef's Collaborative, Chow Foods, Committee for Immigration Reform and Social Justice, Cultivating Youth/ Seattle P-Patch Program, Eco-Praxis, Equal Exchange, Full Circle Farm, Fuse, Grounds for Change, iLEAP Center for Critical Service, Jubilee Farm, Justice Works!, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, LELO, Lettuce Link, Madison Market, Mangrove Action Project, Master Composter/ Soil Builder Program, Moving Images, New Roots Organics, Northwest Environmental Education Council - Seattle Bioneers, NW Biodiesel Network, Northwest Harvest, PCC Farmland Trust, PCC Natural Markets, Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization (PUSO), Reclaim the Media, SCALLOPS, Seattle Audubon NW Shade Coffee Campaign, Seattle CISPES, Seattle Tilth, Seattle Urban Farm Company, Seattle Youth Garden Works, Sister Sage Herbs, Sol Colibri, spud!, Theo Chocolate, Tilth Producers of WA, Tools for Change, UKUSH, United Food & Commercial Workers Local 21, US Women and Cuba Collaboration, UW Program on the Environment, Village Volunteers, WA Biotechnology Action Council, WA Fair Trade Coalition, WA State Food and Nutrition Council, WA State Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice, WA Toxics Coalition, Yerbas de Yakima, Yes! Magazine, ZipCar.
For more information, please contact CAGJ: 206.405.4600/ hrd99@igc.org.
Erick, Wendy and the Crew