CSA Newsletter....3 weeks and counting!

 If you are one that likes countdowns then you can start an approximate three week countdown this Wednesday the 22^nd, as the goal first time CSA drop-off/pickup will be Wednesday May 13^th.  All of the vegetables, fruits, and herbs are coming along, slowly but surly.  This early spring has brought many hard rains, and cooler weather than normal, as I am sure you have noticed.  The cold has not necessarily been extreme damaging colds just over-all coolness that has slowed all newly planted growth just a bit.  Plants grow slower when springs are cooler/cloudy because of the overly wet cooler soils, lessened microbial life activity within the soil because of the lower temperatures, and less sun energy for the plants to undergo photosynthesis.  Nonetheless, I feel as if the spring crops will be about ready just on-time for your first CSA delivery.  We have planted so many wonderful crops already this year and are on the tips of our toes walking around checking on and awaiting the start of the season’s harvest of all of our little crops a growing.  I will say though it sure has been a tricky early year for planting, as the rains have given us very few moments of dry soils to work in, especially when throwing in the factor that we plant the seed in the appropriate moon phase and/or sign.  Produce farming in the open space of the skies and fields for sure has its challenges, but in the end it all plays out for much beauty and enjoyment I will have to say.

VEGETABLES FOR SALE…..

I have had a current idea that I would like to offer over and here it is.

We currently have an array of Lettuces, Spinach, and Kale that overwintered and are quite nice. What I would like to propose is an on-farm Wednesday the 22^nd (by order only) pick-up, at  normal CSA time 4:30-5:30 (or later if you are coming from work), for those of you who respond to this with an order. 

This will only be for an on-farm pick-up, so those of you who live in Nashville town might just have to pass, but for the closer members you and your friends might enjoy taking opportunity of some early fresh vegetables.  

Vegetable                                                                                      Price

A mix of 3 heads of Medium sized lettuce                                   $6.75 /per 3 Heads

heads…Rouge d’Hiver Romaine, Green Pointed Starburst,

Winter Density, Red Tide Leaf, Optima Butterhead

(these lettuces are beautiful and very tasty, the mix will give

you a wonderful fresh and beautiful spring salad)

½ pound of a mix of Longstanding Bloomsdale,                    $4.25 /1/2 pound

and Giant Winter Bloomsdale Spinach 

(very sweet and wonderful

     savoy to semi-savoy texture)

Siberian Kale Bunch                                                                    $2.50/ Bunch

If you would like to place an order just send an e-mail specifying how much of any of the above items that you would like and if you have any questions then just let us know.  I will send you a quick OK saying I got your order and then we will just see on Wednesday anywhere between 4:30-5:30. You can share this e-mail with friends as well, as the offering does not exclusively have to be for CSA members.  Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.

Here are some pictures that show some of what is already growing…Peas and Bamboo stakes; spring plantings in which interns are participating in the Brassica Crop’s Strip row; cover crops of rye grain, etc.. 

We are keeping our doors open for more members, as I feel we have planned to still be able to produce for a few more 2009 members, so if you want to send any customers our way please do. 

I would also recommend looking at our web-page off and on to see new pictures or postings under WHAT’s NEW, as for example, I have added an Arugula’s Star In the News section just recently that you might enjoy looking at.

A new procedure for us this year is to use a refractometer, which is a simple optical instrument for measuring dissolved solids for fruits, grasses, and vegetables during all stages of growth.  The solids in the juice of the plant tissue will blend light rays in proportion to:  (very scientific sounding, but really is very simple…)

1. The quantity of all the atoms
2. The atomic Weight of elements
3. the number of covalent bonds in the combination of atoms such as sugars

The end result of the reading measures the % sucrose by weight, which is referred to as the BRIX.  There is a chart that I will be adding to our website that will show what healthy crops BRIX readings should be and then we will start adding figures to a chart that will show our crops BRIX.  As it is an up-most priority here at the farm to keep our soils very healthy so we will be providing extremely healthy crops, this will be a wonderful project to keep track of mineral balances in all of our field production areas, and it will let you see how the health of the soil translates into the nutritional content of your CSA basket produce. 

Matthew and I do want to thank all of you that are supporting our organic farm by joining out CSA for the 2009 season and we will be seeing you here in a few weeks, as that time will be here before we know it.  If you have not signed up yet, please let us hear from you if you have been thinking about it and just have not signed up yet.

Thanks,

Matthew and Allison

Arugula's Star of Neal Family Farms, L.P.

6624 Leipers Creek Road

Columbia, TN 38401

allie@arugulasstarfarm.com

www.ArugulasStarFarm.com

931-682-3314