*Morgan washing celeriac in the barrel washer. Photo by Adam Ford*

This Week’s Availability

This week we will have leeks, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, kohlrabi, red beets, yellow beets, chioggia beets (pink and white striped), rainbow mix of daikon radishes (red, purple, and white), watermelon radishes, red and yellow onions (Juniper Hill Farm), shallots, carrots, rainbow carrots, garlic, green cabbage, red cabbage, red and yellow potatoes (Atlas Farm), fingerling potatoes, celeriac*, baby fennel bulbs, red and green napa cabbage, rainbow chard, baby bok choi, green curly kale, lacinato kale, brussels crowns, cilantro, red butterhead lettuce, baby lettuce, spinach, mesclun mix, spicy greens mix, baby kale, pea shoots, frozen cherry tomatoes**, and frozen heirloom/beefsteak tomatoes**!

*If celeriac is new to you, it’s also known as “celery root.” Genetically related, this plant is selected for it’s root versus green tops, and is a gnarly looking root ball that is used like a potato, but tastes like celery. It can also be enjoyed raw. Grate it over salads for a fresh celery taste, roast them, mash them, fry them, put them in soup. They have the taste of brightness and summertime with the feeling of warmth and fall.

**During the summer we vacuum seal surplus tomatoes. The cherry tomato bags are a pint’s worth, and they are 1 item each. The larger tomatoes are 2 1/4 pounds of a mixture of heirlooms and beefsteak tomatoes in each bag, and they are 2 items per bag. These taste wonderful… a reminder of summer… but they are only good cooked. We use the cherry tomatoes blistered in pasta dishes and we use the tomatoes stewed or in sauces.

CSA Bag Delivery Order Form

Fill out the delivery form by noon on Tuesdays.

You do not need to fill out the form if you plan to come to the barn on Wednesdays or Thursdays to pick out your items yourself.

CSA pickup and delivery days and times

Bulk vegetables available for processing

If you are interested in getting a bulk amount of anything, send us an email. Thanks!

Spinach: $8 for a 1-pound bag, $22 for a 3-pound bag, and $35 for a 5-pound bag

Red and Green Napa: $1 per pound

Daikon radish (red, purple, or white): $1 per pound

Watermelon radish: $2 per pound

Carrots: $2 per pound

Green Curly Kale: $14 for 5 bunches, $24 for 10 bunches

Lacinato Kale: $14 for 5 bunches, $24 for 10 bunches

Garlic: $12 per pound

*Three high tunnels in the fall, photo by Adam Ford*

CSA Balance Due

Payment for your fall CSA share is due unless you need a different payment plan. (And please reach out to us if you need a different payment plan, we are happy to do that.) You can mail a check to Evening Song Farm, 48 Nice Road, Cuttingsville, VT 05738, leave cash or check in the box at the barn, use this link to pay online, or call or email us to pay with EBT or F2F coupons.

Farm News

One of the gifts of having such an effective farm team is that it allows me to tackle other agriculture-related issues that aren’t directly related to immediate vegetable production. This week, a handful of farmers around the state and I had the opportunity to have a Zoom chat with Vermont House Speaker Jill Krowinski, Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint, and their chiefs of staff to discuss issues facing farms, as they explore future opportunities for investment in Vermont’s agricultural infrastructure. They had us start the meeting with articulating one thing that is working well in our communities, and just the fact that small farmers would even be invited to address our state legislators is evidence that Vermont has emphasized and prioritized agriculture in ways many states haven’t. There were several reasons that we moved our CSA endeavors to Vermont back in 2010, and the fact that Vermont has robustly prioritized agriculture was one of them.

It was great to listen to the persepctives of other farmers, and hear the ways that they articulated many common themes for farmers around the state. Climate change was a major topic: how farming is becoming noticibly harder each season with extreme weather patterns. Farmers talked about the tension between implementing essential practices to adapt to and mitigate the effects climate change, and managing effectively for the financial health of the farm. (For instance, resting land in cover crop versus using that land to grow crops for sale.)

Another major theme was how farmers often assign ourselves the responsibility of trying to solve so many things at once: most noticely the impossible balance of affordable food for communities and living wages for employees, which is getting harder as costs of production rise faster than we want to raise prices. Farm work has always been low wage work, but it’s highly technical, requires a fair bit of training for even the “simpler” work, is damaging on the body, and still serves a necessary function for societies. And also, more than ever, food insecurity is a real threat to so many people, and prioritizing organic, local food feels like a luxury that is out of reach for many folks. It shouldn’t be this way….. High quality food should be accessible for everyone, and hard working farm workers should be able to earn a thriving wage that is a viable career, not just something they do in their 20s and 30s. The theme I heard on that phone call is that farming has a high level of burnout, and the folks who last longest have some wild, intense social committment to improve the world. One farmer spoke about how great of a job Vermont does (through non-profits and state programs) to promote farm viability, but not farmer viability. (Some farmers literally showed their chronic injuries that they live with as the restult of their work.) This was a real “aha” moment for myself: We have been tremendously lucky to receive so much support in terms of business planning, enterprise analysis, techincal support, etc, to create a thriving, effective business, and yet it’s so common for farmers to grow exhausted and depleted over time. The farmer speaking who shared this talked about how we need to make that disctinction (between viable farms versus farmers) on a large scale if we want to really strengthen our agrictulrual infrastructure. Somehow, through policy, we need to invest in farmers (and farm workers, not just owners), in addition to farms.

Obviously, solutions didn’t matierialize in a single phone call, but many first steps require clear articulation of challenges and opportunities. And the legistalors were listening to this and many other more detailed input about specific state programs that work and don’t work. I feel lucky to get to participate in that type of information sharing, and look forward to see the creative ways we can imagine an agricultural future that works better for the earth, the eaters, and the farmers.

Hope you all have a great week,

-ESF Team: Kara, Ryan, Katie, Elana, Morgan, Taylor, Cindy, and Molly,

This Week's Recipe: Cheesy Spinach and Roasted Carrot Dip