on the farm

I'm so excited. I drove past "our" farm and it's looking really good. The farmer and his apprentices are all out there working the land. Not too much longer now and things will be growing. A little after that and we will be able to start picking up our share.

I really love this idea. Last year with the exception of celery, cucumbers and the occasional out of season purchase we bought no produce except from the farm. It's local, organic and far better than anything you could ever get in the grocery store. This year will be the first year that I am not growing vegetables in a very long time. I still plan to put in one cherry tomato plant and I will plant some herbs. But otherwise it's all been converted to fruits. Less maintenance for me and a wider variety of foods for my family than I could grow in my little fenced section.

The costs are very reasonable also. Less than $24 per week (€19 for my European readers) for a lot of produce. As a matter of fact last year at the height of watermelon season we chose not to take our last watermelon because we had had so much we were watermeloned out. In the beginning of the season, June, it's mostly salad greens. As the season progresses we get more and more stuff. In the height of the season I start canning. At the end of the season it's mostly cabbages, squashes, and root crops. Last year I was able to root cellar a fair amount of them (although I did learn that certain ones need to be eaten sooner rather than later so we'll make sure we do that this year).

D and I are also thinking that this year we will donate one day of labor to the farm. Not required since we pay a full membership (you can do partial pay partial labor but we weren't sure we could make that work committment). I think it will be fun to go and help out. Plus it will be good experience for us both. D wants to bring a friend. If she can find a friend who wants to go I say bring em', we'll see if that actually happens.