Week 16 | Spring 10 CSA Newsletter Tues | Jun 18
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Call or text Robin at 708-370-8017 if you have any questions about your delivery tonight. |
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Notes from Chris
Summer is here in full force and the crop selection/variety will begin to reflect the change in season. The moderate temperatures I talked about last week should continue through most of this week, with higher humidity and hotter weather on tap after that. The rains we anticipated over the past week dodged us with rain falling all around us. For the first time this year our soil is dry and needs irrigation, so now we're scrambling to get everything irrigated ASAP. It takes us at least 3, usually 4, days to cover the whole farm.
We'll have some new things this week and a few more next week. The long awaited strawberries are coming in nicely, parsley makes its season debut this week, and we're thinning out our onion beds which means you'll be getting baby onions in the box as well. Next week, we'll see sweet snap peas, kohlrabi (one of the sweetest brassica, or broccoli family, crops), garlic scapes, and possibly a few zucchini, though they'll not be in full force until the following week if all goes well.
A few words about parsley. It is one of the most nutritious, vitamin-packed greens out there. I do not think of it at all as a garnish, or an herb, as most people do. With tomato sauces, it is fantastic. I use it abundantly in my pasta sauce and find it to have a nicer and fresher flavor than basil. There is tabouli, which features parsley. Many smoothies, soups and stews benefit from this powerhouse green as well. The bottom line is that parsley is a very healthy green that has many uses. Relegating it to garnish status would be a shame.
I've talked a lot about variety in the boxes lately as this is the hardest time of the year to have lots of it. Diversity in food and diet sure is interesting and healthier. The same is true in the natural world, so I have to take a minute to talk about biological diversity and the bigger picture. In particular, I've been incredibly distracted and bothered by our government's (the Fish and Wildlife service) current proposal to remove wolves from the endangered species list, giving states the control to manage wolves as they wish. This has been done in three western states already--Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana--and in three Midwestern states--Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. In the few years since these states have gained control over their wolf populations, 1600 wolves have been killed (representing about 25% of the estimated 6,100 wolves in the lower 48), most of them in aggressive efforts characterized by the "smoke a pack a day" (google that if you want an eye opener) campaign that is in full force out west, in the northern Rockies, where wolves have increased in numbers the most.
Wolves historically ranged over all of North American from Mexico City to Alaska, including all 48 lower United States, with populations into the hundreds of thousands. By 1960 they had been practically exterminated from the lower U.S., with only a few dozen individuals surviving in the north woods of Minnesota and upper Michigan. Starting in the 1870's, government bounty and hunting programs--fueled by intense fear and intolerance--eliminated these predators from the landscape and food chain, as had been inflicted on the bison in a decade earlier. Much of the impetus for all this was to clear the Great Plains for American habitation, in particular to provide a huge area for cattle production. First the bison were shot, basically in 10 years from 1860 to 1870, and it's estimated that about 100,000 wolves were killed annually from 1870 to 1880. The preferred method for wolf killing was poisoning by baiting them with elk and other prey carcasses that had been laced with poisons. Bounties also existed in every state to reward and encourage anyone to kill wolves.
Finally, in 1973 the endangered species act provided a legal mechanism to prevent the complete extermination of wolves, and their populations have begun to recover to an estimated 6,100 animals. Here are a few maps over time to see what has, is, and could be, the range of the gray wolf.
Since this is a newsletter for a farm, I have to stop here, and simply ask everyone to consider the issue. As required by law, there is a 90-day period (until 9/11 ironically) of public comment concerning this decision to "delist" wolves (take them off the endangered species list). I urge everyone to write the Fish and Wildlife service urging them not to go through with their plan. The process is relatively easy by clicking here. You can read others' comments to see who's saying what, and to submit your own. Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity are good sources of information regarding the issue. Feel free to call me at 608-712-1585 if you want more info.
Enjoy your strawberries.
-- Chris
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Questions?
Call Robin (in Chicago), 708-370-8017 | Chris (farmer/owner), 608-712-1585
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Click links below for info
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WHAT'S COOKIN'
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Chances are that you don't need too much help figuring out what to do with strawberries, but with both mesclun mix and spinach in the box this week, let those act as a reminder to either throw a few strawberries in a salad, or build a salad around them. This Strawberry Salad can act as inspiration for your own creations. |
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