My Metis forefathers traveled the ridge road with oxcarts, traded pemmican, and fought the British to protect their little stretches of farmland along the Red River. Just imagine how bad the the mosquitos must have been while enduring the daily hardship of the fur trade! But insects were probably the least of their issues. These were tough people, modest people who lived between two worlds, Native and European.

I think about the difficulties of today. They have been on my mind. The West is on fire. We have our drought, yet the West is twenty times worse with a bunch of fires thrown on top of it all. Climate change is in my face each day. Marissa and Maya, who live and work on farm with us, considering themselves some of our country’s first climate refugees. They felt a need to put California behind them and struck out for the Midwest. I’m sure they will not be the last as I learn of the daily struggles there. Despite our own challenges dealing with drought, water still comes out of our well. and every so often we have at least a chance of rain. And, even though the haze from fires in Canada fills our sky, those conflagrations are still many hundreds of miles away.

So, throw in political and personal drama on top, and I often sit here worried and anxious. This foreboding can blot out everything in my mind. So, I find it helpful to reflect back on those that came before me, just as you may reflect on your own family’s history. I imagine the hardships they faced, but I know that they too experienced joy. My Metis relatives worked the land with nothing more than draft animals and hand tools, yet ended their days with fiddles and dancing to a Red River Jig. They built churches and institutions and started governments, all without electicity. It gives me confidence that we can more than persevere.

The challenges we face, the issues I face can and will be met and I’m certain we do so while still delighting in the joy of being human. After all, that’s all we ever done.

In the box:

• Green cabbage
• Kohlrabi: peel, slice, and eat with salt.
• Salad mix
• Fresh Dill: One use will be to include in your salad mix – it’s a nice touch. I wanted to have cukes in here, but the first planting was a casualty of the May frost – second set is flowering and coming on strong.
• Summer Squash: I my mind it all works the same, but you may get a yellow zucchini, green zucchini, staightneck sqaush, or patty pan squash. Squash fritters are the way to go and a good use of your garlic scapes or green onions. See video below.
• Green Onions
• Swiss Chard: Some ideas at https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshow/swiss-chard-recipes
• Garlic Scapes

About 4 weeks ago, we germinated our first planting of carrots. If you’ve grown carrots, you know a seedling is just a tiny pair of ‘rabbit ears’ emerging from the soil. After a week, a baby carrot is maybe half an inch tall.

So, as Marissa and I were scouting the fields a couple weeks ago in 90 degree heat, we observed that it was downright amazing that the stand of carrots we found had lived through early June at all! Yet there they stood, little tiny carrots about 14 days old. After a handweeding and a hoeing, they now rank up there with the broccoli bed as one of the shining spots of the farm. As Marissa can attest, if I’m ever getting down on the season, I typically bounce back with “But look at that carrot bed” of “Man, at least the broccoli is killing it!” Subconsciously, this may be my motivtion for growing such a wide mix of crops…there’s always something that will perform well. Certainly, that’s the power of diversity.

The carrot is a hardy crop, one that burrows deep to find reserves of moisture and nutrition as other big Goliaths like winter squash or our beloved corn wither and weep. Because, you see, those big crops simply have more to loose and need that much more water to keep their big bushy limbs hydrated and healthy. Myself, I’m inspired by the small and scrappy crops. They give me hope and reassurance that we all the power and reserves necessary to push through anything.

In the box;

• Napa cabbage: I’m sorry if I’ve already shared the recipe video below, but using napa to create a crunchy salad is just great, especially in summer weather.
• Mizuna: This is a Japanesse green that good either fresh in a salad (many salad mixes have baby mizuna in them). For fresh salad, think of a dressing like a seasame ginger. Chop up with the green onions in the box and maybe some kale, and you’re in business. For cooking, you can certainly use to finish any stir fry, but I love this in a Pho soup with rice noodles.
• Green onions
• Radishes
• Curly kale
• Summer squash (Zucchini and Patty Pan): You’d use the small Sunburst patty pan the same way you would zucchini. I really like to use to make morning fritters with eggs. Simply grate pattypan or zucchini into eggs, mix wit green onions or scapes and fry in pan for breakfast. Other greens can be cooked down and put on top or top with sour cream or salsa. Very versatile.
• Mini-heads of lettuce: These are really mini – a small romaine, green butterhead lettuce, plus tiny red leaf accent lettuce.

I know. I’ve got a one-track mind. But the dryness of the year is the story of the year, or, at least, the story so far.

Last night was one where I was happy to be waken up by a hard, pounding rain. The wind suddenly pushed the curtains over our bedroom window, the wind turbine made a quick ‘flup, flup, flup’ helicopter-like chopping sound as the front announced its arrival.

This morning I had in mind to slowly make my way out into the fields since I expected them to be all mud, but, actually, the ground was very firm as every ounce was soaked into very parched ground. The reason this rain thing is driving me crazy is that it’s stopping crops from developing. We have kohlrabi in suspended animation, doing nothing but trying to survive. Their little bulbs should have well formed by now and sitting in your box. Likewise, the Napa cabbage. I had planned on it giving this light box some real heft, but it’s the same story. When I crop is in survival mode, it just won’t give us humans produce we want.

Still, things are looking up and I swear I saw a Napa start to head out before my eyes when our harvesting kale this morning. When the sky giveth, the produce giveth as well 🙂

In the box

• Dino Kale: See recipe from this Italian guy from San Francisco. You can use the garlic scapes instead of garlic.
• Snap Peas
• Radishes: Yes, these things have been hot with the year we’ve been having. Try marinating! https://cookieandkate.com/spicy-quick-pickled-radishes/
• Salad Mix
• Basil
• Garlic Scapes
• Flat-leaf Parsley

As I sit here writing, it’s 45 degrees outside. The plants of Lida Farm have had their first significant rain since I don’t know when and I feel like I finally broke a super persistent fever after suffering for a month. Nevermind that we’re heading back to 90 on Wednesday: right here, right now, all is right with the world. Cue the ending from A Christmas Story after Ralphie fell asleep with a Red Ryder BB gun in hand…

This year has certainly been the most moisture-challenged early season I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never dragged around so many hoses in my life. Some operations will bury drip tape in the ground when planting with a transplanter, but I’ve always considered that too much waste and not necessary (most years) with our heavy ground. Instead, we have always moved drip tape around as needed with a header that can supply 4 – 8 drip lines, and, for some dense crops like salad mix and carrots, we hook up these overhead micro-sprayers. This situation is fine in a normal year, but a disaster in a super dry year with 90-degree heat. Even if we were getting rain each week, soil moisture is evaporating all over the place in the heat. A person just can’t keep up. After dragging hose for 12 hours last Sunday, we were still behind.

The first casualty of the summer has been spinach. This was its box to make its appearance, but where are you, spinach? Mostly unborn still sitting in the ground. Too hot and dry to germinate. Those that did eek their way into existance found an unwelcome environment and became so stressed that they turned ugly. This is a green that likes cool, wet weather and often gets stressed in the spring, bolting as the days get longer. As we sit here on the longest day of the year, the crop never had a chance.

But all is not a disaster. No rain = less weeds. The potato field is the cleanest we’ve ever grown and the corn has actually been hoed on time.

In the box:

• Snap peas: Edible pod, so don’t shell, just eat them.
• Red or Green Leaf Lettuce
• Radishes
• Garlic Scapes: Basically the shoot out of a hardneck garlic – pretty mild flavor. I’ll often use where ever I use green onions. See recipe below with garlic scapes and chard, but a person certainly could use with basil to do the same.
• Cilantro
• Swiss Chard
• Basil
• Arugula: Light, oak-leaf shaped green