How do we choose what to grow?

I often say, “Whatever will grow in Minnesota.” That’s quickly followed by a rejoinder of “but not artichokes, which are possible, but simply a farmer challenging themselves…” With greenhouses and enough heat and supplemental light, a person COULD grow bananas or dragon fruit or something, but the cost and the effort would probably produce a $23/lb tropical fruit. What’s the point? Boosting your ego as a master grower?

So, yes we grow as wide of a mix of crops as possible that will grow in Minnesota, but also appropriate for place and timing so we have an mix of crops that perform well. You see, operating a CSA is one big juggle of time. If you spend an hour on peppers, you can’t spend that same hour on lettuce. And if one crop needs a lot of babysitting to get it to fruition, it gets the ax because it becomes a time suck that could endanger its fellow veggie friends. So it’s been with spring spinach. This year it would have done fine, but for the past 20 years it’s been getting harder and harder to grow. Springs have been turning hot sooner and it’s nothing but bolt city as the spinach quickly turns to reproduction and moves to flower production to save its species. We could set out a shade cloth, but see point about ‘one big juggle of time’ above.

That’s a roundabout way to highlight this miracle of strawberries in the box! I have not put strawberries in a CSA box for 15 years. Like spring spinach, they got the ax early in Lida Farm’s history. Fruit needs a lot of attention at the same time veggies need a lot of attention or they’ll be lost in weeds. So, even though I just explained how thoughtful I am about finding the perfect mix of crops that best fit our place and timing, there’s still a place for whimsy. I grew these plants last year on a lark, which was neither thoughtful nor strategic. Judging the size and shape, I can’t say that I’m good at growing strawberries, but the flavor is there, and, so is the surprise.

In the box:

• Napa cabbage: Try this recipe by replacing the green onions and garlic with the bunch of scapes https://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/spicy-garlic-napa-cabbage
• Garlic scapes
• Strawberries
• Radishes
• Salad mix
• Snap peas: Edible pod – don’t shell
• Swiss chard: Another recipe where you can replace the garlic with garlic scapes https://downshiftology.com/recipes/garlic-sauteed-swiss-chard/
• Cilantro
• Basil

Yes, we’ve traveled 16 weeks throughout the CSA season number 19 at Lida Farm.

I often feel that week by week zips on by at lightening speed, but, when I think about the whole season, it feels like a lifetime ago.

All told I think things turned out all right considering the very long stretch without rain, which, when it finally did fall out of the sky, came down like waterfall. Neither of these things are conducive to growing crops. If this is our new normal or consistent pattern, vegetable farming and all farming for that matter will need to look different. We cannot have ground that’s like hard baked pavement get beaten by 3 inches of rain in an afternoon and expect to keep productive topsoil for the next generation, especially if we rely on a lot of tillage.

For us, I know we need to take on practices that create a good crop while conserving moisture – this entails more intensive growing through better use of greenhouses, plastic mulches, and drip irrigation. In the field, this means significantly better fertility management and cover crops to hold water and build up organic matter. This will allow better water retention and overall tilth. The issue, however, is carving out the time to make these things happen, increasing costs for inputs and setting aside land to the practices.

I’m all for these improvements, and we’ll start some of the effort this fall. But, really, the plans and implementation will get shouldered when my mind and body are fresh – in the spring!

In the box:

• Buttercup Squash
• A few Delicata Squash
• Watermelon Radish: Yes, the big white thing (s) are radishes. Try a quick pickling recipe with them: https://www.seriouseats.com/pickled-watermelon-radish-recipe
• Rosemary
• Carrots
• Beets
• Brussels Sprouts
• Russet Potatoes
• A couple Red Onions
• Head of Galic
• Rutabaga(s): Some got to a nice size, but others stayed a bit small, so you may get a few. Orange in color.
• Roma Tomatoes: Really great for saucing instead of fresh eating

Sloshing my way through chest-high lambs quarters and picking sweet corn (of all things), I began wondering whether summer will ever end. Eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes still going strong. Highs in the high 70s are forecast for this weekend.

What? I am normally a week past the first frost and sliding my way to finish. Pipe-smoking weather…wool jackets, grouse hunting, and cool short days. But, no, this year I’m caught in a summer that won’t let go. A farm season that keeps asking me to step up and yank in a harvest that just zkeeps on giving.

It’s tough because sometime in August I always get into the mode of duct-taping the season week by week until the end. The printer ran out of ink over a month ago. Agh, just scrawl out the the CSA pick up list with a sharpie. Hand weed the fall brassicas? Nah, just mow around them a bit to make it look somewhat better. Trees? Water them later. Yard? Forget it. Fix fencing? No way.

The show’s got to go on and the name of the game is enough coffee to pull in the rest crops that are still out there. All day yesterday, three of us clipped winter squash, piled them, and threw them in the pickup box. By nine o’clock I was knocked out to sleep for the next 8 hours – a feat since I’m typically only 6 hours. A good night sleep sure helps to get us to the finish line. I might even be able to skip afternoon coffee today!

In the box:

• Red cabbage
• Sage
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Butternut Squash: The tan one.
• Buttercup Squash: The green one.
• Tomatoes
• Pepper mix: All sweet, none hot
• Head Lettuce or Salad Mix
• Shallots: Ya, they look like onions, but actually shallots.
• A couple ears of sweet corn
• Daikon Radish
• Celery