we've successfully completed the first week of our CSA and we are getting ready for our second week's deliveries. here's last week's newsletter. it's a bit of creative recycling from newsletters from our archives. ( assembled by Alice from previous work by Alice, and I think our dear departed friend Karan, and perhaps Em and Looch.). the boxes were abundant last week because of all our earlier rain. this week's box will be smaller, because it hasn't rained now in 2 weeks, and our irrigation pales in comparison to the real thing.

below is the note for the CSA box for the week of 5/30 - 6/2
Your first box was pretty full because a couple of weeks ago, we were getting some excellent rain, and the produce was lush and perfect and we wanted to harvest it at its prime. We also wanted to give you a chance to sample all the earliest perennial veggies that you might not see again this season. This week, after 2 weeks of no rain, you all will get a little bit smaller boxes.

Part of the joy of a CSA is eating in season, and sharing the farmers' adventures and risks. Weather is the biggest uncontrollable variable in farming, and we have definitely seen increased weather extremes as climate change affects our planet. Yes, we have irrigation on the farm, and more than 2,000gallons of rainbarrels, and we work to improve our soils (which helps buffer both drought and flooding), but still, the weather affects everything in farming! And there is no irrigation that can compete with a good rain.

If we eat locally and in season, there will be an abundance of one kind of crop for a shorter window of time. As farmers and gardeners, we can do some tricks, like succession planting, or choosing different varieties to stretch out these windows of availability, but in Iowa, with our extreme cold and heat, there's only so much we can do. There will be a lot of spinach in your box for a little while, but then it will be too hot to grow spinach, and you might not see it for the rest of the season. The same goes for almost everything in these first boxes.

In your box this week (5/29-6/2):
SPINACH
GREEN ONIONS
BOC CHOI
LETTUCE
CHIVES
RADISH
maybe:
lemon sorrel
asparagus
broccolini
we still have a few vegetable CSA shares available and a few flower CSA shares available. let us know if you are interested,

pictures of beautiful boc choi unveiling. pictures by @katielavrov showing Alice and Leslie.