We pulled up our first batch of carrots! These are cosmic carrots. They taste like carrots, they feel like carrots. If I was a writer for Intelligentsia coffee, I might go on to distinguish the taste as “snappy,” “spicy,” or “clean,” with notes of melon and a caramel finish, but mostly I just describe the taste as slightly purpl-y. Please put your carrots in a reusable plastic bag in the fridge. Too much air around them will make them limp. If you need them to last for a couple of weeks, remove the greens first. Carrot greens can be mixed in with anything for an extra vitamin dose, used in vegetable stock for example.
Since the squash and cucumbers are still getting to size on The Plot, we decided to supplement the CSA share this week with summer squash and/or cucumbers from Deer Creek Organics. Deer Creek Organics is another Kankakee farm, started the same year as Peasants’ Plot. It is nice to have another farmer in the area with whom to share ideas or commiserate about the weather and the general struggle of farming. This is great small farm. Check them out: www.deercreekorganics.com
Deer Creek invested time and money in becoming certified Organic because their farm plan involves selling to stores and distributors. To be able to say "Organic" on signs is important to get the deserved premium in these stores.
Meanwhile, Peasants' Plot is an organic farm that can't legally call itself organic. For now our CSA members and market customers have to trust us that we ARE NOT using any synthetic chemicals or anything considered outside of organic practices. Our land has been free of chemicals for many years. CSA members are invited to arrange visits throughout the season to witness and inspect our practices. We take great pains on our farm to be sustainable by using green manure crops and composted horse manure, adding fish fertilizer for foliar spray throughout the season. We occasionally lose crops to pests.
So why aren't we certified? The time/money investment for certification is still a ways down the priority list for us, after a walk-in cooler and other infrastructure improvements. Another factor to consider is that most certifying agencies take a small percentage of every year's profit from their farmer clients.
In any case and inarguably, tender summer squash is really yummy sliced lengthwise, oiled and grilled.
Eating a slice right now,
Julia
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