(Harvey really wanted to go play in the cover crop with me last week while I was finishing up work. He's very good about hanging around and entertaining himself when we inevitably have more work to do when he gets home from school at 3:00pm. I sometimes feel bad about it, and then I remember that I'm giving him a farm as a playground, and lots of kids parents have to work long hours to make ends meet and not all kids get to play outside alongside their parents while they do. Plus he got to practice his writing skills!)

Hello Everyone, happy almost-last day of May and happy last week of the Spring Share!

I'm going to do a little "oh how I love CSA" bit here before I get into a little self-evaluation for how I did this spring share as your farmer.

I love farming for the people who are going to be eating the food I grow. I believe that one of the fundamental flaws of our current food system is the extraordinary disconnection from the food on people's forks and the place and people who produced it. Yes there are savings by being a big farm that only grows one or two crops, but mono-cropping a large acreage reduces biodiversity, increases the need for pesticides and is very physically challenging and probably really boring for the real people doing the repetitive work needed to make it happen, and who will never see the faces of, or hear gratitude from the people who are eating and surviving because of their hard work.

It's also really nice to get some understanding from customers when things don't go perfectly (like when there are some bug holes in the produce because coyotes are tearing the row cover, or like this week when some of the asparagus is a little branchy at the top, but it's only because otherwise my family and my crew couldn't take a very important rest on the holiday weekend).

I've been getting pressure to be more collaborative and do joint wholesaling with other "theoretical" small farmers. I love farmer co-ops when they are started by farmers who have food they need to sell, but for me, right now, we have a lot of excellent customers who want to be in our CSA, and support us. If I was growing wholesale for a co-op you can bet I would have been skipping a day off to pick Asparagus on Sunday to make sure the ones I was selling looked perfect, and then I'd get a lower price per pound on top of that.

Also, one of my pet peeves is when non-farmers think the only problem farmers face is not being able to sell their product. I have barely been able to keep up my supply with demand over the 7 years of our farms existence. It's a part of why I put almost no effort in to advertising, because I literally could not produce enough to meet increased demand. I'm sure that's bad marketing philosophy, but I'm not throwing food away, so it's working for now.

Wholesale works really well, for some, but I'm extremely grateful to have you all supporting us through our successes and challenges, and eating the food we grow!

That said, I give myself a B- overall for the Spring Share this season. Mostly I needed to improve my timing on a few crops and do more frequent soil testing in the high tunnels to make sure I got my fertilizer blends correct. We still gave out a lot of produce, and most of it was quite tasty, and it really isn't my fault the row cover kept getting ripped up . . . but I guarantee I learned a lot from this year, and I'm excited for next year's spring share to be better.

We will be growing more storage crops like sweet potatoes, shallots and beets to diversify the heavier offerings, as well as expanding some of our herb and green garlic production for more flavors. We will also try to push some crops along a little earlier, like lettuce and bunched kale to increase availability of those popular crops.

We hope you enjoyed the share. This week is fairly big share - the heat this weekend after last Wednesday's rain really pushed things along!

If you haven't signed up for Summer Vegetables, Flowers or Mushrooms, there are a few shares left but they are going fast, don't forget to sign up.

Summer Vegetables and Mushrooms starts the week of June 12th.

Summer Flowers starts the first or second week of July (probably first).

It's definitely planting season! Last Friday Jamie, Lindsay and Joella planted scallions and bok choy with the transplanter while Anna and I used the direct seeder to plant arugula, radish, cilantro, dill and carrots (top left)! Last Wednesday (top right) a big team of us planted two caterpillar tunnels of tomatoes, plus a whole half acre of peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. It's still been very cold and then very hot - the seedlings are not happy about it, but we did cover them with row cover to protect from frost . . . hopefully they can pull through this next heat wave!!!

We innovated a new trenching and covering method for our dahlias this year. We wanted to plant them two row, and we usually create trenched for our potatoes by putting a hiller disc belly mounted under a cultivating tractor to push soil away to make the furrow and then push soil back to cover it. This method wouldn't quiet work for two rows in the bed, but after some adjustments Kevin made it work. Then we top-dressed the bed with some compost we made on farm!

Ok, So What's in the Share!?

NO REPEATS IN THE CHOICES THIS WEEK UNLESS YOU ASK, PLEASE!

2 heads lettuce! we have four varieties to choose from: green crisp, green butter leaf, red butter leaf and red crisp

Choose 3 bunches (some greens bunches are really big this week - we had to clear the beds so we gave big bunches to you - see the photo of Lindsay above with the big dill): Chinese sprouting broccoli, radishes, kale, mustard greens, dill, arugula, spinach

choose 2 bags greens: 1 bag pea tendrils, 1 bag micro greens and/or 1 bag lettuce mix (yes, lots of lettuce, I know - a few plantings overlapped - it's a hot week, though, great for salad, and you have a week of next week - you can do it!)

3/4 pound asparagus

*Please note* we do our absolute best to estimate what our customers will prefer when it comes to choices based on years of CSA and market experience and data collection. That said, sometimes a crop is more popular than anticipated and we do run out of that choice. We try to avoid this, but have determined this is a better alternative than not giving choices.

*Please remember* this share costs less weekly than all of our other shares. The standard price is $22/week. It has a lot of high value but light-weight greens in it so it can sometimes seem smaller than a summer share, where instead of bags of greens you are getting multiple pounds of fruits and roots. This is the nature of seasonal eating in New England. We will get better at growing storage crops and overwintering crops so we can more "heavy" choices in spring - but for now, this is the spring share, exactly as we planned it, and we are very proud of what we are able to make available in APRIL!!!

Recipes

Hi - Jess Girotti here. If you have a recipe that you love that you'd like to share with other members or if a recipe link isn't working for you, feel free to email me at jgirotti@live.com. (Please note that I can't re-print a recipe from a cookbook that isn't already online.) Don't forget to check out the recipe pages on the Upswing website if you need more ideas for your other veggies.

GREEK MIXED GREENS PIE WITH PHYLLO CRUST

This recipe calls for 30 oz of cooked spinach, kale or collards, but you can use any green (including mustards, swiss chard, turnip and radish greens and even arugula!). This is a luxurious way to use up a lot of greens!

SWISS CHARD AND CHIPOTLE TACOS

Who doesn't love tacos? Mushrooms stand in for the meat in these and add fantastic flavor too!

EASY KALE SALAD WITH LEMON DRESSING

This salad has a great crunch factor and lots of variations. It's one of my new go-to's.

ROASTED ASPARAGUS (AND/OR RADISHES) WITH LEMON AND DILL

This dressing is a super delicious topping for any of the greens you get in your share and it uses a variety of fresh herbs so you can mix it up each time you make it.

GREEN GODDESS COBB SALAD

This gorgeous cobb salad can use up multiple ingredients in your share: scallions, cilantro, lettuce and pea shoots. Microgreens and radish would be delicious in here as well. I’m not fancy enough to use guanciale (salt-cured pork jowl) which is what the recipe calls for, so I’ll use bacon or pancetta instead.

IMPORTANT DETAILS

Below is information for pick up at all 3 of our weekly locations. If you can't remember your pick up location, please refer to the email sent on 4/10/2023.

Upswing Farm

65 Brookline St, Pepperell, MA

Your pick up day is Wednesday.

Hours are 2:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 12th

April 19th

April 26th

May 3rd

May 10th

May 17th

May 24th

May 31st

Parking: Please park in the parking lot by the greenhouses and the white Upswing Farm sign. It's more like 53 Brookline if you are using GPS.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Joella and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Joella can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can pack a box for you and leave it on the farm house porch (actually at 65 Brookline, up by the white barns)

If you can't make it: Please let us know a time when you can come by Thursday or Friday and we will leave your share out for you on the porch.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Holliston Community Farm

34 Rogers Rd, Holliston, MA

Your pick up day is Tuesday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

If you can't make it by 6:00, we can leave the share in the walk-in cooler for you to pick up later.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 11th

April 18th

April 25th

May 2nd

May 9th

May 16th

May 23rd

May 30th

Parking: Please driving up the driveway at 34 Rogers Rd, past the yellow house and past the farm stand and park in the parking lot. Please drive carefully, it is a narrow drive, and you will need to travel the drive from the house to the street single file. Please be patient and courteous with one another.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Lindsay, cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Lindsay can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378 if you are going to be late. We can pack a box for you and leave it in the cooler to pick up later that evening or the next day.

If you can't make it and want to switch your pick up day to Thursday 1-6 at Weston Nurseries: Please let us know by Monday morning at 7am, if possible, so we can adjust our harvest for the week. Email upswingcsa@gmail.com.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton

93 East Main St, Hopkinton, MA

Your pick up day is Thursday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 13th

April 20th

April 27th

May 4th

May 11th

May 18th

May 25th

June 1st

Parking: DO NOT GO IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF WESTON NURSERIES! There is no way to drive to the back lot from there. Instead, turn north at the light in front of Weston Nurseries onto Legacy Farms Rd North and turn right into the parking lot behind the nursery. You will see out white Box truck there, with tents. Park anywhere on the gravel lot, not too close to the tents, if possible.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Anna (Ah-na) (she's new and she's great!) and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Anna can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can arrange a spot for you to pick up.

If you can't make it: Please let us know - we don't have a great alternative until the start of the Ashland Farmer's Market in Summer - so don't forget! If you can plan ahead you can come to the CSA pick up in Holliston on Tuesday. We just prefer to know by Monday at 7am if possible so we can adjust our harvest plan.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Your Farmers,

Brittany, Kevin and the Upswing Farm Team

Also, I'm bad at spelling. I am a generalist, so as long as most of the letters are there, and there is good context, by brain prefers not to be bogged down by details. Also, I am frequently typing these emails late at night or early in the morning after or before a big day of work. I promise I'm not making spelling or grammar errors becauseI don't care. I really, really do care, I'm just no good at copy editing and I rarely have time to send these out for a proof read to Kevin who is still sleeping. I hope you can forgive me.