Cold Comfort

Due to the abundance of vegetables that the garden produced last year, Jaime and I decided to not do a CSA this year. I haven't been getting emails from our old CSA, but for some reason I just got one talking about the farm and their first distribution of the year. I thought a few of the things in the email were interesting, and it reassures me that the terrible showing from my garden this year really isn't my fault. Here is the text:

Welcome to GVOCSA's 23rd year!

Many CSAs have postponed their first distributions this year because of the DISMAL weather we've had this spring. But we have decided to go ahead as planned even though the shares are meager. This is what there is to eat when it's cold and rainy!

Just a few statistics: April was THE rainiest month is Rochester's 141 years of recorded weather history and the third cloudiest. We could plant NOTHING outside during April (and if we had, it may have rotted in the wet, cold soil). We planted the hoop house more or less on time but even though it provides shelter, SUNSHINE is still required for the plants to grow. They began to size up nicely with the sun and warm temperatures last week and the asparagus finally began to put in an appearance but the return to rain and cold this week brought things to a screeching halt again. Most plants need temperatures to be over 50 degrees to grow. They literally stop growing and just sit tight on days like Monday with temps in the 40's.

The plus side of a cold spring is that crops that have over-wintered from last fall do really well. We have the nicest over-wintered carrots we have ever harvested. The watercress is NOT flowering already (for the past few years, it has gone by before the first CSA). Some spinach and lettuce regrew from last fall and the kohlrabi and rutabagas put out some tasty greens and flower heads that are delicious chopped and sauteed with garlic and onions over pasta or in beans and greens. There's not enough for everyone so these greens will have to be offered as a choice for full shares. Last year, the over-wintered leeks had begun to put up flower stalks by the first week of shares. This year, they are still growing, so we will let them size up some more and give them out next week.

Here's what's planned for this week's GVOCSA shares:

Fulls: carrots, watercress, garlic greens, 3-way choice of over-wintered spinach, lettuce or brassica greens (over-wintered kale for Newark shares)
Next week (with luck): carrots, leeks, asparagus, rhubarb, bok choi & lettuce from the hoop house

Partials: carrots, watercress, choice of oregano or over-wintered parsley
Next week: carrots, leeks, hoop house lettuce & bok choi