September
September 1, 2008
Our daily routine on the farm involves a walk through the fields to check on the progress of each crop. Stewart and I head out in the morning with a cup of coffee or in the evening with a cold beer. Usually, we have a specific crop in mind - perhaps we are checking to see if okra is ready for harvest or if radishes have germinated. This is the time that decisions are made–what the next days’ harvest or cultivating tasks will be. We tend to get sidetracked. We set our beverages down to pull a weed or two or to squish hornworms on tomato plants and before we know it our forgotten drinks are filled with ants or gnats, we are muddy and sweaty and our t-shirts bulging with cucumbers or some other vegetable that we couldn’t leave behind. (Yesterday, Stewart’s shirt was bulging low with two cantaloupes – a funny site, as I’m sure you can imagine.) Sometimes the decisions made on these walks are tough ones having larger consequences.
This morning’s stroll took us past cucumbers and summer squash that will need to be harvested. We walked to the pumpkin patch where the weeds are as tall as me. We did not attempt to pull any of them up as the plants look healthy despite the weed competition. They have trellised up the stalks of the weeds and are fruiting. We will have great winter squash. However, as we walked we noticed something else - grasshoppers were springing off the ground like corn popping and we thought of the vulnerable new seedlings that have just surfaced in another plot. Today we had to make a tough decision.
We have been delivering shares of our foods to 160 members all summer and had hoped to increase to 200 for the fall season, September through November. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members pay us for the entire season before it starts. It has been a wonderful program for us. It eliminates the need to spend hours pushing sales. With CSA, we know all of our crops are paid for. Our members get a weekly bag filled with the freshest produce possible grown organically right down the road. Our members have been very happy and the program has truly saved our farm.
Grasshoppers brought us back to the house for a “meeting.” Every five to seven years we get grasshoppers in biblical proportions. There is little we can do to control them organically. Grasshopper invasions have taken us down in years past, but this year we have commitments like never before. I reminded Stewart that part of the arrangement with our CSA members is that they assume the risk with us. It was too soon to know for sure if this was going to be a big grasshopper year, maybe we should proceed. However, there was still time to back out, since, at the time of this conversation, our fall distribution would not start for another two weeks. We decided to cut our CSA numbers in half. We determined that with the greenhouse we could protect enough crops for 60 to 80 members, but not 160. I sent out an email to our members at the Tucson CSA drop off and told them the news. Much of our pressures and fears were eliminated by this decision, but relief was soon replaced by a sick feeling in my stomach. What if we are reacting too fast? What if we end up with a surplus – where would we sell it? What if people choose not to sign with us next year since we cancelled on them this fall? How are we going to pay our bills without those checks? Well, it’s too late - the decision is made. Email sent out. People disappointed. Once again, I find myself questioning our sanity. Farming is hard – even without grasshopper invasions.
Fortunately, on the horizon looms OCTOBER.
October? This is when a visit to the farm is an event. Pumpkins bring people from all over Arizona to capture the feeling of fall by taking the kids to pick a pumpkin, go on a hayride, pet animals and eat good food at our Fall Festival.
Last year we had a staff of 28 people on the weekends helping us to put on the show. 500 cars were parked in the pasture on one Saturday. Interviews with TV stations and newspapers were on the schedule weekly. 2,000 school kids came in the span of three weeks for their annual field trip. Stewart and I shed 25 pounds collectively. The pace is daunting! The stress, unbelievable!
It’s also fun! Most of the October staff are family and friends; many have helped with the festival for years. Weekends feel like camp. My mother-in-law, Regina, opens up the hacienda’s extra rooms for people to sleep; some bring travel trailers; others camp out. In the mornings, we gather for a big breakfast that Maria Leon, Regina’s housekeeper, comes in early to cook. On Saturday nights, we are exhausted, but adrenaline keeps us up laughing and recalling the day as the music gets cranked up and the “Garden Grill” stays open–cooking up our farm raised beef burgers for the staff to enjoy. My kids are neglected all month and they love it. They come home from school and order dinner at the grill. They take dozens of hayrides and show visiting kids the way through the maze. Families have a great time, and we enjoy their words of praise.
This evening, we will walk the property to map out the set up for the festival. Very different kinds of decisions need to be made–where to set up the maze, where to park cars, etc. The Fall Festival will help us to get through this season. The grasshoppers will be gone in November and we will start again. Insane!
Chilled Cucumber Soup
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated with a box grater or food processor
1 finely minced garlic clove
a half-palmful of minced, fresh dill
2/3 cup thick sour cream
2/3 cup whole-milk yogurt
1/2 box chicken broth
salt and white pepper (if you have it, black if you don’t) to taste
Combine all ingredients, stir to blend, and chill. Serve topped with any of the following (or combination thereof): chopped cucumber, fresh dill or mint, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt, diced avocado, snipped chives or green onions. Serves four.
Agua Linda Farm is a 63 acre family run farm in Amado Arizona. Go to www.AguaLindaFarm.net for more information or contact Stewart and Laurel Loew at 398-3218 or email stewart@AguaLindaFarm.net. The farm is open to the public Saturdays 9am – 3pm and Sundays noon to 3pm.
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