What''s in the Box May 22-24

I truly wish the interweb had smell-0-vision or scratch & sniff capabilities. There is just so much in bloom! The landscape and plant life changes everyday. Between plums, apples, and lilac scents blowing in on the breeze, I am in heaven.

In this week's CSA box: Overwintered Parsnips, Asparagus, Rhubarb, Green Garlic, Egyptian Walking Onion, Radishes, Spinach or Sauté Mix, Nettles, Sorrel & Garden Herb Packs.

Besides the trees & fields bearing fruit, so are the forest floors. Richard took us out to an amazing dead elm where we gathered all these morel mushrooms! All in one evening's trip. It was my first time mushroom hunting and Chef Nichole has prepared them for a couple evening meals - as a deep fried appetizer (fried in safflower oil) with a blue cheese/dill dipping sauce, in a red wine sauce with flank steak, and creamed in risotto with ramps. She also dried some for later. Yum. Well worth the slogging up hills & risking ticks.

Anna and the field crew have a new toy - the new Salad cutter. It does the cutting that people otherwise would have had to do (backbreaking work, no?), runs the greens up the conveyor & into the totes. Then they bring it back to the farm for a cool wash, dry & it gets bagged. But don't worry, we're not replacing people and going automated or to all machines. As you can see in the background, we still do a lot of weeding by hand. Big ups to all our hardworking crew!

What's in the Box May 15-17

The second CSA box of the 2008 season

Ten reasons to love spring! Overwintered parsnips, nettles, burdock, sunchokes, sorrel, rhubarb, ramps, chives, overwintered spinach and asparagus.

Plus baby goats! On the left, Rhiannon holds Baby Boy. On the right is Baby Girl. Both only 1 day old! The girl is the stronger of the two, but both seem to be doing well.

Happy Birthday!

It's been crazy busy here these last couple of weeks! We're in week two of CSA deliveries and they are going better than I expected. We're making good boxes, they're getting to the people they should be getting to (mostly) and most importantly, people are excited about and enjoying their veggies!

Last week, we celebrated Richard's birthday and Cinco de Mayo. Let's just say the cake was too small to fit all the candles on it.

That week we also got our baby chickens! They will soon supply us with all the eggs we'll need to feed the crew. I am no wildlife photographer, but I think you'll get the idea of how funny and skittish they are. We are all especially enamoured of this little white guy with the funny poofy pompadour.

Last night one of our three expecting goats gave birth to kids - a boy and a girl. Again, I am no wildlife (or domesticated life) photographer and Mama wouldn't let me too close, but say hello to the newest member of the Harmony Valley Farm crew! He's the spitting image of his proud father, too! The doe is behind mama. You'll see more of them as they start to wander the pastures.

First Thunderstorm

My housemate Clovis says that the valley has been waiting and listening for the first thunder. We had a storm last night and whether it's the lightning that fixes the nitrogen in the soil or if the thunder really woke up all the living things, he predicts that things are really going to start happening now. I'm just glad the snow didn't come as predicted - snow after a thunderstorm would be just too freaky to wake up to.

Despite the rather miserable rain, some plants got moved from the greenhouse outside to the coldframes!

Career Opportunity at Harmony Valley Farm

Financial and Information Systems Specialist
Do you have a business mind AND a passion for organic agriculture? If so, read on to see if we may have found our match. We are seeking an organized, detail-oriented professional to join our team as the farm’s primary resource for financial and IT functions.

The primary responsibilities of the financial component for this position include, among other things:
Keeping the financial records
Providing financial reports to the management team
Managing Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable
Payroll and related HR financial accounting and reporting
Maintaining a product cost system
Participating in financial analysis of the business
The IT component of this position includes, among other things:
Maintenance of a management information system based on our existing Access database
Development of improvements to the management information system as our needs evolve
Leadership for improved integration of existing information systems for accounting, customer information, costing, and other data
Required personal skills:
Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a small team setting
Self-starter able to take initiative and follow tasks through to completion
Good with interpersonal relations.
Effective verbal and written communication skills
Required technical skills:
Previous work experience in business, accounting or economics
Bachelor’s Degree in business, economics, or other financial-related area not required, but a definite plus
Proficiency in using Quickbooks, MS Access, MS Word, MS Excel, and Outlook.
Book keeping skills.
Accuracy with numbers.
Attention to detail.

Compensation and Benefits
· Compensation commensurate with experience
· Opportunity to work in our gorgeous valley
· Health Insurance Plan
· SIMPLE retirement plan with 3% employer match
· Opportunity to breathe fresh, country air
· Lunch provided Mon-Fri mid-April through mid-November, prepared by the farm chef featuring organic vegetable and meat from the farm plus organic fruit & cheese!

Position Available Immediately! Please send resumé and/or inquiries to andrea@harmonyvalleyfarm.com

Early April Greenhouse Update

The sun is finally burning off the fog that has obscured the valley this morning. It's still pretty cold and sometimes frosty in the mornings but they are predicting 60 degrees tomorrow!

We're filling the greenhouses and have moved trays into the ancient lean - to (at left). This structure came with the farm.The other greenhouses were built within the last couple years and we are contemplating adding another in the next few seasons!

The nursery greenhouse was busy this morning, with Hector and Simone doing a second planting of fennel seeds. As you can see, the trays and trays of peppers are thriving!

The herb packs and okra are coming along well, too. We think the herb packs will be ready for CSA delivery for the end of May - just in time to plant in your own garden!

I took a walk across the road to check on the big greenhouse - it's almost full to capacity!! Soon the onions will be moved to the cold frames outside and then to the field!!

The progress with all the little plants is amazing to me. The trays are filling in and the plants are colorful, tall, lush, healthy. Left to right we have:

Red Marimba & Green North Star Lettuce

Fennel and lettuce

Kohlrabi & Napa Cabbage

Broccoli & Bok Choi

We still have shares available for our CSA and now is the time to sign up. Our first deliveries are the weeks of May 8-10 & May 15-17, depending on what you order. We still have coffee, fruit & cheese shares available too! And Beef! OMG go to our website & read all about it! Eat local, go organic, be an adventurous cook, live well my friend.

Onions, kohlrabi and herbs! Oh my!

Spring has really sprung! The snow we got on the first day of spring is pretty quickly melting and the greenhouses are filling up! Onions were one of the first crops to get started on the heat tables and here's a little photographic progress for you to see.

Right now we have seven varieties of scallions, white cipollini, early sweet candy onions, two different red cipollini, four varieties of storage onions, three varieties of leeks, and four kinds of shallots.

We've also started:

Celeriac-Diamant, Mars & President

Herbs for our CSA herb packs: Rosemary, thyme, savory, Greek oregano, sage, Giant of Italy parsley, krausa/curly parsley, & stevia.

Two edible Violas- Sorbet & Helen mount

Plus two kinds of brocolli, three cauliflower, five kohlrabi, two bok choi (including a gorgeous red choi), four varieties cabbage, two fennel, a super cool purple Concerto Artichoke, SEVEN different kinds of lettuce, two varieties of dandelion greens.

Today we will start three kinds of kale and collard greens.

This week we will plant 4-5 different eggplants, basil, two Okra varieties (Little Lucy & Cajun Delight) and SEVENTEEN different varieties of peppers!!!

Next week: TOMATOES!

This is all just in the greenhouse. We will direct sow carrots, beets, garlic (already in the ground over winter), spinach, salad mix, radish, chard, cilantro, dill, arugula, edamame, green beans, corn, parsnips, sunchokes, turnips, potatoes, peas, rutabaga, sweet potatoes.

When I say we, I mean our amazing field crew. I just work in the office and blog. Our latest newsletter is available on our website - check it out!