Greetings!

The CSA season is now upon us, and we're very excited here at Touch the Earth Farm to welcome our seasonal members! The first pick up date at the farm will be June 4th, the first Monday of the month, between the hours of 10 and 2pm. NIST pick ups need to be scheduled for Wednesdays by emailing Jim.

We were especially pleased to see several of you at the Memorial Day BBQ. Thank you so much for coming and helping to make the day so much fun!

In this week's market bag:

Eating seasonally brings its own rhythms—rhythms that have been lost to the supermarket's global offerings. Importing grapes from Chile or South Africa, strawberries and tomatoes from Mexico means year-round availability of foods that traditionally ebb and flow with the seasons. Here at Touch the Earth Farm, we've found ourselves relearning those traditional rhythms and revamping our menus in the process, not always an easy thing to do. To help ease that transition and showcase uses for the various items you'll receive, we'll feature several recipes each month at the newsblog, so check in frequently.

* variety of greens, including romaine, leafy green, red lettuce, and spinach (specific varieties will be listed at the newsblog)
* green onions
* strawberries
* radishes
* variety of herbs

Business:

Don't forget to check in at the Touch the Earth Farm Newsblog, where you'll find information, updates, share listings, and tasty recipes to try.

Duck and chicken will soon be available, probably the first or second week of July; please reserve your birds now to ensure availability, as we have only limited numbers of each. CSA members have priority reservations through the last week of June, at which time we'll begin taking reservations from outside our CSA community. Email for pricing and availability.

News:

We're so excited to announce our first births here at Touch the Earth Farm! For those who don't already know, we had our first goat born here on the farm: Dragon, a little buckling, weighing 4.5 lbs.

Our Narragansett turkey hen recently hatched her first clutch of eggs, resulting in 11 poults. Much easier to let mama's be mama's than to micro-manage everything!

We'll also be adding our two new tamworth pigs, one of which will be kept here as a mate and companion for Maya, and we'll be welcoming our three Navajo-Churro ewe lambs on June 2nd.

Happenings:

We've spent the past several weeks moving all but our goats, who are still enjoying the barn, into pasture rotation with electric netting. Housing the animals in these movable paddocks for three seasons not only helps keep our animals safe, but also works to the benefit of the grasses, soil, and animals.

Pastures get fully rather than selectively grazed, which means that animals eat a variety of plants not just their favorites. The advantage to this is that more plants are grazed rather than only a select few being over-grazed, reducing weed pressure and preventing damage to plants that have been nibbled too close to the ground.

The soil benefits by receiving a more even manure application instead of concentrated doses in preferred areas, and the animals benefit by frequent moves to fresh pasture, boosting nutrition and breaking parasite/ disease cycles.

Pitch In!

We're currently collecting old sheer curtains in light colors to use as row covers; these help protect crops like broccoli from insect damage. If you, friends, or family have any to donate, please bring them along on your next visit.

We always recycle used pulp egg cartons, so please return them rather than throwing them away. While Maryland law doesn't allow us to reuse egg cartons for our eggs, we can use them for making homemade paper.

A rain dance might not be a bad idea at this point. We've received a little less than an inch of rain for the entire month of May, and there's little precipitation on the horizon, other than the capricious "scattered thunderstorm." The combination of high temperatures and low rainfall are already taking a toll on the pastures, which more reflect mid-August than late spring. Eventually, crops like sweet corn will suffer too. Of course, we can't control the weather, but a little collective positive intention never hurts. We'll continue to harvest all the rain that comes our way, storing it in 50 gallon rain barrels and 400 gallon storage cubes, and we'll continue to irrigate responsibly and sustainably, minimizing crop loss as much as possible.

Thanks!

Danielle at Touch the Earth Farm