Sunday, August 19, 2007

Waiting for rain

I am sitting her waiting (and hoping) for it to rain. Quite pathetic really. The grass is brown and crunchy, the apple trees are droopy (we did water them using our "Tree Gators"), and the leaves on the sycamore trees are already changing color and dropping off the trees. On the other hand, at the CSA (Community-supported agriculture) farm we belong to the warm, dry weather has given us a much better harvest than last year. They can deal with little to no rain through drip irrigation. Too much rain (like last year) results in crops rotting in the ground. Last week, among other things, I picked up 8 pounds of tomatoes (yellow, orange, and red). I am going to make sauce today. I highly recommend joining a CSA if you have one near you. You get high-quality local organic (generally) produce (often in varieties you won't get at the store), you help the farmers make a living, keep land in agricultural use, and learn about cooking with vegetables. The CSA we belong to also requires 8 hours of farm work per share per season. This year I have helped with the garlic and onion harvests and helped "renovate" the strawberry patch. I will complete our hours (I'm doing them all this year because of The Wife's recent health issues) this week. Because a share is really too much for 2 people to eat we are going to share a share with some friends next year.

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