Eat Like You Mean It: CSA Week 18

August 28 – 31, 2017

We have used the phrase “walk like you mean it” more than a few times around here over the years with each other, when one of us is not showing enough hustle, or when someone is attending to an urgent situation. We also adopted an “eat like you mean it” policy along the way, which has motivated us to grow so many types of food. We want the nourishment of our bodies to come from wholesome, whole foods. Thank you for your commitment to do the same, so we can combine providing nourishment together with our love for farming.

Each of us eats for our health, plain and simple. There is no fuzzy math here: consuming fresh fruits and vegetables = a healthy human. Or, consuming pasture-based protein = a healthy human. Therefore, we all should step up and give ourselves a fighting chance if we have the opportunity, and access to such foods. There are countless insidious diseases and human body function issues to deal with, so why add diet related problems to the list? Believe me, doctors want healthy patients.

Nor is there fuzzy math in organic certification. Certified Organic > non-certified organic a/k/a conventionally produced foods. There is a plethora of data to show the void of pesticide residue in organic foods. Factor in the robust plant biome associated with those fruits and vegetables that then feed our human microbiome, and we are looking at factors of 10. There is scientific proof, more than just evidence, that forage-based meats have a heart-healthy nature, versus commercial meat products. Compound that knowledge with all manner of preservatives, artificial flavors, sugar, fake sugar, fake-fake sugar, GMO based oils, etc. and the logic is off the charts to keep them out of our bodies. The math adds up exponentially.

For us to eat like we mean it, it was simplest to just grow it. And it needed to be certified organic. And the meats needed to be forage/grass/pastured-based production. We then realized there was no need to be selfish about it, as we could build a business around growing enough for lots of people. The benefit is we can have such nourishing food whenever we want it.

As CSA summer shareholders, you have made a choice to eat like you mean it as well. If you additionally shop the farmers market regularly, you are upping your game to eat like you mean it. You are to be commended for taking charge of your food, and your health.

With all that being said, here is the game plan for the next few weeks. First, the summer season is not over, just because it feels like fall all of a sudden. Revel in the tomatoes, freeze some, and share them with friends and neighbors. You can even neatly take a few slices of a good pink tomato into the restaurant to replace the tomato-looking thing that comes with your meal. We have more plantings of several summer season vegetables seeded with the idea they will be available until a week or so after frost in October. Fall crops are coming along nicely, and while the cool season produce is planted in the heat, it matures beautifully in the fall and winter.

As so many like to eat good food all year, we now have three season- extending greenhouse-type structures, called high tunnels. The plants are growing in the ground, underneath the plastic film-covered structure, which can provide enough protection to grow and harvest leafy greens all winter long. Some of the field production can be covered with a gauzy fabric that will give us a three to five degree buffer as colder weather sets in, therefore extending the harvest season a few weeks as well.

Therefore, the season does not have to end with the last summer share delivery at the end of September. Many of you have already signed up to receive a fall share; others may want to do so. As a reminder, we go to an every-other-week Thursday pickup schedule in Lexington, Frankfort, and Louisville, along with farmers market style pickup here at the farm on Thursdays as well. The Lexington Farmers Market is a pickup option in the fall and winter seasons on Saturdays downtown, as we attend the market under the pavilion all winter. Additionally, we will be at the St. Matthews farmers market on Saturday through October 14^th and on Southland Drive in Lexington through the last Sunday in October, the 29^th this year. The Hyde Park Farmers Market moves into Clark Montessori School in October, and will continue as a good pick-up location for those of you in the Cincinnati /Northern Kentucky area on Sunday from 10am to 1pm.

While for many years we enjoyed some of our own food year-round, at the request of you, our customers, we upped our production to make our foods available to you so you will access to organic good food all year. Certainly the offerings change throughout the year and we may not have everything you want, but eating with the seasons fits with natural bio-rhythms. Hopefully you have some summer squash or tomatoes tucked away in the freezer for that little taste of summer in the dead of winter. If not, we offer our Marinara Sauce and jarred Diced Tomatoes so we can enjoy local and organic tomatoes all year long.

By starting with the best Kentucky soils, using a well-planned organic production system, and choosing top varieties, we know we grow some of the most wholesome food in the world. We also know that all of us should eat this kind of food all year long, not just in the short summer season. By continuing with a fall CSA share, you’ll be provided with nutritious, whole foods all fall. And then we can all eat like we mean it! – Mac Stone

In Your Share

Fresh Basil

Celery

Cucumbers

Edamame Soybean

Potatoes

Spaghetti Squash

Tomatoes

Okra