Brief notes and some photos

Well, mostly a photo blog this week, I think. It's been rainy and stormy here in Iowa which means some of the planting and other field work has been postponed, but it also means we've had time to do and talk about some of the behind the scenes work that happens here. It also means time for conversation with some of the other crew members - most notably the ultra conservative Regular Baptist (can anyone tell me what that means??) teenagers who work a couple of times a week. How to keep a level head when a 15 year old boy tells you a woman shouldn't been a minister because it's not a woman's role to teach??? He seems to take direction from our fearless female farmer just fine, so I sense some cognitive dissonance. Perhaps an issue to slowly and persistently address over the course of the summer.

CSA Boxes this week included lettuce, spinach, green onions and radishes. We just picked the first of the snow peas (below) for market tomorrow, and those will get included in next week's share. They are delicious - crisp, crunchy and just a little sweet.

Eli and I are headed to Clarinda, IA (southwestern corner of the state) tomorrow to attend an organic farm "field day" put together by the Practical Farmers of Iowa, a nonprofit that works to improve communication and knowledge sharing between Iowa farmers of all types. The farm we're headed to transitioned from conventional to organic corn and soy, and introduced a couple acres of veggies to their production as well. I'm looking forward to seeing another operation now that I have a fairly decent understanding of the one we're on. Hopefully I'll find some time and energy to report and reflect on how the weekend goes. In meantime we are sending lots of love!

Snow peas harvested for Saturday Farmer's Market.

One of the old, but still useful, farm buildings at OSTG. See the clouds in the windows?

The front pasture, lane, and East Twin Lake.

Row of lettuce just before harvest in the hoop or "high tunnel" house. Tomatoes on the right.

My current blogging and general communication location, until the the flatbed needs moving. =)