Flood Tide
plus market begins May 3rd and only a few CSA spots left!
Hi friends,
The last few weeks at Long Step have been full. As I mentioned in our last newsletter, I took a rare off-farm job the last couple weeks facilitating a writing course for Freeflow Institute rafting the upper half the Grand Canyon. It was a tough time to be away from the farm but Nick, P and our incredible crew held the ship steady while I was away. It was worth it. I return home exhausted, filled up and still rinsing desert sand from my hair. More on this journey later, but for now, the plant babes are three times taller than when I left, the seeding is on track, the lettuce mix is nearly ready to harvest and I’m more grateful than I can say for both the time away and the feeling of coming home.
Now that I’m back, we’re busy prepping for market season around here. Clark Fork Market starts in less than two weeks. We’ll be in the same spot as last year, with one additional space. This spring we’ll have more produce than we’ve ever had to sell at the first market, thanks to some early seeding and our new caterpillar tunnel space. We’ll likely have lettuce mix, greens mix, spinach, radishes and herbs in addition to plant starts available next Saturday. We’ll also be selling our fun new merch – hats and tote bags! Come check them out.
In the spirit of my time on the river and sharing stories, I’m trying something new this week: I’ve copied a farm poem below that I wrote a few years back. This might be the only time you ever see a poem in this newsletter so if you hate it, feel free to skip. But in case you could use a poem today, here it is.
Flood Tide I tell you to visit in the evening, sun falling steep toward mountain. Shadows cast forgiveness on yellowing fields, rose light disguising. We walk edges and aisles, sheep hollering from fenceline and in this late July light I hope you’ll only see the flowers: steep arc of snapdragon heads cascading, orange red and umber pulse of marigold dense with bee hum. This summer has crushed like a wave, tidal in its persistent drum. After winter too mild to kill what it should spring stretched late, mornings ice crusted. Heat hit like a semi we didn’t see coming. It slides down our faces now by eight a.m., cilantro bolting, lettuce bitter peas already past tender, yellow on their vines too fast. A tomatillo grows in the middle of the winter squash, a lettuce head thrives in the zinnias and the magpies are stealing the chicken eggs. By July, we live leaned toward weather relearning the lesson of triage. We trade peppers for the struggling radish bed, onions for kale. We spend an afternoon weeding the garlic but ignore the brassica bed. The cabbage moths descended weeks ago. We can’t bother to check the damage. Still, we walk the fields when you visit, past patches of dry dirt overrun by green tumble, and I’m thinking maybe I can forgive the spaces between thick with weeds, the flea beetle, grasshopper, caterpillar cacophony, – our cocktails clutched in this pink edge-erasing light – when you pause and bend to the row of cabbages, a place I’ve lately trained my eyes to skip. These are perfect, you whisper and they are. Tops fat and creamy yellow, spiral centers curved from bellies swollen green with leaf. I hadn’t even seen them: too much life to keep track of. On Saturday we’ll bring the cabbages to market. We’ll nestle them between our bagged salad greens and straightest carrots, beets deep purple and gold, herbs bundled, scallion roots trimmed, the summer abundance made shiny. We’ll wear our shirts freshly washed, pants without patches and the cabbages you found will sell the quickest.
FARM NEWS:
Our CSA is nearly sold out! If you’ve been hoping to sign up, now’s probably a good time. Here’s a link with even more info, FAQs etc. Thanks to everyone who has helped spread the word for us these past few months. We’re stoked to be almost sold out and looking forward to growing food for all of our CSA members this summer!
Clark Fork Market starts SATURDAY, May 3rd! We’ll be all set up under our yellow tent in our regular spot with plant starts plus lettuce mix, spinach, braising greens, radishes and herbs, 8am-1pm! Can’t wait to see y’all.
ASK A FARMER!
After the no-till post a few weeks ago, I'm hoping to get back on a roll with answering questions and engaging with this space. I’ll likely still keep the every other week rhythm as we move into busy season. With that said, I’m officially re-extending the offer - Ask A Farmer is open! If y’all have any farm or garden adjacent questions, please send them my way. Thank you thank you thank you to you all, for engaging and showing up for this space!
Tune in next week friends, for another dispatch from the farm.
More poetry, dear one. Feeling you!
Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!