May/June on the farm

Hi everyone!

So much has happened here since I last wrote a newsletter! First I’m going to talk a lot about the weather. The plants had to adjust from cold temperatures this spring to high heat over the last few weeks. This can cause something called bolting where the plant thinks it's time to go to seed and it makes the crop less tasty to eat. The heat was toughest on our first succession planting of cucumbers and sweet potatoes. Sadly a lot of them perished because we planted them when it was too hot and they didn't get enough water over a long enough period of time. We were largely able to replant, and we learned that we need to respect these high heat days more, aka no planting! It's been a learning curve for us figuring out what to do when now that we have a larger crew of folks working with us, who, by the way, are awesome! We'll make sure to introduce them to you in our newsletter in the coming weeks.

The crew harvesting kale

Bryan seeding winter squash with a tool called a jab seeder. He loves it!

Squash baby from a couple of weeks ago

May is all about planting, and we have so many plants in the ground now! Last week we got the last of our big plantings done - okra, more hot peppers, more cucumbers and watermelon. Now that it's June we'll focus on planting additional successions of crops, WEEDING, and trellising. We have summer crops just kicking off and they'll be in full swing over the next couple of weeks.

Our barn also really took shape this week - the giant beam is in and we have four walls! Check out our Instagram to see a video of the walls going up.

I love this recipe because it feels decadent even though it's really simple. It feels like a classic way to trick yourself into eating more vegetables - put cheese on them!

This is again from the Six Seasons cookbook via David Lebovitz

Tuna Zucchini Casserole

This is a warming casserole that can be made in advance, and baked right before serving. Simply do all the steps through step 4 and refrigerate it, until ready to bake. It's best to let it come to room temperature before you do, so it heats evenly. It's perfect for lunch or dinner, along with a big green salad, and a glass of white wine.

1 1/2 pounds small zucchini or summer squash (this would be about 2 pints)
2 1/2 teaspoons Kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional oil for preparing the zucchini
2 cups thinly sliced scallions or spring onions
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 tins tuna, preferably packed in oil, light or dark (5 oz, 140g. each tin)
1 1/2 cups grated cheese, such as Comté, Gruyère, Emmenthal, extra-sharp cheddar, or Swiss cheese

1. Trim the ends off the zucchini and if small, slice them lengthwise. If they are larger, cut them into batons about 3/4 inch (2cm) thick. Place them in a colander and toss them with 2 teaspoons of salt. Let drain for 1 to 2 hours, shaking and turning them a few times, coaxing the excess water to drain away.

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions, thyme, some freshly ground pepper, the chili flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the scallions are wilted and soft, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 450ºF (230ºC). Blot the zucchini dry with a paper towel and toss them with a bit of olive oil on a baking sheet. (You can line the baking sheet with parchment paper for easier clean up if you want, or if you're parsimonious with the olive oil and are concerned they'll stick.) Spread them in an even layer, cut side down, and roast them in the oven just until tender, about 15 minutes, but don't cook them to mush.

4. Remove from the oven and place the zucchini in a single layer in a shallow baking dish or gratin dish that will fit them snugly in an even layer. Strew the scallions over the zucchini. Drain the tuna and flake it over the scallions and sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top.

5. Bake until the cheese is melted and starts to brown and the casserole is heated through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

We still have a few spots left in our CSA! Shares are automatically prorated when you sign up. Click the image below to to join us!

And that’s all for now! Hope you’ve enjoyed this snapshot of the farm, and we’ll report back soon!

What's New on our New Farm

Thanks for following along on our big adventure!

We’re so excited to share what’s happening on the farm with you.

We moved to our new farm in February of this year and there’s been a lot to do and a lot going on!

Barn building is underway. There were no outbuildings here so we’re having a building built to serve as our post-harvest wash and pack area along with some storage. EarthBound Builders have been hard at work preparing the absolutely massive beams that will support our barn. It's a process called timber framing. I couldn't get a picture that fit the whole thing in one frame! We have a sill and stem wall now, soon to be followed by an insulated concrete floor. After that the structure should come together quickly so we can start washing vegetables in it!

Big beam!

We're also getting a well drilled on the farm just in the nick of time for summer planting. Well drilling is a very strange process - the drilling company required us to pick the spot. We couldn't find any professional engineers or anything who specialize in well placement (why the well company wouldn't employ such a person is beyond me!) The spot that Bryan picked through dousing was too close to the waterway, so we had to pick a spot close and...no water. It's been really stressful and expensive and frustrating. Our neighbor is an experience douser and found exactly one spot where he thinks we'll find water at 200 feet. We'll tried again and…no water.

It was a very scary and expensive few days for us. We plan to try one more spot once it's dried out a bit so that the huge truck can get back to that spot on the farm. For now we're pumping water out of a river on our neighbor's property which is working very well. We only use this water for irrigating - never for washing produce! We are so relieved that we can water our crops effectively now.

Pretty pastel bee hives

We also now have honey bees on the farm! Well, almost. Chesapeake Queen Company brought up a few hives this past weekend and we were so excited! But, the spot that our neighbor picked as THE well spot is right next to where the bees were placed. After some frantic phone calls and closing up of hives, the beekeepers thought it would be best to take these hives back and bring some different hives in a couple of weeks. So it was a quick hello and goodbye, but got us so excited to have bee friends on the farm! I got a little too friendly after they arrived and got a wee little sting - a good lesson in patience and listening. A new crop of honey bees is back now that the drilling rig is out of the way.

We've also been planting up a storm! Radishes, turnips, spinach, lettuce, kale, collards, cabbage, peas, scallions and potatoes are all in the ground! Luckily none of our plants were impacted by the frosts we had a couple of weeks ago - we were super nervous after last year's Mother's Day frost so we planned on planting many things later. We planted our first summer squash and eggplant (pictured below) last week, and this week we're planting our first tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. It's still been pretty chilly at night - seemingly past the risk of frost but we still have wanted to keep our more tender summer crops protected from cooler temperatures.

Planting action!

Space is running out in our CSA for 2021! And there are two ways to come see us this week and pick up some plants - now is the prime time to plant summer crops!

SNAP payments for CSA

We just became authorized to accept SNAP at our farmers market and will be able to accept SNAP for CSA payments. We’re very excited to be able to do this! It does require us to make some slight adjustments to how we usually accept payment because SNAP customers cannot use their EBT cards for online payments. SNAP also cannot be used to pre-buy food.

Here’s how we’ll make this work:

• We’ll ask SNAP customers for a 2-week deposit ($44) in cash or check that we will refund at the end of the CSA season.

• Customers will pick up their boxes each week as usual.

• At the end of each month, we will be at pick up locations in person to swipe your EBT card for that month’s shares.

You will only be able to purchase vegetable shares with SNAP, but you can still purchase add ons with a credit card. The sites we’re currently planning on for SNAP payments are Rooster + Hen store on Wednesdays and Red Emma’s Cafe on Thursdays. If you’re interested in paying with SNAP at another site, email us we’ll try to figure it out.

We will hold spaces for folks who want to pay with SNAP, so if you’re interested, you can add your information to this list. We will follow up with you so that we can get you signed up.

Planning for COVID-19

We feel very grateful and honored to be able to keep doing what we love during this frightening moment in time: growing food for our community. We’re continually recalling this gratitude as we look toward the next few weeks and months of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

No matter what happens, we’re going to need to eat, and we’re committed to growing food for you. It’s worth noting that there’s no evidence that food is a transmission route or source for COVID-19. Plus, as farmers, we already do a whole lot of social distancing.

The situation is changing moment by moment, and so our plans will change, too, but we want to keep you up-to-date on our current contingency plans.

Here’s what we’re doing now:

• We’re planting lots of seeds and plants in the ground!

• It’s currently just the two of us (Bryan and Joanna) working on the farm and we are taking social distancing extremely seriously. We are also washing our hands all of the time, which we do in any case because we handle food.

• We’re reviewing our food safety plan (which we are happy to share with you - just send us an email) which includes not working when you’re sick and lots of hand washing. We’re working on implementing a paid sick time policy for staff once they start work in April.

• We’re staying informed about best practices for keeping our customers and soon to be workers safe and healthy.

• We’re offering a reduced down payment option from now through March 31st. You’ll need to pay for 2 weeks of deliveries up front, and then you’ll be charged per week for the remainder of the season. We hope this helps folks who are losing hours at their jobs or feeling generally financially insecure right now.

• We’re applying to accept WIC and SNAP at our farmers market stand and for CSA payments to help fee our food insecure community members.

• We will continue to pack shares to order and we’re looking into single use packaging. We will not be reusing wax boxes for the time being.

• We’re waiting to see when businesses reopen before we secure alternate pick up sites for our CSA members picking up at businesses.

• We may do some pop up sales through the Harvie Farmstand in April. For now, you can find our produce on Chesapeake Farm To Table and get it delivered right to your door!

• We will be at the Bel Air Farmers Market starting in May and we’re figuring out how we’ll set up in a way that is as safe and clean as possible, which will involve more pre-bagging and may involve online pre-orders.

• We’re exploring the logistics of a Food Access Fund that CSA members could contribute to to cover the costs of food donations, EBT processing fees and reduced cost CSA shares for food insecure households. Stay tuned!

We will keep this post updated as we learn more and make more decisions. We know we’ll get through this, and we know that we will get through it together.

New place to read about the farm!

You can stay up to date on our farm by reading the Latest Happenings on our Harvie page. Harvie is our CSA management website and this is where we now post our CSA newsletter each week. Here’s the link: https://www.harvie.farm/profile/good-dog-farm. Enjoy!

We also have a longer, jucier newsletter that’s just for CSA members! If you’re curious about the farm and would like a sample newsletter, add your email to the pop up that appeared when you first got to this page!

Last Week of Winter Share

Digging in for 2019!

Last Week of Winter Share

Hi everyone! We’ve arrived at the final week of our winter CSA shares. We hope you’ve enjoyed all of the winter veggies, and thank you for your support!

We will be deactivating our Small Farm Central website on March 15th. We recommend you roll over your existing CSA balance by March 15th because that’s the last day of our 5% Early Bird Discount; however, if you can’t create your new account by the 15th, your balance will still be available once you make your decision.

To roll over your balance now, reply to this email and we'll send you your personalized discount code. Then create your new CSA account on Harvie. 

We recommend that you sign up for your summer + fall shares soon - shares are selling fast!!

But it’s still snowing!!!

Again, many thanks to you, winter CSA members! We hope we can keep growing for you in 2019! Let us know if you have any questions about our new CSA shares.

— Joanna & Bryan

On the Brink

It just keeps snowing!

On the Brink

Hi everyone! Hope you’re reading this in a cozy, toasty place. The past couple of weeks have tantalized us with springy weather, and then snowed all over our dreams. We’re so close to getting going…but it’s not quite time yet. We have almost everything we need to get started in our possession like seeds and potting mix. We just don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and end up with giant baby plants with no where to put them because the ground is still too wet. As of this week, it’s been officially declared an El Nino Winter/ Spring this year, which leads us to believe it’ll be wetter than average again. This makes us feel gloomy, but can’t fully dampen our spring spirits. It’s about to be both of us full time on the farm, and we’re getting AMPED!!

As we organize ourselves for spring, we have decided that the last week of our winter CSA will be March 6th. We’ve sold out of many of our favorite winter goodies, and we also need to switch to our new web ordering system, Harvie and stop paying for our current service. We’ll extend the early bird sign up discount until March 15th so that folks can still order up through March 6th and then transfer their balance to a summer share. Once you’re ready to transfer your balance, send us an email and we’ll send you your personalized coupon code that will roll over your remaining balance. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.

Building up a surplus of sleep while we can

JOIN OUR 2019 CSA

Easier Ordering

We’ve switched our CSA website to a new service called Harvie that will make ordering your share much easier! We’re super excited, and guess that you will be too!

Still Customizeable

Instead of picking items each week, you’ll set your produce preferences at the beginning of the season, and receive only your favorites in your box. You can swap items before you receive your box or add extra vegetables for special events or preserving the harvest.

Still Has a Flexible Schedule

Pick up a share either weekly or biweekly. Going on vacation? No problem! Put your share on hold for the week, or reschedule for another pick up. We’re offering two 14-week seasons (June - mid September and mid September - December) this year for added flexibility.

Additional Pick Up Locations

Grab your share from HEX Ferments, Prime Corner in Hampden, Ednor Gardens or Charles Village! Plus, our newest pick up location for our South Baltimore friends: Bar Method in Locust Point!

Payment Plan Available

Pay in full or use a payment plan: 25% down at sign up, 25% the first week of delivery, and then the remaining 50% balance will be divided equally on your weekly pick up schedule.

DISCOUNTS FOR EARLY BIRDS

Sign up before March 15th and receive a 5% discount!

Sign up for both summer and fall shares and receive a 5% discount!

Do both to receive a 10% discount!

Lavishing the salad mix while it’s the start of the season

Thanks everyone! We can’t wait to grow for you this summer and fall!

- Joanna & Bryan

Get Yourself a Hat!

Treat yourself to a Good Dog Farm cap! They have adjustable mesh backs to fit all head sizes. Available in your CSA box - just add it to your box from the Farm Swag department.

And don’t forget to order your share for this week by Monday!

Conference season

Good morning, everyone. It is decidedly not wintry today, but we did get some good snow dogs time in last weekend. FYI, we’ll likely only be doing newsletters every other week for a little while, as there’s very little to report with 10F nights on the forecast.

This weekend kicked off our annual mini conference season. Our region has two wonderful sustainable agriculture conferences every year. Friday and Saturday was the Future Harvest - CASA conference in College Park, while the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture will be held in a few weeks in Lancaster. There are trade shows, workshops on everything from effective workforce management strategies to how to bake bread with local flour, and many opportunities to catch up with old friends in the region and make new ones. If you have dreams of starting your own farm or garden, or local food business, it’s a great place to start.

This year Joanna learned about options for diversifying our business with mushrooms, and Bryan taught a workshop on wholesale opportunities for the small farm. CASA also honored Chip Planck, a retired farmer from Loudon County, VA, who, with his wife Susan, is a legend in our region as one of the originals doing and promoting organics in the DC area. Chip is a big reason why Joanna and I are farming together today. After retiring from farming himself, he has helped nurture networks of new farmers in the region, and has served as president of the CASA board, stewarding it’s strategies for sustainable farming education and development for many years. Joanna and I met at a CASA training series, and we’ve learned a great deal of what has made us successful at CASA-led programs. I remember Chip saying before a workshop, that we were all there to learn lots of details about how to plan and sell and be successful, but that the most important part was to have the passion to just go out there and do it, and make it work as you can as you go. That inspiration has stuck with us, and it was really lovely to see Chip honored in this way.

That’s it for us this week. Bundle up this weekend and eat some cabbage! And don’t forget to…

JOIN OUR 2019 CSA

Easier Ordering

We’ve switched our CSA website to a new service called Harvie that will make ordering your share much easier! We’re super excited, and guess that you will be too!

Still Customizeable

Instead of picking items each week, you’ll set your produce preferences at the beginning of the season, and receive only your favorites in your box. You can swap items before you receive your box or add extra vegetables for special events or preserving the harvest.

Still Has a Flexible Schedule

Pick up a share either weekly or biweekly. Going on vacation? No problem! Put your share on hold for the week, or reschedule for another pick up. We’re offering two 14-week seasons (June - mid September and mid September - December) this year for added flexibility.

Additional Pick Up Locations

Grab your share from HEX Ferments, Prime Corner in Hampden, Ednor Gardens or Charles Village!

Payment Plan Available

Pay in full or use a payment plan: 25% down at sign up, 25% the first week of delivery, and then the remaining 50% balance will be divided equally on your weekly pick up schedule.

DISCOUNTS FOR EARLY BIRDS

Sign up before February 28th and receive a 5% discount!

Sign up for both summer and fall shares and receive a 5% discount!

Do both to receive a 10% discount!

It's 2019!

Getting into the New Year’s redecorating spirit!

It’s 2019!

Happy new year again! Almost one week in and it’s really feeling official. Bryan is deep into budgeting and crop planning, and I’m wrangling our 2018 books getting them ready for our saintly accountant. That being said, we’re still cleaning up from 2018. Before we know it, it’ll be March and we’ll be running around like chickens with our heads cut off! In an effort to offer you the best CSA in 2019, we have big news now…

JOIN OUR 2019 CSA

Easier Ordering

We’ve switched our CSA website to a new service called Harvie that will make ordering your share much easier! We’re super excited, and guess that you will be too!

Still Customizeable

Instead of picking items each week, you’ll set your produce preferences at the beginning of the season, and receive only your favorites in your box. You can swap items before you receive your box or add extra vegetables for special events or preserving the harvest.

Still Has a Flexible Schedule

Pick up a share either weekly or biweekly. Going on vacation? No problem! Put your share on hold for the week, or reschedule for another pick up. We’re offering two 14-week seasons (June - mid September and mid September - December) this year for added flexibility.

Additional Pick Up Locations

Grab your share from HEX Ferments, Prime Corner in Hampden, Ednor Gardens or Charles Village!

Payment Plan Available

Pay in full or use a payment plan: 25% down at sign up, 25% the first week of delivery, and then the remaining 50% balance will be divided equally on your weekly pick up schedule.

DISCOUNTS FOR EARLY BIRDS

Sign up before February 28th and receive a 5% discount!

Sign up for both summer and fall shares and receive a 5% discount!

Do both to receive a 10% discount!

What We’re Drinking

Feeling like you need a restorative beverage after holiday indulgences? Try some spearmint tea from our friends at Hydes Hill Herbs. It’s cooling and cleansing on your insides. Drinking it as a hot tea still feels warm and wintery despite its chilly properties. Available in the Herbs and Teas section of Small Farm Central.

Rosie is not ready to stop holiday eating!

Feel free to let us know if you have any questions about our summer/fall CSA - we hope you’ll join us!

Cheers!

- Joanna & Bryan