Clagett Farm Notes

A full Saturday

Saturday was a very full day.  All the farm tractors worked on various parts of the farm--disking, seeding, cultivating. And volunteers and worksharers came in full force, and they not only harvested, but also weeded and hoed. Thanks! The strawberries are not yet at their peak, but this did not deter shareholders from picking ripe berries. Sarah Tooley, who frequently volunteers at the farm, besides getting her hands dirty with field work was given the farm's camera and recruited as a photographer. Here are three of the photos she took.

Worksharers harvesting young chard.

June Arrington, shareholder and worksharer, washing leaf lettuce.

Girls picking herbs.

For more photos or for larger versions of the above, visit our 2005 photo album.

First Share Thank Yous. Strawberries--Not Quite. More Transplanting.

Shareholders, thank you for making our first share such a good experience. It was great to be greeted by smiling old-timers as well as to see eager and curious new shareholders. Expect much of the same in the second share. Details will probably follow after Tuesday's harvest (it's still Monday, as I'm writing this). I have to say, though, that I was overoptimistic when last Tuesday I told Dupont shareholders that they will be getting strawberries in their second share. There are strawberries to pick, just not enough to harvest. But this weekend will probably be a good one for those who want to come to the farm and pick their own berries.

Moving on to later crops, last Thursday we had our second (and last) session of tomato transplanting. This year we transplanted the same amount of tomatoes as last year, so shareholders can expect plenty of tomatoes later in the summer. Whether the harvest will be as plentiful as last year's is another issue--we'll certainly do our best, the rest is up to Mother Nature.

Weather permitting, we will transplant sweet potatoes later on this week.

That's Megan's left hand placing a tomato seedling into the "pinchers" of the transplanter. In her right hand she is holding the camera (quite a feat). Sitting to her left is Kenji. For a photo presenting a wider view and to read a quick explanation on how the transplanter works, go to Transplanting, an April 11 post.

Our email lists and weblog

A note on our email lists and weblog that, I hope, will dispel any confusion. We now have two mailing lists: the From the Ground Up (FGU) list and the Sharers list.

FGU list

The FGU list is an announcement or read-only list. FGU CSA staff can send messages to the list, but subscribers cannot reply to those messages (or to put it more accurately, a reply to an FGU list message will not be distributed to the list.) We tried to subscribe all shareholders and worksharers to this list, but more than likely we inadvertently left some people out. To subscribe to the FGU list, click here

Sharers list

The Sharers list is for shareholders, worksharers and volunteers. If you are a subscriber you can use the Sharers list to arrange "share pools" if you want to take turns in picking up weekly shares, or you can make transportation arrangements for trips to the farm (carpools among volunteers and worksharers), or you can ask about a veggie, or share a recipe with fellow susbcribers. To subscribe to Sharers click here.

Weblog

Besides these email lists we also have this weblog, Clagett Farm Notes. In last year's members survey several of you commented that even though you liked the weblog you often forgot to check it. Now you can avoid this problem by subscribing to our Updates Notifier (run by Bloglet.) To subscribe to the notifier, find the Updates Notifier info in the upper left corner (left sidebar)) and enter your email address. After subscribing you will be notified by email within 24 hours of a new posting to Clagett Farm Notes. The notifying email message will include the first 150 characters of the post as well as a link to it.

If you are into RSS feeds, you can also subscribe Clagett Farm Notes to your RSS reader. Click here to get our feed, or find the link for it right below the Updates Notifier link.

USA TODAY article on CSAs

A couple of thoughtful shareholders informed us about an article on CSA farms in today's USA TODAY. Click below if you have not yet read it.

Link: USATODAY.com - Support from city folk takes root on the farm.

CSA shares closed

As of April 26, 2005 our full-price shares for this season at all pick-up sites have filled up.  It took us a bit of time to be sure, since we had to finish plugging everyone's orders into the database.  We're terribly sorry we have to turn anyone down, so here are your other options:
1) Come to our farmstand at the Anacostia Farmers Market any Wednesday after June 1, 3-7pm. It's on 14th St, SE, between U and V Streets. This is a small, inexpensive market that could use your support.
2) Come for a work share!  You are welcome any Monday through Saturday.  We begin at 7:30-8am weekdays and 8:30-9am Satudays.  Four adult hours gives you a week of vegetables. 
3) Let us know that you are interested and we'll make sure you are alerted about shares for 2006 as soon as they are available. 

The Promise of Strawberries

Our two strawberry fields are flowering, which means that in not too long shareholders will be enjoying delicious fresh berries. And remember that shareholders are welcome to "you pick" them--we will let you know when the time comes.

1st share postponed

We are postponing our first share a week due to the cool spring we have had this year.  Soil temperatures have stayed so low that although our crops are planted and healthy, they are growing very slowly.  We need an extra week for the strawberries to ripen, and the lettuce and spinach to size up.  Your first share will be May 17 (Dupont and Farm Tuesday), May 18 (Anacostia) and May 21 (Farm Saturday).  We'll call or email everyone to alert you sometime this week.  Thanks for your patience!