hooray!

And today the season really starts to rock.

The share:

• 1 head of lettuce.
• 1/2 bag of mizuna.
• 1 quart of potatoes (they are little so this is like 10 potatoes).
• 1 head of green garlic.
• 10 collard greens.
• 2 red tomatoes.
• 1/2 bag of mix n' match, and I picked up 4 green bell peppers (!), 1 dark purple eggplant (they had light purple too), 1 pat-a-pan squash, and a bunch of carrots.
• 2 Sun Gold cherry tomatoes (just for kicks...).
• 1 pint of beans, including wax beans and flat beans.
• 2 bunches of herbs.
• And I was entitled to 45 stems of flowers that I did not pick, for reasons below.

And that reason would be that they had a cookout today! It is tough to go pick veggies when you are hungry, and pretty near impossible when you can smell bar-b-que. They asked everyone to bring a salad or dessert, so I brought my bean dip. I literally took the plastic wrap off the dip and was pouring in the chips when it was swamped. I wandered away to pick my herbs and beans, and when I got back there wasn't much left. Yay!

There was a huge tray of baked squash, a couple nice green salads, a lovely watermelon mint salad made by people I sat with, great zucchini bread, a nice fruit bread little cupcake thing, chicken, veggie burgers, and tons more. It was really well run and everyone was fun to talk to. I talked to a couple of the interns, and many of them have been on the farm for two or three years. It's about a 7 week internship, and you work a lot. But that's a great summer job, because it gives you a couple weeks to yourself. It sounds like they learn a ton about food and food production.

Part of the event was that they are raising money for a shed and need $12,000 to do it. The tractors need safe storage (which will really help them last longer). The Food Project is a a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, even though we buy shares. The shares contribute to about 15% of their annual budget. It's worth a visit to their website, as they post tons of fundraising (like they've teamed up with Jack Johnson) and volunteer (picking squash anyone?) opportunities. They also work with other local farms on various events. I spoke with someone on the board, who suggested that I come and volunteer in the fall on Saturdays. I plan do that if math classes don't conflict.

Also, today I was convinced that I should participate in the winter share. I guess you get 40-50 pounds of produce at each of two pickups, full of squash and root veggies and garlic, plus breads and products made by the farm. Last year it was so sad when the share ended, so the winter share should really help. I wish I had a root cellar!