We are, most definitely, a community farm. We exist for and because of our community. And we could not do this work alone. We can’t introduce every face/heart/set of hands that allow us to exist and flourish (in many different ways!) but we get to introduce to you today the bulk of our full time crew for 2016. These are the hands and smiles (and brains and muscles and sweat…) that are making our food possible this year. (Photo credit above goes to Mike Reilly of Foodwaze who paid us a lovely visit this week. Pay attention to what Foodwaze is doing!)
Sarah, above, is one of our interns this year. She hails most recently from Charlottesville and is a recent UVA graduate. See below her hands, preparing a tray for seeds.
Skipping around, staff wise, for the sake of showing work tasks in sequential order, you can see Dan, below, prepping a bed for planting. (Most of our seeds are started in trays in the greenhouse, where they get a head start on planting. Then, a few weeks later on average, they are transplanted into the beds. A few crops we direct seed into the beds.)
Spencer, below, is another intern with us this season. A Richmond native, he has an impressive resume of international travel. We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm and commitment of these two individuals to spend a season working and learning with us on our farm. Sarah and Spencer will be part of every step of the season, including CSA pick up and the farmers’ markets. Get ready to see a lot of them!
Kyle, whose face is pictured in the first photo and whose hands are at work in the photo below, returns with us this year (after an internship position last year) to run our farmstead bakery. He spent much of this winter elbow deep in bread dough to learn how to interact with it. He has spent hours tending the fire in our wood-fired oven, recording temperatures, loading dough, and unloading baked bread to learn the personality of our new oven. He is now the masterful hands and heart behind our bread, as we (Dan & Janet) reached our limits of managing both farm and bakery without another full time professional. We love the combination of our vegetables, herbs, and old-world style, organic bread. We are so glad to have Kyle here!
Over the next couple of weeks, we hope to inspire you in new ways to prepare the vegetables we grow, creating delicious and nourishing meals for yourself and/or your family. Along the way, we will continue to help you learn about how we grow and why. Thank you for being part of our farm!
Until next week, we leave you with this thought, which we shared via Instagram this morning: Says Dan Barber of the ultimate goal of good farming in his book The Third Plate: “To grow nature is to encourage more of it. That’s not easy to do. More nature means less control. Less control requires a certain kind of faith, which is where the worldview comes into play. Do you see the natural world as needing modification and improvement, or do you see it as something to be observed and interpreted? Do you view humans as a small part of an unbelievable complicated and fragile system, or do you view us as the commanders? The farmers in this book are observers. They listen. They don’t exert control.”
Our farm, and our role as farmers, is in this in-between space: observing, interpreting, listening, mimicking nature… to grow food for our community.
This week’s harvest includes:
Carrots, Kale, Spinach, and our Organic, Naturally Leavened, Hearth Baked Bread…plus Plants for your Garden: Lettuce, Kale, Broccoli.
Recipe suggestions: We are powering through kale and carrots in soups, stews, stir fry dishes, casseroles, and smoothies. But the hands down favorite way to eat carrots around here? A simple saute with butter and salt: Scrub the carrots (we don’t peel them), cut off the ends (or not!), put in a saute pan (whole or chopped) at medium heat with a generous pat of butter. Cook until desired tenderness. Our crowd goes wild for them.
2016 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up Saturday, April 2nd at our farm, at Good Health Herbs, or at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens. Everything remaining after pre-orders will be available for purchase at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens.
Reminder to our returning and new Farm Share CSA members: weekly shares begin the first week in May.
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, and the whole Broadfork crew
Reminder: Plant Sale | Farm Day | Open Barn! Saturday, April 30th from 10-4. Visit our Plant Sale for the full selection of our Certified Naturally Grown vegetable and herb plants for your summer garden, plus tour the farm with us at 3:00 to learn how and why we grow delicious and nutritious vegetables for you and your household using only biological, Certified Naturally Grown methods. Soak in our beautiful farm and meet our staff. See your 2016 vegetables growing. Mark your calendars for a fun day which will also include wood-fired oven treats! Driving directions found on our website.
