The days are getting longer (apparently, although the clouds are hiding it)! The main impact of this mild weather on the farm is the mud. I have to rotate the horses into different paddocks to prevent the ground from becoming soupy. We have had these mild winters before. Although the deep freezes can have a rejuvenating effect on the land, maintaining the diversity here in animals, plants, and soil, allows the land to keep its intelligence and resiliency. There’s a wisdom in the land to adjust to whatever life throws at it. Things don’t always go as planned, but the Earth has a fountain of abundance if we nurture it. 
I wanted to remind everyone that there is a winter CSA pick-up tomorrow and again next week on January 5. A number of you have opted not to come tomorrow allowing you to get caught up on squash deductions. This also means there is an abundance of eggs available. 

And I have finally entered the cell phone age… I can receive texts and can be reached at 519 369 8116. The old land line number will still work too.

Here’s hoping we can see the humanity in each other in the coming year.

Cory

Every vegetable has a story. There will be kale in the Winter CSA again today, but it’s only for cooking, not for salad. Here’s why…

Once upon a time, two and a half weeks ago, there was a heavy snowfall. The deer came to the garden looking for food. The kale was standing tall and strong above the snow and looked (and smelled) tasty.

I’ve seen deer eat an entire row of kale in one night, so I decided to harvest it all. But where to put it? The root cellar is too humid, it would go moldy in a couple weeks. Our basement is too warm. I decided to stash it in the CSA store space. It took three tractor buckets full to get it in and it filled up all the table spaces piled nearly to the ceiling. 

In those two and a half weeks, the snow melted off it and it became a bit wilted, but otherwise fine. I made some awesome kale chips with it this week, and Ribollita: an Italian bean and kale soup, with a slice of fried hearty bread at the bottom and grated parmesan cheese on top.

But when preparing it today I saw that chipmunks had found it in the store and nibbled primarily the petioles (the leaf stem). I took any nibbled leaf I saw off, and I’m confident it is still good, but I’d recommend washing it and cooking with it.  

There’s still another row of kale in the field, and depending on snow and deer, we will still have more kale the end of December. Amazing!