Elizabeth is Back!

Fun first day back at CSA, meeting new shareholders, catching up. Feels good to be back. The potluck Sunday idea is a definite go. (Thanks Bruce and Rachel aka Brachel.) Lots of great feedback. We'll hold the first one at SLF. We've started getting the garden ready with Josh Marcuson of Marcuson Tree Management giving us a leg up. He is lovely, delivered big fragrant piles of fresh mulch, wood shavings like sawdust for the compost pile, and gorgeous wooden steps in the form of dozens of thick circular slices cut from the trunk of a huge pine tree that fell over in the wind in Los Feliz. The steps are going in the new berry and kiwi fruit area of the garden.

Elizabeth is back! One of my lovely flower girls. When I had a flower stand at the Silverlake Farmers' Market, Elizabeth and Sherry and I created bouquets on the fly for customers who loved my organic blooms. I miss those days. I can't wait to get back. Nearly there. We just have a lot to do at Glassell Park first. Beat's installed the irrigation valves; the Blu-Lock system that Scott Kleinrock introduced me to at the Hungtington's experimental ag station, the Ranch, is nearly all in. I just have to send soil samples off to Wallace Labs and Soil Foodweb. Then I'll take it from there. The soil is a real challenge at the new growing ground but I'm looking forward to applying the Soil Foodweb approach, and studying the results under a microscope.

It was fun having Elizabeth back, helping out at CSA. I asked Elizabeth, "what do you prefer: working with flowers or vegetables?" She said she likes both. Creating bouquets on the spot at market in front of all the customers is demanding; you have to be really good, very creative, thoughtful about everyone's needs, and very fast under pressure. Distributing vegetables at CSA pickup makes you want to linger, discuss flavors, share recipes, compare styles, TALK. Engage in group conversation.

I love CSA Fridays.

Here's what we had today:

From Underwood

head of iceberg lettuce (yeah, it's cold)

bunch of turnips

bunch of curly kale

Napa cabbage

purple or chartreuse cauli

leeks

broccoli

arugula

mizuna

From Rancho Santa Cecilia

tangerine satsumas

avocados

From Weiser Family Farms

mixed bunches of beets

From Silver Lake Farms

meyer lemons (which ain't much I know but the tree was dripping and these lemons are so good and what else am I going to do with so many? Rachel! When are we making lemony things?)

Microgreens will return as soon as I stop forgetting to hand shower the flats we grow them in. I turned the irrigation system off when it first started raining weeks ago. The sun came out, and I forgot about the microgreens. Plus it's cold and growth has slowed drastically on the north side of the hill where we are. All this to say: microgreens back soon!

Tara