The farming goes on forever and the weeding never ends.

I wasn’t kidding when I said the weeding never stops around here. We spent this past week weeding in the 25-acre, weeding in the 2-acre, and weeding in all the hoop houses. In the hoops and the tomato houses we have spent enough time on them that it is mostly maintenance weeding: we harvest and weed at the same time. In the 25-acre, our farmers go on “walks” down the rows and weed as they go, trying to weed a row or two a day. No more blood blisters under fingernails from weeding!

What I am most excited about this week is that we started the first of our fresh winter CSA starts! We have been growing winter storage crops intermixed with our summer CSA crops since November, 2020 (that was when we planted garlic). But now, this week, we started the Asian greens, green onions, kale, and lettuce heads that will be part of the first of our Winter CSA boxes!

Timing on the farm is a mind bender. It is these moments when summer harvest vibes (heat and sweat and tomatoes in their glory) smash into starting late fall/early winter crops that the inherent optimism of farming shines. While it impossible to imagine that cooler days are coming, we trust they are and plant for the next season. For me, the starting of seeds is a great reminder to pause, reflect about the season I am in, and remember that the future is coming and to be excited for it.

Some images from the past week: Farmers Nat and Christine worked on our FPJ (fermented plant juice). We use add FPJ to our 25-acre irrigation water as an extra nutritional bump for our plants. This is a pretty nasty task where they strain out all the plant matter from fermenting comfrey. If you thought any type of manure smelled bad, this is even worse. They donned as much PPE (personal protective equipment) as they could find and did the dirty work! (photo credit: Natalie Leder)

Chef Travis Taylor teaching a class to a bicycle group. These groups ride their bikes to the farm, have lunch, and learn about regenerative, organic farming and the nexus of economy, agriculture, and food. Kohlrabi harvest: the kohlrabi were on point last week! (photo credit: Natalie Leder & Alison Holland)

New next week: Guest Sunday Email writers!

Did you know we have 8 full time farmers who make the magic happen here at Rainshadow? Perspective is important in farming, and we decided it was time to share their farm story and weekly experience with you all. After all, they are the ones who are doing the weeding, harvesting, starting, and planting. Beginning next week, a new person will be writing the focus story of the email. They will share the weekly happenings through their eyes, share their specific interests and projects, and tell us what they are using our vegetables for. Our hope is that this will provide a more full and complex picture of the greater Rainshadow operation.

We welcomed a new friend to the farm this week. Meet Señor Morales (we think we have settled on that name). Ashanti got Sarahlee the only thing she really wanted for her birthday, a miniature donkey. You can often find him watching the crew harvest while chillin’ in the shade near the hoops. Dirty Dan and his ladies continue to hold the fort down in the pig pen. We are finally getting our breeding program back on track (thanks, Dan!) but are still a few months away from the plentitude of pork we used to have. (photo credit: Natalie Leder & Brandon Marcaccini)

Let us know if you would like to pre-order any fish. When the fish are running, they will be fresh and unfrozen on Thursday afternoons, Friday and Saturday available at the Farm Store for pickup and frozen starting Saturday evening for delivery with your CSA the week after.

Price:

• Whole Fish: $16.50/lb
• Filleted Fish: variable price depending on size of fish. I will know more on Thursday after we fillet. A filleted fish at Rainshadow is 2 full fillets from 1 fish. At this time we aren’t selling a single fillet or the classic salmon steak style fillets you are used to at the grocery store. 

Want to order fish?

1. Reply to this email with your preference: Steelhead, Chinook, or Sockeye, and about what size you are looking for. I will try to work within those parameters.
   • Sockeye are usually 3-7#
   • Steelhead are usually 5-10#
   • Chinook are usually 10-25#
2. Fish will be sold on a first in inbox, first served basis. (If you wanted fish last time and didn’t get it, you are at the top of this week’s list.)
3. I will reach out to you on Thursday afternoon/evening with what we have and confirm your order.
4. Come to the Farm Store Friday & Saturday to pick up your fresh fish or we will freeze and you can pickup later at the Bend Farmers Market or the Farm Store.
5. I will send out more information when I know what I have.

Harvest List

Recipes

I thought I would spend this email letting you know my tricks for finding recipes each week.

• Look at what you have (or think you are going to be getting based upon the emailed list).
• Depending on the time of day, have a cup of tea or coffee or a glass of wine in hand.
• Flip to the index of your cookbook and look under specific ingredients (like broccoli for this week). Look at the pictures, check the ingredient lists, find something that looks fun to cook, uses the most fresh ingredients from the farm as possible, and that you would want to eat.
• If the cookbooks aren’t doing it for you, go to grandma google and type into the search bar a couple vegetables with the term “recipe” after them and see what comes up.
• Don’t spend too much time and don’t be too hungry when you are on the search. Also, remember that cooking is always a path of discovery and experimentation. Don’t be afraid to try something new, and don’t worry if it flops. Very rarely is something a total failure.

Veggie IDs

See you on Wednesday!

Please email us let us know if you can’t make Wednesday or if someone else is picking up for you. We can’t wait to see you on Wednesday!