Vegetables the Size of Your Head
Hello CSA fam, Well, we’ve made it – ‘tis the season of abundance! Almost every field here at the farm is full right now of growing veggies. Some are new successions of young greens like spinach and arugula that we will harvest for our delicious salad and spicy mixes. Others are growing big and tall like our corn (probably a few weeks out), onions, kale…lots of things, really! I’ve always been impressed by the size of the vegetables we grow here at Red Dog. Left to their own devices, our lettuces, kales, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and...
read moreA Farm or a Canvas?
Working on the farm feels to me like working in an art museum. Around every corner, in every row, and under every leaf there is something beautiful hiding, and the longer you look at it, the more you’ll see. Tomatoes peeking out from underneath the greenhouse tarps show us their rainbow from green to red as they ripen, growing heavy and bright on the vine. The green beans from afar appear to be small bushes with nothing to discover, but once you begin peeling back layers of vines the bean pods reveal themselves, standing out from the vines in...
read moreThe Sweet Onion: Patience and Payoff
August first! Feeling like it’s finally peak season around here. Peak season means harvest, harvest, and harvest! Bounty! Abundance! Summer hot crops! And for me this year, August first and peak season means the end of my job as greenhouse manager on the farm. Just last week I moved the last of the plants out of the greenhouse to prepare them for planting. Now as I walk through the greenhouse, there are no more plants to pet, just empty tables waiting to be filled next season. We grow everything from seed here except berries. This means that...
read moreA Legacy of Farm Work
As I begin another harvest day on the farm, I look up and see the beauty of the mountains and trees around me and hear the conversation and laughter of my coworkers starting the day. Later, as I cut spinach and I look at the soil on my hands, I can’t help but think of my grandfather, who worked on farms here in Washington so long ago. My grandfather is, in a way, still here. Growing up, I was often told about my grandparents’ work as migrant farm workers. I listened to my aunts, uncles and cousins talk about favorite crops they...
read moreStrawberries like Gifts from the Earth
This season has left many of us Pacific Northwesterners feeling like an audience on the edge of our seats, awaiting the climatic shift of the seasons. Needless to say, this spring wasn’t just raining cats and dogs — mane coons and St. Bernards fell like drops from the sky! As you can imagine, this record-breakingly wet spring has had a dramatic affect on the crops. So as we continue to greet the long summer days… Finally! We have reached the mouthwatering and delicious berry tsunami that we warmly greet each year. As I look out on the...
read morePlanting an Ecosystem
Being certified organic means Red Dog is required to “maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation, including soil and water quality,” according to the rules of organic certification. One way the farm has done this is to plant dozens if not hundreds of native shrubs and trees around the property. As you come up the driveway to the Farmstand, you pass a row of assorted shrubs. Right now, a couple blue elderberries are flowering, and both Nootka and baldhip roses perfume the air. Black twinberry have just finished flowering and...
read moreSummer Playlist
After this weekend, I think it’s fair to say that we all feel the summertime (finally) setting in. Here at the farm we’ve been able to get more plants in the ground, more varieties of delicious vegetables into our CSA shares, Farmstand, and farmers market tables, and prepare for the busiest part of our year. And with the flush of beautiful weather comes more beach days, barbecues, and camping trips for us to enjoy (and hopefully cook up some great, local produce). And what is a day outside in the summer without a great playlist to go along...
read moreFinally Sunshine!
It seems that we can see the (sun)light at the end of the late-rainy-spring tunnel! Finally a week full of sunny days in the forecast, the ground is becoming less saturated, and our fields are slowly filling up with plants. The drier fields and roads enable us to drive our tractors and trucks around the farm…which means cultivation, transplant, and more streamlined harvests as the days warm up! We all celebrated today when we were able to get one of our farm trucks out to the farthest field for the first time this year. We have already put...
read moreA Taste of Summer
After the soggiest start to a season we’ve had in a while, things are starting to look really abundant around here at Red Dog! As I walk the fields, I see the baby plant starts we recently transplanted growing big and strong as they soak up the glorious – albeit intermittent – sunshine. Such a colorful array greets the eyes – the gorgeous stems of red chard, the deep forest-green of lacinato kale, and the whimsical purple stems of red Russian kale. The farm also smells lovely! Nootka rose is blooming, as is wild chamomile, and...
read moreWhat motivates you?
In the midst of a Thursday transplant moment I found myself shuffling down a row, tucking delicata squash starts into the earth for the season. (If you pass by the farm on Center Road, the rows closest to the road will be one of our delicata squash lands this year.) I was amazed at how quickly my fellow farmers were hustling down the bed and got curious about what motivates them to do such hard work so well. So this week, I’d like to share with you all a little bit about what motivates this small but mighty crew. The first response I got came...
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