Farm - to - Table

Early Season:

Technology Can Be Your Friend

My first encounter on the farm, and I hardly played in the dirt. The 1st day on the job we played with the tractors - rigging the seed boxes according to the rows and spacing set up on the ground. As most people know, different varieties of veggies/fruits/etc. require different amounts of spacing. The tractor was previously owned, and had been set according to corn planting - surprise surprise. Most of farming that goes on in the US produces corn and soy. But Abbondanza specialize in an abundance of plant varieties, which means great things for consumers. But it doesn't come easy.

It took several hours to properly rig the attachment to the tractor (i dont know the tech name), and accurately measure and position the seed boxes for planting. - This day we were doing peas. Once the machinery was ready, it was only a matter of driving - in a matter of speaking.

Planting Potatoes:

An Educational Affair

This Tuesday I helped plant a wide range of potatoes with Abbondanza. But I wasn't alone. A group of high school students from New Vista H.S. in Boulder spent two days volunteering at Abbondanza as part of their "Four Days in May" program. The program provides students with four consecutive days to volunteer with pretty much any business or organization they like. By the time I got to the farm, I was needed a lesson from them as to the proper way of planting potatoes. Because the rows had been dug by the tractor, my job was to place potatoes in the rows according to correct spacing. See the pics with the stake. 12 inches - thats the magic number. Like I wrote earlier, Abbondanza is all about variety in their produce. German Butterball, Yukon Gold, and Nicola were just a few we planted.

First Harvest:

Gathering Greens

This week was my first day harvesting at the farm. And I have to say, it was nice getting some quality time with the crops. The weather was perfect too. It was mostly overcast, probably hovering in the high 50s to low 60s. We spent the earlier part of the day harvesting baby spinach for sale at the farmers market later that day. Some of it had been damaged by a hail storm a week earlier. But most of it was in good shape, tender and tasty as can be. Because we were expecting some more precip over the next two days, we spent some time covering a large portion of lettuce with the remay - for protection. Remay is a layering that allows water and sunshine through, but provides some protection from possible hail. Its kinda like a makeshift greenhouse. But because the ground had been soaked from a number of earlier storms, we were slippin and slidin around in the mud, trying to secure the covering over the lettuce. I spent the remaining hours with others harvesting, processing (cleaning and bunching), and sorting a wide range of greens. All the while tasting the goods. The arugula was nice and peppery. The totsoi (asian mustard greens) was nice and crisp. And the "velvet wave" kale had a nice bitterness to it, without being tough. All in all, I dont mind the harvest - as long as I get to taste it all.

Getting Ready for Market

Wednesdays are Workin' Days

Today we spent much of the day gathering and harvesting some of the early season crops. Varieties included a number of lettuces (Ceasar, Kramer and others), radishes (easter egg), Bok Choi, Spinach, Mustard Greens, Arugula, and a slew of others. The greens and radishes needed to be prepped (washed, dried, and packaged) for the farmers market later that day. Luck for us, the weather was favorable for harvesting greens. Because it was cool and even slightly raining for much of the early morning, the harvested greens didn't wilt at all, and remained as fresh as can be. And market goers would have a hard time resisting the beauty of the product. The harvested greens would also be distributed to a number of participating restaurants and CSA members. "CSA" is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. These are shares of the farm harvest where participants are given an opportunity to purchase a portion of the farm's crops before the season begins at a very low cost. It provides an income stream for the farmers so they can get ready for the season, and even better, results in inexpensive organic fresh veggies for the consumer - more than they know what to do with. I myself as an Abbo CSA member for the first time, and have been having difficulty consuming all the veggies we get each week. Its a problem I don't mind having.

Recipe	Chef	Air Date

Oven Roasted Garlic	Michael Scott	May 12, 2008

Oven Dried Tomatoes	Michael Scott	May 12, 2008