The Weekly Share
Here’s what to expect in this week’s share:
- Beets
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Elephant Garlic
- Garlic Scapes
- Herbs
- Lettuce heads
- Radishes
- Summer Squash
“Michael’s garden plots are so beautifully tended and they are a welcome sight as I arrive at the farm.” Alyson Earl, Executive Director
- Turnips
*Due to the unpredictability of weather, pest problems, and other factors produce in the weekly shares are subject to last minute changes.
Meet Your Farmers – Michael Taylor
York native Michael Taylor started a community garden plot at the Horn Farm two years ago and is now a first year intern. Michael has a career as a respiratory therapist and he spent eight years teaching exercise physiology at York College. He’s also been on his own personal health journey, losing weight and trying to be healthier. Michael became vegan, which is part of what lead him to start his community plot and grow his own vegetables. Reflecting back on that first year gardening, he says, “the weeds kicked my butt” but clearly they didn’t deter him. He delved into studying nutrition, ecology and plant science as part of his journey. In his role as a respiratory therapist, he “saw all these people suffering from lifestyle diseases.” Michael realized his own journey had equipped him with tools to help people prevent these diseases rather than treating them after the fact. He was inspired to do wellness coaching, “I can straddle clinical medicine and holistic wellness.” Knowing wellness coaching had to include nutrition, he thought an internship on the farm would be a good place to start, to learn more. Michael is also a father, he beams when he talks about his 4 year-old daughter Marlena Lin. Next time you see Michael at the farm stop and visit, he’s got a gift for putting one at ease and he has a wealth of knowledge to share.
News From the Farm
From Education Director – Jon Darby
You may notice that you’re receiving garlic this season much earlier than what is typical. This garlic is called ‘green garlic’ because it is fresh and uncured. This means that it will not store for as long as cured garlic and would benefit from being kept in the refrigerator. The reason the garlic is being harvested early this year is because of the arrival of a new pest in our area, the allium leaf miner. This is a type of fly that lays its eggs on the allium family of plants (garlic, onion, leeks). We don’t spray harmful pesticides on the farm and the majority of our garlic crop was affected by the allium leaf miner this year. When a new pest like this arrives, it often takes a season or two for the natural controls of the ecosystem to balance it out. In any case, what this means for you is that you may spot some slight damage on the garlic and even the occasional leaf miner pupa. You can just wash these off and use the garlic like normal. The green leaves of the garlic are edible as well and can be chopped finely and added anywhere you’d normally add garlic.
Connect and Share
What is your favorite part of your CSA share? If you have a recipe or picture you want to share, a trick you learned, or a question about your CSA produce please let us know at csa@hornfarmcenter.org. Share on social media with the hashtag #HornFarmCSA.
This week, Executive Director Alyson Earl returned from a 9-day permaculture design course. This immersion in hands-on ecological design work left her ready to shepherd the existing Land Use Management Plan for the Horn Farm to the next level. While in Vermont, it rained every day–over 6 inches in one week. This allowed for lots of practice designing earthworks for directing the movement of water across a landscape!
