Hope everyone has been enjoying the recent increase in the number of items in the CSA share. This is the result of an incredible effort to get our new farm site up and running during this summer, fall and winter season. We started this summer (from scratch) after learning that we would no longer be using land at the Bern’s farm to grow food for our CSA. Fortunately all our efforts paid off since the crops are growing very well. One of the main responsibilities in organic agriculture is to build a healthy, biodiverse soil in which the plants can thrive. It has taken trucking hundreds of tons of our farm-made compost to the new site, putting in miles of irrigation and digging two ponds and a swale system to keep the fields from flooding. All of this while planting, weeding and harvesting for the CSA. Thank you to all our supporting members and many volunteers whom have stuck with us through one of our most challenging years. This shows the importance of community supported agriculture as a truly sustainable food system. One of the main ideals behind a CSA is that the consumer and the farmer both share the bounties as well as the inherent risks of agriculture. This became especially true this season because without your support this farm would have not been able to continue operating. Thank you!

Many of the vegetables and herbs we have all been enjoying this past month have been grown at the new farm site at The Children’s Home. Also many of the spring crops we’ll enjoy towards the end of the season are already growing there. We already planted our tomato and eggplant crops and they are growing well (even though they got slightly shocked by the unexpected cold a week and a half ago). We are giving them some special organic fertilizers to help give them an extra boost. Also the potatoes are sprouting very nicely in their furrows, we should be enjoying them sometime in mid April and May. This week we hope to plant our first of two batches of squashes and cucumbers. Like the tomatoes, we water these using drip irrigation. This is a way to keep moisture off of their sensitive leaves and avoid fungus and other leaf diseases.

This week we expect to continue harvesting broccoli and lots of lettuce. Both of these might be a little smaller then we hoped, this is because of the warmer weather we’ve been having. They are still looking good and tasting very delicious. We are also harvesting Joi Choi which is my favorite kind of Bok Choy. The crunchy stems can be eaten raw in a salad or as a refreshing snack, try spreading nut butter and dry fruit on them. The new planting of bulbing Fennel is ready as well, the entire plant is edible and delicious. My little farm girls love to eat the leaves raw. Also try adding them to your salads for a nice anise flavor or make a cup of fennel-leaf tea for a digestive aid. The bulbs are great in root bakes or stir-fries.

Thanks again for your support, Sweetwater is a true model of local sustainable, organic agriculture.

Peace

On Saturday we had our first Farm to Table Supper.  With the help of the good folks at Whole Foods Market in Tampa, we served 130 people a nutrient-dense, whole food, vegan meal featuring veggies from our farm.  The Naked Grape wine flowed, beautiful music from Juniper entertained, inspiring words and enjoyable conversation took place while sharing a cup of locally-roasted organic coffee from Java Planet.  It was chilly, but as usual, our members, visitors, staff, and volunteers huddled together and created a warmth that only a tight-knit community can cultivate.  As we closed the evening, many folks shouted for more.

And so we begin our plans for next season.  We encourage our Members to plan ahead as well.  CSA Renewal Memberships will go on sale March 1st, just around the corner.  During the month of March, current CSA members will have the first opportunity to join us again for the 2012-2013 season.  Beginning April 1st, we will open membership to the public.  If our waiting list from last year is any indication, we can expect to sell all of our 200 memberships by the end of this season (end of May).

More information and applications will be coming your way soon…

It’s hard to believe that half of our season is already behind us.  We have received much encouragement and support from many of our members, as well as important feedback.  As we think ahead to next season (and the CSA pricing info that will be available on our website in March), we calculate how we have done so far.  We scrutinize our expenses and pour over programs to determine the best and most responsible ways to expand our reach and to serve the members, volunteers, and farmers that have acted as the backbone of our community.  We hope that you too will consider the benefits and drawbacks of your membership with us.  Choosing to join a CSA is a big financial and emotional commitment.  Taking time from your busy life to travel to the farm to pick up your veggies and planning your meals to best utilize the offerings in your share takes dedication, planning, and flexibility.  It’s not for everyone.  Eating seasonally and locally from a relatively small urban farm close to where you live requires a certain amount of willful enthusiasm for all that is fresh and good.

Whether or not this season’s members will choose to embark on another farm to their fork adventure will depend on their willingness and ability to adapt to the constraints and limitations of a single farm.  If history is any indication, about a quarter of you will leave for greener pastures making room for new members to give this crunchy lifestyle a try.  But the majority of you will commit to return for another season.  And for those returning members, the healthy soil of Sweetwater Farm will sustain another season of growth, and the veggies and the people will flourish.

Peaceful Greetings,

The last couple of weeks we’ve had a surge of school-aged children taking part in our field trip program at the farm.  We’ve watched these kids touching, smelling and tasting the beautiful veggies, herbs (and weeds!) that grow here.  By the end of the trip, the kids have grown too.  They’ve learned where good, healthy, local, organic food comes from and how it helps us all.  They have planted seeds, harvested a salad, soaked up information on composting, and enjoyed being a “farmer for a day”.  Your continued support of our farm brings the necessary funds to continue these important programs.  Join us for our first Farm to Table Supper on the 11th of this month and enjoy a wonderful meal while helping to further our outreach and educational opportunities.

We are getting really close to saying good bye to one of our long time growing site, the Bern’s Steak House farm. We still plan to harvest one more week’s worth of Daikon Radish, two week’s of carrots and some beets. We have enjoyed our time growing on such fertile organic soil for these past years and thank the folks at Bern’s for this unique opportunity.

The harvest at the new farm continues, this week we will harvest some nice looking lettuce and continue to harvest radishes and some mizuna from the Children’s Home farm. Get ready for some tasty salads!

Last week our neighbor shared some pickled Daikon Radish with the farm crew, it was delicious and a great example of how to preserve excess share items. There are many recipes on line, this week we will harvest the roots without the greens.

Also, the broccoli and cabbage are beginning to be ready this week. It has taken a while due to this mild winter but they are looking and tasting great. My little farm girls give their approval! We expect more to come in the following weeks.

The later start on the harvest is just a reminder of how susceptible our food production is to the weather patterns. Every season holds new surprises, let’s embrace them, happy seasonal eating!

The Spring Potatoes are in the ground at the new Children’s Home field. We were able to plant them last Sunday after the harvest, just on time thanks to our amazing and dedicated Sweetwater Farming team who put in a very long and difficult work day! Thank you among others to Casey, Zachary, Alberto, Phil, Brian, Mari, Stephanie, Josh, Rebbecca and Courtney for being such important parts of this team. I get to constantly witness and be a part of many amazing agricultural feats at this farm, what a pleasure!

So now that the certified organic seed potatoes are in the ground, we need to wait about 3 weeks for them to sprout while we keep them weeded, and then begin to ‘hill’ them to encourage root growth. This year we planted many varieties; Yukon Gold, Rose Finn Swedish Fingerlings, Praire Blush, King Harry, Island Sunshine and Butte. We should be enjoying some delicous white, gold, pink and russet tators toward the end of the harvest season.

This week in your share find some young tender Mizuna, this Asian green is similar to arugula but with less bite. Great as a substitute for lettuce in salads or sandwiches and also taste great in stir-fries, or steamed over mashed potatoes or fish. This cut will be especially mild tasting because of how young the plants are and the cool weather in which they grew.

This week we will also harvest Eros Endive, this is a plant in the Chickory family, slightly bitter but very rich in many vitamins and minerals. Excellent addition to a mixed salad with other sweeter ingredients like mizuna.

The radishes this week are the second crop we are harvesting from the Children’s Home field. The greens are looking pretty healthy and are a great cooking green that can be used in stir-fries, soups or beans. Also very delicious in a green smoothies, remember radish greens are food too, don’t let them go to waste.

Hope everyone is enjoying the share vegetables this season. The farm team has been enjoying growing the vegetables and being part of this conscious sustainable community. Most of the varieties we grow are things that have grown well here over the past 15 years during specific times of the season. Some are not common vegetables but all are seasonal varieties specific to this Tampa Bay growing environment. During some growing seasons, some varieties grow better then others. This season Hakurei Turnips and Daikon Radish take the prize, but have performed poorly in previous seasons. By focusing on the vegetables that grow well here during the time of year they grow the best, we can utilize our soil in a more sustainable way and enrich it every season instead of depleting it. Since I arrived at Sweetwater six growing seasons ago, I have been exposed to and learned to grow and cook with many vegetables I had never heard of. Learning how to use these to keep my family happy and healthy has been the greatest reward of being part of this local, sustainable, organic community. I encourage all of you to experiment and be creative with your food. If your veggies are in season and grow good together, they probably go good together in the kitchen, so lets let nature be our guide. And remember that we are in a technological world so when you don’t know what to do with all those strange vegetables, just ‘Google it’. Peace

This week we are harvesting baby arugula from our new farm at The Children’s Home!  We are very excited to begin harvesting, things are growing very well at the new farm site, almost half the field is planted or ready to plant. We are now working hard to prepare the other half which will produce our spring potatoes among other things.

There’s been a little confusion – our new farm at The Children’s Home simply adds to the land that we have available to grow organic veggies for our members.  It is not open to the public (unless you accompany us there to help in the fields).  All of our main operations will remain at our Sweetwater Farm on Comanche Avenue as usual.

In the share this week is beet greens. We are working on thinning the beets bed in order to allow the remaining beets time and space to grow a large root. This method allows us to harvest two crops from one planting. Beet greens are delicious fresh in salads, sandwiches, juiced or as a cooking green. They are very high in vitamins K and A as well as antioxidants.

New in the share this week is Florence Fennel also known by its Italian name Finocchio, a highly aromatic Mediterranean herb which has a bulb that can be used as a vegetable. Try the bulb sliced in a salad, grilled, sauteed or baked. The leaves give an anise flavor to salads, juice or teas and act as a digestive aid.

Last week the Broccoli Raab was finally ready to harvest, sorry for all the false alarms in the past CSA share lists, it just grew slower then expected. Remember that all parts including stems, leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked and can substitute broccoli in most recipes.

We still have some Daikon radish growing in the fields, it did much better then expected and loves growing during this cooler weather. The leaves are an excellent cooking green very high in vitamin A, while the root which can be eaten raw has a high amount of vitamin C. The roots are great shredded and placed over a salad, or in a veggie wrap, or try just cutting them into raw chips.

Enjoy creative seasonal cooking,

Peace

Transition is taking place this week and the next few weeks from the Bern’s farm we have called home for years, to our new farm at The Children’s Home.  Since this summer the farmers have been working diligently to clear the land, set up watering and drainage systems, prepare the soil, and plant the first seeds.  In just a few weeks we will be harvesting the last of the Bern’s crops and will begin harvesting the beautiful veggies that are thriving in their new home.

Expect to see some vibrant arugula, mizuna, cabbage, radish, broccoli and cauliflower in the coming months.

We are thankful and grateful for our time at Bern’s, and happy to be settling in to our new location.  Our farm at The Children’s Home still needs work and your thoughtful donations bring us ever-closer to completion.  If you would like more information about how you can help, please Contact Us.

It’s been a nice holiday season with a little time off to spend with our families and friends.  We hope you have enjoyed the start of the New Year too.  The recent cooler weather makes it finally feel like winter and prompted us to cover the crops over night to avoid any potential damage.

With the cooler weather we rely on our Member volunteers to come out to the farm and help.  Volunteerism generally slows down in the cooler months, but the work that needs to be completed at the farm remains the same.  Consider joining us on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday to help out in the fields and washing veggies.

We very much look forward to a wonderful 2012 with our Sweetwater community… here’s to a peaceful and bountiful New Year!

Enjoy some healthy exercise for your body and your brain, and have fun in the dirt!  Come help us this Thursday and Saturday mornings to harvest for the last shares of the 2011 year. (Remember, there is no CSA pick-up or Market on Sunday – New Year’s Day).

Thursday and Saturday we will gather at the Sweetwater barn at 8:30am and then head out to harvest. Good way to meet wonderful people, learn about how your food is grown and get some productive exercise. If you have young children, bring them out to join in on the fun, growing food and community is a family affair.

This week we are continuing to harvest the Joi Choi, this is the white-stemmed Bok Choy. This delicious choy has juicy crunchy stems that are great raw for dipping in hummus or spreading with nut butters. Also fantastic in stir fries, salads or use the leaves as a wrap. And finally the cilantro is ready to harvest, I’m especially excited since I use this herb in all of my cooking.

Happy new year to all, wishing you much Peace and Love.

This week we’ll have one big CSA pick-up on Thursday for our normal Thursday members and also our Sunday members.  Come between 12:00-6:00 for your share.  Come early at 8:30 and help us with the harvest and washing too!

Our Sunday Market will be closed on Christmas Day, the 25th.  And again the next Sunday for New Year’s Day.  It will re-open on Sunday, January 8th with great local live music, awesome vendors, and our Farm Tour with Joel from 2:00-3:00.

We appreciate each and every one of you and hope that you have a happy, healthy holiday.

What are those giant white roots? The word Daikon comes from two Japanese words meaning “large root”. We are having a very bountiful harvest of this crop. The roots can be eaten raw or cooked or can be pickled for later use. The leaves are very nutritious and can be used as cooking greens.

This week we will begin to harvest the Broccoli Raab, also known as Rapini in Italian cooking. We will begin by harvesting the tops of the plant which include leaves, stems and flower buds. All parts are used in cooking, adding a broccoli flavor to foods, and can be used as a substitute for broccoli in many recipes. This week we’ll also begin harvesting fresh mint. Enjoy as a digestive aid tea, in salad dressings, dessert recipes or for mojitos. Cheers!

Sweetwater Farm not only provides organic veggies to it’s members, it also serves as a valuable community resource.  Did you know that we host “healthy living”workshops each month?  This Thursday the 8th, is a “Winter Container Gardening” workshop with Willow LaMonte.  And this Saturday is our popular “Organic 101″ workshop with Sweetwater founder, Rick Martinez.  Check our website for the latest workshop information and join us!

Also, be sure to make time in your busy holiday schedule to volunteer at the farm.  We need help as usual on Thursday and Sunday mornings to harvest and wash veggies for the CSA pick-up.  The more volunteers we have, the more we can harvest for the share!

We also needs folks to come out and weed!  Get a group of your friends or family and enjoy a beautiful day outdoors and help the farm.  Contact our volunteer coordinator and let us know you’re coming… Wednesday thru Sunday.

The lettuce is ready to harvest! This may seem like a late start but is actually the environmentally friendly start of its season in this region. Instead of trying to extend its growing season we have decided to grow it during its appropriate time of the year in order to avoid excessive pest damage and bolting due to warm weather. From now till the end of the season we should have lettuce in nearly every share.

New in the share this week is green bell peppers and Banana Wax Peppers. The Banana Peppers are a mild heirloom hot pepper, delicious raw, in cooked meals and makes great salsa.

Last week we finally began planting and direct seeding at our new Children’s Home farm site. Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Rainbow Chard, Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Arugula, Mizuna and Radishes are now growing in the newly prepared fields.

Come learn how your food is grown and harvested, join the Sweetwater farm crew Wednesday through Sunday starting at 8:30am. The more volunteers we have on harvest days, the larger the shares will be, and will also ensure that we do not run out of any items. We have been so busy maintaining our fields, harvesting for the CSA and starting a brand new farm that we have not had time to weed any of the crops. Come and help us weed so we can ensure the success of our crops, this is a community project, your participation is crucial. Also learn about the many edible and medicinal weeds that grow in the fields, many of which have more nutritional benefits than the crops we plant. Weeds are free, just pull them yourselves.

Thank you for supporting community agriculture, together we are creating a safe, healthy food system for our families. Peace

As a community supported farm we are inherently thankful for our many members and supporters who believe in organic, believe in sustainable, believe in community, and believe in us. It is during this time, and in solidarity with our Sweetwater community, that we find hope and peace in these difficult times.

Let us all give “thanks” to our bountiful harvest filled with a variety of colors, textures, and tastes.  Thanks to the farmers everywhere whose determination and hard work bring us this tasty, nutritious food.  And to Mother Earth for providing us the beautiful raw materials to work with.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Peaceful Greetings

This year we started the lettuce seeds later in the season in order to avoid bolting (early flowering in response to heat), and early fall aphid attacks. Right now the lettuce is growing very healthy and happy in the fields and should be ready for harvest in a couple of weeks.

This week we will continue harvesting Mizuna greens, this is a milder tasting relative of arugula. This Asian green is a great alternative to lettuce in a salad because of its crispness and mild flavor.

This week we will begin to harvest Hakurei turnips, a mild tasting crisp turnip that can be eaten raw or cooked. Enjoy both the round white roots and the greens.

Thanks to slightly cooler weather the last two months, we were able to get an early start on the spinach crop. So far it looks like this highly nutritious and antioxidant rich green will provide a bountiful yield this winter.

Enjoy the harvest

Peaceful Greetings:

We had a great first week of the harvest season, wonderful weather and lots of nice people. Thanks to all who came out to help us harvest and wash vegetables, your help is very necessary and appreciated. Every week we have many volunteer opportunities for those interested in learning how your food is grown, come out and join the farm crew.

For the farmers here at Sweetwater, the summer has been a very busy and productive time. We have been working hard preparing all the fields for the new season, making hundreds of tons of organic compost, setting up irrigation at the new farm and building the new greenhouse. We are on track to start planting the first crops next week at our new farm site at the Children’s Home. I want to give a very special thanks to Casey, Alejandro, Phil and Noel for working so hard under such extreme conditions this summer. Without their dedication we would not have been able to accomplish so much in so little time.

So here is a little bit about what’s growing in the fields right now. The green beans are ready a little early this year and are delicious, expect them in the share for the next month or so. Green beans are a fairly easy crop to grow but a very tedious one to harvest, so please come out and help us pick, the more hands we have to pick, the more beans that will be in the share.

Sunburst Patty Pan is a type of summer squash, we trialed it last season with much success so have decided to make it a part of the share. Those of you who tasted it last season had many good things to say, also the plants grow very well in our soil and provide very high yields.

We are growing two kinds of cucumber that have proven over the seasons to grow very well here. One is the typical slicing cucumber, a hybrid variety called General Lee. The other is Suyo Long Asian Cucumber which is considered a ‘burpless’ cucumber. Very fresh taste, they are tender even when they get past one pound.

Another new variety that we added this season is the Pink Beauty radish, this heirloom variety grows very quickly and gets large without splitting. Expect to see it throughout the season with Sweetwater’s old favorite varieties like Easter Egg and French Breakfast radishes.

Hope everyone enjoys the shares this season.

To me, it seems as though the summer has flown by.  But ask one of our hardworking farmers about their summer, and they’ll tell  you it was one of the longest.  Thankfully, all of their hard work is about to pay off.

This week they’ll watch the CSA members stroll down the walkway and into the barn with bags in hand and smiles on their faces.  They’ll pick up the very first of this seasons harvest – winter and summer squash, radish, cucumber, and greens.  Each member will show in their own way their appreciation for the thoughtful work that has gone into growing the best local organic veggies around.  And the farmers will hear that magical word that reminds them time and again why they chose this labor of love.  The word that CSA members all over the country long to to tell their farmers face to face… “thanks”.

We’ll see you all very soon.

Sweetwater’s season starts the first week of November and this week we sold the final remaining shares to renewing members.  Today the Sweetwater community celebrates the start of our season with our Planter’s Ball starting at 6:00 pm.  We hope you’ll join us in this annual tradition.  It’s a casual, fun, family-friendly evening.  Be sure to bring your favorite dish to share for the potluck dinner.  The farmers and volunteers are out in the fields harvesting some veggies for the meal.  Whole Foods is generously donating rolls and desserts arriving later today.  Uncle Matt’s has donated some orange juice and lemonade.  And St Somewhere Brewery (from Tarpon Springs) will be bringing one of their new beers Lectio Divina (a cross between a Belgian dubbel and a Saison) and will also have their “more approachable” Vierge.  (Yummmmmmm!)  Gift certificates from local businesses will be raffled off throughout the evening. Rob Irie will play for us and we’ll be dancing into the night by the campfire.

Click here for more info and event parking info….

On Monday we are also going to celebrate the first national “Food Day”.  If you shop at Whole Foods this Monday anytime from 9 am – 9 pm, 5% of the proceeds will go to Sweetwater!  We’ll have a table set up at the store from 10-4, so come and say “hi”.

Then Monday night we’re going to the TUFF Food Day event, a community celebration of local food and showing of the movie “Urban Roots“.   From 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Roosevelt (15th Street in Ybor).  Get your tickets here. Sweetwater will have a table set up for the event.

**Next week we’ll be sending out the CSA share pick-up schedule and instructions.**

Busy busy bees… see you all soon!