Shares still available for 2009!

Hello all! I've been owing you a post for ages. The most important thing going on is that there are still shares available in the Community Farm and the Community Farm Kitchen for 2009. Field work is well under way at the farm and we're seeing some of the best germination in spinach and beets that we've seen for a while, so it looks like it'll be a great season. All that's needed is YOU!
For more information on pricing, please visit http://www.communityfarmkitchen.com/join/ . To join, email me at info(at)communityfarmkitchen(dot)com. I'm always happy to answer questions about the CFAA and the CFK. One of the best ways to figure out what the CFK season is like is to read the archives on this blog that describe the shares, menu, harvests, and adventures of the past two seasons. Please tell your friends!

Back in March, before I started work out at the farm, I took a journey. First I went to Boston, where I got to attend the wedding of Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman. As many readers will remember, Julia came out to Michigan in the summer of 2007 to help me launch the CFK. I can definitely say that we would not be where we are today if it hadn't been for her help and hard work that first year. Julia spent the summer checking the mailbox for letters from Jeff (who actually wrote her faithfully but almost never got around to posting the letters!) and washing lettuce with me in the kitchen. We listened to a LOT of Woodie Guthrie music, sang songs, and made a quilt. Jeff and Julia's wedding was beautiful--simple and elegant and full of music, good food, and dancing. Julia and Jeff both come from families of keen folk dancers and they invited most of the members of the Swarthmore Folk Dance Club to the wedding. Julia and Jeff now live in Boston where she works for Oxfam. I hear that they've recently adopted a kitten. Picture: Anna and Garrett Cole, Jeff Kaufman, Julia Wise, and Mary at the wedding.

My journey also took me over to the UK where I got to meet my new baby nephew who lives in London with his family. I also got to visit Emerson College in Sussex, where my friend Katharina has been studying biodynamic agriculture for the past year and a half. Katharina and I met when we were working together at a biodynamic dairy farm in Wales back in 2007. She taught me to make Katharina's Green Sauce, which is a perennial favorite here at the CFK--should be especially good this year with all this nice spinach that's coming up at the farm. At Emerson I got to attend Katharina's graduation. Her biodynamics class was small, but everyone in it was extremely interesting and smart. As part of the graduation ceremony I got to hear a little about each person and what his or her future plans are. Talk about recession-proof jobs: Katharina and her classmates all have job offers! I guess good biodynamic farmers are in high demand. :-) Katharina herself will be living in a cob house and working on a micro dairy in Oxfordshire. Picture: Katharina (second from L) and BD classmates singing at their graduation.

Finally, as many of you already know, the CFK Bakery has been a hit at the Farmer's Market. We were there on Saturdays during April and will be there on Wednesdays this week and for the rest of May. I sell Pendle Hill Brown Bread, a dense, flavorful, moist bread suitable for toast and sandwiches; Crunchy Granola (both sweetened and unsweetened); and several kinds of muffins: bran, chocolate, and vegan chai tea muffins. This week I've also got rhubarb muffins--yum! I hope you'll stop by and say hi sometime. The plan is for the Bakery to take a break when the CFK season starts in June and to return in the late fall. Picture: Mary and Becky and the CFK stand at the Farmer's Market.

I guess that's about all for my news. I look forward to seeing many CFK friends as the season gets going.
peace,
Mary