In case you missed it, last week we went to Garfield to catch up with Farmer Brenton, who has been focused on the farm’s battle with pigweed and our plan to tackle this pesky plant and ensure a healthy fall crop. This week, we met up with Farmer Tracy, the barn manager at our Hergotz Packing Shed, who, for the past few weeks has turned his attention to the here and now: what vegetables are currently thriving in the fields, how to get them harvested efficiently while maintaining the quality, and how to incorporate these exciting vegetables into our CSA Program and farmers’ market stalls.

We chatted with Tracy at the end of the day in Hergotz’s beloved tree house - a paradise Brenton built for his kids 10+ years ago, but has since been taken over by tired farmers looking for a playful spot to rest, and maybe slide, or zipline or swing. Tracy is our farm’s barn manager and his role is one of a master conductor. Here are some of the main operations Tracy helps to orchestrate: he contributes to crop planning, coordinates the daily harvest needs with Vicente, works with Vicente, Temo, Jack, and Brenton to keep an eye on the fields and progression of upcoming crops, works with Ricky and the barn crew to keep the cooler inventory accurate and updated, works with the CSA Packing Manager, Andrew, to plan and execute the weekly boxes, works with the wholesale, restaurants, and farmers’ market departments to determine and communicate what veggies they need from the fields, and when. Tracy also works with Krishna to troubleshoot staffing at the packing shed- making sure we have enough hands to make light-ish the work and also works with Faith to intercept any quality concerns from our CSA Program. If that sounds like a lot, it is. Despite this complex symphony of systems that Tracy keeps track of, his head always seems organized, and his message clear.

Here is what Farmer Tracy wants you to remember at this moment in the season.

Tracy, on the phone with the farm and likely signaling to a driver that he's successfully backed up the reefer tuck to the loading dock. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

ONE: WINTER IS COMING.

We know that at this point in the summer season, it can be easy to grow fatigued by seemingly endless okra and eggplant (we’ve got recipes for that!). If you’ve been outside between the hours of 9am and 6 pm, you’re no doubt aware that it’s hot outside. The truth is, summer is the hardest season for our farm. There are only a limited number of crops that can stand up to the sometimes oppressive temperatures, and we’re growing just about all of them!

Farmer Tracy has a great perspective on this late summer monotony: “It might take you a few months into the CSA to really feel this way, but the feeling of drudgery is one of the beautiful things, I think, about the program. There is the time of anticipation which is the same that we, as farmers, experience - we’re anticipating what crops are going to come of our work. And then there is the point in the growing season when all the box contents all feel like a breath of fresh air, the boxes are full of very high-quality stuff... And then there is a period of drudgery and monotony. And I don’t mean it in such a negative sense. But even as farmers…. like, man, it’s SO hot… we’ve been doing this every day, in the heat… or maybe it’s really cold… and that work can feel like drudgery, too. And the customers are sharing this experience with us and that makes us connected in a way... And it's a circle that keeps going around, with the seasons. And rather than going to a place of pure boredom and drudgery, and least you can ride the rollercoaster right round, baby, right round.”

The take-home message from Farmer Tracy? Cool-season crops are on their way, in fact, they’re beginning to trickle in, and before you know it you’ll be drowning in kale and dreaming of earthy eggplant.

Baby bok choy, mustard, turnips, and arugula: just some of the cool-season crops that are trickling into CSA boxes and market stands, alike. Photo by Scott David Gordon

TWO: BELIEVE US: WE’RE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BRING YOU VARIETY

If you’re a locavore or home gardener who truly has a pulse on what is possible in the summer months, you may have noticed some surprisingly green guests in your CSA box these past few weeks. Arugula, bok choy, and mustard greens have made their late August, early-September debut in CSA boxes and market stands, alike. The journey of these leafy greens, however, was anything but simple. We are constantly testing the limits of planting windows, always with the goal to maybe, just maybe, bring you tomatoes in May or arugula in early September. Often, we don’t count on these plantings and view their potential success as somewhat experimental.

A week or so ago, it was a miraculous sight to see beds blanketed in bright green arugula, bok choy, and mustards. But it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise - when we planted these greens, there was a concerted effort on the farm to keep a close eye on these crops, adjust watering schedules if needed, and keep the weeds at bay. This effort paid off, and we had succeeded in growing a successful crop on the fridge of a season! But, that was just part one in getting these crops into your kitchen. Tracy tells me the story of the bok choy: “We all agreed that if we were going to plant these things early, we’d have to adjust our harvest schedule a bit to accommodate for these more delicate crops being ready in the middle of the summer. They can’t be harvested and spend any time in the sun… I mean,  it’s over 100 degrees almost every day, and it’s in the 90s by 8 or 9 in the morning. When are we going to harvest them? It can’t spend any time in the field (after it’s picked) or it will be toast. So we had to switch the schedule up - rather than harvesting squash first in the morning, we’d harvest the greens first thing while it’s still cool outside.” Harvesting bok choy early in the morning (at sunrise!) before harvesting squash may sound like a simple adjustment, but this one change can have ripple effects for our operation. For example, if squash was listed on the Whole Foods or Central Market distribution list for the day, the packing crew who meticulously puts these labor-intensive orders together would be behind schedule, waiting on squash.

We know we've been talking about baby bok choy, but there are obviously some big boys, too. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

There are more adjustments that have to happen in the fields to make this bok choy, for example, happen, “To harvest this stuff and be happy with the quality, we had to make sure we had tractors and trailers out in the fields waiting for the harvest to be complete so that the second it was done, it was being trucked to the coolers.” Other summer crops like squash and melons can withstand a little bit of time in the sun, and our harvest crew can simply stack full bins near the end of the rows, and a tractor can scoop them up when it’s available. But for a leafy green like bok choy, it truly must be put in the cooler moments after it’s cut from the ground, else customers would be receiving pre-cooked baby bok choy, and we’re not really a meal-delivery company.

Once bok choy arrives at our packing shed, these tiny stalks are immediately dunked in cold water to remove the field heat. After a cool dunk, the bok choy is stored in the cooler, where we now pack our CSA shares, and remains in this cooler until it's transported to your doorstep or neighborhood. Tracy concludes the bok choy backstory by reiterating the whole-farm effort necessary to get an edge on seasonality, “From beginning to end, we gotta have that circle of communication from the farm to the barn to make it happen.”

Farmer Tracy going over some of the numbers for the day. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

WE PROMISE WE HAVE OUR REASONS

When chatting with Tracy about the beautiful bok choy, it was clear that making this particular harvest happen was a labor of love. An early-season gift from the JBG Farmers to our CSA Members, and a gift that we’re proud of and excited to produce! But remember how we mentioned that plantings like this are somewhat experimental? When planning out our CSA Box Contents for August and September, the sudden availability of baby bok choy, for example, wasn’t accounted for.

CSA Shares ready for pickup at the Mueller Farmers Market last weekend. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tracy reflects on the decision to include the bok choy, anyway: “Something Brenton said to me years ago was on my mind this week. He was kind of talking about his core beliefs and ideas about the CSA and said, ‘Tracy, if this is ready and this is ready… let’s harvest it!’ And I’m like, ‘Brenton, I know it’s ready, but what are we going to do with it if you harvest it? We’ve already planned out the CSA contents, and we’re several days into finalizing the logistics. We’d have to change the harvest schedule, update the website, and possibly deal with upset customers who are trying to meal plan.’ And Brenton responded, ‘I understand all of this and those are all important… but these crops are amazing! They’re the best we have to offer right now, and I really want the best of what we have to go into the CSA boxes regardless of when it becomes ready. I don’t want our CSA members to miss out.’”

Planning the box contents for so many families, the building blocks of their weekly meals, is something we take very seriously. We promise that if you ever receive something in your share that you weren’t expecting, it’s there for a reason and it’s something we thought long and hard about; we’re not switching veggies on a whim and are always trying to find a balance between delivering exactly what we said we would, and also making sure you don’t miss out on the firsts of the season. Plants don’t always grow like we think they will, and our farm systems (and CSA box contents) sometimes have to adjust accordingly.

Dunked baby bok choy. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

IN CONCLUSION

For years, we’ve grown, harvested, and packed for a pretty consistent number of CSA boxes. About 6 months ago, the number of CSA boxes we were packing on a daily basis doubled. Now, with a bit of distance from the 2020 March to remember, we’ve finally adjusted to this new volume, both from the planting and packing perspective. For those of you that may be new to the CSA, we want to thank you for supporting our local and organic farm! We know that making the shift to a more seasonally-focused diet can sometimes feel limiting compared to the endless isles of imported produce at the grocery store. You may wonder why one week you got huge honkers of sweet potatoes, and the next week you got a bundle of baby sweet potats. And the simple answer is beautiful - because they’re coming straight from the farm! Grocery stores have very strict size (and cosmetic) standards for the produce they’re willing to buy from farmers, but there are plenty of harvested crops that don’t qualify for that beauty pageant. As a member of our CSA Program, you are committing to supporting our whole farm and its whole harvest. You’ll start to notice how even the size of certain crops, like peppers, can change along with the season. Usually, at the beginning of the season when the plants are at their healthiest, peppers come in very large. The same pepper plant that produced ribbon-winning peppers at the beginning of the season will usually produce smaller peppers further into the summer. But Farmer Tracy wants to make sure you know that we’re always going to maintain the value of your CSA share and adjust for the changes in crop size. Smaller peppers in the field simply mean you get more peppers - equal to the volume of the early-season giants.

Same potato crop, different sizing possibilities... all delicious and nutritious! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Farmer Tracy is setting the tone for this seasonal shift, and we’re eager to follow along, “Fall is so close. It’s going to be one of the best. There’s no such thing as luck. It’s preparation meets opportunity. We’re so prepared, top down!” If you’ve made it to the bottom of this post, we just want to say thank you for following along. And also! If you’re a CSA Member, we’ve got a little secret to tell you: Customization is OPEN! We’re not quite ready to shout it from the rooftops, yet, but if you happen to be reading this discreet announcement we want you to log in to your account and customize to your heart’s desire. This somewhat secret and slow return of our customization feature will help our CSA crew adjust to this big change and work out any kinks. Thanks for your support along the way!

As always, thanks for reading. Have a happy Labor Day!

Love, Your Farmers

Farmer Tracy and his two kids, Obi and Eden, at our Garfield Farm back in March of 2019. Photo by Scott David Gordon.