Farm Happenings at Firmly Rooted Farm
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Lettuce Rejoice! July 8, 2021- Going Through Changes

Posted on July 2nd, 2021 by Tamara McMullen

July 8, 2021

The Lettuce Rejoice!

Firmly Rooted Farm's Newsletter for their Veggie Loving Farm-ily 

On the Farm: Going Through Changes

Hello again my veggie loving friends,

This past week at least 3.5 inches of glorious salvation reigned down upon the farm, soaking the ground, nourishing thirsty crops, and putting a small but important dent into refilling depleted groundwater supplies. We hope nature keeps up the excellent work. However, as we look to the western heatwave, and reflect on the damage caused by tornados on the weekend, we wonder what inclement weather will toil with us in the future. Climate change brings with it greater extremes. We’ve read accounts of farmers irrigating around the clock just to keep their crops from turning to mush in the fields. The future of farming will be shaped by our collective response to climate change.

But in the now, we keep growing, improving, adapting, changing. There has been a lot happening on the farm. Our crew has grown; volunteers offer their labour to us one day every week, and we’ve grown by many permanent part-time additions. We are thankful for the decreased individual workload and revel in an increased sense of farm community.

Improvements have been made to the existing farm infrastructure. Our CSA packing station has been streamlined with the help of local contractor Helm and his associate Brandon. It’s sometimes remarkable how small changes can so greatly improve efficiency and general well-being.

The building we began erecting in the spring is finally coming together. It will be used as an order fulfilling station and for improved storage capacity. The current and only existing on-farm storage facility is the aptly named “Falling Down Shed”, whose tragic existence has served us well, but also may come to a natural conclusion in the coming years.

The farm is an ever-changing face, a shifting identity, influenced by the people who serve it. Every year it’s a little different; systems shift to accommodate different personalities, changes are made to physical spaces, and people come together to create a different atmosphere. This is my second year at Firmly Rooted, and I’ve enjoyed witnessing the growth of the space, its identity and its feel. Our connection with the land helps to transform our connections with each other, it gives us a sense of belonging, purpose, and ever so often, peace.

Kitchen Corner

Summer squash is one of those vegetables that you always seem to end up with an exorbitant amount of. Our plants are really beginning to take off. Zucchini and patty pans are excellent grilled, roasted, even puréed to make a creamy pasta sauce, you can find a recipe here. Fritters, zucchini bread, relish, pickles, stuffed, as a noodle replacement, lasagna, gratin, and so much more, zucchini and patty pans are some of the most versatile vegetables you can cook with. Fun fact, botanically speaking, summer squash and other members of the Cucurbitaceae family are berries. This may upset your entire understanding of what berries are, especially when you learn that common berries such as strawberries and mulberries are in fact not berries at all.

Kitchen Clean-Up

Soon we will have apparel for sale! Local artist and farm team member Bethany designed some beautiful artwork to be printed on shirts and offered to our wonderful customers. The shirts will be available for pre-order within the coming weeks, so keep an eye out!

That’s all for now folks, happy eating until next time!

Farmer Erika