Let us eat lettuce!

Hello!

We’re heading into the last May market, and it’s looking to be very similar to the first two May markets with one new addition – head lettuce! It’s really crisp and tender this time of year, having not yet been subjected to the heat of summer.

We’re still moving a little more slowly in the field than we had hoped, though. As you may recall, Bill is using a new field this year. Four acres – a record area for Bill to manage. By all appearances, it should be functioning like the Garden of Eden – dark, black, crumbly floodplain soil adjacent to a babbling brook. Unfortunately, it turns out that the sandy component of the soil (which is great for root crops to grow through) facilitates the leaching of key nutrients under extremely wet conditions. So last fall’s and this spring’s heavy rains likely washed out much of the nitrogen that had been fixed into the soil by last year’s planting of soybeans and clover. As a result, the plants aren’t growing as fast and Bill has switched into his “Bill Davison, Soil Scientist” mode. He’s testing the soil, amending it with organic materials, and doing little dances to the god of soil to encourage faster growth. Like I said … very scientific.

Ben is doing his part as a farmhand. Although he appears to be dressed to hop into the next boxcar for a hobo adventure, this is actually how he dresses to farm (on a cool day -- sweater, quilted flannel, scarf, and train engineer hat). I really don't know where he gets his sense of style.



Did you know that the market is offering credit card/debit card payments? I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but you can go to the farmers market tent (not the individual farmers’ stands) and use your credit/debit card to get cute wooden tokens in various denominations. You can then spend those tokens at the farmers’ stands. We get reimbursed accordingly. We do make change for the tokens, so there’s no penalty for using them. We are also able to accept tokens through the WIC and Senior Nutrition Program, although we can’t give change for those tokens.

Thanks to everyone who patronized Noah’s Art Stand, set up directly north of the green garlic. Noah brought a few kindergarten art pieces and sold them for $.25 apiece. He made $4.55 (extra five cents thanks to a tip from Scrogin Farm!). Intoxicated by his financial windfall, Noah declared that he is coming to the market every week to sell art! (We only brought them this week because the sitter was out of town.) He doesn’t even have a plan for spending it … he just likes having it! He obviously hasn’t yet heard of his obligation as an American to stimulate the economy by wasting it on some little trinket. We’re working on that. Ha ha.

For the next market, here’s what you can expect:

Head Lettuce
Spinach
Beets
Green Onions
Green Garlic
Nettle
Salad Mix.

If you have any questions (veggie, fruit, cooking, calculus, quantum theory), please don’t hesitate to call us at 309-467-9228. You can also email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com, although during the farm season we can’t guarantee that we’ll be checking the email as often as usual.

Mercy