Do you need onions? Yes, you do.

Hello!

This past Saturday was another record-setter, and by quite a margin. We have never brought so much food to the market before. We actually had to ask our friend Kevin, who had innocently offered to help harvest not knowing what he’d be getting into, to take a bunch of the food home with him on Friday and bring it to the market on Saturday morning. Another volunteer on Friday took another load to Kevin’s house, which is a few blocks east of the market. Kevin loaded it all into his mini-van and brought it down at 6:30 a.m. What a guy! We actually plan to use his house as a delivery point for the next few weeks because we have more food than we can fit into the truck/trailer/my car. Crazy.

Speaking of loads of food, we watched the movie Food Inc. this weekend. Did you? I could not stay for most of the movie because the boys were too squirmy, so Bill watched it solo. He thought it was quite good but nothing that he hasn’t read before.

We just got news today that the house mover will be here on August 17, weather permitting, to move our house. Yes, we’re moving our house. We need to dig a basement and, well, the house is in the way. You can look forward to hearing all about this adventure in the coming weeks. We have a marriage counselor on retainer.
We have wrapped up the first week of the boys having returned from the grandparents’ house. I’m not sure how long it will take for us to re-program them! Here’s a taste of what we’ve heard since they’ve been back …

1. Not two hours after returning from grandma’s, Noah announced that he was bored and wanted to go back to her house. (He wrote on the sidewalk in chalk “I M Bord.” Pretty good spelling for a little guy!) We have tried to explain that it’s not always that fun at grandma’s and that she actually has a full-time job. They don’t get it – they think my parents go to The Magic House or up in the Arch every day.

2. We went to pick blueberries and then vacuum sealed them to store them over the winter. Noah said, “You know, dad, there is a freezer bag that prevents freezer burn.” Seriously. He sounded like a little commercial (and we don’t have television here at the house for them to watch). He couldn’t remember the brand name, so the advertisers only did half the job.

3. When Bill got out the homemade yogurt, Noah asked how many calories it has, noting that “some brands have more than 100 calories per serving.” This from a kid who has never heard the word calorie to my knowledge.

4. Noah asked me more than once yesterday if I knew that I may be “missing an opportunity to buy a Honda.” He seemed pretty concerned about missing the opportunity, so it must have been a pretty compelling commercial. He now refers to himself on occasion as “Mr. Opportunity.”

5. As you may have guessed, they watched A LOT of commercial television while on vacation. My dad has a TV on at all times, even during dinner. The boys are totally in love with Animal Planet. Given how much moaning and groaning Noah has been doing about farming, we asked him if he’d live on a farm or in the city when he grows up. He immediately responded, “I want to live in the television.” Whoa.

I know some people think raising two boys on a farm must be idyllic (while members of my extended family think it sounds like torture). Let me assure you that our kids dislike us and our lifestyle (on occasion) as much as in-town kids dislike their lot in life. It just depends on the hour of the day. And our kids are “behind” in some kid activities. Like Noah can’t ride a bike yet without training wheels. We just haven’t gotten around to taking him somewhere that he can practice. On the other hand, he can use very sharp knives and clippers. Ben is similarly precocious with the dangerous implements.

Were you able to watch the big storm roll in on Tuesday? It was really impressive out here on the farm. Bill said it was like being on a movie set with special effects – like a scene out of Lord of the Rings (Gates of Mordor scene, anyone?). I was in my bunker of an office, where I never have any idea what the weather is doing. Bill said they were harvesting for the CSA on Tuesday morning – him and three interns. They knew a huge storm was coming from looking at the radar. The interns were furiously picking veggies while Bill tried to quickly mow a section of weeds. All of the sudden, a perfectly straight line of dark clouds moved over the trees next to the field. The temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and before Bill knew it, they were all staring at the sky. It was biblical. Fast-moving, low-to-the-ground, rolling clouds then moved in, followed by an amazingly powerful rain. Bill said it was awesome. And then they ran for cover, barely making it out of the field before it got too slippery to get the truck up the hill.

This week’s featured vegetable is the SWEET ONION. It’s hard to get people excited about onions, which is really too bad. Onions are CRITICAL to good eating. What meal, what dish, can’t benefit from a delicious, sweet onion. Bill’s onions – Walla Walla, Candy, and Copra – are truly divine. And I’m not exaggerating. The difference between Bill’s sweet onions and the onions in the store (you know, the cheap 5-pound bag) is AS STRIKING as the difference between store tomatoes and Bill’s tomatoes. It’s really something. You can roast, grill or sauté these suckers and eat them plain. Not kidding. And I’ll be totally honest here, we need you to buy a lot of onions. We have THREE THOUSAND POUNDS of them in our garage. It’s not a big garage. I fear they will turn up in my house if you don’t buy some, and quick. Ha ha. Seriously, we have a boatload and you need to start eating them! We’ll be selling them by the pound or in 5-pound bags.

We’re looking at another monstrous harvest this weekend. I’ll be driving a big portion of it in to town (to Kevin’s garage!) on Friday night. Kevin will most likely be unavailable to deliver it on Saturday morning because his wife Christina is expecting their second baby any minute now. Good luck, Kevin and Chris!

Here’s what we’ll have …
Tomatoes
Eggplant
Leeks
Poblano Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Cucumbers
Green beans
Dragon tongue beans
Summer squash
Potatoes
Carrots
Shallots
Fennel
Kohlrabi
Swiss chard
Head Lettuce
Beets
Onions
Garlic
Kale
Collard Greens
Basil
Parsley
Broccoli
Radicchio
Cabbage (Red)
Okra

If you have any questions, 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.

Best,
Mercy