Monarch on Milkweed

Visited by the first lovely monarch butterfly of the season today...we usually get an abundance of these butterflies in July-August as they feed on milkweed, and spend time resting on various orange coloured flowers we've planted such as butterfly weed, sunflowers and blackeyed susan.

Fertile Ground CSA first pick up!

Yesterday we had the first pick up for the 40+ share members of the Fertile Ground CSA. What an exciting day - members came by with baskets, boxes, crates, bags, bike trailers, wagons, strollers to cart home their vegetables.

Members get either a small or regular sized share, and come each week from July-October. They weigh out and choose their vegetables, sort of like a grocery store or market set up, based on what is listed on our blackboard. We are really looking forward to hosting this pick up each week, and anticipating the harvest. The tables were laden, the first week's harvest was especially rich with greens. Here's what members received:

- spicy and traditional salad mix
- heads of red, green or speckled lettuce
- spinach
- radishes
- green onions
- chard
- kale
- asian braising greens
- tatsoi
- pak choy
- chinese cabbage
- herbs - sorrel, oregano, parsley, dill, cilantro
- strawberries (from another farm)
- fresh local fruit pies (for sale)
- wholegrain bread (for order)