A rare photo of the two of us captured by @runningwildfarm! Thanks, Kate!
Farm Shares: Week 2 — The heat is the big topic of convo this week. Did the heat impact your share this week? You betcha! We didn't have spinach on our harvest schedule until next week, but when the spinach leaves start going from rounded to more angular, that is a sign it is going to bolt and start to go to seed. So, I decided this was the week for spinach! You’ll also see kale in this week’s share! Jenny, our intrepid farm employee, swears by massaging kale, to infuse it with flavors before cooking. Could be a fun activity for the kiddos, you know, playing with food! Shares this week include: spinach, scallions from Emery Farm, kale (not quite baby, not quite adult, teenager kale?), lettuce (romaine or lettuce mix), pea shoot microgreens. (Tastes like peas, great with eggs, on top of sandwiches, or eaten by the handful!) We got a touch of rain yesterday, keep your fingers crossed we get some more over the weekend.
Farm Shares: Week 1 — It was so great to see everyone at pick up this week! We are very excited to start the rhythm of the season. Were you surprised to see taters in your share? Our good friend Trent Emery of Emery Farm (no relation) in Wayne, Maine hooked us up with the spuds. Trent sells a lot of wholesale veggies to Colby and Bates, so when those colleges closed for the spring he was sitting on a fair amount of produce in storage. It felt great to get an unexpected veggie into your house and help out another farmer at the same time. Shares this week include: head lettuce (big, frilly, fluffy red heads of lettuce), tatsoi (mild and flavorful green; use it in any dish that calls for spinach) and russet potatoes. And arugula in the salad shares! (My favorite thing to do with arugula? Make pesto!)
This was our last video for our spring seedling project with 3rd grade students at Cascade Brook School. Good luck with growing all your veggies this year! To watch, find Erica Emery’s YouTube channel—look for the Rustic Roots logo!  #knowyourfarmer #mainefarmers #mainefarms #farmingtonmaine
Our farm stands in solidarity with Black lives. We have work to do in order to fight against injustice, racial discrimination, and racial violence. Here are a few ways you can consider taking action: • Participate in the 21 Day Racial Equity Challenge. We have done this the past three years and have found the resources to be fabulous. [foodsolutionsne.org > Get Involved] • Learn about New Roots Cooperative Farm. They are still taking CSA sign ups if you want to support, and they have a donate button on their page [newrootscooperativefarm.com] • Use the Young Farmers Racial Equity Toolkit. We will be using this toolkit for the next few months to do the work of learning and finding out how to take better action in our community [www.youngfarmers.org/resource/racialequitytoolkit]
We took our first ever bucket inventory this evening! We are really getting the hang of this farming gig... #weknewbetter #wediditanyway #cherrytomatoes #farminginthefoothills #frostwarning
Sunny day on the farm. . . . #mainefarms #communitysupportedagriculture #farmingtonmaine
10 beds of alliums weeded and ready for water! Did you know we try to put something from the allium family in our shares every week? I bet we hit 17 out of the 20 weeks. Garlic, garlic scapes, onions, leeks, and a returning veg for us this season, shallots, will be in shares through the season. #mainefarms #communitysupportedagriculture
What a beautiful stretch of weather we are having! Our high tunnels are flush with greens right now and we need to move them out to make room for cucumbers and cantaloupe—so we’re sharing the spring bounty with our farm share members with green head lettuce! If you’re not a member this year, no worries! Catch us tomorrow (Saturday 5/23) at the Farmington Farmers’ Market from 9am to noon where we’ll have more lettuce, baby kale, radishes, and farmer seconds tatsoi! #farmingtonmaine #mainefarms #knowyourfarmer #communitysupportedagriculture
See you at Farmington Farmers’ Market this Saturday! 9am to noon at the District Courthouse parking lot. We will have radishes, baby kale, lettuce, and kettle corn from our sister company The Sweet Life Kettle Corn Company. This is our first market of the season and all the vendors are asking that you follow the guidelines of staying home if you are sick, wearing a mask, social distance six feet apart, and do not touch food at the market. We are so excited to see you all! Thanks in advance for your patience as we work out the details of being at market in the age of social distancing. #farmingtonmaine #farmersmarket #mainefarms
We are excited be doing a spring seedling project, virtually, with a local school here in Farmington. This week is week three: seedling update, we go on a worm hunt, and check in on one of our favorite spring crops! Find Erica Emery’s YouTube channel (look for the Rustic Roots logo!) to follow along! #knowyourfarmer #mainefarmers #mainefarms #farmingtonmaine
Leafy greens growing on these sunny days of spring! #csa #mainefarmers #mainefarm #farmingtonmaine
Leeks are in! #csa #mainefarms #farmingtonmaine
Hey friends! For the first time ever we have filled our farm shares! 50 families will be getting weekly produce from us starting in June and 20 senior households will get biweekly senior shares. If you are still interested in signing up for a farm share, email me at erica@rusticrootsfarm.org to be put on our waitlist. You will know by May 1st if we have space for waitlist folks. Remember you can still get our produce at the farmers market this season too! #farmingtonmaine #mainefarms #communitysupportedagriculture
This farm share sign up made our day today! We love our farm share members right back! Sign up info is on our website and we would love grow for you this season.
Spring farming for us looks like waiting for the snow to melt, prepping and planting in high tunnels as much as possible, listening to the melody of geese fly south over our heads, and moving cold, wet things from one place to another, in mud. We love what we do and we are so thankful we have this work in the present and lots of work ahead of us to grow good food for our community, friends, and neighbors!
We are diving into spring and hoophouse planting by taking our new paperpot transplanter for a test run. It was a beautiful day to get out and get to work growing food! We are still in the middle of farm share sign up season. Did you know we offer a payment plan? All the details on the website. Reach out if you have questions!
This special delivery from Hawaii is enough to warm up the coldest winter day! Stay tuned for updates on year two of ginger and tumeric production! #rusticrootsfarm #hawaiiancleanseed #bikerdudeginger
Today is #csaday! Have you been waiting to sign up? Now is a great time to buy a farm share because we are buying seeds, supplies, planning our labor budget, and figuring out if we should invest in that fancy new tool we saw at a farming conference. Are you on the fence about a farm share? Here is the best pitch I can make: Do you currently spend $15, $20, or $25 per week on fresh produce at the grocery store? If the answer is “yes”, you are a great fit for a farm share! Skip the grocery store produce this growing season, come to the farm for your fresh produce, and make sure your $$ stay local! We have farm shares in two sizes. A full share is $500 and a salad share is $300. Learn more at www.rusticrootsfarm.org. And happy #csaday!
Throwback Thursday to 2014! In 2014 we had our first intern, Brogan, who is on the farm left. McKinley and Veronica (middle) were our Upward Bound students that year, and my cousin Zach was helping on the farm too! We probably had about 10 shares getting picked up that day, no farm structures, refrigeration, and those pine trees were still around in 2014. Thanks to our community for helping us grow! We are starting our eighth year of growing, we have have buildings, hoophouses, refrigeration, 50 farm share members, and lots of plans for the future. Buying local food through a farm share helps ensure long term success and stability for our farm. Head to our website to learn more. #csaday