Produce! Get your produce!

In an ideal world, our farms would be able to accommodate unlimited CSA members. But at least in the meantime, as we continue to grow as an organization, we love getting to sharing our organic produce with new friends and community members through the farm market we attend weekly and the Harvest Sale that we host bi-weekly. So if you're looking for an opportunity to get some farm fresh veggies grown with great care using organic practices, along with grass fed meats provided by our partner farms, stop by and see us at one of these spots!

Every Saturday, we harvest at Hillside Farm and bring delicious produce over to the Swarthmore Farmer's Market from 9:30am to 1:30pm. Located right in front of the Swarthmore Co-Op, a visit to this market is a great opportunity to meet our farmers and the rest of the Greener Partners team. But come early, the supplies don't always last until close with so many hungry customers. For more information, click here or here.

{ A star Greener Partners helper at the Swarthmore Market }

Twice monthly on Saturdays, we host our own farm harvest sale at the Willows Cottage in Radnor. Featuring the surplus bounty from Skunk Hollow Farm, as well as grass fed beef and free-range chicken and eggs from our partner, Forks Farm. Come by to purchase some delicious seasonal produce and explore the farm! The next surplus sale will be held Saturday August 22. Market is open from 8am-11am, and after Labor Day we'll be hosting a harvest sale every Saturday! For more information and updates on Skunk Hollow Farm, click here.

{ A peek at the Skunk Hollow Harvest Sale }

Enjoy the last of these summer weekends, we hope to see you out at the market!

Bitten by blight.

Late blight... Two words no farmer wants to hear. More prevalent in cool, wet and windy weather, it can wipe out a tomato or potato crop in no time. You've likely heard about the effects of the blight this season, as more farms in our area have started burning and burying tomato plants hit by the blight. Until recently, we had been lucky to avoid a brush with the fungus ourselves. But early this week at the Skunk Hollow Community Farm, our farm manager Rick Fonda noticed some of the white spores on the leaves of the tomato plants, a sure indicator of late blight. Since there isn't much a farmer, much less and organic farmer, can do to fight the fungus, Rick will have to begin the process of digging up the plants and burying them to prevent further spread of the spores.

{ Picture of a tomato plant affected by late blight. Courtesy of The New York Times }

There is little more disappointing for a farmer than to watch his or her crops die without any recourse. But amidst the frustration we're grateful that, unlike the people of Ireland in the 19th century, this year's late blight is problematic but certainly not life-threatening. And we're keeping this in mind when heading to the farm markets this summer. Fewer producers will be offering tomatoes, and the ones they do sell will be more expensive due to the demand. Regardless, we won't let that drive us to buy elsewhere, and instead we'll take advantage of summer's other bounty. They may not be the big, beautiful tomatoes we all love, but the cauliflower looks amazing this time of year. Supporting our local farmers by purchasing the produce they do have to offer helps strengthen our communities, not to mention get them back on track for growing healthy tomatoes next year!

{ A photo of a recent share list from the Skunk Hollow Community Farm }

For more information on the late blight, click here or here.

Spring has Sprung!

Oh my! Today has been SUCH a beautiful day...I am feeling a bit ansty to be outside but there will be plenty of time for that this summer with our camps and of course with helping out on the farms. I was able to snap some photos from the car this morning to document these first sunny blooms of 2009.

All Greener Partners' farms and garden sites are in MAJOR start mode...things are crazy busy. Our CSAs are filling up quickly and our seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse. All of the GP team members have been attending multiple workshops, meetings and conferences on subjects ranging from permaculture to local foods to social justice. There is SO MUCH movement in the Greater Philadelphia region on all of these amazing topics...it makes my heart soooaaar! Needless to say, with all of this 'movement' there is also much to get done. Office work, field work, attending events...all with a smile and an eye on a bright future. We are all SO excited!

Happy Full Moon!