SUMMARY: Seventh WEEK of SPRING 2021! - EXTRA VEGGIES! - FARM CREW SPOTILIGHT - NEW* - NURSERY SPOTLIGHT- ACI DONATION UPDATE AND DONATE TODAY! - DID YOU KNOW? -Â LOCATIONS AND TIMES - WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEK - WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT WEEK
Week 7 - The SEVENTH Week of SPRING CSA 2021!
Hello Dear CSA Members!
I hope everyone is enjoying your beautiful CSA shares this week and looking forward to another amazing one this week! We have delectable daikon radishes and greens, fantastic fennel, tender turnips, luscious lettuce and killer kaleđ. It's not as abundant as we would like at this time of year, and hence we are continuing to utilize the microgreens to help us with bulk, but it is gorgeous - especially for this time of year and with this terrible weather we continue to have.
Something else happened this week that was very special - we hired a new Admin to replace Havah đđđ! We are so excited about this because Havah works harder than a normal person should and she needs a restđ! Not only that, but when you are a Mom of 6 children and you homeschool, it doesn't leave much room for doing an Administrative job too (and thriving none-the-less!)! So Havah very much wants to return her focus to our children and we have been searching for the opportunity to finally be able to move in this direction. Havah will obviously stay involved on the farm, but in a less-critical role, by doing some of the things she loves like weeding and working out in the soil.
Meet the amazing new Admin down below in the employee spotlight đ and enjoy your shares this week!!
See below for event updates, new articles and announcements!
Enjoy your share this week and don't forget to join the fun and share your recipes and pictures in the Facebook Community Group!Â
Volunteering
Are you coming to the farm this Sunday between 1pm and 5pm?!? We have huge projects to do and we would LOOOOOOOOVE your help!
Squash plants are going in, shade cloth is going on the greenhouses and the carrot-crib (our giant shade/hail structure is being constructed for the season. We hope you can make it out!
Want to volunteer? Simply e-mail our amazing Administrator, Bekka at aci@ahavahcommunity.org to get more information and to sign up!
EXTRA VEGGIES and PLANTS FOR SALE
Spring extras have been lacking, but more and more will be coming as the harvests get larger and larger. Keep an eye out for your favorite veggies for sale!
DON'T FORGET: SNAP MEMBERS ALWAYS RECEIVE 50% OFF!!
&
As always, all prices are
"Pay-What-You-Can-Afford."
đGARDEN PLANTS ALSO QUALIFY FOR SNAP AND 2x DOUBLE-UP BENEFITS!!!đ
For Payment: Cash or Check at the drops or the balance can be sent via PayPal to contact@ahavahfarm.com or via Venmo to Ahavah Farm, LLC or by paying with credit card over the phone.
SUMMER SHARES STILL AVAILABLE!
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that the production, processing and distribution of food is the world's largest economic activity? Not only is it the largest economic activity, but from farm to plate, the resulting emissions from agriculture is responsible for a staggering 44% to 57% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gases worldwide! WOW!
These greenhouse gases come from many different activities within the process of getting your food from the farm to your plate. 15% to 18% comes from land-use change and deforestation, while processing, transport and packing consists of 15% - 20% of the greenhouse gases being emitted. Waste accounts for an additional 2% - 4% and "other" non-food-related emissions adds another 43% - 56% of GHG's - directly from the production and distribution of agriculture.
These GHG's are coming from agrochemicals, the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, the pumping of irrigation water, plowing and subsoiling to name a few of the major culprits. However, the largest contributor to GHG's world-wide is the release of carbon being held in the soil, primarily from tilling and land-clearing. This one activity has accounted for a staggering 320 billion tons of emissions, 155 billion tons of which have been released within the last 150 years!
Currently there are over two and a half TRILLION tons of carbon currently being held in the top meter of soils around the planet in addition to the above-ground biomass and detritus carbon of another 560 billion tons. If we add these two amounts together, we come to a number that is roughly six times greater than the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere!
Did you hear that? Carbon gets LOCKED, or STORED in SOIL! In the top meter of soils is more Co2 than we have in the entire atmosphere. The question is: Can we store more? YES! How did the carbon get there to begin with? Well, carbon is plant-food and plants love it! Not only do they love it, but they thrive on it and need it as an essential part of their make-up. Plants (think lawns, trees, shrubs) take carbon from the atmosphere and they store it in the soil...then we come along and we till the soil, thereby releasing all the excess carbon into the atmosphere (what a bone-head move!).
Plowing and tilling is not only highly destructive to the organic carbon in the soil (food for the plants and microbes), but whenever we till our soils we lose approximately 3% of the carbon from that layer of soil we just inverted. Over years of repetition, this can have an enormously detrimental affect on our crops, but more so on the atmospheric GHG's that are being released by this process. In fact, most agricultural soils have lost between 30 and 40 tons of carbon per hectare, or 25% to 75% of what existed before the land was cleared!
We can fix this! It has been proven by Regeneration International, and many others, that if only 3% of all available arable land (think your front lawn, road-strips, parks and your back garden!) on the planet were to be managed in a "regenerative" way, that we could reduce 100% of ALL GHG emissions from our atmosphere! ALL! yes, this sounds nuts, especially if you are hearing it for the first time, but this is a well-known statistic. We have the solution to climate change...so why isn't it happening? Well, it is, just very slowly - and it starts with you! It starts with your food choices and the choices you make with your dollar - by supporting organizations who are being socially responsible and doing it right. You can also take many steps to make a difference too by taking steps to regenerate your lawn or local school grounds or park.
At Ahavah Farm, we decided to do it right from the beginning and since our founding almost 7 years ago we have placed carbon-negativity as a goal and mission of ours - to reduce emissions on our farm to such an extent that we actually remove more carbon out of the atmosphere than we put in.
We aren't perfect in our approach, but by taking multiple steps, and by utilizing carbon calculators, we are able to be fairly confident in our assessment that our farm is completely carbon-negative, including delivery, production, storage and the growing of the crops themselves!
We do it through six major practices: 100% solar power (seen here), reduced irrigation and water pumping, growing all year-round, refusing to use agrochemicals, by adding compost to the soil, by covering the soil whenever it is bare and not planted and by practicing zero/minimal-tillage.
We are confident that through the utilization of these six major practices (utilized alongside carbon calculators and soil-carbon tests in addition to many more less-critical beneficial practices) have led us to be confident in our assessment that we operate a fully carbon-negative farm and we believe that you can be absolutely confident in this assessment as well.
If you have any questions regarding any of our growing practices, or how we determine our carbon-negativity, or if you are interested in applying any of these practices to your personal farm, garden or lawn please join us for our classes as it is a passion for us to spread this information to as many people as will listen and implement it! Go to www.ahavahfarm.com/classes to register.
đŚ Ahavah Community Initiative SPOTLIGHT đŚ
(Continued from last week. See this section next week for a new update! unfortuantely, all classes and tours were canceled this week due to the weather)
As you know, Ahavah Community Initiative loves to donate free food to those in need. But did you know that ACI is all about education and outreach too (see our class schedule below)!?
It's true! We strive to put on as many events and classes as we have the bandwidth to do. Classes include kids education classes (like Tracy's Storytime class every month) and project classes for children (like this week's "Build a Herb Box" class). We also do in-depth, professional level classes (like last week's Nursery Management class, and next week's Biological Agriculture 101 class). We also really enjoy putting on educational tours and events and sometimes we even have school groups (like later this month) and kids camps come and stay on the farm or we go and visit your school or event (like Yosef did last month for a Girl Scout group). In short, education is a key component to Ahavah Community Initiative and it isn't slowing down!
This week, Asher did a great job teaching the "Mother's Day Windowsill Herb Box" class. This is a class he came up with on his own and he designed the box himself (you can purchase the box with or without the herbs here). The students all built a pine box stained with Organic whey-based stain and they planted four herbs in the box: basil, thyme, chives and oregano.
Interested in making a tax-deductible donation to ACI? Ahavah Community Initiative is registered as a 501c3 with the State of Colorado as a non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.
Want to get involved with either ACI or as a volunteer on the farm? E-mail us to let us know. We are always looking for volunteers and we would love for you to join the party!
AHAVAH COMMUNITY INITIATIVE
BRING-A-BUCK!
Oh the amazing power of community and crowdfunding!
Every week, at all of the CSA locations, we have a bin or jar that looks like this. We ask all of our members to bring just $1 with them every week to help support their fellow-members and community.
Bring $1 every week and be a part of supporting, directly, families in need.
Don't say your $1 isn't important! The only way crowdfunding works is if we all participate. Therefore, your $1 is vitally important and it is directly through this program that we raise the majority of ACI's food donation funds than any other fundraising program, and yet it is the absolute easiest for all of our members to participate!
Everyone can afford to Bring-A-Buck and if we ALL bring $1, the impact can be enormous - to the tune of feeding 1 family for an entire season for every single week we all participate!!!! WOW!!
đŚ The Farm Crew SpotlightđŚ
Say "Hi" to Bekka! You may remember Bekka from a "Volunteer Spotlight" that we did on her over a year ago. Bekka came to us as a volunteer in 2020 and she was so instrumental in keeping all of our garden beds clean by her amazing ninja-like weeding skillsđ !
Bekka has the most bubbly and generous personality. She is the type of person who would give you anything or do anything you need. From the first moment we met Bekka, we totally enjoyed her and knew this was where she needed to be. I told her then that if I had a position, I would love to hire her, but then, in late 2020 the ACI position opened up and Bekka applied for the Administrator job. bekka became the first employee for ACI ever! Bekka's background and her degree in Library science are being put to good work as she is currently in this position part-time and doing an amazing job managing ACI. You may see her posts as she manages the Facebook ACI page and the Community Group FB page too. In addition, Bekka has been the Volunteer Coordinator as well - an absolutely essential and instrumental part of the farm operations (because without volunteers, we won't make it!). Bekka has been doing such a great job working for ACI, that we decided to offer her yet another jobđđđ!
That's right! Bekka is now, the Ahavah Farm Administrator! This means that Havah gets to step down and take a break! Now Havah can focus on schooling and caring for the little ones and this works out for both Bekka and Havah. It's a great situation. So now, you will be in communication with Bekka regularly. She not only manages the ACI@ahavahcommunity.org e-mail, but NOW Bekka will be managing the contact@ahavahfarm.com e-mail too! This is so exciting for us to bring Bekka on to be the Farm "Mom" and we believe that Bekka will have the time and ability to take our communication, marketing and general operations to another level and this will ultimately improve the experience of all CSA members, community members, friends and supporters. Yay Bekka!
In Their Own Words...
How long have you worked for Ahavah Farm?
Since January.
What is your job title and what do you do on the farm?
Administrator is my job title and I admistrate Yo! I do paperwork...the fun-fun paperwork!
What do you like most about your job?
I know everybody else said it, so I hate to say "the people" but it truly is. I have worked at a lot of places in my life and I have never, truly, I have NEVER worked around such an amazing group of people. Truly.
Can you share one thing you have learned by working for Ahavah Farm?
There is so much stuff...You don't have to wear a suit to work every day in order to be succesful. I love this place!
Do you have a favorite hobby?
I do! I used to do native-american bead-work, but now I don't have the dexterity...but I hope I can get surgery and get back to it!
Do you have a favorite quote?
"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."
~ Cherokee Expression
What is a fun-fact that only a few people know about you?
I love ziplining and skydiving! My husband and I used to do it all the time!
What are three words or phrases that describe you?
Bodacious, Audacious, Tenacious and
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Having to hire the secretary to be the "Assistant" to the Administrator! :)
Anything else you would like to share with us?
Find something that truly makes you happy and enjoy doing, and just do it!
NURSERY NEWS
There are still lots and lots of plants being brought to the CSA locations every week!
That's right - everything from tomato plants to lettuce and kale (and more) seedlings will be available - best part?
ALL CSA MEMBERS STILL RECEIVE 15% off!
Microgreen CSA Share!
Love our microgreens!? Than this selection is for you! Receive 3 types of microgreens every week of the year and save 17% every single week!
âSIGN UP ANYTIME AND START YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT ANY TIME OF YEAR! AND CANCEL AT ANYTIME TOO!â
Our microgreens are fresh and will last - unlike anything you can find in the store. We pride ourselves on our microgreen quality as being not only absolutely pure - grown without chemicals, fertilizers or inefficient energy (we grow with 100% solar, renewable energy!), but they are absolutely beautiful, long-lasting and delicious! We really can't rave enough, they are THAT good!
What's in a Share?
In your share you will receive a combination of 3 microgreens every week with the option to purchase add-ons and extras when available. Every week we will be growing a mixture of microgreens and you will receive 3 selections of the following: Sunflower Shoots, Pea Shoots, Radish, Kale, Kohlrabi, Basil, Cilantro, Lettuce, Brocolli and more.
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Pickup locations and times are the same as Ahavah Farm Veggie Share CSA but you do not have to be a veggie-share member to be a microgreen CSA member - these are two independent programs combined into one.
Go to https://www.ahavahfarm.com/microgreen-csa to learn more and to sign up!
COMPOST
Be a part of our ZERO-WASTE mission here at Ahavah Farm and bring us your compost! PLEASE REMEMBER - NO PLASTIC BAGS. Want more information?  CLICK HERE to learn about the program. Thank you everyone who has been bringing their compost! We are so excited that we can help on your mission to become Waste Free!
CSA PICKUP LOCATIONS AND TIMES
NOTATE TIMES: Times are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please be aware that it is your responsibility to check Facebook and this blog on ahavahfarm.com for updated information and changes.
THURSDAYS:
COS North / Monument @ Beasts and Brews (7 Spectrum Loop, Ste. 140)
12pm to 1pm (Drive Thru / Market Style)
Denver @ JCC (350 S. Dahlia St.):
3pm to 4pm (Drive thru / Market Style)
FRIDAYS:
Colorado Springs @ Ranch Foods Direct (4635 Town Center Dr.):
1pm to 2:00pm (Drive Thru / Market Style)
2:00pm to 6pm (Inside store - đ¨TRADITIONAL SHARE MEMBERS ONLY!!)
Peyton @ Ahavah Farm (7545 Log Rd.):
10am to 11am (Drive Thru / Market Style)
This Week's Harvest
As always, nothing is guaranteed. These are the items that are "in season" and are anticipated to be ready this week (which may or may not be available at the CSA): Â
Small = 4-6 items per week
Medium = 7-9 items per week
Large = 10-12 items per week
Parsley - Who doesn't love parsley? It's my favorite! Every time we have parsley available on the farm, it's my favorite thing to pick and eat on my walk throughs.
Kale- Absolutely amazing kale! The best we have ever had, you really can't beat this variety of Blue Curled kale. An heirloom variety that is super sweet and delicious! (don't forget to massage it - no really!).
Baby Fennel - We love our fennel! It's one of those items that not everyone is familiar with, but if you love black licorice, it's amazing raw. If you don't like the flavor of anise, than try grilling it or sautĂŠ' it with garlic, salt and pepper. it's delicious and will change it's flavor. Here is an article with some ideas on how to use your fennel: https://www.loveandlemons.com/what-is-fennel/
Red Fire and Green Muir Lettuce - A beautiful red and green lettuce with big, fluffy leaves.
Turnips- One of the most desired of all the things we grow are turnips. Now, for you newbies, I know you are thinking that sounds crazy...but until you try these amazing, mouth-watering turnips, you won't believe it!!!
Radish Microgreens - Next to the barley grass and the sunshoots, radish microgreens are some of the most nutritiously-dense items we grow on the farm and not only that, but during our annual survey last year, they ranked as the #1 most requested and love item we grow! They have a fantastic bite to them, last considerably long in the refrigerator and are beautiful in appearance.
Living Plant - You will have the choice of Oregano, Chives, Mint, Kale, Tomato, Basil, Mustard or Marigolds (and more).
Radishes - Only the best tasting and incredibly beautiful radishes ever! Roasting. Hands down is the best way to eat these! I literally cannot get enough of these roasted radishes đ
Green Onions - these are baby onions that are de-li-cious!
Mustard - Red and Green mustard this week. The red is little milder than the green southern giant, and stunning in appearance! Have you ever made a frittata? Ever made one with mustard greensđđ? Learn about 10 recipes and how to use them here.
Carrots - There really is nothing quite like our beautiful and incredibly tasty carrots!
Pea Shoots - One of the most desired and sought after items we provide are these pea shoots! Quite literally the best you added to any dish or salad. Our favorite way is to add them to stews and soups. A perfect topper too! Here are four fun ways to use Pea Shoots: http://blog.bostonorganics.com/4-fun-ways-to-use-pea-shoots
Broccoli Microgreens - Last week we told you that Radish Microgreens were the #1 most loved item we grow, well, these microgreens weren't on the list then! I have a sneaking suspicion that these microgreens are the real winners!
Sunshoots - Our sunshoots are certainly some of the nicest, most high-quality sunshoots you will ever find (that actually goes for all our microgreens). They are one of the most beloved items we grow as well and a regular staple to our CSA. Here are some ideas to use your sunnies this week: https://www.martinsgardenacf.com/sunflower-shoots-recipes
That's it for this week! We love you to pieces, are incredibly grateful for each and every one of you and we are blessed to the core to be YOUR farmers!!
Yosef, Havah, Kids and Team The Camire Family
