What's in the box? - Live Earth Farm

HERE'S WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Reveal the photo to get an idea of a typical summer Family Share. What might your share look like over the course of a season? When you open up your spring shares you'll find some combination of things like leafy cooking greens (chard, kale or collards); root veggies (carrots, red or golden beets and radishes, sometimes rutabagas or turnips); cruciferous veggies like broccoli or cauliflower; various lettuces, arugula, and Asian greens (tatsoi, mizuna, mei qing choi), fennel perhaps; leeks, onions or scallions; fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley; different kinds of cabbages (red, green, Napa); sometimes radicchio; the ever popular green garlic, and of course our fabulous fava beans. For fruit, we usually have apples, but more importantly spring is strawberry time! Sometimes there's LOTS of strawberries as spring progresses! Occasionally there will be treats from other farms like artichokes, mushrooms or sprouts.

Come summer you'll find your cooking greens supplemented with things like summer squash and cucumbers, potatoes, green beans, spinach, peppers, basil... later in summer come the to-die-for tomatoes (sungold cherry tomatoes; dry-farmed tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes), eggplant, and colorful varieties of sweet and hot peppers. Since we're coastal, our late summer crops usually last us well into fall, and in fall come crisp new apples and honey-sweet Warren pears, plus treats like fresh garbanzo beans and various winter squashes (kabocha, butternut, acorn, sweet dumpling, delicata, spaghetti). If you add a fruit option, you'll get to enjoy the other fruits we grow, such as fresh blackberries and raspberries, plums, apricots, grapes, and pineapple guavas. (Harvest Schedule) Members adjust what they get by choosing their share size (Family or Small) and adding extras such as extra fruit or pastured eggs. (Become A Member)

GROWING THE CROPS

"The Earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."
- Chief Seattle

We farm organically, which for us means to work in harmony with nature. Organically grown is not just a label; we believe it is farming that one honors the connection of all living beings and their dependence upon each other.

The key to growing nutritious (and tasty!) fruits and vegetables is to nurture and grow a healthy soil. We build organic matter in the soil several ways, starting with growing lush winter or summer cover crops. We rest and rejuvenate every piece of land we use with a rotation of cover crops at least every two years (sometimes more depending on the soil type). Our winter cover crops are a mix of bell beans, vetch, peas and barley; in summer we like to use buckwheat and/or sudan grass. Cover crops also reduce potential soil erosion and in some cases, such as with sudan grass, we benefit from alleopathic properties which reduce or eliminate soil-born diseases.

We also apply certified organic compost at a rate of 3-5 tons per acre on an annual basis to maintain soil fertility, improve the soil's water retention capacity, and increase soil microbial activity. We regularly add rock dust and other natural amendments such as gypsum and azomite, to improve the tilth and micronutrient levels in the soil. Depending on specific crop fertility requirements, we might add still additional certified organic fertilizers such as fish and kelp concentrates and/or pelletized bird guano.

To control weeds we use mechanical and hand cultivation, flamers, and properly managed irrigation and planting techniques. We try to preventively control pests and diseases by selecting appropriate varieties for our growing conditions, following a detailed crop rotation scheme, using physical barriers such as row covers, and releasing beneficial insects. To minimize crop losses from insect pests we grow a large diversity of crops and create natural habitats around our fields to maintain a native beneficial insect population.

HARVEST SCHEDULE

Here are the crops we typically grow and the approximate months we harvest them. Keep in mind, however, that planting and harvesting is not an exact science! We're beholden to Mother Nature and weather and soil conditions, and she may at times throw us for a loop, causing a delay or the loss of a crop. Typically, however, we are blessed to enjoy her abundant generosity of tasty and beautiful fruit and vegetables:

Regular Season

Winter Season

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Fruit

Apples

Apricots*

Blackberries and raspberries*

Concord grapes*

Pears

Pineapple guavas*

Strawberries

Plums*

Citrus

*Extra Fruit or Fruit "Bounty" options only

Regular Season

Winter season

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Vegetables and herbs

Arugula

Basil

Beets

Bok choi

Broccoli/Broccolini/Broccoli Raab

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage (green, red, Chinese)

Carrots

Cauliflower

Cooking greens (chard, collards, kale, mustard, etc.)

Cucumbers (regular, lemon, Armenian)

Eggplant (globe and oriental)

Fava beans

Fennel

Garlic and green garlic

Green beans

Herbs (chives, cilantro, parsley, sometimes others!)

Leeks

Lettuces (many varieties)

Onions (spring, green, dry bulb)

Peas (English and sugar-snap)

Peppers (various)

Potatoes

Pumpkins

Radicchio (various)

Radishes (various)

Rutabaga

Spinach

Summer squash (various)

Tomatoes (cherry, dry-farmed, heirloom)

Turnips and kohlrabi

Winter squash (various)

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

We have actual real live straight-out-of-the box photos of our produce on our Recipes by Key Ingredient page! Click on the little camera icons.