Michele & The Fairy Garden: CSA 2017 – Week #4

 In CSA Newsletter
Michele & The Fairy Garden

You ever met someone who just about always takes that extra step and does something kind for others, unasked?  Michele is one of those people.

Michele is on her 2nd year on the pack line. Every Wednesday for 20 weeks she comes to the farm and helps put vegetables in member CSA boxes on our little assembly line. But Michele does so much more than this for our farm.

It started with baked goods. Periodically she would bring in some sort of yummy sweet snack to share with the other pack line volunteers.  The snacks were almost always warm, baked that morning before the 8 am shift start, and usually had some sort of vegetable hiding in them.  Eggplant muffins. Sweet corn ice cream. Beet chocolate cake. Yum. Periodic treats became weekly. Then she started to bring enough to share with the crew.

Next, Michele asked if she could help beautify our farm with some landscaping. She came in with a hand-drawn map and plan of all the places she wanted to put flowers. She then began organizing perennial swaps with other people who volunteer at the farm, so that she could maximize the varieties and colors of flowers. She began her landscaping work last fall, and then began to come throughout the spring. Her mission: to beautify. Her work is literally beginning to bloom right now, and the vibrancy and beauty bring me such joy. She has really made it a more beautiful place for our members to come when they visit and get their shares.

Her most recent project is a fairy garden for our kids. She repurposed an old planting stand and created a magic, very real little place the fairies of my daughters’ imaginations can live. There are real flowers, a ceramic waterfall, a crafty little picket fence, sparkly stones, and so much more. She brought tiny gourds, and the girls and I made little homes mounted on popsicle sticks. There’s a fairy mailbox the girls decorated with unicorns and smores. And the girls have begun to place their prized arts and crafts into the fairy garden… ceramic butterflies and other artwork.

The girls even received their first piece of fairy mail wherein they learned 3 fairies are moving in to the garden: Princess Bubblehurle, Moon Sparkle Jewel, & Lulu Tigerdrop.

Of all of Michele’s contributions, I love this fairy garden the most. All too quickly, and all too easily we lose our sense of magic and awe of this big world.  There is ample time for our little girls to learn about the inequities, struggle, and injustice in the world.  Right now is the time to cultivate magic.

A big thanks to Michele, for bringing sweetness, beauty, and magic to the farm.

Thanks for your support and happy cooking!
the Noltnerwyss family

In the Box:

  • Basil
  • Beets
  • Cabbage, Green
  • Garlic Scapes
  • Pearl Onions
  • Red Leaf Lettuce
  • Salad Turnips
  • Snow Peas
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Strawberries 
  • Zucchini

EOs only: 

  • Kohlrabi
  • Parsley

REGs only: 

  • Cauliflower for some members
  • Cucumber for some members

Weekly Recipes

  1. Creamy Pasta with Peas & Basil
  2. Quinoa Salad with Sugar Snap Peas
  3. Stir-Fried Snow Peas and Mushrooms
  4. Beets, Parsley, & Scapes Side 
  5. Braised Lentils with Kohlrabi, Cabbage and Smoked Sausage
  6. Snow Pea, Cabbage, Dill, & Gouda Pasta Salad
  7. Kale, Lentil, & Beet Salad
  8. Curried Kohlrabi, Kale, Turnip, Snap Pea Pilaf