LDF News: Repairs and summer fruit!

A monarch caterpillar! These little suckers are having a hard time so I was extra happy to see this one munching on a milkweed leaf.

Here is another monarch caterpillar. You can also see the super cute alien seed pods of the milkweed. When they open in the all they look like a bichrome folded peacock tail.

Here is a defoliated tomato plant. Who is doing this? The dinosaur of the larva world: The Hornworm! They can take some foliage (and fruit) down! They use all the energy to make a beautiful moth.

Look at this monster!

These tomatoes are in town! Tomato sandwiches, tomato salad, fresh sauce, tomatoes in my eggs. I just love them so much! Jim has never been a big fan. Fair enough. But I can't describe the joy of sharing a thick slice of tomato with Wiley. He is a Big Fan! The spoils of our spring battles are finally here. 
 
In this email:

• Generally important notes
  • Farm Members, if you haven't checked out our new membership agreement please see a copy here. If this works for you, please send me an email saying so. If it doesn't, please let me know and we will sort it out. Thank you!
  • Stockbridge Members: Look for the email from a couple weeks ago. Please email me with any questions or thoughts.
  • Here is link to our Social Justice page on our website. It is a list of resources to keep active in effecting positive social change.  
• Fresh from the Field
• Recipe: KOHLRABI SLAW WITH CILANTRO, JALAPEÑO AND LIME from Feasting at Home
• Market Details
• Tales from the Farm!

Fresh From the Field- 
Greens:
Kale
Pea shoots

All Manner of Deliciousness
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Kohlrabi 
Fresh Onions
New Potatoes
Scallions
Summer Squash!
Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes!
Zucchini

Herbs (If we have time)
Basil
Dill Flowers
Mint
Parsley
Thyme

Coming soon:
Peppers- in drips and drops for now.
​
KOHLRABI SLAW WITH CILANTRO, JALAPEÑO AND LIME
From: Feasting At Home
​Refreshing and healthy  Kohlrabi Slaw made with kohlrabi, cilantro, lime, jalapeño and a simple citrus vinaigrette.

• Author: Sylvia Fountaine | Feasting at Home Blog
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 20 mins
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 6 cups kohlrabi -cut into matchsticks or grated in a food processor -about three x 4 inch bulbs (or you could substitute sliced fennel, apple, jicama, cucumber, or cabbage for part of the kohlrabi for more diversity)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro ( one small bunch)
• half of a jalapeno -minced
• 1/4 cup chopped scallion
• orange zest from one orange, and juice
• lime zest from one lime, and juice

Citrus Dressing :

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice ( juice form one orange)
• 1/8 cup lime juice plus 1 T ( juice from one large lime), more to taste
• 1/4 cup honey ( or agave syrup)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Instructions:
Trim and peel kohlrabi. ( I normally have to peel twice to get thru the thick skin). Cut off two ends. Cut in half from top to bottom. Thinly slice, rotate and slice again, making 1/4 inch matchsticks.

Place in a large bowl with chopped cilantro, scallions, finely chopped jalapeño ( 1/2), lime zest and orange zest.

Whisk dressing together in a small bowl. Toss with salad.

Refrigerate until serving. Garnish with zest and cilantro. This tastes good the next day too.

Market Details: We are at market this week
 
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Saturday with Helen and Tyler and radish aficionado Wiley! 7 am to 3 pm (or till sold out)

Eastern Market, shed 2, Saturday with Special Guest Peter! 6 am to 2:30 pmRoyal Oak, Saturday with Jim and Lisa! 7 am to 1 pm

Broken PTO drive shaft. It takes a lot of force to do this kind of damage!

Here is the new, resized pto! These machines are true gift!

Tales from the Farm:
This week we had the opportunity to work on a new repair (yippie hahah): The PTO drive shaft on our rototiller. Bottom line, there wasn't much to do about it beyond obtaining a new one but figuring out what was going on took a hot (literally) afternoon. This is reported by Helen but experienced by Jim.

Jim was rototilling some beds in preparation for our fall crops (watermelon radishes + more!) and the slip clutch engaged. The slip clutch is a mechanism that reduces the likelihood of damage to the PTO in the event that the tiller hits something it can't overcome. Hearing the slip clutch usually means there is a rock in the tine or something along those lines. Often the rock will fall out after the PTO is disengaged. Not the case this time! 

Jim looked under the tiller and found a giant low gauge (really thick) spring wrapped around the rotor (the part that rotates and spins the tines). That plus, a lot of other material! Okay! He cleared that out but for some reason the slip clutch was still engaging. Hmmm. He went through all the tiller maintenance and the problem still wasn't solved, so thought, alright, I better get the tiller off of here. It was then the problem we revealed! The PTO drive shaft was shredded! The drive shaft is a telescoping, often triangular piece of tubular steel that goes from the tractors PTO to the gear box of the implement. It allows the power from the tractors engine (P) to be taken (T) off (O) and transferred to the implement (piece of equipment on the back of the tractor). It appears the slip clutch wasn't quite enough for this spring! The PTO from the tractor kept spinning at 540 rotations per minute, the gear box on the tiller got stopped cold, and the drive shaft got twisted! It wasn't immediately obvious because the there is a protective covering over the whole shebang. After that was established it was the "simple" process of wrenching the remanence off of the whole situation, sourcing a replacement, and then resizing the replacement (cutting thick, dense metal for breakfast anyone?)

This was all done during work, was all part of work, but felt so derailing. Part of our job is keeping all of these machines running (mostly Jim's job) and when something like this happens, whatever else was going on stops dead. It is easy to feel like having to make a repair like this isn't part or our work but something in our way. And that is one valid way to look at it. A break throws a wrench in the machine that produces our income. From another perspective, this is all work that has to happen in order for the farm to keep operating and while we would rather it didn't happen the day before a big rain when everything is moving to plan, we can't control everything.

I am so grateful and impressed with how much Jim has learned about machines and repairs over the years. He started fresh with mechanics when we started the farm and has learn and built his mechanical skills so much since. I was jealous that he got to be the mechanic in the beginning (still am haha) but I am so glad that he is.  

Derailed and back on track, that's the way of the world, especially the way of the farm.

Helen for Jim, Tyler, Sarah!, Wiley, Boomer (bark layer), and Exie (morale officer)

PS. Can we just take a second to appreciate how fast 540 rotations per minute is? That is 9 rotations per second. Take your finger and twirl it 9 times. Now count one second and see how many rotations you can get in. Gawd! That's fast! I can get to 4 max. Anyway. These machines are amazing.