I bought a blue wool sweater at Value Village in Yakima on Martin Luther King day, you know, in January, when I was there visiting my mom and my sister. The point is, I should not still be wearing the same sweater six months later, day in day out. It just isn’t natural. I’m of hardy Norwegian stock, so I can take a chill, bundle up, keep at it and all, but a girl’s got her limits. My husband, farmer Colin, he says we have a new month on the calendar, thanks to global climate change, it’s called Junuary. I have faith. I believe that this sort of cool spring will have to be made up for in the form of an extra hot summer, so that we can still produce some of those semi tropical treats. There is an amazing amount of science involved in farming. One can delve as far as one wishes into it all. Me, I prefer hope and faith. And hard work of course. But not all that degree day tracking and to the hour predictions and counting the sugar molecules in the carrots with a brix-o-meter, and what have you. I know when my carrots are sweetest the old fashioned way, I taste them. Rainbow Chard is not so much different from any other type of Chard. You have probably heard of Swiss Chard. Same stuff, just the pretty assorted color type. The seed selectors claim that It has delicate texture and sweeter flavors as well as being more lovely to gaze upon than other Chards. This is the first pick of the season for this planting of Chard, so it is the most tender it will ever be. You can cut strips of it into your green salad if you are so inclined. The ribs are firm, crunchy, and completely edible. If you are cooking, you’ll want to add the ribs first, then the leaves after, as the softer part cooks faster than the ribs. Chard can be prepared any way that you would use spinach, and it is a member of the same family, with similar flavor. I think of chard as having a more citrusy flavor than spinach with less of the acid that makes your mouth feel funny. I bet I could find a better description in one of my many cookbooks, but sometimes it’s nice to write the news without consulting five other books. Less time consuming. Although I like to consume my time rummaging around in lots of cookbooks, more than I like cooking, even. When it comes down to it, I like to eat most of it raw, or lightly steamed with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Or roasted in the oven with olive oil. Easy ways.Two of our fabulous CSA members have purchased shares for the Thurston County Food Bank. What a great idea! Many of you have also donated amounts ranging from five dollars to fifty dollars for our financial aid fund. The financial aid fund is a revolving account, growing as it does and being applied as it is requested. At the beginning of the season we had three hundred dollars and three people asked for it so each received 100 towards the cost of their CSA share. Since then, we have added new members to the CSA and more donations, so that I could give another member 75 dollars towards the share. It’s not very formal, no forms to fill out or papers to sign, but it seems to help, and seems to work. We have enough produce to make more CSA shares, if you would like to purchase an additional share for the food bank or If you know a friend who is thinking of signing up, we welcome new members all season long.Maybe summer will arrive upon the eve of summer solstice. It can’t be winter forever. We may be harvesting celery from it’s pots in the greenhouse if the temperatures don’t get up above fifty with any consistency.

P.S. We moved the Turkeys outside today, even in the wind and rain. The book says they are fragile as babies, but once you keep them alive past a few weeks, practically indestructible