Welcome to our 2007 CSA membership program! How excited I am to be starting up with distribution again. The winter was a wonderful break and I got a little vacation time, although it was hard to be away from the farm (I sure missed the fresh food!). Soon after, in early January, I began crop planning, developed a great crop rotation and fertility scheme, ordered all our seeds, hired wonderful apprentices and we got to work!

By the end of January we had our first seeds sprouting and started thinking about major infrastructure changes we wanted to make. You'll notice our new fence and graveled roads; next, we’'re in the process of planning a new greenhouse for fall seed starting. Also new on the farm you’'ll see our (2 week old) baby ducks playing about in their new pool. We just put them out on the farm; they were being raised on the interns’ back porch! These cute little ducklings will soon be laying gigantic, nutritious duck eggs that the Serenbe chefs have been begging for.

We farmers are now growing on 3.5 acres, close to double what we were growing on last season. To fill up all this land, we’'ve added new features including Southern peas, dry beans, and corn! Hopefully all will be successful and we’'ll have much to share. Our last season was a great success, at the end of the season, we carefully totaled our harvest records to top 18,000lb of vegetables, so I hope that you each have a hunger for these fresh, certified organic goodies; we’'re hoping to again have another record season.

Many of you were members of the CSA program last year, but for those that are new, let me introduce myself. I’m the farm manager here at Serenbe and have been since the beginning of last year. This is my 6th season farming, discovering my love for farming in Montana, spending 2 years in the red clay soils of Clemson, SC, and learning for 2 years more in the beautiful dark (and super rocky) topsoil of the Hudson Valley region of New York. I pursued this love for the outdoors, hard work, and fresh food after plunging my hands in the dirt for the first time. I was amazed that the lettuce that I was enjoying for dinner was a product of my diligent work. After graduation from Clemson University in Biosystems Engineering (with a natural resources concentration), I decided that sitting in an office fixing our environmental problems was not the way that I wanted to direct my life, instead I wanted to create solutions by developing local food systems. This is exactly where Serenbe fit in.

This Serenbe farmland is by far the most difficult ground I’'ve ever worked, but I’'ve learned much, most importantly that crops want to grow no matter what kind of ground you put them in. We’ve worked extremely hard amending the soils here (just ask the interns!) and add all organic, healthy soil amendments including compost, granite dust, sea minerals, fish products, and much more.

I’'ve been reading about the wonderful health benefits of fresh, organic green veggies, so I’'m excited to share the details. I just read that it was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day. Few of us even eat the minimum USDA recommendations of 3 cups of dark green vegetables per week, much less 6 lbs! These veggies deliver a literal salad bar of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Dark green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, one of the most concentrated sources of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats.

Many folks don’t realize the importance of Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of K. It is a fat−soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad or cook your greens with oil.

Vitamin K:

·Regulates blood clotting

·Helps protect bones from osteoporosis

·May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques

·May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthritis

·May help prevent diabetes (info from about.com)

To store tender greens, wrap them in damp towel, then place in a plastic bag and refrigerate, they should stay fresh for over a week!

Farmer Paige and the hard working crew (RJ, Matthew, & Lauren)