Persephone Farm

Sustainably Grown Vegetables & Flowers – Indianola, Washington

Persephone

Save 10 to 15 percent (and help the bees)

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It’s spring at Persephone Farm, the peas are growing and the flowers are blooming bright and beautiful. Our CSA is still welcoming members for the coming season. In addition to a bounty of fresh vegetables and flowers, members save 10-15% when purchasing a share from Persephone.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a collaboration between grower and eater, rather than a mere exchange of dollars for vegetables. We aim to provide 10-15% more value over the season than the cost of similar produce at other local outlets. It is our way of thanking you for paying in advance, which helps the farm at the beginning of the season to defray the cost of seeds, tools and other inputs. To extend the season, subscribers also receive a 10% discount at our Bainbridge Island Farmer’s Market stand, open early April through late December.

Flowers are another special part of a Persephone CSA share. As ecological farmers we appreciate our flower beds and borders for not only their beauty, but also for their ability to attract precious pollinators and beneficial insects.

Flowers help us add diversity to our crop rotations, and are essential to our farm’s sustainability. Our CSA subscribers tell us that choosing their flower bouquet is a high point of their week, beautiful selection – and beneficial to the bees too!

Read more about our CSA here.

Thank you to Lisa from Gluten Free Foodies for the beautiful video of Persephone Farm.

Filed Under: CSA

Purple Sprouting Broccoli braised with Bacon, Garlic and Chili

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We are having a bumper crop of purple and white sprouting broccoli due to the mild winter. Enjoy this simple and tasty preparation.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time 10-15 minutes
Serves 2
Ingredients: ¾ lb PSB, ¼ lb smoked bacon, 3 tbs olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced, 1 dried chili, chopped finely.

  1. Blanch the broccoli for five minutes in plenty of boiling salted water.
  2. While it is cooking fry up the bacon in the olive oil until almost brown. Add the garlic and chili and cook for another 2 minutes.
  3. Add broccoli to the bacon and braise for another five minutes.

February News from the Farm

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Like many of you home gardeners, we’ve avidly scanned our seed catalogs looking for interesting new varieties to try out this season. So much seems possible from the comfort of our arm chairs this time of year, doesn’t it?

It’s only a matter of weeks until the four new interns arrive: one from Montana, two fromWisconsin and one from Seattle. The recent string of warm days tempted the farmers out into the greenhouse and fields to get a few early seeds started. But we’re trying to hold back our enthusiasm in order to allow the new interns to join us in starting at the very beginning of the farm cycle. Persephone Farm is extremely proud of our internship program. Training the next generation of sustainable farmers is one of our farm’s most important objectives.

Katt, Adam and Tess from last year will all be managing their own farms in New England this summer, Tess in Maine, Katt and Adam in Vermont. Hiram has followed his new Lady Love to Maui where he is developing a business as a personal chef, specializing in local, organic cuisine. (Ah, to have pineapple and passion fruit as part of our 100 mile diet!)

Community Supported Agriculture is another of our most rewarding endeavors. Seeing the kids excited about their veggies warms every adult heart, parent and farmer alike. Have you noticed, too, how fully children take in the sensory pleasure of the flowers? They’re so alive to all aspects of the fragrance and color. It’s a thrill watching them try to choose the family bouquet. Your support for our farm is integral to our overall success. Thank you for taking the annual leap of faith with us as we step into a new growing season.

Even though the 2011 season started out with unprecedented cool temperatures well into July, Mother Nature came through with a bang in the fall. The “summer that wasn’t” still produced one of our best tomato harvests ever. Onions sized up well with all the dampness. And cucumbers exceeded everyone’s expectations. Sweet peppers were late but prolific. Winter subscribers can attest to the bounty even in November!

Overall, last year’s shares yielded 16% more produce than the price of the shares!! Whooohooo!!

The corn crop was less happy. Incomplete pollination made for small and misshapen ears in all varieties. We’ve not seen this before and must attribute it to the unseasonable weather. Corn is wind pollinated, so, thankfully it’s not a result of bee colony collapse disorder. This problem seems not to be affecting us .The zucchini crop attests to this, as each blossom must be visited by a pollinator at least five times in order to produce a normal fruit.

We look forward to seeing you and your families at our Orientation and first veggie pickup, Wednesday June 6th.

Please feel free to call Rebecca with questions: (360) 297-1877

Spring feels just around the corner!

Photos by subscriber, Leslie Newman

Follow Persephone Farm and The Season on Your Mobile Phone

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Great news for smartphone users! We’ve created special versions of the Persephone Farm and The Season websites just for mobile phone users. If you have an iPhone, a Blackberry or an Android based smartphone and visit either site on your mobile device you’ll find that both websites have been optimized for viewing and navigating on your small screens. Why go to all this trouble? So that CSA subscribers and Bainbridge Farmers Market customers can easily find out about the latest weekly Persephone offerings, follow Bill’s “The Season” blog, and quickly access recipes for your fresh fruit and veggies.