Tinicum CSA

Refuge – Day 972

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  • Monarch on Echinacea – Photo: L. Weikel

Refuge

Right around noon today I unexpectedly encountered several minutes of profound peace. I rediscovered a place where the air is sweet and vast, and if you time it just right, wraps you in a cocoon of silence. Before today, I don’t think I would’ve called it this, but – it’s a place of refuge.

One of my daughters (in-law*) belongs to a local CSA. Tiffany is generous and makes a point of sharing her bounty with us. I (well, we) reciprocate in some small measure by picking up the weekly harvest when she can’t make it and occasionally massaging the kale. (Yes; that’s a thing. And I guarantee it’s the yummiest way to eat kale you’ve ever tried.)

Today was my turn.

After gathering up our allotment of precious bounty: red onions, cucumbers, carrots, kale, parsley, cabbage, summer squash and zucchini, I turned my sites on the vast fields where we get to ‘pick our own.’

Lots of Pollen On These Two – Photo: L. Weikel

Loose In the Fields

The CSA administrators essentially let us loose in the fields to pick our own raspberries and cherry tomatoes. We’re not entitled to pick as many as we might like; just like any good thing, there are limits. Indeed, getting to the fields late can mean you may not even be able to eke out half a pint of either, at least when the yield is only starting to come in.

We’re also welcome to pick from a variety of herbs, which I didn’t do; and I think okra may be in season as well. (That’s an interesting vegetable that could merit a post of its own.) But one of the best parts of the field is being entitled to pick the flowers they’ve cultivated.

Is It the Acoustics?

The acoustics of the fields are remarkable. Technically, it’s not actually the fields that cause the amazing acoustics, it’s the palisades, the massive stone edifices that tower over the fields that create almost a fishbowl of sound. When other people are picking their veggies or flowers, even if they’re chatting with someone quietly, right beside them, it’s guaranteed you’ll be able to hear every nuance of that conversation.

I have a feeling that’s why most people, if they don’t immediately enter a meditative state, reflexively lower their voices to a whisper when engaging in ‘pick-your-own.’ Because voices carry so easily and crisply, when they’re not there at all, silence bounces off of silence and it’s as if we’re in a sound-proof booth.

The totality of the experience is hard to describe but easy to lose oneself in.

Early Season Jewels – Photo: L. Weikel

Reverie

The coneflower, also known as Echinacea, was a mecca for the pollinators. Oh my goodness, it was such a delight to see all manner of bees, butterflies, and other winged ones imbibing.

At one point it dawned on me that I was the last person standing in the middle of that field. The only sounds I heard were the sudden screeches of crows that were hounding a red-tailed hawk. Hawk didn’t take the strong but silent route, either. It scree’d its indignation right back at them as it took up residence in a massive oak at the edge of the field.

Almost all the flowers were covered with pollinators. I couldn’t bear to pick the vast majority of them. And indeed, when one of the employees came out to the field (not sure if they were looking for me or what), I shared with them some of the other prizes I was harvesting – my photos.

The Spirits of this Place know that the manner in which these vegetables, fruits, flowers, and other plants are being cared for is sacred. The reverence creates a palpable refuge for all Beings seeking nurturing, nourishment, and peace.

(T-139)

Back to Basics – Day 875

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Back to Basics

I revel in having daughters (in-law, technically, but I prefer to drop the hyphenated part) who pay attention to how their choices impact the Earth and care about what they put into their bodies. Sharing fundamental values like those makes life not only so much easier but also much richer and more fun. For instance, Tiffany’s decision to get ‘back to basics’ this year vis-à-vis the hallowed tradition of dying Easter eggs.

To hear her tell it, Tiffany read the packaging of a traditional egg coloring kit and was unhappy with the various dyes being used. Never one to be daunted by a little bit of inconvenience for a cause, she harvested the leavings of the veggies from her local farm co-op, Tinicum CSA, which she’d squirreled away in her freezer. Beet tops and yellow onion skins. Spinach, red onion skins, and blueberries. (She knew she’d saved them for a reason!)She even threw in some lavender to try to jazz up the wan coloring of the spinach.

Yes, I got the chance this weekend to dye eggs the old fashioned way. Tiffany slaved away in the kitchen all day boiling, boiling, and boiling again. Going back yet again and reducing the liquid containing the natural colors leeching out of the vegetables and fruits, making it ever more potent.

I was quite surprised by the depth of color yielded by ‘going old school’ and creating natural dyes for the eggs. I think the fan favorite this year, at least, was the rich purple-y blue created by the blueberries.

My photos don’t do these justice – Photo: L. Weikel

I Dropped the Ball

I’ll admit it. Between us, we only had a handful of eggs on the white-ish spectrum. That was poor planning on my part. The vast majority of ova we had available to dye were shades of brown. Eggs that are already naturally more than a tabula rasa make it tough on any dye to assert its full-throated essence on its surface. But the task is especially difficult for naturally created dyes to imprint their unique expression of rainbow energy on brown eggs.

Nevertheless, we persisted.

Luckily, we were able to get an idea of some of the more unique and perhaps more reticent colors by carefully curating which eggs should go in which cups. I regret not taking photos of the coffee cups and bowls filled with these natural elixirs. Some of the colors created were startlingly different than one might expect from its appearance in the cup.

The spinach-lavender concoction teamed up to create a uniquely colored liquid that, when just sitting in the bowl, was murky and slightly pinkish and reminiscent of, well, throw up. But when a nearly white egg soaked in the infusion for a bit, the egg was imbued with a moss green color that made the it resemble a mottled river stone. Lovely!

So this Easter’s shout out goes to my daughter* Tiffany. Thank you for spending all the time it took to lovingly create these healthy, fascinating, back-to-basics natural dyes – and then sharing them (Covid-safely, I might add) with us.

(T-236)

Weird Thing at the CSA – Day 681

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 Grandmother Walking With Cane – Photo: L. Weikel

Weird Thing at the CSA

I have to admit, it’s tough trying to think of something to write when I’m in the midst of feeling anything I write is a waste of time. This isn’t a denigration of my writing per se, but more a commentary on the futility I’m feeling as I simply observe life outside the confines of my own little homestead. While I’m busy acting like Homer Simpson quietly backing into the hedges in order to blend into the background, it’s rather counter-intuitive for me to be speaking out about anything substantive. Which is why I want to tell you about the weird thing at the CSA today.

I’m not the actual owner of the CSA share this year; that honor belongs to my daughter-in-law and son. But I occasionally go to the farm to pick up their order (which they generously share with us) when they’re otherwise disposed. Every time I’ve gone this season, part of my duties have entailed walking into the field to the ‘pick-your-own’ section, which includes (or at least used to) a wide variety of cherry tomatoes, okra, raspberries, hot peppers, and flowers.

Ah, the flowers. Simply lovely. I forgot to take a photo earlier of those I picked today, which is unfortunate. But the reason I neglected to document the bouquets of loveliness was because I became distracted by a tall, naturally occurring piece of modern art in the midst of the pick-your-own.

Shhhh – Photo: L. Weikel

Don’t Know How I Missed It

I’d just completed my harvesting rounds this afternoon when I laid eyes for the first time on this odd declaration of Mother Earth’s vegetative creativity. My first thought was, “How did I miss seeing this every other time I’ve been here?”

I still remain ignorant on that score, as well as on the simple identification of the vegetation itself.

“You’re getting heavy” – Photo: L. Weikel

But I managed to take a few shots of it from a variety of angles so you can gain a first-hand appreciation of this natural ‘installation’ gracing the Tinicum CSA’s ‘pick-your-own’ field.

I’m not even going to wax rhapsodic about what I ‘see’ when I look at this wonderfully weird plant. I’ll just leave it here for you to enjoy. Allow it to inspire you to seek out the creative source in your vegetation as well.

I am still puzzling over how I could’ve missed seeing this every other time I visited this field. Maybe I saw it today for the first time because of the magic of the Autumn Equinox?!

Playing Piggyback – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-430)