Dear Farm Community -

How ‘bout all that rain we got this weekend!!!! (Those are the words I really wish I could write in earnest. But alas, they fall under “satire”)

The earth is still dry as a saltine cracker in a sandstorm. Not a raincloud around here brave enough to show its face for more than a few seconds, and we’re starting to wonder what it’s gonna take to get some rain brewing in the skies. A heartfelt plea to our ancestors? Yelling at a lake? Human sacrifice?

Okay okay perhaps thats a bit dramatic. But for real, it’s one of the worst droughts we’ve experienced in a good long while. You can smell the dryness in the air, and you can sure see the soil cracking open like it’s gasping for a breath of air or a drink of water. Fortunately we have irrigation systems throughout both properties keeping our crops alive and hydrated, but it’s no real replacement for the deep drenching that a good rainy day provides.

Beyond that, the extreme dryness is limiting our ability to do tractor work in our empty fields. A little moisture is essential for working the soil, shaping beds, incorporating amendments, and transplanting seedlings. With our clay-heavy ground baked dry and rocky, it just doesn’t break apart the same without H2O in the mix. Water is the magic ingredient that makes soil workable, malleable, friendly to our tools and hands. What would normally finish as a field of smooth, well-shaped beds after a day of tractor work would end up looking more like the craters of the moon in these conditions ~ not to mention the dust we’d be kicking up the whole time.

So we’re asking for everybody to do a little folk magic for a good rain this week! Pour water through a sieve onto a stone, call upon the elements out loud in your yard, plea with a frog, or have a heart to heart with a water spirit! Whatever you gotta do to get those clouds forming overhead ~ we’re looking at about a week of “maybe it will rain?” in the forecast. If enough of us send rainy thoughts out into the universe…. who knows! Maybe we’ll get a good rainy week, at the Perfect Pace of Precipitation to re-hydrate our thirsty soils and our parched plants.

Your CSA shares this week contain kale! Get it while the gettin’s good because before you know it the summer heat will wipe out our greens. Cooked or raw, kale is a classic nutritional powerhouse that is versatile as it gets. If you want to cook up a springy pasta dish and double down on nutritional density, try this kale and walnut pasta ~ it’s savory, rich, and full of garlic and pecorino cheese! For a meal that keeps on giving as leftovers, try this “Just-Keeps-Getting-Better Lentil Salad” from Bon Appetit that is a true standout ~ try adding some golden raisins at the end, you will not regret it. For the dairy fiends out there, make some time in the kitchen to cook up these Cheesy Stuffed Shells with Kale Pesto!

Remember to Pray for Rain ;)
Diamond Hill Farmers

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