News and Blog
2010 CSA Newsletters are now available online.
Navigate to the "Interact" tab and then click "Newsletters" from the drop down menu for the most recent farm news.
Newsletters will still be e-mailed weekly.
Thanks for reading!
On occasion, we like to entertain ourselves and our members with the sheer enjoyment of observing fruits maximizing their energy in the fields...we had a contest for members to guess the weight of a summer squash recently harvested (2.8 lbs.)...and the winner IS Anrea Leak with a guess of 2.5 lbs....prize yet to be determined!
This Saturday we will host our first CSA Potluck of the year (Yipee!) Potlucks are a great chance to get down to the farm, mingle with fellow members and enjoy the flavors of the season.
Saturday also marks the first full moon of the summer so we are encouraging moon themed dishes, costumes and jokes.
Details:
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Time: 6:00- 9:00 PM
Location: Cameron Place CSA
3883 G ¼ Road
Palisade, CO 81526
What to Bring: A dish to share (we’ll provide utensils, plates, etc.)
See you on Saturday!
Summer is right around the corner and luckily so are CSA Pick-Ups and Farmers Markets. Pick-ups will begin next week, yippee! Please read below for detailed information on your pick-up (NOTE: NEW GJ PICK-UP LOCATION THIS SEASON!).
Tuesday Pick-Up at the Farm
1st Pick-Up: June 8, 2010
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: 3883 G 1/4 Road, Palisade, CO 81526
Thursday Pick-Up in Grand Junction (Boxed Shares)
1st Pick-Up: June 10, 2010
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: NEW! Grand Junction Farmers Market - 7th and Main
Thursday Pick-Up in Redlands (Boxed Shares)
1st Pick-Up: June 10, 2010
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Home near S. Camp and S. Broadway (exact address will be e-mailed)
Saturday Pick-Up at the Farm
1st Pick-Up: June 12, 2010
Time: 9 AM-12 PM
Location: 3883 G 1/4 Road, Palisade, CO 81526
For pick-ups at the farm, please remember to bring your own bag or box to take home your produce and small plastic bags for bulk items. We will also have Cameron Place CSA bags for sale.
Aside from pick-ups, we will be selling at the Palisade, Grand Junction, Carbondale and Telluride Farmers Markets this summer.
We are looking forward to a great season! See you soon.
-The CSA Crew
Please join us this Wednesday, May 26 at 7:00p.m. in the Radio Room at KAFM radio station!
Melanie Ettenger, Thomas Cameron and Billi Davis from the Cameron Place CSA will discusss the roles and significance of the various forms of community that thrive on our organic farm in Palisade. The event is free and organic food samples will be provided as well as other products from the farm
It is 1:13 a.m. on May 1st, and it sounds as if I am sitting in the middle of an air strip with several airplanes equipped with massive propellers preparing to take-off. Who can sleep? It's a battle out there, but not one many are familiar with. In fruit orchards, farmers wage war with temperatures threatening to dip below freezing in springtime.
My house is perched on the edge of my neighbor's cherry orchard and my family's peach orchard. The temperature reads 35 degrees farenheit right now, and it will be a long night for us as we use various tactics to try to stave-off the freezing temperatures that result in bud, flower and fruit loss. Imagine long steel poles with giant propellers at the top, perched in the middle of fruit orchards all over Orchard Mesa. The machines are designed to function in a "radiation freeze" where a mass of cold air becomes trapped under a warmer air mass above. The propellers ideally mix the air, so that the temperatures do not drop so severely on a windless, clear night such as this.
Hopefully the tender trees do not succumb to damage tonight...the street outside my front door eerily hums with vehicles, farmers scurrying around turning on machines and assessing the temperatures over the varied landscape. I think about the trees down the road at The Cameron Place, a slightly-lower elevation than my home, and hope Manuel Mota and Thomas Cameron are spared a sleepless night. Whose trees will make it through this ill-fated May morning in Palisade?
Amazingly enough, one week ago shorts and a t-shirt seemed adequate attire yet the last few days in April have added several layers to my body once again. Fieldwork at The Cameron Place dwindled this week amidst wind, rain, sleet and the interns' faces looked glum without much to do but wait-out the weather. We pulled our tomatoes and herbs into the barn and my flower seedlings have to wait a few more days before we plant them in the ground.
Next week I am certain we will all be basking in spring sun and anticipating early spring greens flourishing in the cool weather but for now, I will listen to the roaring of the wind machines and wait for daybreak to reveal the status of the fruit trees.
I have reactivated the page that briefly lists the produce we offer in the garden and fruit shares. I also added a document that gives you an idea when particular produce items are available throughout the year. Here is a link to to the page and a link to the availability document, respectively:
Enjoy!
Ben
P.S. 8 more days until the Spring Equinox!!
This Saturday morning I was not awakened by the birds but rather, by a low moon on the horizon and an alarm to remind me of plans to pick up Ben and head down to Montrose for an all-day symposium on small-acreage farming. Believe me, after having been out of grad school for a few years and a more regimented educational system of teaching and taking classes for even more years beyond, the task seemed more daunting than ever. Sitting still is not my strength. However, the benefits of being sequestered in a vehicle with a colleague dedicated to farming was well worth the trip, even if some of the sessions were less than invigorating upon arrival. Certainly, many sessions inspired me to ask more questions--particularly regarding soil chemistry and alternative energy systems and resources. Firing-up the brain is what organic farming is all about.
I tend to forego the lunches in such educational marathons in order to take a vigorous walk around whatever environments they offer, and I was reminded that so many towns on the western slope have a similar core imprint of late 19th century architecture with a mix of innovation and/or basic survival tactics applied; some more aesthetically appealing than others...
As I found a seat for the afternoon sessions, I wondered how the outside and the inside find compatability; the theory and the applicability; the mind and the hands; the brain and the body...the same old dialectic. Farming is both in all of its complexities.
Putting this debate aside, it was nice to know Ben was in the same room sharing the experience--information we may or may not find applicable for The Cameron Place. This was an opportunity to meet others whose friendly faces participate in a common desire to work the land and understand the responsibilities this committment engenders.
Thanks for participating in our farm in whatever way you see fit.
Melanie
You have probably noticed that the CSA is making some noteworthy changes this season. The two most prominent being required hours and the "Bag Share" being offered exclusively at the farm. Each of these changes have been pondered by us farmers whether this will improve the quality of our produce and our service to the community. We all agreed that it would, indeed, and we hope that you will share this same vision.
Now you may be asking yourself, how is my measly 2 hours of work this season going to improve produce quality? Well, we did some figuring and found that if all 300 adults (from last years season) contributed that amount of help, it would amount to 600 hours. That's almost another intern! With this help, and the success of our group sessions, we can make those longer jobs much more vibrant, uplifting the souls of all who attend. God knows we need some community encouragement when staring down a 500' row of weeds that can only be tended to by hand or hoe. Please put on your farmer hat for a couple hours this season and give someone for our interns to talk to.
To sign up, just check the Group Session Schedule or the Individual Opportunities Schedule and contact us with the date and task you would like to sign up for. Please be as specific as possible in your choice so we can organize the group days more efficiently. More information can be found on the Volunteering page or by contacting us.
Thanks!
Ben
P.S. To clear up some of the gardening jargon in these schedules:
-"MSCG" stands for the Main Street Community Garden at 10th and Main St. in Grand Junction. We plant a portion of this garden as a pick your own section for our members.
-Succession seeding refers to seeding out crops directly into the field that we plant multiple times during the year, i.e. greens, carrots, beets, turnips, etc.
Hello everyone...there is a dense fog outside my window and a light dusting of snow this February 16th morning. I just discovered that the 2010 Spring edition of Edible Aspen is available on-line and The Cameron Place and I are featured in the article on organic flowers--check it out!
I am looking forward to an interview at KAFM radio station at 12:00 today in which we will talk about the farm...and the anticipation of the 2010 season. I can't tell you how much I long to see seeds sprouting in the greenhouse!
Meg at Inari's Bistro in Palisade is working with us to start up some community-oriented gatherings this season including "Friends and Flowers" as well as community dinners featuring our produce as it comes into season. More information will be available soon--we hope to see Palisade become the cultural hub of the western slope, so please plan on joining us!
Melanie