5 Questions for 2 Local Farmers
Tait Farmer Erin McKinney: Get the feeling she whistles while she works? (photo courtesy of Kelly Chubb '2007 PSU Advertising Alum)
Tait Farm’s spring season officially begins this week. Tait is one of many area farms with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that allows consumers to buy fresh, locally grown food directly from the field. Tait offers two membership shares: full year (January-December) and half year (May 19-November 24). Through the winter and early spring, full-year members have been visiting the farm for bi-weekly distributions–lots of organic carrots and potatoes–assembled in crates at Tait’s shop. But starting Tuesday, old and new members converge in the barn behind the shop for the first of the weekly pick-ups. We caught up with farmers Erin McKinney and Steve Spanelli while they were washing lettuce and preparing for the kickoff.
1) Are you ready?
Erin: We have 110 people coming just tomorrow, so it’s a little intimidating. But we’re in good shape. We have rhubarb, asparagus, head lettuce, radishes, turnips, collard greens, spinach and mustard greens and a variety of herbs.
2) Do you get much sleep during the month of May?
Erin: I didn’t get home from work last night until a quarter after nine. By the time you eat and get back up about 7, it just isn’t enough. Our work shares get here about eight, so we come up a bit early and get things prepared for them. But we’re not like dairy farmers that wake up at four.
3) Do you have a hard time turning it off at night?
Erin: Oh, yeah, you have anxiety like “Is there deer in the field?” Anything like that will keep me up for a while.
4) You’re right in the middle of the asparagus harvest. What’s your favorite way to prepare it?
Steve: Coat it with oil, salt and pepper and throw it on a nice grill. Simple.
5) What did you eat for dinner last night?
Steve: Oh, this is going to sound bad. A slice of pizza from Angelo’s in Boalsburg. And soup.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Farm, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
