There's been a lot of work getting done around here this week, as is that time of year. All of our onions have been planted, so that's one less crop to water in the greenhouse. When it starts getting hotter, watering all the seedlings can take up to an hour to water in really good. We also transplanted the first broccoli planting and another run of kale (red russian and green curly) parsley, and lettuce. The high tunnel crops are looking beautiful and some will be going into this week's shares. We will be harvesting to make room for some of our tomatoes in the high tunnel. The first seedings of carrots are in the ground as well as field seedings of arugula, mizuna, snow and snap peas, mustard greens, three varieties of radishes, and beets. We will be planting our potatoes in the next week or so as well.
This is one our busiest times of the year, getting everything seeded and in the ground as well as havest and two more markets starting at the end of the month. It is also one of the most money guzzling times of year when we're putting money into production before we have much rolling from harvest. It is also the last few weeks before our Summer season CSA starts and folks can still sign up.
This week's shares include some fun crops new to us, as we've never grown them before. One is watercress. Watercress gives kale a run for it's money as a super food. One of the first crops cultivated by humans and one of the most nutrient dense foods you'll find. They grow wild locally (we find the cultivated varieties are milder in flavor) and love wet areas, so spring is the perfect time to grow them. Another is broccoli raab; while it heads like tiny broccolis, it is more closely related to turnips, and has a slight bitterness to them. They are generally prepared like other cruciferous greens.
We hope you enjoy these new greens we're trying this spring, along with the old tried and true spring crops. Our greenhouse strawberries are starting to get color, so it looks like within the next week or two we'll be able to offer them in spring shares. Our asparagus is starting to pop up as well, however the last two cold nights brought a mild frost which set them back some. We'll be up there looking for more to be poking out of the ground in the coming days with the heat awakening them them to growth.
The garlic green bed has almost been wiped out, enabling us to work up those beds for cucumbers. Garlic greens look like scallions and can be used in place of garlic in any recipe.
This week's shares are as follows:
Small Shares: lettuce, red russian kale, garlic greens, broccoli raab, french breakfast radishes, and watercress.
Regular shares: All the contents of the small shares plus one head of lettuce, braising mix (a mix of brassicas for salads and braising) green swiss chard and scallions.
I would give a recipe, but this week's shares lends to gently sauteed greens or salads, so enjoy and get creative!
RSS Feed