The fields finally got some much needed rain this week, which made plants happy and our boots grow with a few inches of mud. So here's hoping some of our direct seeded early season greens bulk up for next week; arugula, mizuna and mustards. Of course with the rain comes the weeds. We've taken to calling this the June Monsoons, when it seems we get all the rain all at once, (always after getting irrigation set up in grueling heat) which makes getting out in the fields with equipment impossible. So it will will be a lot of hand weeding until things dry out some and we can use tractor cultivation and hoes. While it has been a bit more rain than needed, we are happy to report that the time spent in the spring digging drainage trenches and utilizing our bed shaper to raise beds off the ground level has paid paid off, as normal washout spots are not washing out and we don't expect to lose crops to excessive rains like we did last year.
We got a chance to try out our new Jang seeder and planted more radishes, carrots, and cilantro. We really like this new investment, as it allows us to plant one bed all at once rather than pushing our seedway seeder up and down our long beds 2-3 times. We'll see how well it really works when the seeds start to germinate. This is a precision planter that not only saves us time and labor, but also seeds; dropping seeds at perfect spacing and only one at a time, it will also save us seed and time thinning. It can be pulled by the tractor or pushed by a person. For a small scale farm with minimal workers, this will be one more step towards efficiency on the farm.
This week's Shares are as follows:
Small Shares: lettuce, swiss chard, asparagus, garlic greens and red russian kale
Regular shares: all the contents of the small shares plus mint and spinach
While we were hoping to get radishes and a bit more variety in your shares this week, some stuff just needed a bit more time to grow after the dry month of May. We have spotted some strawberries ripening in the field as well. So we are anticipating within the next week or two you'll starts seeing those in shares as well, and we'll give CSA members the first notice when and if we open up the patch for u-pick.
We've also found that the garlic scapes are starting to form. While you may be thinking "what's with the garlic greens and scapes? I just want cloves of garlic" this is the seasonality of things. Garlic greens and scapes can be used in place of garlic in any recipe and keeps the garlic coming throughout the season. Garlic is staple in most kitchens and recipes and is one the most cleansing vegetables known to mankind. The greens and scapes are a seasonal treat while the cloves hold us over from late summer into the winter months.
Despite the rains this week we were able to get so many more transplants in the ground. Our greenhouse is full of cucumbers, the high tunnel full of tomatoes and we'll be working on the melons in the smaller greenhouse later this week. Two plantings of pickling cucumbers, summer squash, our hot peppers, paste tomatoes, and rutabaga have all settled their roots in for the long haul this past week, along with lots and lots of potatoes.
While we mostly saute our greens in our house and serve over pasta, we know some of you are looking for more creative ways to use your greens. Here's a link to a recipe for stuffed kale leaves, which you could very well substitute with the swiss chard as it is much bigger and probably easier to wrap.
Many folks have stopped doing CSA's over the years because they've said it is simply too much food. While this is the reason we've created the small share option there are many great ways to use up your produce before the next week's harvest. While the early season shares tend to be a little less dense than the later season will be, the greens only have about a one week shelf life in the fridge. So here are some tips from a die-hard on how to make the most of your CSA share. While the article is aimed at late season crops, we hope you'll find it useful throughout the season as it offers creative uses of various vegetables.
We hope all went smoothly with picking up shares last week and everyone enjoyed their share of the harvest.
We got a chance to try out our new Jang seeder and planted more radishes, carrots, and cilantro. We really like this new investment, as it allows us to plant one bed all at once rather than pushing our seedway seeder up and down our long beds 2-3 times. We'll see how well it really works when the seeds start to germinate. This is a precision planter that not only saves us time and labor, but also seeds; dropping seeds at perfect spacing and only one at a time, it will also save us seed and time thinning. It can be pulled by the tractor or pushed by a person. For a small scale farm with minimal workers, this will be one more step towards efficiency on the farm.
This week's Shares are as follows:
Small Shares: lettuce, swiss chard, asparagus, garlic greens and red russian kale
Regular shares: all the contents of the small shares plus mint and spinach
While we were hoping to get radishes and a bit more variety in your shares this week, some stuff just needed a bit more time to grow after the dry month of May. We have spotted some strawberries ripening in the field as well. So we are anticipating within the next week or two you'll starts seeing those in shares as well, and we'll give CSA members the first notice when and if we open up the patch for u-pick.
We've also found that the garlic scapes are starting to form. While you may be thinking "what's with the garlic greens and scapes? I just want cloves of garlic" this is the seasonality of things. Garlic greens and scapes can be used in place of garlic in any recipe and keeps the garlic coming throughout the season. Garlic is staple in most kitchens and recipes and is one the most cleansing vegetables known to mankind. The greens and scapes are a seasonal treat while the cloves hold us over from late summer into the winter months.
Despite the rains this week we were able to get so many more transplants in the ground. Our greenhouse is full of cucumbers, the high tunnel full of tomatoes and we'll be working on the melons in the smaller greenhouse later this week. Two plantings of pickling cucumbers, summer squash, our hot peppers, paste tomatoes, and rutabaga have all settled their roots in for the long haul this past week, along with lots and lots of potatoes.
While we mostly saute our greens in our house and serve over pasta, we know some of you are looking for more creative ways to use your greens. Here's a link to a recipe for stuffed kale leaves, which you could very well substitute with the swiss chard as it is much bigger and probably easier to wrap.
Many folks have stopped doing CSA's over the years because they've said it is simply too much food. While this is the reason we've created the small share option there are many great ways to use up your produce before the next week's harvest. While the early season shares tend to be a little less dense than the later season will be, the greens only have about a one week shelf life in the fridge. So here are some tips from a die-hard on how to make the most of your CSA share. While the article is aimed at late season crops, we hope you'll find it useful throughout the season as it offers creative uses of various vegetables.
We hope all went smoothly with picking up shares last week and everyone enjoyed their share of the harvest.
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