Many people think of the end of August as getting towards the end of Summer, because it's almost time for kids to go back to School, and the weather does cool off a bit.....but really Summer goes until late September and the Fall equinox...and nowhere is that more true than in Northwest gardening. Many of our Summer crops are just hitting their stride, with melons in the share for the first time this week, and eggplant and peppers starting to really produce. Unfortunately our basil seems to have bit the dust for the second year in a row, but hopefully the tomatoes will make it through this cool spell and produce for many more weeks...they are loaded with green fruit right now. And there are many more beds of sweet corn we haven't even begun to pick yet.
In years past many Farm share members have told us they sometimes got overwhelmed with too much produce...one reason we decided to offer the smaller share size was to try to offer an amount that was more manageable for people who don't have as much time to cook this time of year. I've now heard from several people that they would be happy to have more produce in their shares, though....so I have made this week's share a bit bigger. I'm pretty sure there's no size (or maybe even two sizes) that works perfectly for everyone...that said, I'd also love to hear your feedback about share size. Email me! As mentioned in the email, with Labor Day next Monday, I am thinking we will switch the pickup days to TUESDAY and Thursday. Don't forget!
In this week's share:
Savoy Cabbage- We grew some really nice "savoy" (crinkly leaved) green cabbages for late Summer, and they will be making an appearance in your share this week. Depending on the weather and how you're feeling, you could serve it up cold in a coleslaw, or warm in soup, dumplings, or stir fry. Use a Gypsy pepper from last week's share in this recipe if you still have one:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/38021/thornehedge-peach-slaw/?internalSource=hn_carousel%2001_Thornehedge%20Peach%20Slaw&referringId=16326&referringContentType=recipe%20hub&referringPosition=carousel%2001
Beets- Beets haven't been in the share for a while....try making some nice cold Borscht for lunch on a warm day: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/borscht-357129
Cherry Tomatoes- The cherry tomatoes are really going full steam now, and the plants are covered in ripe fruit. I am just crossing my fingers that the plants are not negatively affected by any wet weather.....tomatoes are susceptible to late blight when the weather turns cool and damp, especially when they are putting a ton of energy into fruiting. If we can avoid blight they should continue to produce into October, but last year it took them down hard!
Galia Melon- These delicious Israeli melons are similar to a honeydew, but way better than anything called honeydew in the grocery store! They are sweet and flavorful, with a nice juicy but firm green flesh. One of my favorite treats of late Summer! We also grew a cantaloupe variety which isn't ready yet, but hopefully will be in the coming weeks.
Eggplant- Our eggplants didn't get started quite as early as last year, but man they are productive right now. They are one of my favorite vegetables. I like to cut them into pieces, sprinkle on some salt and press out some of the water it draws out with a clean cloth, and fry them in some olive oil with garlic. Here are some other recipes to try out! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chickpea-and-eggplant-salad
http://www.marthastewart.com/274258/eggplant-recipes
Sweet Corn- The corn keeps on coming....we are picking out of new rows now, with maybe a new variety but I'm pretty sure it's still a bicolor. I also planted some white corn for later, and we planted some dry corn for Vincent that he brought back from a Slow Food conference in Italy....he's hoping to grind it into cornmeal for polenta if we can grow enough.
Lettuce- This is the toughest time of year to have a steady supply of lettuce, but I'm hoping we have enough to put a nice head in all of the shares this week! Make a salad or two...
In the Large Shares:
Lemon Cucumbers- We have some really nice lemon cukes on now. These round, yellow cucumbers are great for eating right out of your hand, like an apple....the thin skin doesn't need to be peeled. They can also be used in any recipe that you would use other cucumbers for.
Ailsa Crag onions- We have gotten almost all of our onions out of the field now, before this week's expected rain. The garlic has been out of the field for many weeks...so the leeks are the lone allium family plant still out in the ground now. Enjoy these sweet juicy yellow onions!
Red Potatoes- We are continuing to work on digging all of our potatoes, but only fingerlings are left to bring in. Our red potatoes turned out really nice, and we have many bins full of them to wash and clear out before winter!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/76954/roasted-new-red-potatoes/
Lucky number 13
Late Summer Shares are in full swing! Last week's share seemed extra big, so I am trying to dial back the size a bit this week....
Cauliflower- Oh boy, we are harvesting so much cauliflower right now. It is rewarding, because the heads are beautiful and satisfying to grow, but tiring to pick as they are heavy, delicate, and hiding in an ocean of green leaves.
Lettuce- Our late Summer lettuce is doing much better than in years past. With each year I am getting better at timing our lettuce plantings, and this year has been great. It also helps that they're not getting eaten by deer this summer.
Carrot- A smaller bunch of carrots, which have been missing from the share for several weeks, so I hope you're happy to see them back!
Parsley- We haven't had any parsley in the share for a very long time,
Tomato- More of our heirloom tomatoes this week...get em while you can! The rain this time last year really knocked our tomatoes out early, so I am grateful for the dry forecast...
Corn- Hope you liked the Vitality corn last week, because we have more of the same. These have been the most productive corn beds we've ever had on the farm! We gave them some extra fertility and water and it's paying off....
Onion- Our torpedo red bottle onions are beginning to dry down, so they will have a bit more kick but still pretty sweet and mild.
LARGE SHARES:
Gypsy Pepper- More of our sweet Gypsy peppers. They are starting to ripen and redden up now, actually turning a deeper red than I've usually seen them in the past. Leave them out on the counter to let them sweeten up if you like. Great raw!
Summer squash- Just one or two medium sized zucchini for grilling up or whatever you like.
Green pole beans- These beans are growing along the patio at the Orchard Kitchen, and they're really beautiful. They're about 7' tall, and it's nice not having to bend down to pick them! Plus they have more bean-y flavor and crunch than a bush green bean. Really good!
Enjoy!
Cauliflower- Oh boy, we are harvesting so much cauliflower right now. It is rewarding, because the heads are beautiful and satisfying to grow, but tiring to pick as they are heavy, delicate, and hiding in an ocean of green leaves.
Lettuce- Our late Summer lettuce is doing much better than in years past. With each year I am getting better at timing our lettuce plantings, and this year has been great. It also helps that they're not getting eaten by deer this summer.
Carrot- A smaller bunch of carrots, which have been missing from the share for several weeks, so I hope you're happy to see them back!
Parsley- We haven't had any parsley in the share for a very long time,
Tomato- More of our heirloom tomatoes this week...get em while you can! The rain this time last year really knocked our tomatoes out early, so I am grateful for the dry forecast...
Corn- Hope you liked the Vitality corn last week, because we have more of the same. These have been the most productive corn beds we've ever had on the farm! We gave them some extra fertility and water and it's paying off....
Onion- Our torpedo red bottle onions are beginning to dry down, so they will have a bit more kick but still pretty sweet and mild.
LARGE SHARES:
Gypsy Pepper- More of our sweet Gypsy peppers. They are starting to ripen and redden up now, actually turning a deeper red than I've usually seen them in the past. Leave them out on the counter to let them sweeten up if you like. Great raw!
Summer squash- Just one or two medium sized zucchini for grilling up or whatever you like.
Green pole beans- These beans are growing along the patio at the Orchard Kitchen, and they're really beautiful. They're about 7' tall, and it's nice not having to bend down to pick them! Plus they have more bean-y flavor and crunch than a bush green bean. Really good!
Enjoy!
Farm Share Number 12
This week marks the twelfth farm share, which means we are about halfway through the season! Still a lot of produce to come, with new crops just coming on, and others we haven't even begun picking yet. This warm weather should really help to get our late Summer crops like tomatoes and corn into full production. We will plant the last few trays of lettuce for Fall harvest this coming week, and seed the last round of our fast greens. After that we will be done with all our plantings and until we begin planting our garlic for 2017 in the Fall!
In this week's share:
Sweet Corn! As promised, we are now picking our first planting of sweet corn and will have at least two ears for each share! This is a bicolor variety named Vitality that I always plant for our first succession...it grows well even in cooler Northwest weather and always produces nice early ears. They are a bit smaller than the ears from our midseason varieties, but very tasty! Throw some on the grill and serve with butter and salt, or with chili and lime.
Eggplant- Oh boy, am I excited for eggplant season. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables to eat, and it is fun to grow and harvest too. Eggplant is in the same Solanaceae family as tomatoes and peppers but loves the heat even more. This variety is new to me, we got the seeds from our friends at Deep Harvest Farm in Freeland who produce their own seeds to sell at local nurseries like Bayview Farm and Garden. Look for them next Spring if you're a home gardener! Bobbi may be making us some Ratatouille later tonight, with corn, tomatoes, pepper, squash, eggplant, and basil... http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ratatouille-12164
Cherry Tomatoes- Our multi colored cherry tomatoes are back in the share...they started ripening early, but were really slowed down by the cool week we had at the beginning of the month. The farm share, the Orchard Kitchen, and the farm stand customers are all calling for more tomatoes.... I am hoping this warm sunny weather means we will have loads of tomatoes very soon.
Arugula- It has been a while since arugula appeared in the shares, I thought some nice peppery arugula sounded like a good compliment with cucumbers and tomatoes and corn. Some great recipes to check out in this blog post! http://www.thekitchn.com/crazy-for-arugula-9-recipes-to-118826
Cucumbers- I am very glad to be putting cucumbers in the share this week, because we are still picking so many of them we can't get rid of them fast enough! They are coming on strong. Hope you're enjoying our mix of varieties, the small blond Boothby's, the smooth green thin skinned Adam, and the more familiar Marketmore. In a few weeks we have a later planting of Lemon cukes that should get going for late August and early September cukes.
Fingerling Potatoes- We have begun doing our big potato dig, bringing in the storage tubers to hold and use through the Fall and Winter. On Thursday we picked a 100' row of our yellow potatoes and brought in well over 500 lbs of spuds! These fingerlings should still be pretty thin skinned like new potatoes, as we just mowed the greens and we will be digging the potatoes fresh for your bags....but in the coming months the potatoes will cure, becoming a bit drier and starchier with thicker skins as they do so. Fingerling potatoes are great for roasting, boiling, frying, or sautéing!
'
In the LARGE shares:
Lettuce- Not sure which variety we'll be cutting this week, but this will add a bit more greenstuff to your large shares for salad making!
Hakurei Turnip- The Japanese turnips continue to be great throughout the Summer, and we should have some nice ones this week. The tops are still tender and nice for stir frying or braising too!
Ailsa Crag Onions- We are also beginning to work on preparing our onions for storage, too.... Last week we crimped the necks so that they begin to dry down....this week I am hoping we have time to pull them out of the ground and "windrow" them in the field; putting them into an organized strip to dry out on the surface of the soil. After that we will clean them, cutting off the tops and roots and taking off any dirt, and bring them in to finish drying. These Ailsas should be able to cure well enough to hold until at least mid October or so, while true storage onion ("Copra") should hopefully store much longer than that, until January or beyond.
next- kale lettuce
In this week's share:
Sweet Corn! As promised, we are now picking our first planting of sweet corn and will have at least two ears for each share! This is a bicolor variety named Vitality that I always plant for our first succession...it grows well even in cooler Northwest weather and always produces nice early ears. They are a bit smaller than the ears from our midseason varieties, but very tasty! Throw some on the grill and serve with butter and salt, or with chili and lime.
Eggplant- Oh boy, am I excited for eggplant season. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables to eat, and it is fun to grow and harvest too. Eggplant is in the same Solanaceae family as tomatoes and peppers but loves the heat even more. This variety is new to me, we got the seeds from our friends at Deep Harvest Farm in Freeland who produce their own seeds to sell at local nurseries like Bayview Farm and Garden. Look for them next Spring if you're a home gardener! Bobbi may be making us some Ratatouille later tonight, with corn, tomatoes, pepper, squash, eggplant, and basil... http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ratatouille-12164
Cherry Tomatoes- Our multi colored cherry tomatoes are back in the share...they started ripening early, but were really slowed down by the cool week we had at the beginning of the month. The farm share, the Orchard Kitchen, and the farm stand customers are all calling for more tomatoes.... I am hoping this warm sunny weather means we will have loads of tomatoes very soon.
Arugula- It has been a while since arugula appeared in the shares, I thought some nice peppery arugula sounded like a good compliment with cucumbers and tomatoes and corn. Some great recipes to check out in this blog post! http://www.thekitchn.com/crazy-for-arugula-9-recipes-to-118826
Cucumbers- I am very glad to be putting cucumbers in the share this week, because we are still picking so many of them we can't get rid of them fast enough! They are coming on strong. Hope you're enjoying our mix of varieties, the small blond Boothby's, the smooth green thin skinned Adam, and the more familiar Marketmore. In a few weeks we have a later planting of Lemon cukes that should get going for late August and early September cukes.
Fingerling Potatoes- We have begun doing our big potato dig, bringing in the storage tubers to hold and use through the Fall and Winter. On Thursday we picked a 100' row of our yellow potatoes and brought in well over 500 lbs of spuds! These fingerlings should still be pretty thin skinned like new potatoes, as we just mowed the greens and we will be digging the potatoes fresh for your bags....but in the coming months the potatoes will cure, becoming a bit drier and starchier with thicker skins as they do so. Fingerling potatoes are great for roasting, boiling, frying, or sautéing!
'
In the LARGE shares:
Lettuce- Not sure which variety we'll be cutting this week, but this will add a bit more greenstuff to your large shares for salad making!
Hakurei Turnip- The Japanese turnips continue to be great throughout the Summer, and we should have some nice ones this week. The tops are still tender and nice for stir frying or braising too!
Ailsa Crag Onions- We are also beginning to work on preparing our onions for storage, too.... Last week we crimped the necks so that they begin to dry down....this week I am hoping we have time to pull them out of the ground and "windrow" them in the field; putting them into an organized strip to dry out on the surface of the soil. After that we will clean them, cutting off the tops and roots and taking off any dirt, and bring them in to finish drying. These Ailsas should be able to cure well enough to hold until at least mid October or so, while true storage onion ("Copra") should hopefully store much longer than that, until January or beyond.
next- kale lettuce
Week Eleven...
We are starting to clear up some space on the farm- we've mowed or tilled in our older strawberry beds, most of the Spring peas and brassicas, and a lot of the beds of greens we were harvesting from earlier in the year. We are also now beginning the big late Summer project of clearing and bringing in storage crops like potatoes and onions. It makes our lives easier! Fewer beds to water and weed! More open space, where I hope to soon be planting cover crop which will grow through the Fall and Winter and add nutrients and organic matter to the soil for next year.
I was really hoping we would have corn for the farm shares this week! I ate my first ear of corn just a few days ago, and it is ripening quickly....but isn't quite there yet. Hopefully by this weekend we will have some in the farm stand, and then it should definitely be in the farm share next week.
Tomatoes- Some of our larger heirloom tomatoes will be in the share this week...great for putting in a salad or a sandwich, or just eating by themselves with a little salt and pepper. These tomato varieties are sometimes a little funny looking with odd shapes and colors, but their flavor is way better than the tomatoes in the grocery store! Don't put them in the fridge, just leave them out at room temperature until you're ready to use them as you would other fruit.
Gypsy peppers- Eventually, our gypsy peppers turn a beautiful coral orange color and are very sweet, but these ones were picked a bit early to thin the fruit set and let the plants ripen other fruits...while they aren't as sweet, they're great to use like you would a green pepper and have a nice bit of tartness.
Basil- We are overwhelmed with so much basil this year! I planted extra because last year most of our basil died mysteriously and suddenly, and I wanted to make sure we had plenty this year. Boy, do we ever. I like this article on how to make a small batch of pesto:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/bite-of-minnesota-small-batch-basil-pesto/
Torpedo Red Bottle Onion- More of our torpedo onions....they are beginning to dry down now for harvest and storage, so the tops are no longer as nice as they were a month ago. We will probably chop the tops off for you and give them out as loose onions.
Summer squash- I hope you're not tired of zucchini yet! Remember, we only have it for two or three months of the year, so enjoy it while you can...our squash harvest has actually gone really well this year, and we have so far not been overwhelmed with buckets of extra squash. I am trying to get a little better every year to plant the perfect amount of things, so that we have enough but are not buried in extra or fretting about waste. Every year there is a week or two of Summer where we just have so much food....right now! But generally, we're dialing it in over time.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/zucchini-recipes/orzo-salad-zucchini-feta-0
Yellow wax beans- Fresh bean season is even shorter than zucchini season, but great while it's here. Martha Stewart has been noticeably absent from the blog, but she's back with some bean recipes:
http://www.marthastewart.com/275532/green-bean-recipes
...
Cauliflower- We have some beautiful cauliflower coming out of the field right now, plenty to go in the large shares. In the past I haven't grown much broccoli and cauliflower in August because we have so many other crops to pick, but it's doing great and it's nice to have it.
Strawberries- So many strawberries to pick, so little time. With our new beds on, we have been very busy trying to stay on top of it.
Spinach- After several beds of spinach that weren't very productive (I think the spot was a little less fertile, plus the long days of June tend to make spinach flower early) we have a beautiful new bed on, perfect for bunching! Here's a funny recipe that will use up your basil, too....and some tomatoes if you use them instead or in addition to the sundried tomatoes it calls for:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/feta-spinach-and-basil-omelette-muffins
I was really hoping we would have corn for the farm shares this week! I ate my first ear of corn just a few days ago, and it is ripening quickly....but isn't quite there yet. Hopefully by this weekend we will have some in the farm stand, and then it should definitely be in the farm share next week.
Tomatoes- Some of our larger heirloom tomatoes will be in the share this week...great for putting in a salad or a sandwich, or just eating by themselves with a little salt and pepper. These tomato varieties are sometimes a little funny looking with odd shapes and colors, but their flavor is way better than the tomatoes in the grocery store! Don't put them in the fridge, just leave them out at room temperature until you're ready to use them as you would other fruit.
Gypsy peppers- Eventually, our gypsy peppers turn a beautiful coral orange color and are very sweet, but these ones were picked a bit early to thin the fruit set and let the plants ripen other fruits...while they aren't as sweet, they're great to use like you would a green pepper and have a nice bit of tartness.
Basil- We are overwhelmed with so much basil this year! I planted extra because last year most of our basil died mysteriously and suddenly, and I wanted to make sure we had plenty this year. Boy, do we ever. I like this article on how to make a small batch of pesto:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/08/06/bite-of-minnesota-small-batch-basil-pesto/
Torpedo Red Bottle Onion- More of our torpedo onions....they are beginning to dry down now for harvest and storage, so the tops are no longer as nice as they were a month ago. We will probably chop the tops off for you and give them out as loose onions.
Summer squash- I hope you're not tired of zucchini yet! Remember, we only have it for two or three months of the year, so enjoy it while you can...our squash harvest has actually gone really well this year, and we have so far not been overwhelmed with buckets of extra squash. I am trying to get a little better every year to plant the perfect amount of things, so that we have enough but are not buried in extra or fretting about waste. Every year there is a week or two of Summer where we just have so much food....right now! But generally, we're dialing it in over time.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/zucchini-recipes/orzo-salad-zucchini-feta-0
Yellow wax beans- Fresh bean season is even shorter than zucchini season, but great while it's here. Martha Stewart has been noticeably absent from the blog, but she's back with some bean recipes:
http://www.marthastewart.com/275532/green-bean-recipes
...
Cauliflower- We have some beautiful cauliflower coming out of the field right now, plenty to go in the large shares. In the past I haven't grown much broccoli and cauliflower in August because we have so many other crops to pick, but it's doing great and it's nice to have it.
Strawberries- So many strawberries to pick, so little time. With our new beds on, we have been very busy trying to stay on top of it.
Spinach- After several beds of spinach that weren't very productive (I think the spot was a little less fertile, plus the long days of June tend to make spinach flower early) we have a beautiful new bed on, perfect for bunching! Here's a funny recipe that will use up your basil, too....and some tomatoes if you use them instead or in addition to the sundried tomatoes it calls for:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/feta-spinach-and-basil-omelette-muffins
Blog for Week 10
I am trying to get this published before going in to harvest at the farm this morning, so I haven't had time to put in recipes! Fortunately, this week's share is mostly easy and straight forward stuff that shouldn't be hard to use up....
IN ALL SHARES-
Cherry tomatoes- Our early cherry tomatoes are finally producing enough that I hope to have enough for all shares. We grow mostly Sungold cherry tomatoes (the round orange ones) but this year we've added a mix of some other colors, mostly at the request of Vincent, chef of the Orchard Kitchen and a big fan of our tomatoes. Don't store tomatoes in the fridge! They're best left out at room temperature.
Lettuce- We are into a nice new bed of head lettuce with lots of Bergam's green, our big dense Greenleaf lettuce.
Snap peas- I think this marks the end of the Super Sugar snap peas in the farm share for this year...we are into our final planting, and they are already beginning to slow down with the hot dry weather. We've had a good run this year, and we have more rotations of beans for late Summer!
Carrots- The beds of carrots we're picking out of now got a bit weedier than we were expecting....beginning last year we started having problems with a terrible weedy bunch grass, especially in the carrot beds. It is a real pain in the neck. This grass goes from tiny to huge in no time, and has a big root system that makes it really hard to pull out without disturbing the crops. So the carrot size is not quite as consistent as usual, because some of the weedier sections sized up a bit slower than others....that said, they are very nice carrots that are otherwise tasty and pretty.
Garlic- More of our Softneck garlic....our garlic has all been harvested from the field now, but we've gotten so busy in the last few weeks we still haven't had time to clean our last variety....it's just sitting in a cart waiting to be cleaned and hung up in the barn and has been for weeks. Oh well, we'll get to it sooner or later.....this is one of our earlier varieties that has been hanging for over a month, and should be almost fully cured.
Broccoli- Not having been on the farm since Friday morning, I'm not really sure how much broccoli to expect this week, but I think we'll have enough to get at least a small head in all shares...
Cucumbers- Cucumbers are back in the share....they are quickly racing towards peak production, so we may be picking a whole lot of cukes very soon. Right next door, our melon plants are looking great and will hopefully be ripening fruit soon...we are also experimenting with growing some pickling cukes for Britt's pickles right now! Let me know if you are a big pickling fan if you'd be interested in buying a case of pickling cukes sometime in the next few weeks.
IN THE LARGE SHARES-
Celery- I am always very excited for the first celery in the Summer. Celery is a trickier crop that takes quite a while to reach harvestable size (we seeded the tiny celery seeds way back in early March), but there is such a difference in quality from the grocery store celery. Right now the stems are flavorful and crunchy, but not quite as big and juicy as they will be later on. Great for eating raw or cooking...
Radish- With so many veggies in season now, it's been a little while since radishes have appeared in the share.
Green onion- These are from our second planting of scallions....I don't think we'd ever done a later planting of them before, but we decided to this year, on a whim. I'm glad we did...it's nice to have more scallions now for mid Summer, since our first bed has been done for a few weeks now.
Enjoy!
IN ALL SHARES-
Cherry tomatoes- Our early cherry tomatoes are finally producing enough that I hope to have enough for all shares. We grow mostly Sungold cherry tomatoes (the round orange ones) but this year we've added a mix of some other colors, mostly at the request of Vincent, chef of the Orchard Kitchen and a big fan of our tomatoes. Don't store tomatoes in the fridge! They're best left out at room temperature.
Lettuce- We are into a nice new bed of head lettuce with lots of Bergam's green, our big dense Greenleaf lettuce.
Snap peas- I think this marks the end of the Super Sugar snap peas in the farm share for this year...we are into our final planting, and they are already beginning to slow down with the hot dry weather. We've had a good run this year, and we have more rotations of beans for late Summer!
Carrots- The beds of carrots we're picking out of now got a bit weedier than we were expecting....beginning last year we started having problems with a terrible weedy bunch grass, especially in the carrot beds. It is a real pain in the neck. This grass goes from tiny to huge in no time, and has a big root system that makes it really hard to pull out without disturbing the crops. So the carrot size is not quite as consistent as usual, because some of the weedier sections sized up a bit slower than others....that said, they are very nice carrots that are otherwise tasty and pretty.
Garlic- More of our Softneck garlic....our garlic has all been harvested from the field now, but we've gotten so busy in the last few weeks we still haven't had time to clean our last variety....it's just sitting in a cart waiting to be cleaned and hung up in the barn and has been for weeks. Oh well, we'll get to it sooner or later.....this is one of our earlier varieties that has been hanging for over a month, and should be almost fully cured.
Broccoli- Not having been on the farm since Friday morning, I'm not really sure how much broccoli to expect this week, but I think we'll have enough to get at least a small head in all shares...
Cucumbers- Cucumbers are back in the share....they are quickly racing towards peak production, so we may be picking a whole lot of cukes very soon. Right next door, our melon plants are looking great and will hopefully be ripening fruit soon...we are also experimenting with growing some pickling cukes for Britt's pickles right now! Let me know if you are a big pickling fan if you'd be interested in buying a case of pickling cukes sometime in the next few weeks.
IN THE LARGE SHARES-
Celery- I am always very excited for the first celery in the Summer. Celery is a trickier crop that takes quite a while to reach harvestable size (we seeded the tiny celery seeds way back in early March), but there is such a difference in quality from the grocery store celery. Right now the stems are flavorful and crunchy, but not quite as big and juicy as they will be later on. Great for eating raw or cooking...
Radish- With so many veggies in season now, it's been a little while since radishes have appeared in the share.
Green onion- These are from our second planting of scallions....I don't think we'd ever done a later planting of them before, but we decided to this year, on a whim. I'm glad we did...it's nice to have more scallions now for mid Summer, since our first bed has been done for a few weeks now.
Enjoy!
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