Howdy,
The last September share...next week will be October already! Happy with how the farm shares are looking these days. Last year (2015) was so hot and dry that things started producing super early...that combined with some rainy weather in the early Fall meant by this time last year we had no more tomatoes or corn, and the summer squash and cucumbers were long gone. I remember feeling like the late September shares were less exciting, so I tried to plan to spread things out a bit longer this year, and the weather has cooperated. Really happy to be giving you corn one last time this week, and the tomatoes are still hanging in there and will hopefully continue into October.
Settling into some nice Fall weather, and I feel like we are ahead of the game where our Fall projects are concerned. We managed to bring in all the Winter squash from the field last week; one of the funnest Fall projects on the farm, because it involves tossing and catching the squash to get them in and out of the pickup truck. We grew about a quarter of an acre of squash, and maybe brought in a couple of tons....That was the last of our large storage crop harvests, so now our potatoes, onions, garlic, squash and pumpkins are all under cover and will be packed into the upcoming shares out of the greenhouse or shed.
This week red kuri squash will be in the shares, and here's what else:
Sweet corn- Our last corn of the year! This is our final planting that I sewed as a bit of an afterthought thinking it would be nice to have some more. I'm glad I did, as this planting has grown really well and should be great. If I remember right from back in early June, I believe this will be a white corn...it has been a great season for sweet corn, enjoy the last of the year!
Shallots- Shallots are a delicious allium crop that is kind of like a cross between onion and garlic; more flavorful than onion but useable in the same way. A must for many French recipes, great in soups, sauces and salad dressings but really usable in all kinds of dishes you would usually use onion for but want to try something a little different.
Cherry tomatoes- I didn't know if the cherry tomatoes would still be producing heavily, but they are looking better than ever and the fruit is really nice and sweet. Big heirloom tomatoes should be back in the share next week too!
Cauliflower- More beautiful cauliflower, try stir frying it, roasting it, or making some soup or stew!
Collard greens- It is collard green season! We grow these in the Fall and Winter for their excellent cold hardiness and great flavor. A classic Southern side dish with some barbeque...braised collard greens.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/51803/kickin-collard-greens/
Hot pepper- We grew just a small amount of hot peppers, as Pacific Northwesterners are not usually too keen on them. There are Anaheim, Cherry Bomb, Poblano, and Banana peppers, and you'll get one or two of them in your share...grab a different one out of the farm stand if you prefer! Great for making salsa....and none of them are too spicy. Wish we had some cilantro right now, it's done for the year!
Red Kuri squash- One of my favorite winter squashes, these red Japanese squash have a very dry, almost crumbly texture and a nice strong flavor. Many squash improve in flavor over the weeks in storage (you might notice when you get the delicata again in a few weeks their flavor should be sweeter), but these ones are great to eat now and don't store for too long.
http://naturallyella.com/roasted-red-kuri-squash/
Large shares:
Eggplant- Bobbie found this delicious looking eggplant recipe and emailed it to me:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/07/eggplant-with-yogurt-and-tomato-relish/
Arugula- A bunch of green arugula in your share this week for making a nice Fall salad.
Topped beets- We have lots of big golden and chioggia beets right now, perfect for roasting. I quickly chop them into quarters or eighths, toss some olive oil and salt on em and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for about 50 minutes....then it is easy once they cool down to peel away the outer skin if desired and then slice them up.
Large shares will also be getting a bit more shallot, cauliflower and squash!
Fall is here.....Week 17
Wow, Week 17 already. As my favorite farm blog post was titled, "Time Flies When You're Having Farm". It is now officially Autumn (or will be soon) with the Fall equinox on Wednesday. It is amazing how quickly the days get shorter this time of year. While many people are mourning the end of Summer, I spend the crazy weeks of July and August looking forward to this time of year, when things are mellowing out a bit but the weather is often still really nice.
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still melons, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon?- We grew a delicious cantaloupe type melon that is just ready for harvest now...I'm hoping we have enough to give everyone a half a melon (at least) in their share...fingers crossed...
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still melons, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon?- We grew a delicious cantaloupe type melon that is just ready for harvest now...I'm hoping we have enough to give everyone a half a melon (at least) in their share...fingers crossed...
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
Fall is here.....Week 17
Wow, Week 17 already. As my favorite farm blog post was titled, "Time Flies When You're Having Farm". It is now officially Autumn (or will be soon) with the Fall equinox on Wednesday. It is amazing how quickly the days get shorter this time of year. While many people are mourning the end of Summer, I spend the crazy weeks of July and August looking forward to this time of year, when things are mellowing out a bit but the weather is often still really nice.
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still corn, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon???
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
We had quite a bit of rain this weekend, so we will probably be more or less done irrigating for the year! That saves a lot of time and energy. It also really helps the cover crop I wrote about last week, which was beginning to grow but drying out quickly, and would take a ton of work to irrigate. It may spell the eventual end of the tomatoes, but we did put our sheeting back up over the tomato rows before this weekend in the hope that it would prolong their life through the next few weeks.
The Summer crops gradually give way to Fall crops...first winter squash in the share this week(!), a very poorly named vegetable, as they are planted in the Spring, grow through the Summer and are eaten primarily in the Fall. Vincent calls them "hard squash", I think a better name. Still corn, tomatoes, and peppers from our Summer plantings....
Here's what's in this week's share.
Celery- I am very proud of the celery we grow on the farm, even though it doesn't seem to be a customer favorite. It isn't quite as blanched and crunchy as the grocery store stuff, but it actually tastes like something! Great for soups, stews and sauces, as well as snacking...
Spinach- It has been a long time since spinach was in the share....late Summer the spinach just never seems to grow quite as well or last as long, and so we never seem to have enough of it. Happy to have a beautiful bed of it coming on now though.
Delicata squash- If you don't know these squash, you're in for a treat. The skin is thin and edible so they don't need to be peeled, and the flavor is great. I usually cut them in half longwise, scoop out the seeds, and slice them into crescent shapes pieces about a half an inch wide. Then I toss them in oil and salt and bake them on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 375. They're delicious!
Ailsa crag onions- Soon we will be getting into more of our Fall alliums, with storage onions, shallots, and more leeks and shallots on the way. But we have so many of these Ailsa crag sweet yellow onions, and they're still so nice, we couldn't resist putting them in the share one last time!
Gypsy peppers- More of our tasty sweet gypsy peppers, getting more color and flavor now as time goes on. I was making a potato dish for breakfast this morning and wishing I had a few of these in the kitchen! They are so good.
Heirloom tomatoes- The tomatoes continue! I would really like to keep them going for at least two more weeks to make it into October! At some point we may decide to pick them really hard and let the greenish fruit ripen up in the greenhouse if it seems like it won't survive out in the field....
Melon???
Large shares:
Broccoli- Wow, we have some really pretty broccoli right now. It is so good this time of year! We made broccoli the other day in a cheese sauce...not exactly health food, but really satisfying as a side dish!
Scarlet runner shelling beans- These are a special treat, beautiful purple and black speckled beans that cook up nice and plump. Chef Vincent buys them from us and loves to cook them in the Orchard Kitchen...I am going to ask if he's willing to share his recipe. These beans need to be shelled from the pod, a bit of a project, but because they are fresh and not completely dry they don't need to be presoaked...if you boil them in plenty of water for just 30 minutes or so they should be nice and tender. I will have to cook some up myself to see exactly how long it takes.
Purple carrots or topped beets- A nice Fall root vegetable to round out the large shares, depending on what we have enough of....
Week 16 Blog Post
Let's see....everything is going well on the farm these days. Last week we were able to get over an acre planted into cover crop, which you may see coming up if you keep an eye on the field near the farm stand over the next week or two. The clover and ryegrass we planted will grow through the Fall and Winter to be plowed under in the Spring. We got the seed in while the soil was wet enough to germinate it....now the only problem will be if it stays really dry and the cover crop needs to be watered! This time of year I find I don't know whether to hope that it rains or stays dry....
Have to apologize to some of you Thursday members...we ran a bit low on radishes when we were picking on Thursday, so some bunches were a bit skimpy, and a few people got hakurei turnips instead of radishes. Sorry about that! The shares are beginning to transition into some Fall vegetables, with Leeks in the share this week and some more Autumnal crops on the way for next week....
This week Bobbi (my wife) helped me out by finding some recipes to put in the blogs. She using some different websites than I do looking for recipes, so it's kind of a fresh take!
All Shares:
Corn- Sweet corn is back in all shares this week, with our next planting going strong now and lots of ears to pick. Last year our corn all came on so fast and early that we had no corn left to pick by mid September...I'm happy that this year we still have more sweet corn for the next several weeks!
Tomatoes- We "rogued" (cut out and removed) some plants that were starting to show signs of disease, and now with nothing but sunny days in the forecast, I am feeling good about the short term future of our tomato patch....with any luck we should continue to pick them for the rest of the month and into October.
Eggplants- I hope you're enjoying the eggplants in your share....this week I think we'll give you a slightly larger amount of them so that you can make a larger eggplant dish. http://www.thekitchn.com/8-simple-ways-to-cook-with-eggplant-154794
Lettuce- After a few weeks without lettuce, our next planting is on now and ready to be back in your shares for some nice lettuce salads.
Red potatoes- Last year was the first season we planted potatoes, and we didn't plant nearly enough and also had some pest issues that meant a lot of our spuds ended up unusable. This year has been much more successful, with many more tubers in much better shape.
http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/23/garlic-parmesan-roasted-potatoes/
Leeks- We grew some beautiful Fall leeks this year; I only wish we'd planted more of them. This time of year we are done planting, so I can see what we have left for the Fall and always begin wondering if we planted enough. We will certainly have plenty of leeks to put in your share a few more times. Here's another link from Bobbi, this one on how to clean your leeks once you get them home:
http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-tips-how-to-clean-leeks-54713
Parsley- a little bunch of parsley greens to round out the share....great for pepping up a dish.
In the Large Shares Only:
Cauliflower- What a nice run of cauliflower we've had this year. I didn't used to plant cauliflower for August and September harvest, having read in gardening books that it does poorly in the Summer. This is probably true of most of the U.S., but not here in the maritime Northwest where temperatures stay pretty cool. In fact, the late Summer cauliflower seems to be as nice as any we've had!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/spicy-cauliflower-stir-fry/
Strawberries- The strawberries, after being pretty negatively affected by the rains of a few weeks ago, combined with slowing down with the shorter days we're now having, looked to be closing up shop for the Summer. They are putting on a bunch of new flowers now though, and with some sun we are hopefully in for a bit of a renaissance. If it continues, I'll try to get berries back in small shares too in a future week!
Swiss chard- Our Fall bunch greens have rocketed into production and are producing some really nice greens for your shares this week.
Have to apologize to some of you Thursday members...we ran a bit low on radishes when we were picking on Thursday, so some bunches were a bit skimpy, and a few people got hakurei turnips instead of radishes. Sorry about that! The shares are beginning to transition into some Fall vegetables, with Leeks in the share this week and some more Autumnal crops on the way for next week....
This week Bobbi (my wife) helped me out by finding some recipes to put in the blogs. She using some different websites than I do looking for recipes, so it's kind of a fresh take!
All Shares:
Corn- Sweet corn is back in all shares this week, with our next planting going strong now and lots of ears to pick. Last year our corn all came on so fast and early that we had no corn left to pick by mid September...I'm happy that this year we still have more sweet corn for the next several weeks!
Tomatoes- We "rogued" (cut out and removed) some plants that were starting to show signs of disease, and now with nothing but sunny days in the forecast, I am feeling good about the short term future of our tomato patch....with any luck we should continue to pick them for the rest of the month and into October.
Eggplants- I hope you're enjoying the eggplants in your share....this week I think we'll give you a slightly larger amount of them so that you can make a larger eggplant dish. http://www.thekitchn.com/8-simple-ways-to-cook-with-eggplant-154794
Lettuce- After a few weeks without lettuce, our next planting is on now and ready to be back in your shares for some nice lettuce salads.
Red potatoes- Last year was the first season we planted potatoes, and we didn't plant nearly enough and also had some pest issues that meant a lot of our spuds ended up unusable. This year has been much more successful, with many more tubers in much better shape.
http://damndelicious.net/2014/07/23/garlic-parmesan-roasted-potatoes/
Leeks- We grew some beautiful Fall leeks this year; I only wish we'd planted more of them. This time of year we are done planting, so I can see what we have left for the Fall and always begin wondering if we planted enough. We will certainly have plenty of leeks to put in your share a few more times. Here's another link from Bobbi, this one on how to clean your leeks once you get them home:
http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-tips-how-to-clean-leeks-54713
Parsley- a little bunch of parsley greens to round out the share....great for pepping up a dish.
In the Large Shares Only:
Cauliflower- What a nice run of cauliflower we've had this year. I didn't used to plant cauliflower for August and September harvest, having read in gardening books that it does poorly in the Summer. This is probably true of most of the U.S., but not here in the maritime Northwest where temperatures stay pretty cool. In fact, the late Summer cauliflower seems to be as nice as any we've had!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/spicy-cauliflower-stir-fry/
Strawberries- The strawberries, after being pretty negatively affected by the rains of a few weeks ago, combined with slowing down with the shorter days we're now having, looked to be closing up shop for the Summer. They are putting on a bunch of new flowers now though, and with some sun we are hopefully in for a bit of a renaissance. If it continues, I'll try to get berries back in small shares too in a future week!
Swiss chard- Our Fall bunch greens have rocketed into production and are producing some really nice greens for your shares this week.
Week 15
The weather has been a trial lately....we made a bit of a desperation move and covered our tomato trellises with painter's plastic to keep the rain off of them....it seems to have worked, I removed the plastic earlier today and the plants looked great. We are trying to ward off Late Blight, a fungal disease which will kill the plants and thrives in cool, damp weather. Unlike many Puget Sound farms, we don't grow any of our crops in greenhouses or hoophouses. This is not entirely by choice; more just that I didn't have any greenhouses lying around, and have been able to grow crops pretty successfully without them and so I haven't been in a hurry to spend thousands of dollars on something I didn't really need. But last year when it began raining in late August our tomato plants went down fast....and it's made me much more nervous this year. Last year, though, it was so hot that the plants began fruiting much earlier, and were already pretty spent by this time. This year the plants seem to be very strong and healthy still, and just getting going, so I'm hopeful that we will have many more weeks of tomatoes. Also, the weather report, which initially looked like it would rain all this week, seems to be improving every time I look, so that doesn't hurt either.
In this week's share:
Heirloom tomatoes- Speaking of tomatoes, we should have some nice ones for this week's share. Being under the plastic helped keep the rain off the plants, but also I think stimulated them to ripen a bit, so it looks like there should be plenty of nice tomatoes this week.
Gypsy peppers- The gypsy peppers are so great...the plants are loaded with fruit, and the flavor is so good. Here is a webpage that doesn't have a ton of info, but has some links to some other good articles about how to use gypsy peppers....apparently they're especially popular in Northern California, which I didn't realize...http://www.thekitchn.com/what-can-i-do-with-gypsy-peppe-119538
Kale (Lacinato)- We are in the midst of clearing the fields and plowing in a lot of our Summer plantings to make room for Fall cover crop....that means we will be planting larger stands of grains and legumes to grow through the winter months and add fertility to the soil. But before we tilled in the Summer kale we thought we'd put it in the share one more time, so here you go!
Carrots- I'm very happy with the look of the Fall carrot beds...the roots seem to be densely planted, but not too dense to where they aren't able to size up. Looks like we will have lots of carrots over the next few months. http://www.marthastewart.com/274839/carrot-recipes
Ailsa Crag onions- These are the same yellow onions that have been in your share before, but now they have been brought in and dried down in the greenhouse for the last few weeks. They should store at room temperature for several weeks the way they are now. They are a sweet onion, though, so the flavor is nice and mild, but they won't keep for as long as storage varieties.
Radish- We have a new planting of radishes coming on. This time of year I love to have a cold dinner with some cheese and crackers and mixed vegetables like radish, carrot, cucumber, sliced peppers and tomatoes...in fact that's pretty much what Bobbie and I had for dinner tonight.
Lemon cucumber- I am hoping we will still be harvesting enough lemon cukes to give everyone at least one or two in their shares this week. The Summer squash and cucumbers are already beginning to slow down their fruiting quite a bit with the shorter days now.
Large Shares Only:
Melon- Large shares will get another of our Galia melons this week...while we are past the main burst of ripe melons, there are still some more coming ripe every day. We also planted a cantaloupe variety that hasn't even begun to ripen yet....I am hoping they do before it's too late!
Corn- Didn't have quite enough corn for all shares this week, either, as we are getting into a new planting of a larger bicolor variety and they are just getting started. Hope to have a few ears for each of the large shares, though. This variety has nice long ears. I sprained my finger and it makes it difficult to pick corn, so I've been making Jack do it.
Summer squash- As mentioned above, the summer squash has really slowed down, but I'm hoping we will have enough...if not, we'll find something else to sub in its place!
Summer squash?-
In this week's share:
Heirloom tomatoes- Speaking of tomatoes, we should have some nice ones for this week's share. Being under the plastic helped keep the rain off the plants, but also I think stimulated them to ripen a bit, so it looks like there should be plenty of nice tomatoes this week.
Gypsy peppers- The gypsy peppers are so great...the plants are loaded with fruit, and the flavor is so good. Here is a webpage that doesn't have a ton of info, but has some links to some other good articles about how to use gypsy peppers....apparently they're especially popular in Northern California, which I didn't realize...http://www.thekitchn.com/what-can-i-do-with-gypsy-peppe-119538
Kale (Lacinato)- We are in the midst of clearing the fields and plowing in a lot of our Summer plantings to make room for Fall cover crop....that means we will be planting larger stands of grains and legumes to grow through the winter months and add fertility to the soil. But before we tilled in the Summer kale we thought we'd put it in the share one more time, so here you go!
Carrots- I'm very happy with the look of the Fall carrot beds...the roots seem to be densely planted, but not too dense to where they aren't able to size up. Looks like we will have lots of carrots over the next few months. http://www.marthastewart.com/274839/carrot-recipes
Ailsa Crag onions- These are the same yellow onions that have been in your share before, but now they have been brought in and dried down in the greenhouse for the last few weeks. They should store at room temperature for several weeks the way they are now. They are a sweet onion, though, so the flavor is nice and mild, but they won't keep for as long as storage varieties.
Radish- We have a new planting of radishes coming on. This time of year I love to have a cold dinner with some cheese and crackers and mixed vegetables like radish, carrot, cucumber, sliced peppers and tomatoes...in fact that's pretty much what Bobbie and I had for dinner tonight.
Lemon cucumber- I am hoping we will still be harvesting enough lemon cukes to give everyone at least one or two in their shares this week. The Summer squash and cucumbers are already beginning to slow down their fruiting quite a bit with the shorter days now.
Large Shares Only:
Melon- Large shares will get another of our Galia melons this week...while we are past the main burst of ripe melons, there are still some more coming ripe every day. We also planted a cantaloupe variety that hasn't even begun to ripen yet....I am hoping they do before it's too late!
Corn- Didn't have quite enough corn for all shares this week, either, as we are getting into a new planting of a larger bicolor variety and they are just getting started. Hope to have a few ears for each of the large shares, though. This variety has nice long ears. I sprained my finger and it makes it difficult to pick corn, so I've been making Jack do it.
Summer squash- As mentioned above, the summer squash has really slowed down, but I'm hoping we will have enough...if not, we'll find something else to sub in its place!
Summer squash?-
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