Farm Share Number 3 Coming Your Way...
Well, it has been a warm, dry week on the farm. Personally, I am loving it...as are most of the vegetables. I know many Whidbey Islanders think it is a bit too hot for their tastes. The challenge on the farm is keeping up with irrigation when it is so warm and dry this time of year. By August it is typically even drier, but by August we have already tilled in many of our Spring crops, and cut off water to some of our Summer and Fall crops...so really this is the most difficult time to keep everything irrigated, at least when the weather does what it's been doing. The good news is, it looks like we are going to have some very early Summer crops (knock wood). It has been truly amazing watching the tomatoes, summer squash, eggplant, and potatoes growing over the last week. The corn, celery, peppers, and cucumbers are loving it too. We are even going to throw our first pick of basil in the share this week! I have never picked basil this early before that I can remember. Here's the share:
Carrots- The first carrots are in the share this week! First of many times...the carrots are a regular in our Summer and Fall shares. They are still on the smaller size, but still very sweet and delicious. Perfect for a salad.
Lettuce- Lettuce will be in the share again this week, and we will try to mix it up with some different varieties. Last week you got either red romaine or red leaf lettuce...this week might feature green romaine or red crisp.
Broccoli- Our first broccoli of 2015... We had some scientists out from Corvallis this week doing research on the broccoli you are about to eat. They said they had an unusual problem in our broccoli that they'd never had before....they couldn't find any pest damage whatsoever! With luck there will be more broccoli to come throughout June and July. The later plantings are looking great and growing well.
Snow Peas- The sugar snaps will hopefully keep going through June and most of July, but the snow peas make a brief appearance in early June. They are great for eating fresh or stir-frying. Here is a recipe for "Mediterranean Snow Peas" : http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mediterranean-snow-peas/
Strawberries- The strawberries are still slowly building towards their peak, but still haven't begun producing too heavily. This is because we grow day neutral varieties, which produce all Summer long, rather than the June bearers that are usually grown commercially. I know that almost everyone is dying for more strawberries, but we still don't have tons of berries yet....so as a compromise we decided to give you a scant pint of berries (i.e. a half pint or so)...and hopefully we will be able to do the same next week!
Scallions- We will be picking our scallions for the first time for you. They are a beautiful red variety that seems to be growing really well. Here are some tips on how to use up your scallions...otherwise, just google "scallions" and it brings up some interesting recipes! http://www.thekitchn.com/5-ways-to-use-up-a-bunch-of-scallions-199374
Basil- A mix of three different kinds of basil...a classic Italian variety, purple basil, and lemon basil. It all smells so good! Just a few stems of our basil this week, but there should be much more in the Summer months.
Turnips- Hakurei turnips will be making another appearance in the share. Delicious raw or lightly cooked. Here's a recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/glazed-hakurei-turnips-368274
Thanks as always for supporting the farm!
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