The growing season continues to chug along, and I am very happy with how everything is growing these days. The crops are looking happy and growing fast, and it looks like there is a lot of food in our future. The tomatoes are getting going and will make their first appearance in the large shares this week, but with lots more to come. Strawberries are super abundant right now, with the new beds that we planted this Spring beginning to yield heavily, and the older beds from last year still going strong. The late Summer crops, like melons, peppers, and eggplants, all of which had a few struggles early on in times of cool wet weather, are now looking great and should be yielding before too long. And the potato and winter squash field, in our new acreage at the bottom of the property, is just unbelievable.
I am also very happy because we are soon reaching the end of the ultra busy season for us farmers....early Spring takes a lot of planning and thinking, but not too much work, with planting and seeding and weeding to do, but not much harvest....late Summer and early Fall are pretty busy, but we're mostly just harvesting all the time, so while it can be tiring, we're basically on auto pilot and just getting through the pick list every day. It is primarily June and July that can be pretty stressful and crazy, with so much to harvest that the work can never end, but still lots of planning and thinking to do for seeding schedules, weeding, planting, tractoring, watering, and everything else. August and September are a very happy time, when we have lots of food, a lot of work to do, but time to enjoy the Summer too before it's over.
This coming weekend marks Bobbi and my six month wedding anniversary, which we are going to celebrate by going on a float trip down the Nooksack river (in Whatcom county) with a bunch of friends, including Jack and Whitney.
Here is what's in your share for this week:Strawberries! As mentioned above, lots of strawberries right now. Keeps us busy, as they are pretty time consuming to pick, but delicious to eat!
New potatoes- Our potato field is really rockin' right now, and we are digging up some very pretty tubers. I was going to make steamed potatoes and pan fried fish for dinner tonight, but by the time I got home Bobbie and I were both too tired to cook or bother with dinner! I don't think I used this recipe before for oven roasted new potatoes, right?
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_new_potatoes/
Beets- Beets are a tricky veggie to decide when to put in the share. Most people love beets, and I'd say they're one of the more popular things we grow...but there are those folks who are beet haters and would rather never have beets in their share. I try to find a balance and not put them in the share too often. If you are a beet hater, keep trying a new recipe every now and then! Maybe you'll find one you love...it happened that way with my mom. This week's bunch has red beets and Chioggia, the pink candy striped beet with a really sweet flavor.
Ailsa crag onions- These gigantic onions are really great...they aren't quite as sweet and juicy as the walla wallas, but they keep better, and have a bit more onion flavor so they are a great all purpose onion. And as you will see, they have grown to an amazing size this year!
Red Russian Kale- We have heaps of summer kale that we grew hoping to wholesale to Georgie Smith at Willowod Farm. Her kale always gets pretty cruddy in the summer time, between dry windy conditions on the prairie and pest issues. So we planted tons of kale for her, and lo and behold this year her kale is growing great through the Summer. You win some, you lose some...anyone want a 50 lb case of kale?
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/
Zucchini- The squash is really going full speed now, and we are struggling to keep up with harvest! That is just how it always goes with summer squash this time of year though....
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/our-best-zucchini-recipes.page-5.html
And in the LARGE shares only-
Cauliflower- Some nice summer cauliflower to go in the large shares. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/54675/roasted-garlic-cauliflower/
Tomatoes!! Our very first heirloom tomatoes of the year...we just harvested today and they look beautiful. Like many of the crops, they start at a slow trickle and then quickly build steam....so hopefully we will have enough tomatoes to put in all the shares next week!
This week the large shares will get more potatoes, onions, and zucchini than the smaller shares!
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