Farm News – July 8, 2010
Hi Folks, I hope everyone had a pleasant Fourth of July weekend. We don’t take much of a break for the holiday here at the farm. Monday was a regular workday and I spent most of yesterday on a marathon mission to finish planting the winter squash. I confess that I did catch some blues music and fireworks (ooh-ahh) in the nearby town of Sparta. The lack of rain in the last 2 weeks has us moving the irrigation equipment around from field to field, a task that interferes with our other pressing duties.
Oh yes, and it’s been really hot, in case you hadn’t noticed. Many things are burning up in the fields, especially my workers and I. It looks like it will cool down a bit by the end of the week and we have a couple of chances of thunderstorms to bring some much needed precipitation. I’m all for Alliums. I rarely cook a dish that doesn’t start with onions, garlic, or some member of this tasty family. Hence, I try to include some type of Allium in each delivery. I apologize for the absence of the pearl onions that were promised in last week’s share; I know we planted them but we just couldn’t seem to find them in the field. Everything gets name stakes as we plant but sometimes they get lost and at this point it’s hard to distinguish the cippolini onions and shallots from pearl onions. No matter though, we have lots of large onions that are ready earlier than expected, so last week’s delivery should be the only one of the season absent of Alliums.
The cucumbers have started producing heavily and a few groups received some last week; if you didn’t, you are likely to get some this week. The pea season has gone by in a flash owing to all the heat. We have some sugar snaps left and also a meager harvest of Fava beans, which we will offer as a choice this week. The bean crop is coming on strong and will be ready to fill in as the legume family member in 2 weeks, if not sooner.
The share for this week will be: Lettuce (either Boston or Oak leaf) broccoli, beets (either purple or Chioggia, also known as Candy Cane), kohlrabi, sweet onions, summer squash, cucumbers, Swiss chard, choice of sugar snap peas or Fava beans and choice of an herb (basil or parsley).
Enjoy! Farmer John
