Farm News – June 18, 2015
Hello Everyone, So it never rains but it pours, isn’t that the saying? After nearly 6 weeks without rain it has now been raining regularly and a little heavier than I would like. We were almost caught up with our planting schedule and now have fallen behind again, due to many days of sodden soils that keep us from preparing the beds for planting. But the veggies are growing beautifully! I have also been trying to take off some of my cover crops baled as hay to later use for mulch, which is also confounded by the wet conditions. It’s time to plant the pumpkins and winter squash but I can’t plow the ground until I take the hay off. You’ve got to make hay while the sun shines! Literally!
We are quickly getting up to speed with our deliveries. The peas are coming in heavy now, with both English and sugarsnap being picked. Greens are abundant, in fact there are more than we can harvest and probably more than you can use in a week. There will be arugula again and 2 bunches of spinach. We will offer kale as a choice with broccoli raab. There are other mustard greens which we will send as extras for those of you who are not overwhelmed by too many greens. There is a purple bok choy that is small but wants to flower, but we will try to hold it for next week. We also have salad turnips which have wonderful edible greens. For the new members, these small mild flavored treats are meant to be eaten raw, sliced, or shredded, but are also delicious lightly cooked.
Zucchini and summer squash are coming in heavy as well. And for this week we will be throwing you a curve ball in the form of kohlrabi – a baseball sized globe from the brassica (cabbage) family. Also very sweet, these can be grated to make slaw or into salads or cooked in soups or as a side dish. Last but not least we have garlic scapes. These are also curvy; looking like a green pig tail. They can be chopped finely and sauted, grilled, pickled or blended with oil nuts and cheese to make a pesto. They keep a long time in the fridge.
Enjoy! Farmer John
The share for this week will be: Arugula, summer squash, salad turnips, spinach, lettuce (mostly romaine), choice of escarole or frisée (endive), kohlrabi, peas, choice of kale or broccoli raab, and garlic scapes.
