Farm News – June 19, 2014
Hello Everyone, it was a rainy week. We received almost three inches of precipitation, creating muddy conditions and making it a challenge to get the harvesting done and continue with the planting. We were almost caught up with the spring planting schedule and are now a bit behind again. It is mostly with direct seeding of crops, specifically the beans, that I feel the most urgency.
We had a warm sunny weekend with breezy conditions so the ground is drying out nicely. I will be putting in some marathon sessions on my seeding tractor during this window of opportunity before the next round of rain. It is time now to plant the pumpkins and winter squash, but the beds are all prepared and I should be able to make a good start on these crops this week. We received 9,000 sweet potato plants on Friday and they have all been set out.
The peas have begun to mature but not in huge quantities, so there will be a small amount of peas (most likely English aka shell peas). By next week I expect an abundance of peas which should continue for several weeks. The bok choy is ready for your stir fry enjoyment. Much of the spinach crop began to bolt to seed so we had to cut it at a small size and will not have as much as I expected. We do have beautiful Swiss chard right now, so we will offer a choice of 2 bunches of spinach or one bunch of chard. We will be offering a choice of arugula or tatsoi and possibly some broccoli raab. There should be a lot more raab by next week. We have cut the garlic scapes (flower tops of the garlic plant) and will be sending some in the shares. For the newbies, these can be chopped finely, sautéed, and added to dishes for a garlic flavor, grilled whole or blended into a pesto. Also of note is chervil, a French fine herb that likes cool weather and is a bit tricky to grow and hence hard to find in markets or stores. We will include some as a choice with the herbs this week, so the Francophiles among you will want to watch out for that. As always in the spring we are heavy on greens, thus we will be sending 2 lettuces in this week’s share and a choice of endive (frisée) or escarole.
The share for this week will be: Lettuce(2), bok choi, choice of spinach or chard, peas, choice of escarole or frissee, garlic scapes, choice of a mustard green (arugula, tatsoi or broccoli raab) and choice of an herb (dill, cilantro or chervil).
Enjoy! Farmer John
