Week 2 Share!!
Well, it seems when it rains it pours, literally. After one of the coldest Mays on record, I have to believe we have had one of the hottest, driest Junes on record. I’ve never experienced anything like this before here - and it has forced us to prioritize in an almost ruthless way: what needs water the most, what can go by if it has to, what will we reseed, and it has also been a learning experience for what crops can manage the stress, just like us I suppose. I hit the wall yesterday around 3 pm after a week straight of heat, 90º days, and hot, consistent sun so seemingly unfamiliar to northern Vermont. My new employee (and friend) also named Ryan, finished the big squash plant out and called it quits early for the day. Then in the evening I headed back out for a little more “cooler” weather work.
All in all, things are doing well in the field. Unfortunately the salad greens are having a hard time with the heat, and we will see how that reflected in the coming weeks. Those cabbage-family baby greens (arugula, kale, mizuna, mustards) really don’t do well in the heat and because they are under a protective layer of row cover to keep out pests, you can often see a spike in temps 10º hotter than the outside air. But the tomatoes in the hoop houses down in the field are loving the heat, loving the consistent water from the drip irrigation, and loving all the fertilizer I put down in the spring. We will get into pruning them this week as they are on the verge of mayhem. Sea of green! The peppers are shooting to the sky and the cucumbers are growing so fast!
On to the share!! I think week 3 that everything will run smoothly - I know we are still working out the kinks for the “CSA Light” situation but I think we will be good to go moving forward. This week I had my first ever CSA employee, Hannah, helping with harvest and wash/pack - what an absolute dream having extra hands to do this work! I am so fortunate and happy that she is a part of the farm and she did an amazing job on here first day!!!!
Week 2 share
This week we have:
a bunch of rainbow chard - I feel like there are two camps on chard, those who love it, and those who are like “meh.” I am making my way over to the “like it” camp this year, picking and eating it raw in the field as I pass by. One member told us how she cooked the chard and added bacon to it for a delicious, “southern style” chard dish. Yum
a bunch of garlic scapes, this is a fleeting occurrence in the life of a garlic plant when it sends out a flower for reproduction. As growers we pick this flower so the plant will focus on food storage, i.e. bulb production. Then we eat it. We usually dice and add to any plate we would use garlic for but with a fresher, more mild flavor.
Snap peas - one report from a member was that her kids ate them essentially before I got back to the main road. “Better than cookies and cupcakes,” she said - thats a good kid!
a bag of salad mix for all your salad needs
a bunch of eater egg radish - these radishes are big and tender and I’m so happy to offer them! I would shave or slice on to your salad greens, or slice and sprinkle with salt for a little appetizer. What we did last night was sauté ground beef with onion, garlic scapes, and some arugula (you can sub chard too!) with sesame oil, tamari or soy source, fresh, diced ginger and some sprinkles of fish sauce and served that over jasmine rice. Then on top we added raw, sliced radish and cut snap peas. A light, asian inspired dish with great flavor.
broccolini - the first of the year! here is a quick recipe for garlic broccolini as a side dish. I would sub garlic cloves for garlic scapes and see what happens!
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/caramelized-broccoli-garlic
The add-on share this week saw a quart of peas, an 8 oz bag of greens (usually 5 oz), and an extra bunch of green kale. The CSA Light folks saw hakurei turnip, arugula, mixed greens, radish, and bunched chard and kale. So much more on the way!! Here are some photos of the farm from the week.
over-wintered sweet onions coming soon!
all the radishes! And turnips over on the left!
Genica and I scouting the onions and garlic for pests.
laying biodegradable clear plastic for the winter squash, melons, pumpkins, and summer squash!
Thank you all! Have a great week and feel free to reach out with recipe ideas or fun ways you have used the veggies!