This week is the first week of the harvest season. Please plan to pick-up your produce at your usual place and time!
Announcements
Just a quick reminder that July 4th falls on a Thursday this year. I assume many of you will also have Friday the 5th off. So now is the time to figure out what you plan to do with picking up your produce. We plan to make deliveries as usual though I believe St. Paul’s Monastery will not be open on the 4th so we will need to figure out an alternative. For on-farm pick-up you can switch to a different pick-up day (Tuesday 4:00-6:00 or Wednesday 9:30-11:30 am). Drop-site members can switch to on-farm pick-up during our usual pick-up times (T, Th and F 4:00-6:00 or W 9:30-11:30 am). Let me know if you plan to make any changes.
Which reminds me to remind you that on-farm pick-up times have changed. New times are T, Th and F 4:00-6:00 or W 9:30-11:30 am. If you show up early we assume you are here to volunteer so we will put you to work!
Also a reminder that if you have not received an email from me with pick-up instructions for your pick-up location please let me know ASAP.
We can still add FruitShare to your account. We can also prorate any of our other add-on shares. Let me know if you are interested as soon as possible.
Farm News
I have to admit I was quite disappointed in the lack of rain this past weekend. Forecasts seemed pretty sure we’d get rain but no such luck. With all the rain we had earlier this Spring there is still moisture for the plants to find but the plants would grow faster if there was more moisture. What we’ve found in the past is if we need rain the best way to get it is to start irrigating. So that’s what we did today. We got a few drops out of this plan but so far not enough to turn off the sprinklers. So we will continue to irrigate until the rain arrives.
The other task of course is harvesting. We have a few new employees this season so we have a lot of training to do. Every plant is harvested differently so training is more difficult than you’d expect. But with two returning employees we have enough supervision to make everyone a successful harvester!
And there is the never ending task of weed management. We can never have enough weed management.
What will we have this week?
That’s an easy question. Being a late and cool spring many of the usuals (peas, garlic scapes, summer squash) aren’t ready yet. But other usuals are. We will have lettuce, bok choi, green onions, and chives. Oh, and we’ll give out some onions and shallots stored from last season. Be aware that these stored items may start growing so use them quickly!
We have CoffeeShare and meat pick-up this week.
No other shares (fruit, cheese or flowers) this week.
Plant of the Week
One item new to our members this year is chives, and chive blossoms! Chives are something we’ve been meaning to provide to our members but never got the process going — until this year. Not only are we giving you chives but also chive blossoms! These are the beautiful flowers of the chive plant and despite their gorgeous color are in fact edible. The whole farm crew tried them fresh off the plant and so far we are all still alive. So unless it has a slow acting poison I think you are all safe to give them a try.
While researching how to use chive blossoms it seems all web site describe their delicate onion or garlic flavor. I’m not sure I would call it delicate. This first bite is in fact delicate but the flavor intensifies over time. Though not as strong as a raw onion they do have a bit of a bite.
You can use chive flowers in any dish you want an onionish flavor with a purpleish color. Chopping them and sprinkling them preserves them beautiful color. You could use them whole as an edible garnish. Chopped and sprinkled on a salad to add flavor and color. Put a block of cream cheese and some chives and chive flowers into a food processor and make a delicious chivey cheese spread. Infuse vinegar! Put the flowers into a jar of vinegar to impart an onion-like flavor to the vinegar. After two weeks strain the flowers and store. The possible uses of chive flowers are endless.
To store them put them in a cold place in your fridge inside an open bag. To store them longer but at a much greater risk you can stand them up in a glass of water in your fridge. However if you manage your fridge space like we do there is a good chance you’ll knock over the jar spilling the contents over everything that is on the shelf below. So use this tip at your own risk.
As always, let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, or brain teasers.