I don’t know, maybe it is the start of the season, but whatever the cause it seems there is always a lot of information that needs to be delivered leaving little space for news from the farm. What fun is that? Anyway, here is a bunch of information interspersed with farm news.
With July 4th coming up quickly it would be helpful to know if you are planning to change your pick-ups. For drop-site members: if you can’t pick-up your produce at your regular scheduled place/time you can switch to on-farm pick-up during our normal pick-up hours (M, W and F from 3:30 to 6:30 pm or Th from 9:30 to 11:30 am). Let me know what day you are switching from/to. For on-farm pick-up you are free to switch to other pick-up days. Please let me know if you would like to make any changes. Since there could be significant migration during the week prior and week after I’d like to know these changes sooner rather than later. So please let me know ASAP any changes for the two weeks from June 29th through July 10th.
Farm News
It has been a wonderful growing season so far this year. We’ve received ample and timely rains with enough dry days in between to manage the weeds. With harvesting starting, the weed management may become more problematic. We have a good handle on them so far so let’s hope we can maintain them for the rest of the season.
The first week went fairly well though we had a couple glitches with a couple drop sites. If you had any problems picking up please let me know so we can fix them. It is really hard to fix unknown problems.
What will be in this week’s shares? Here is my best guestimate. New this week will be kohlrabi and very possibly broccoli. The broccoli is looking really good. We just need to determine if we want to let it keep growing (the weather looks favorable) or harvest it now with it being smaller than it could eventually get. Also this week we should have lettuce, bok choi, Swiss chard, beets, snap peas, snow peas, kale (including some dinosaur kale), radishes, green garlic and green onions. There are a few summer squash but I think these will have to be sacrificed for quality testing in our quality control labs.
For new members and to refresh long-time members’ memories: The above is our best guess for the whole week. Some of these things will mature during the week so may be in greater supply later in the week. Other things may be winding down so they will be in lesser supply as the week goes on. This affects mostly on-farm pick-up people. With drop-site delivery we do our best to keep the week consistent for every member. Also, just because it is on the list and we harvest it doesn’t mean it will be in your delivery box. Many years ago we tried to put some of everything into each box. Our members suggested that we put more of fewer items so that they could prepare meals more effectively. A good example from this past week is we gave the boxes a lot of snap peas but no beets. This week you will probably get many beets but few peas. On-farm pick-ups had a choice between peas and beets. Too much information? Anyway, we took their suggestion and as a result you will not see everything on this list in this week’s box though you will see it sometime during the season. If you are the planning type and want to know what to expect in your delivery share (or get a sense as to what is available for on-farm pick-up) keep an eye on our web site. Around 3:00 on Wednesday we post a picture of a random box from that day’s delivery. It is also posted on facebook, which links to twitter. If the day is exceedingly busy the picture may not get posted until later that evening; posting the picture is not our highest priority.
Kohlrabi, the alien of the vegetable world. When people first see kohlrabi their immediate expression is, “You actually eat that?” The next statement is something like, “er, ah, what part do I eat?” Eventually they ask questions like, “How does it grow?” or “What is it?” and finally, “How do I prepare it?” So to prevent me answering these questions over and over in the pick-up tent or via email from our customers I figured I would answer them here! So here goes:
Yes
Most people eat the bulbous part though some of the more adventurous among us eat the leaves as well. Peel the tougher outside layer with a sharp knife (make sure the knife is sharp otherwise it is a lot of work) before consuming it. Inside you’ll find the crisp, sweet, cabbage-flavored flesh. The leaves can be used like collard greens. I find the leaves to be a bit too tough to eat. Maybe juice them?
It has roots and leaves and everything you’d expect in a vegetable plant. The part you eat grows above ground and is the stem of the plant. We transplant them though I suppose one could start them from seed in the field.
Kohlrabi is in the brassica family. Other more famous brassicas include broccoli, kale, cauliflower and cabbage. It is a cool season crop — it needs cooler weather to grow and mature. Older varieties tended to get woody when they grew large. Newer varieties, including the one we grow, can get fairly large before they become woody. The two most common pests are flea beetles and cabbage worms (which aren’t actually worms but the caterpillars of cabbage butterflies).
As mentioned above, peel the kohlrabi stem before using. The fibrous layer will not soften when cooked. I typically cut it into sticks and eat it raw in a salad. It can also be shredded into a slaw. You can cook kohlrabi. Kohlrabi fries anyone? (I haven’t tried this so if you do let me know if they are good). There are some kohlrabi recipes on our web site as well as our Pinterest page. (Speaking of our Pinterest page, I am not a pinster [is that the correct term] but many of our members are. If you would like to pin your favorite recipes to our boards please let me know and I will do something [that I can’t remember at the moment] to allow you to post). Kohlrabi is tasty and versatile. Don’t fear the kohlrabi!
FruitShare is coming this week! On-farm members please sign the FruitShare pick-up sheet and ask for your box. For drop-site members look for a box with your name on it at your drop-site. FruitShare this week will be blueberries for those who purchased the summer season of FruitShare and those who purchased blueberries a la carte. For those who purchased the mixed box or the FruitShare trial box it will be cherries, grapes, blueberries, peaches and something else I can’t remember. We will have extra boxes available for purchase. If you would like to try FruitShare please let me know. I think this is a great add-on to the veggie shares.
CheeseShare, EggShare and IceCreamShare are also coming this week! For on-farm pick-up people, be sure to sign the appropriate sheet and ask for your shares. For drop-site members the cheese and eggs will be in your box; the ice cream will be in a separate cooler. Be sure to not forget your ice cream and let it sit around overnight!
CoffeeShare was last week. If you forgot to pick it up please ask for it in the tent this week.
SeafoodShare arrives by Friday. This does not include SalmonShare which starts next month.
No FlowerShare yet but it should be soon!
The next MeatShare arrives July 3rd.
I think this newsletter is long enough. Let me know if there is anything in particular you’d like to know about the farm, what we grow, how we grow it or anything else of interest to you. After doing this for thirteen years I need something to write about!