All pick-up instructions were sent out this past week. If you did not receive them please get back to me ASAP so that I can send them to you. Please read the pick-up instructions to ensure the day or location for you pick-up is when/where you want to pick-up. Some pick-up days, times and locations have changed!
July 4th is a Tuesday this year. We plan to be open for on-farm pick-up. If you want to switch to a different day that week please let me know as soon as possible so we can plan accordingly. Stay tuned for the delivery schedule (including the delivery of our partner products e.g. fruit, cheese, etc.) Except for this July 4th issue our calendar should be up to date and accurate. Let me know if you have any questions.
Farm News
In farming it is all about the weather. For a while it looked like the season was off to a warm start and everything would be early. Then we had a prolonged cold spell that caused us to pause planting the warm season crops due to fear of them perishing in the cold weather. Then we had a prolonged warm, dry spell — five 90 degree plus days so far this month! — that was great for the warm season crops — except that we just planted them and they weren’t well established. It was not so good for the cool season crops.
The hot weather has negatively affected our pea production. In a typical cool spring the peas would grow tall with many flowers on each plant. This year with the hot weather the peas didn’t grow very tall — especially the second planting — and have far fewer flowers. Peas do best in cool weather like you’d find along the Pacific Northwest coast or along the north shore of Lake Superior. This year has not been kind to the peas.
Lettuce is another cool season crop. During the hottest days this spring we misted the lettuce to keep it cool. This seemed to work ok but we lost most of the red leaf variety to bolting (early flower set) which renders it worthless. When the weather turns hot the lettuce thinks it is summer and it is time to procreate.
Bok choi is also a cool season crop. We did nothing to the bok choi during the hot spell and for the most part it looks pretty good. We grow it under a floating row cover — a thin, lightweight fabric — to prevent flea beetles from chewing many holes in the bok choi. We don’t like removing the row cover until harvest to prevent flea beetles from entering the sanctuary. So we aren’t 100% confident the bok choi is in great shape but from above the row cover it looks good!
The broccoli is another cool season crop. Much like the lettuce, when the weather turns hot it turns frisky and wants to procreate. So a lot of our early broccoli started to flower before the plants got big. So the heads of broccoli this first round are on the small side; we’ll bunch several of them together to make a share. The heat also discolored it a bit but it still tastes fine. Broccoli is not an easy plant to grow in the spring.
The rest of the farm is coming along as expected. The tomatoes in the hoop house have fruits. The cucumber plants are well established and growing. The summer squash is flowering. The potato plants have been hilled once and should be hilled again soon. All-in-all the warm season crops are coming along quite well!
What will we have this week? For those who are new to the farm I make my best guess at the time of writing this newsletter as to what we will harvest this week. I have a 93.5% accuracy rate over the last fifteen years (alternative fact!) So be aware that there is a chance this guess is wrong. Also, I list everything we harvest. Due to limited quantities not everything on the list will be in your delivery share or available in the pick-up tent. So if you are the type that needs to know what is coming I would suggest skipping this paragraph in the future because it may not be accurate in your situation.
With that said, this week we will have bok choi, lettuce, radishes, green onions, green garlic, garlic scapes, broccoli, some snap peas and some snow peas.
Recipes of the week!
Bok choi with Crunchy Noodles. This is a very simple recipe that tastes wonderful. It uses many of the ingredients in this week’s share. You can also slice the radishes and add them at the beginning just after the onions. Cooking radishes make them palatable to those who don’t like radishes!
Garlic Scape Pesto. This is a great way to use garlic scapes. You can also use green garlic. And if you don’t have pine nuts use macadamia nuts, almonds, pecans or walnuts instead. Each will add its own unique flavor.
FruitShare, EggShare, CheeseShare, IceCreamShare, CoffeeShare, MeatShare and SeafoodShare are all this week!
We will take back pint size clamshells from FruitShare (the size the blueberries come in). We use them for cherry tomatoes.
We are changing the order of the seafood for SeafoodShare. You’ll get exactly what you ordered just in a different order. English is so confusing. Anyway, this week it will be Yelloweye and Halibut!
No FlowerShare yet. It will most likely be a few more weeks.
As always, do not hesitate to send in your questions, comments, suggestions, etc.