This week we take a look at life around the farm, plus there are words intermixed among the pictures. But first an announcement or two.
We are planning the garlic planting for Saturday October 5th. Pencil it into your calendar and as we get closer and the forecasts become more accurate (Ha!) we will confirm that in fact October 5th is the garlic planting day. If the 5th doesn’t work we will switch it to the 12th. If not the 12th then the 19th. If not the 19th then whenever we can get to it. In any case, we’ll start at 1:00 and go until done. Let me know if you can make it!
We have either four or five weeks left — including this week — depending on how much food we can continue to find out in the field. I’ll let you know as we get closer to running out.
What will we have this week?
We have more beans! Beans the week of September 22nd? Could be unprecedented. We also have popcorn, lots of arugula, lots of radishes, peppers, some mesclun salad mix, shallots, garlic, some potatoes, a few eggplants, and of course the usual stuff I forget.
It is a ‘ShroomShare week. FlowerShare this week will be a choice between flowers or pumpkins (delivery folks will get pumpkins). We will also be giving out the winter squash for WinterShare. For those of you who purchased full WinterShares and volunteered to swap out potatoes for some of your squash you will still get half you share in squash this week and the other half in potatoes probably next week. Half shares will get the normal amount of winter squash.
Farm News
I noticed this week that we are pretty good at growing stuff that deer don’t like. We have a lot of radishes and arugula. We are still giving out the garlic we harvested earlier this season. The onions and shallots did quite well. I’m thinking we might have to switch up the business model and grow only the things deer leave alone. How do you feel about a CSA share of radishes, garlic, arugula and onions? Hmm, maybe that won’t work so well. Plus, the deer will probably start eating those things if they can’t get the other yummy veggies.
Speaking of garlic. I know we give out a lot of garlic but the thought is that it is a high value crop that keeps well and can be used all winter long. If, however, later this winter, you find you haven’t used all your garlic and notice it is starting to get a bit soft or starting to grow (or you just have some free time on your hands) you can peal the garlic, grind it up in a food processor, put it in a jar with a bit of olive oil, then store it in the fridge. We’ve found garlic processed this way lasts many, many, many months. Plus it is easy to use when you need garlic. Just scoop out the amount and you are done! The down side is since it is so easy to use you end up using a lot more garlic — but is that really a down side? And for those who don’t know, an easy way to peel garlic is to smash the clove then pull off the skin. For this preservation method there is no reason to keep the cloves whole.
We are giving out popcorn this week. The popcorn did not do as well as last year (I can’t think of anything that did) but we got some for everyone to try. Do not try to pop this right away. It still needs more time to dry out. So leave it out for a few month or better yet, peel back the husk and hang it up for decoration. Then try popping a few kernels say around Thanksgiving. If they pop the rest of the kernels should be ready as well. Another indication of readiness is if the kernels are difficult to pop off the cob it isn’t ready. That isn’t to say that the kernels will fall right off when it is ready. It will still take a little effort but you shouldn’t be breaking any fingernails removing the kernels.
Recipe of the Week
Not really a recipe, but I want to point out that arugula can be eaten both as a salad and as a cooked side dish. It is also good on sandwiches. I’ve heard many people like it on pizza! With all the arugula you get this week it would be wise to find many uses for it. Plus, this is only the first planting…
Here is one recipe I did not try but it uses three of this week’s produce as ingredients!
https://cookingchatfood.com/sauteed-arugula/
If you have some favorite arugula recipes send them my way or post them on our Facebook forum.
Joke of the Week
I discovered there are no funny arugula jokes. Sad. So here is a spider joke:
Why did the spider buy a computer? He wanted to surf the web.
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, and good jokes about arugula.