Most of this season has been “have to work outside days”. Today was a “get to work outside day”. Therefore this could be a very short newsletter.
We spent most of the day digging and hanging garlic. We planted the garlic last fall at the Fall Garlic (Planting) Festival. Everyone who helped out last year should be proud of how the garlic turned out. Our initial goal was to plant less garlic than we did the prior year. I don’t think we met the goal. It seems like we have as much garlic this year as last! I’m not sure how that happened.
Anyway, now we “cure” the garlic for a couple weeks in our patent-pending garlic curing chamber. It used to be a garage but now it is a garlic curing chamber. We hang it from the rafters hoping the garage’s snow load capacity equates to garlic load. There is a lot of weight hanging from the rafters. We cure the garlic to allow it to dry prior to cutting off the tops. This gives the garlic time to seal off the stem end which lessens the opportunity for pathogens to penetrate into the bulb and cause it to rot. Once the garlic is cured we cut off the tops for storage. We retain somewhere around a quarter of the garlic for planting this fall, the rest goes to our members.
What else is going on here on the farm? Well, mostly harvesting. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are harvest days. Tuesdays and Thursdays are now used for special projects. Digging garlic was one of the special projects. Future projects include digging onions, digging potatoes, and harvesting winter squash. These are the crops where we harvest a whole bunch of it all at once, cure it and store it prior to giving it out.
So what will we have available this week? Well, the good news is we are out of broccoli – at least until the fall. Also the summer squash seems to be slowing down again so they might be rare this week. However we do have the following: Tomatoes (Yay!), cherry tomatoes (Yay!), tomatillos (just starting so not a lot yet), sweet corn (a different variety called Bodacious – still small ears though), cucumbers, eggplants, cauliflower, cabbage, fennel, beans, onions, and maybe some hot peppers. We are holding off digging potatoes this week since we have so much else to give out. We are also holding off the carrots as well; they don’t seem to be sizing up very quickly this year. But both of these will be harvested later this season!
Recipe of the week
This week I am highlighting Salsa Verde. Why Salsa Verde? Because every year people ask me what I do with tomatillos and this is what I do. Instead of wasting computer bits by entering the whole recipe here I am instead just putting this convenient link to the recipe on our web site.
Another Recipe of the Week
This week I am highlighting Fennel Tempura. Why Fennel Tempura? Because every week people ask me what I do with fennel and until now I didn’t have this answer. Here is the recipe from my mom:
Clean fennel bulbs. Cut in half and boil in lightly salted water until al dente. (This took the longest amount of time to get them to al dente). Drain well and quarter. Beat eggs with salt and pepper. Dip the fennel slices in the egg and then dredge in flour to coat well. Fry in lots of hot oil til golden brown. So. that’s it and it is like having tempura fennel! Quite yummy!!! I did, however, salt them a little more after taking them out of the oil. Tasted great!!! I ate the whole thing!!
WinterShare
Just a quick note that we still have Winter Storage Shares available. These shares provide you with items that store easily over the winter. It includes 5# onions, 2# shallots, 2# garlic, 20# potatoes and 20# winter squash. We also have half shares available which have exactly half as much as a full share. Price is $95 for a full, $50 for a half. Let me know if you’d like to order one.
Eggs
Our formerly baby chicks are now starting to lay eggs. So we will have eggs for sale off and on through the rest of the season. We’ve been asked by quite a few people for eggs – far more than we will have available. So we came up with the following complicated scheme to try to make it work for everyone. Unfortunately for drop site members we are limiting the eggs to on-farm pick-up only. We hope to add drop-site delivery of eggs sometime in the future.
Basically the distribution of the eggs will be based on a waiting list. If you want eggs let me know via email: Chris@FreshEarthFarms.com. Requests will be put in the order they are received. Each day will have a separate list. As eggs are available the first name on the list for that day will get them; the person will then go to the end of the waiting list. It may sound complicated but it isn’t. The only thing you need to do is let us know if you want eggs. If you do, we will handle the rest.
Oh, and the price is $5 a dozen. These are eggs from free-rangin’, bug eatin’, tomato lovin’ chickens. You will tell the difference the first time you crack one open. We do not size the eggs but we will try to clean them. Some will be big; some will be small. They come in a variety of colors.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.
FruitShare
No fruit this week. Next week’s box will be a mixed box including some of the following: pluots, grapes, cherries, and Valencia oranges. Let me know if you would like to order some fruit. Price is $39 for a nine pound box.
Also, the delivery after next week (August 31st) will be Colorado peaches. These have been wonderful in the past. If you would like to order peaches a la carte please let me know. Price is $39 for a nine pound box, $63 for a 20# box.
MeatShare
If you haven’t picked up your MeatShare please do so at your next pick-up time.
CheeseShare
No Cheese this week.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions, comments, concerns, jokes, riddles, etc.