I’m not sure how people got the impression that last week was the last week of the season but it is not. We plan to give out produce for another four weeks (including this one). The season cannot end until the Brussels sprouts are delivered. And they don’t get tasty until they survive a frost or two. So keep going to your pick-up site and picking up your produce!
Speaking of the seasons, don’t forget to sign up for next season! Maybe this is why people are confused. Just because I start taking orders for next season doesn’t mean the fun ends this season! So send in your orders and I will keep delivery produce for a few more weeks! Plus I’ll keep using a lot of exclamations point!! To rejoin simply send in a $100 deposit or order through our online store. New members should go through the store. Payment can be via check, Zelle (using my email address or phone number), PayPal or cold hard cash (directly delivered to me). Let me know if you have any questions!
Garlic Planting is this Saturday, October 7th from 1:00 until done. Let’s hope for a week of dry weather so we can get the soil moisture down. There are plenty of tasks for all ability levels. Check the website before coming out even if the weather is dry. With all the rain and possible more rain to come this week the soil may be too wet to plant. If not, come see where you food is grown and meet some of your fellow farm members!
Farm News
As I sat inside on Friday I was reminded of how often weather forecasters are wrong. I’m not sure if the rest of you have jobs where you’d really like to know what the weather will be like your next work day but in my profession we find knowing quite handy. Now I don’t expect the forecast to be 100% accurate but I do expect it to be somewhat accurate. I can accept a forecast that says “30% chance of rain tonight” and it rains — or of course it doesn’t. I can accept a forecast that says, “Low tonight of 40 degrees” and instead it goes down to 35. What gets me are forecasts like Thursday night’s that said, “Clear skies tonight” and we get torrential rains. How does everyone get it so very, very wrong? Don’t we live in the 21st century anymore? How did they not see this much rain coming?
And if one more weather person says “The rain is good for the farmers” I will scream. Most Minnesota farmers do not want rain at this time of year. They are hoping their crops — and their soil — dry out so they can harvest them. The drier the weather, the drier the corn and beans and the less fuel they need to use to artificially dry them. Us produce farmers have a greater need for rain but not this much and not over so long of a period of time. As I was harvesting the fall broccoli this week I saw quite a few heads that had brown bead. Brown bead is when some of the “beads” or flower buds on the broccoli turn brown and eventually fall off. It is caused by prolonged exposure to water. If water sits on the broccoli head for a long enough period of time the beads die. The result is an unmarketable head. With the multi-day rain we had last week we started seeing this problem. I think the weather people don’t understand brown bead.
Also, with all the rain we’ve had lately the ground is saturated and digging most underground crops are on hold for a while. I was hoping the warm weekend weather would dry the soil sufficiently but it did not. I suppose with the shorter days and the high humidity there just isn’t enough drying power to make a dent in the amount of moisture in the soil. Hopefully we get a few more days of dry weather so that we can dig carrots and potatoes later this week.
What will we have this week?
Good question. We still have lots of arugula and mesclun mix. Hopefully you haven’t quite tired of either. We also have winter squash, onions, and potatoes we harvested a while ago. The pepper plants are still producing pretty well though this is most likely the last week we will harvest them (the “forecasters” are “forecasting” “frost” for the “weekend” [air quotes and in the voice of Homer Simpson makes this complaint funnier]). We also have a lot of daikon and some watermelon radishes. In smaller quantities are things like eggplants, broccoli, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, okra, kale (still isn’t as big as it has been in past seasons), chard and probably some other things I have forgotten.
It is an EggShare week. FlowerShare will be more gourds and another final bouquet!
Recipe of the Week
I’m not sure if my automatic newsletter emailing software includes the included recipes but if not and you want to read this week’s recipe click on the “Read the Post” link below to read the newsletter online. This week’s recipe uses mesclun and daikon radishes plus the mushrooms from ‘ShroomShare!
Braised Mesclun with Mushrooms and Daikon Radishes
Ingredients
- 8 oz Mesclun Salad Mix
- 1 Shallot or Onion chopped
- 1 Small Daikon Radish thinly sliced
- 1 clove Garlic crushed
- 1 Red Pepper chopped
- 4 oz Mushrooms
- 1 T Lemon Juice
- 4 T Butter
Instructions
- Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.
- Add Daikon and shallot. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add bell pepper. Cook a few more minutes.
- Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook for a few more minutes.
- Add meslun mix. Cook until soft but not mushy.
- Add lemon juice. Mix. Remove from heat.
Joke of the Week
Where did the cucumbers go on their date?
The salad bar.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, orders, etc.