Here are a few random thoughts, opinions, suggestions and ideas from the farm.
Increased yields – especially root veggies – have resulted in increased workload but also increased veggies for you to consume. Unfortunately we haven’t always found the time to wash the potatoes and tried our best washing the carrots. Sorry they are dirty but we felt it was better to give out more dirty ones than fewer clean ones; we are leaving some of the washing as an exercise for the reader. If you prefer for us to wash them and give out fewer please let me know. We’d be happy to employ our labor on washing instead of picking if that is what our membership prefers. We’ll look at more washing automation for next season.
Hollow watermelon. Has anyone received a hollow watermelon? So far I have heard of one incident. Maybe there are more out there. Anyway the current hypothesis of the cause of hollow heart as it is known is poor pollination. If we have enough of this problem I will speak to the bees, get all up in their little faces about how they are shirking their responsibilities. If it is only a few problem melons it was most likely just an oversight on the bees’ part.
Onions. The yellow onions we have been giving out the last few weeks are called Ailsa Craig. They are a sweet onion with a very short shelf life. Eat these sooner rather than later. They will sprout and rot faster than onions we will give out later this season.
Edamame. To prepare Edmame simply boil it in salted water for about 4-5 minutes. Drain. Cool slightly then pop the bean out of the pod directly into your mouth. Very tasty. They can be frozen as well. Blanche them for 3 minutes. Plunge them into cold water to remove heat. Dry then pack them into serving size freezer bags. Freeze. To prepare from frozen state boil for 5 minutes or until hot.
Tomatoes. With the hot weather we had all summer the tomatoes ripened really fast; faster than we could pick them. Increased yield also prevented us from getting all of them when we’d like to. On top of that the hot temperatures resulted in high field heat – the heat left in the tomato after it is picked. We get the tomatoes into a cool room as fast as possible but we don’t have a good way to cool them down quickly without resorting to putting them in the walk-in cooler. Putting them in the cooler isn’t a good idea since cold temperature cause physiological changes to the fruits that result in lesser enjoyment by those who eat them. Plus the cooler is full with other need-to-be-refrigerated stuff. So typically the tomatoes continued to ripen quite quickly after we harvested them. Hopefully you were able to use them fast enough. I’m not sure what else we could do to retard their ripening. We may need to find a 50 degree room somewhere…
Cauliflower. The cauliflower this year has been incredibly surprising. It was supposed to be ready in July; it was not. It should not have survived the heat of summer, especially for as long as it has. But here it is, September and the cauliflower is coming in! We do not blanch the cauliflower so it is yellowish instead of the white you see with store bought cauliflower. It doesn’t change the taste at all. There may be cabbage worms in it despite our efforts to eradicate them. Cut-up, wash and soak the cauliflower for a few minutes to a half hour to get rid of any that may be hiding within the head. It is also recommended that you eat the cauliflower sooner rather than later. It has been our experience that it tends to degrade faster than other veggies, but maybe the lack of rain eliminated this problem.
Broccoli. I hope you are enjoying the October broccoli. It wasn’t supposed to be this early but what are you going to do. It is ready now so we are harvesting it now; waiting does no good. See “cauliflower” above regarding potential cabbage worms.
Salmon. We have Salmon coming this week. This is an early season Coho caught by trollers in Sitka Sound. This is from July and August, and the Coho are rather small (4-5 pounds). The pieces are actually full sides ranging from 1 to 1.3 pounds. In October we’ll deliver our late season Coho, also troll caught from Sitka Sound. These fish are closer to 6-10 lbs. and will come in fillets similar to the sockeye, 0.75-1 pound portions. In November you’ll receive late season Coho from Taku Inlet, harvested this month. These will be caught by sockeye fishermen, meaning low-volume gillnet gear and pressure bled fish. They’ll also come in portions, usually from even bigger fish than Sitka Sound. Taku has the largest genetic runs of Coho, some ranging up to 12-14 pounds reflecting their long journey.
Winter Storage Share. We still have a few Winter Storage Shares available. A full share is $95 and includes 5 lbs. of onions, 2 lbs. of garlic, 2 lbs. of shallots, 20 lbs. of potatoes and 20 lbs. of winter squash. Half shares are also available for $50. Let me know if you would like to order one.
FruitShare this week is a mixed box of Honeycrisp apples, kosui Asian pears, nectarines and red and green Bartlett pears.
Speaking of fruit, we have certified organic fruit from Elm Tree Farm, Afton. We currently have Honeycrisp apples: 3# for $10 or 5# for $15; Sweet 16 apples: 3# for $8 or 5# for $13; and Superior plums (on sale!): 3# for $5. We can deliver them to drop sites, just let me know if you want some. We will have them on sale in the tent; check the white board for availability.
We are now taking Early Bird orders for the 2014 season. I have recently received a few inquiries from prospective new members who want to join the farm for 2014. Since I hate to push people off and tell them to wait until we start taking orders later this fall I decided to start taking orders now. There is an order form on our web site, however if your contact information hasn’t changed you only need to send in a check for the $100 deposit. If you are a new member please fill out the form. We are not yet selling the other shares (e.g. fruit, cheese, salmon, etc.) since we do not have pricing for next season. Early Bird pricing allows you to lock in this year’s price for next season’s veggies. Orders must be received prior to our figuring out next season’s price.
Our next member event is the Garlic Planting Gala October 12th at 2:00. This is another great opportunity to see your farm and participate in the farming process. We will plant garlic from 2:00 until complete then fire up the bonfire for a potluck dinner. Please RSVP ASAP so we know how many people will be here. And I promise it will not be 96 degrees.
This week the produce just keeps on coming. We will have tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets, garlic, onions, watermelon, edamame, peppers, eggplants, cabbage, tomatillos, spicy salad mix, lettuce salad mix, cauliflower, broccoli, possibly kale, possibly chard and possibly basil. There may be other things out there as well…
CheeseShare, EggShare, and ShroomShare are all also this week.