Last week I decided it was time to retire. Find out why after these brief messages!
We are looking for a person or two to work here on the farm. We are down one full-time person so we can either have one full-time person or two part-time persons to fill the position. If you are interested please contact me ASAP and I can fill you in on what a fantastic opportunity this is!
We are still accepting the pint-size clam-shell containers — only pint-size please. Bring them to the pick-up tent or leave them in your delivery tote.
We have rescheduled the garlic harvest to this Wednesday afternoon. If you are able to help we are able to let you help! Come on out if you can.
For those of you who are overwhelmed with zucchini I feel it was important to let you know that I believe we have passed peak squash and that it should ramp down from here. Also, find some friends or a bigger compost pile — I won’t be offended. It wasn’t our intention to have this much squash but if you average the zucchini over the last two years the average amount is perfect!
Now back to our story…
Farm News
As I said, last week I decided to retire. It is with mixed emotions that I make this announcement. After 20 fabulous years it was time. For those who have been following this newsletter it should come as no surprise. But I still understand that most of you will be as unhappy about the news as am I. I was hoping for another good 20 years but it just is not to be. So, I bit the bullet and “re-tired” the tractor.
As you recall from last week’s newsletter it appeared one of my rear tractor tires had a urinary tract infection causing severe bladder leakage. I could have had the problem “patched” but with it being a sidewall leak the patch may not have lasted very long due to all the flexing. I’m sure many of you who also have had bladder leakage issues can relate. Anyway, $2,500 later I am the proud owner of a new set of Carlisle CSL 24 8-ply 16.9-30 tires for my Ford 4600 tractor. You’d think for that price I’d at least get raised white lettering. On the bright side with the two new tires my tractor has doubled in value plus if I fill the tank with diesel the value goes up another 10%!
First not having the tiller then not having the tractor for a week has put us way behind schedule. Plus as I mentioned in the announcements we lost one of our full-time workers so I’ve had to fill in that role while shirking my other three or four roles. This week I’m hoping we can finally harvest the garlic. Speaking of harvesting the garlic, I get a weekly newsletter from the University of Minnesota that discusses all that is happening in the vegetable growing world here in our great state and the last newsletter said that the garlic harvest across Minnesota should be complete. Since we haven’t even started harvesting our garlic and we are in Minnesota this veggie newsletter is obviously incorrect. Makes me wonder what other fake news the U is propagating.
Anyway, if you would like to lend a hand this week, and not just with the garlic, we would love to have you lend a hand. Contact me and let me know when you can make it so we can schedule fun and educational activities for you. Things like harvesting garlic. Bunching garlic. Hanging garlic. And maybe something non-garlic related. It is good to have the tractor back but now I have a lot more work to do.
What will we have this week?
Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lots and lots of sweet corn (a variety called Bodacious — not as sweet but a bit larger), broccoli, some cauliflower, some cabbage, some melons, some watermelons, onions, still more zucchini (in the words of Norville “Shaggy” Rogers “zoinks!”), a few kohlrabi, some beans, maybe some snow peas, the first of the peppers, some eggplants, some tomatillos and as always, all the other things I’m forgetting.
This is a FlowerShare and ‘ShroomShare week.
Recipe of the Week
Salsa Verde
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
- 1 lb tomatillos
- 1 to many hot peppers to taste
- ¼ c sweet onions
- 1 small bunch cilantro
Instructions
- Put hot peppers and cilantro in the food processor and pulse until well chopped.
- Add onion and pulse until just chopped (not too much or you will liquefy it).
- Add tomatillos and pulse until desired consistency.
- Add salt if desired.
Notes
This Week’s Joke of the Week
What vegetable do you need when you get a flat tire?
A-spare-I-guess.
As always, feel free to send in your questions, suggestions, jokes, brain teasers and anything else youthink would be helpful!