What’s in the Box:
Sweet pepper, green pepper, heirloom tomatoes, broccoli, purple stripe garlic, red torpedo onion, shallots, jalapeño peppers, zucchini, summer squash, leeks, eggplant, english cucumbers, and curly kale.
What’s going on at the farm:
Our late summer beans are making good growth this week and we’ve been seeing some ripe melons but not enough quantity for shares. Hoping to have a bigger harvest soon. Lots of new hot peppers coming soon including poblano, habanero, aji rico, and more… also I will be planting greens and roots for fall this next week or two. Items on the list to plant include lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, turnips, radishes, beets, chard, kale, spinach, and more. Weather will play a big part in that as I only have a few open days where i’m not harvesting and delivering and selling food each week now and the harvests are heavy this time of year. I’ve been working on preparing some areas that were cleared of harvest this week too and controlling weeds for next year using some different methods including lots of hand weeding, solarizing, and mowing.
Keeping up with the harvest is a challenge this time of year in the heat but we’ve been doing so. I’m also doing more research on greenhouse structures this week and got the chainsaw blades sharpened so I can start tree trimming soon. The two trees I have to remove should make quite a bit of firewood for the annual farm potluck dinner coming up in a few weeks. I don’t like to have it on Labor Day weekend as I know most of you have plans for that weekend. I’m thinking Sunday September 16th sounds good. I hope you all can make it and will mark your calendars. I’ll be sending more info along in an e-mail reminder closer to the date but we usually start around 4 or 5 pm and go into the evening. More updates on that coming soon. For now it’s back to the veggies that we are harvesting and delivering to you this week.
Peppers of all types (and I grow many) are coming in well in the hot humid weather, both sweet and hot are seeing some color change now. You will receive green peppers, sweet peppers, and jalapeño peppers this week in your shares. The sweet ones are the large colored ones of course and as always do be careful cutting the jalapeños, they are getting hotter this time of year. I like to wear disposable gloves when working with hot peppers and clean the cutting board and knife off afterwards.
Heirloom tomatoes abound yet and they are so so good, these are a big part of my daily meals and I love eating just a plate of tomato and cucumber salad for lunch with just some salt, oil, and vinegar.
Allium is the name of the onions family and we have four types for you this week including our mediteranian red torpedo onions, bronze shallots, leeks, and garlic. They are all dry except the leeks which need refrigeration the other onions family items will store at room temp just about anywhere out of direct sunlight.
eggplant loves this warm humid weather, and I love grilling or pan frying slices of it in olive oil, and herbs, either breaded or not. Try it on sourdough with some tomato, onion, garlic, or shallot and some melted mozzarella, its heavenly.
Broccoli should hopefully be bountiful enough to go around this week but not much of this crop left so not huge portions going out this week as last week. None the less fresh broccoli is one of my favorite things and would go well with any meal.
Zucchini and summer squash is here again and coming in slower but steady. They are great sliced on homeade pizza, stir fries, zucchini fries, breads, muffins, cakes, and more.
English cucumbers are pouring in lately from our late summer planting ands they look perfect. They are great snacks for these hot summer days with a little salt or paired with the onions for some classic cucumber and onion salad.
Curly kale is back again and we have had it quite a bit but the quality and flavor of this stuff is so good! My daughter and I are loving the kale chips at home and just a little garlic sliced onto them with some oil and salt and then bake them until they are crispy. About 15-20 minutes (depending how crispy you like them) at 350 in a glass pan in the oven stirring occasionally.
That’s all I’ve got for this week folks. Thanks again and I hope you all enjoy the veggies!
-Farmer Kyle
