Welcome to week #7 everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday with family. This week we have had a lot of heat in the field continuing and some good rain to go with it but the future forecast looks hot and dry for a while. It will be a challenge to work in these conditions everyday but some of the crops will absolutely love it. Cucumber, tomatoes, eggplant, melons and peppers, love this weather so at least that is a plus. This week our garlic should be reaching maturity and we will be harvesting slightly early this year due to the steadily above average heat. After harvest it will need to cure a week or two but the garlic crop in general is looking very large and good quality. Today we are harvesting and pruning tomatoes and digging up carrots as we prepare for another week of deliveries. This weeks crops list includes…
Scallion/Green onion: These tender green onions can be used in their entirety from base to tip of the leaf. The variety we grow is very large and gives a lot of onion to go around.
Summer Squash: These yellow cucurbit family fruits are growing in three different types on the farm. We have a golden zucchini type, a two tone yellow and green squash, and a yellow patty pan squash. They all cook up the same as a Zucchini and should be prepared similarly.
Zucchini: These fruits go great in anything from eggs in the morning to grilling in the evening. I had a customer share a zucchini crust recipe for pizza this week also and I’m sharing that here so you can all try zucchini/summer squash crust pizza at home. Here is the link. https://www.myhumblekitchen.com/2013/09/best-zucchini-recipe-ever-zucchini-crust-pizza/
Kale: Curly kale is going strong and we also have a deep red merlot type ready now. we will try to distribute that with the green curly this week so you may end with either deep red or green curly kale.
Carrots: These early Nantes type carrots have good sweetness and edible tops if they are cleaned up a bit they make a good pesto. Of course the roots are the best part and I enjoyed them at home this week cooked in maple butter for a glazed carrot.
Micro green: Our micro greens are nutrient dense and we try to keep them growing almost year round. This week I think sunflowers will be our next batch to come in and will be our main micro green for the week. I do have 5 other types available at the farmstand and some folks may receive pea shoots, or broccoli, arugula, spicy mix, or radish if we run low on sunflower but the current batch is looking pretty nice.
Cucumber: There should be enough to give everyone one or two of these crispy fruits to help you stay cool during this hot weather or add to a kale salad. If you get any brown checking on the skin that is from insect damage and should peel right off if you peel your cucumber. I usually do if there is checking otherwise the skins on our cucumber are thin and totally edible so I don’t peel them if they aren’t damaged.
Basil: Basil is our herb this week. Besides a homegrown tomato nothing says summer like basil. It goes great with pretty much everything in my opinion.
Cherry tomatoes. Cherry Tomatoes are here! These super sweet and meaty cherries are tasting incredible coming out of the new high tunnel. We have orange, yellow, white, black, pink, and red cherry tomatoes in our blend. Each one with its own distinct taste and texture. Over the years I think I’ve got this mix down about as good as it can get selecting the best types of cherries from many available selections.
That’s the nine delicious veggie items coming this week folks, enjoy the bounty of our efforts here at the farm and we will keep on trucking through this heat to bring on the veg! Thank you all for being members. Stay safe out there and enjoy!
