Hello Members!
Week eleven is the beginning of the second half of the season and peak tomato season here at the farm! We have been picking them daily to keep them in the best condition we can. We never refrigerate our tomatoes and i would suggest also not doing that unless they are cut open or overripe as it makes them less sweet. Room temperature is the best way to store them and let them ripen. The crops I seeded last weekend are germinating in the fields and should provide some nice late summer greens in a few weeks. As we continue to produce and keep up with the harvests we are excited for a few new crops in the next few weeks also including sweet peppers, watermelon, and this weeks new addition, celery! Here is the crop list for this week.
Celery: This dark green greenhouse celery is not like anything you’ve had from the store. The texture is very crisp and the flavor much richer then the blanched almost white celery you find in stores. Enjoy the rich flavor of this crop we grow only limited amounts of. Celery takes over 100 days to mature and is one of the first things we plant and the tiniest seeds you can imagine which start (germinate) and grow very slowly taking up to two months before they reach transplant size.
Cherry Tomatoes: Our cherry tomatoes are just bursting in the greenhouse and the yields are heavy so expect another generous portion of cherry tomatoes this week in shares. These can be roasted into a paste in the oven for sauces, and are great as a healthy snack too!
Heirloom Tomatoes: Not unlike our cherry tomato crop these are yielding some high quality fruit. So many ways to enjoy these and one of the simplest is to just cut them thick and add cucumbers, oil, salt, and pepper for a nice tomato salad.
Golden Carrots: These yellow carrots yielded we’ll for us this year and more coming your way this week. They have been cleaned and topped so these dense carrots will store in a bag for months in the fridge if need be.
Pea Shoots: Our micro greens make a great summer salad green and we produce a new batch every week to keep them going. This week I picked up another 800 lbs of microgreen seeds so we are stocked up and ready to keep that production going.
Tomatillo: These tangy fruits make excellent salsa or sauce for tacos. They can be roasted to bring out other flavors also and combine well with garlic or onion, peppers, and tomato.
Garlic: Our garlic is finally back on the menu. Not only is garlic the logo for the farm it is a staple for some flavorful cooking and its antibiotic properties will help keep you healthy.
Cucumber: These are producing well and great with the tomatoes or also as a refreshing snack during the summer heat.
Summer squash or zucchini: Either summer squash or zucchini will be going out and we will stick to one or the other this week. The plants are slowing down a bit and soon they will be done for the years
That all our crops for this week folks. The first sweet peppers, eggplant, and hot peppers have been coming in and the very first watermelon was picked this week so hopefully we will have enough of these things for shares soon but some will be available at the stand this week for purchase or for market shares if you arrive early enough to catch them. I hope everyone is staying safe, and enjoying the outdoors and time with family as much as possible this summer. -Kyle