Greetings members! This last week was hot and tiring but the summer produce really liked the heatwave. My kids are gathering their supplies for a return to school and started their orientations and it’s been busy. The peppers are change color faster in the heat and the ground cherries and tomatoes ripen faster as well. This week we keep the summer harvest rolling with those items and more new crops like cabbage. Here is the list for this weeks harvest on the farm.
Kale- Curly Kale is back this week and looking better then ever since we gave it some time to size up. I really like a nice kale salad and there are so many ways to make it. Find one that suits your fancy and enjoy a nutritionally dense salad.
Summer squash or zucchini – These amazing fruits just keep coming and we will distribute either one yellow patty pan, yellow squash or zucchini in your share.
Cherry tomato – So many cherry tomatoes coming in still and they taste just as good as the first week and almost as large. Plenty to go around as these have been keeping us busy in the greenhouse picking as fast as we can bring them in.
Heirloom tomato, these slicing size tomatoes are slowing down more now in most types and getting down there on varieties and quantity available but we should have enough for another week of a tomato or two for you all.
Sweet pepper- The peppers we grow are varieties i’ve found to be reliable over the years and includes red and yellow Italian frying peppers, and orange and yellow and red bell peppers and possibly a few green peppers too. We will provide healthy mix this week as the heat seems to push in a good amount this week.
Habanero- These are technically a red habanero but more of a bright orange and plenty of heat to respect in these so don’t let the kids try them. They are great for salsa roasted and combined with the tomatillo, tomato, ground cherry for sweet heat and some garlic.
Garlic- Our garlic is on point with good size and great flavor, really pairs well with anything you can dream up in the kitchen
Ground Cherry- These husk fruits are fun and tasty. Simply peel the husk to reveal the golden berry inside and
Tomatillo- These husk fruits are great for salsa as iv’e described before i like to roast them at about 400 with garlic and sometimes tomatoes and hot pepper and then blend for an awesome salsa and they go great in or on any kind of south american food. Could be incorporated with ground cherries also for a hot and sweet and savory salsa.
Pea shoots- Our most classic and first micro green ever produced here is a good staple to use for salads, sandwiches, taco salad, and more, be creative and enjoy the sweet pea pod flavor of these micro greens.
Cabbage- These late season crunchy greens are great for coleslaw or stir fry. They had some cosmetic damage from caterpillars but they look nice and green overall and most of that is external so plenty of good cabbage in the core. The caterpillars came fierce a few weeks ago with the heat and humidity before we could treat them with protective organic insecticides but too close to the end of their cycle to stop them. So we never sprayed and thats ok with me that we didn’t use any sort of treatment. Happy to say we have not used any product for insects this year which is all part of a good cycle and assortment of crops going. I really feel that insecticides decrease our beneficial insect population and we try to focus more on that like introducing predatory wasps and ladybugs and good crop rotations but sometimes we still get a little damage.
This week we may add kohlrabi and radish to the box also if we can get enough of them harvested before tuesday and the radish should go well for salads with the kale and or pea shoots, the greens are edible if you wish and similar to arugula but better sautéed. This week I got my lawn mower repaired on the farm too and got a good cut in on the grass. and took the weedwacker in for repair also but it’s not back yet. I have a lot of mowing to do on field borders this week to keep the farm weed bank down for the future. Salad greens are coming back in the fields from seeding last week so we should have some more of them coming soon along with a few other new crops next week that should be ready like salad turnips and aji rico chile peppers. Enjoy this weeks harvest!
