Welcome to week eight everyone! I’m doing the newsletter late this week because of the 4th of July holiday. I hope everyone had a good time relaxing or going out with friends and family. I got my first day off in a long while on Sunday although i did work a couple hours. This week is a doozy with intense heat building up again. The heat has been hard to work in this year but the tomatoes are coming in hot now and the cherry tomatoes are bursting with flavor as they ripen on the vines. The first cherry tomatoes will go out to members this week and I’m expecting enough beefsteak slicing types for everyone soon. More of our early summer crops this week also like beets which are nearing the end of their season, and fresh sautée greens like chard and kale which is great for a salad also. Today i tilled in the broccoli and snap pea and lettuce areas to make room to plant some beans and melons for late summer. Tomorrow it’s back at harvest again on another hot day to bring you the list below. Prepare your plates and cookbooks!
Cherry Tomatoes: These are great just as they are and we have invested a lot of time and effort and money into growing the perfect cherry tomato. These grow in a special hot house I finished in December of 2018. The perfect growing environment and lots of TLC gives these tomatoes great flavor and texture . They are also the perfect kabob tomato, good in salads, or as their own salad with oil, cheese, salt, and maybe some pepper. I like to make little caprese salads on a stick with these also and little mozzarella balls and some basil.
Swiss Chard: This saute green has many different colored stems. Some insect damage this last week or two as the rain and humidity increased but it still tastes great.
Curly Kale: This variety of kale has quickly become my favorite on the farm and has great texture and flavor. Massage it with oil a little for a salad or bake it in the oven for some healthy but tasty kale chips.
Summer Squash or zucchini: These golden yellow fruits are my favorite to grill with the zucchini in spears and marinated in soy or terriyaki sauce with a little chili powder or sauce.
Onions: These small red summer onions are sweet and good with every vegetable pairing you can imagine.
Cucumber: Cool as a cucumber, crispy fruit for your salads and sandwiches, or juicing.
Yellow Carrots: Our carrots are great roasted or raw but these yellow ones are my new favorite, they hold well if you take the tops off and keep them humid and you can make pesto out of the tops if you want to be adventurous.
Basil: Goes great with the cherry tomatoes! I also like basil for fresh pesto or in stir fry dishes like onion, zucchini, basil stir fry.
Chioggia Beets: These speciality beets don’t bleed like red beets and are great for a roasted beet salad with some feta or blue cheese and walnuts, or roasted with other veggies.
That all the crops that will make it for sure this week. our garlic is almost ready and also our celery. Those will likely make the shares next week and it will take some team effort to get the garlic harvest in among other chores this week. Sweet and hot peppers should also be coming in a few weeks despite nearly losing them to all the late frost we had in May. Thanks all and enjoy the food!
