Hello Members!
Week eleven is here and one week in our 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. This week we will be weeding around the green beans I planted a few weeks ago for late season, harvesting lots more crops every day and a lot of tomatoes! We’ve been getting back in the groove on micro greens which were not going very well the last few weeks in the heat but we’ve been able to get back on track with them more lately so enjoy the pea shoots this week for salads. It looks like a hot dry forecast ahead so surely we will pace outselves through all these 90 degree days and keep the water flowing to help the sweet and hot peppers, melons and beans come along faster. I also started some more lettuce and broccoli for fall shares which is starting to sprout now so will be keeping a close eye on those through the heat also. 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 to get planted in March and it has the tiniest seeds you can imagine which start (germinate) and grow very slowly taking up to two months before they reach transplant size after that a few months of watering in the greenhouse and they are ready to go. This will be our second and last week of celery for the season because we only grow a little of this special treat since it takes so long to grow.
Cherry Tomatoes: Our cherry tomatoes are just bursting in the greenhouse and they taste so good! Besides being good fresh for caprese salad with little mozzarella balls and basil….. These can be roasted into a paste in the oven for sauces with some garlic and basil if you cook them on low for a few hours, 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 or orange Carrots: These yellow carrots yielded well for us this year and more coming your way this week but they are almost done so some shares may start receiving orange carrots as we transition into another type of carrot for you this week.
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 we are getting back on track finally after a few difficult weeks of production during the last heat wave with the pea shoots.
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 and/or zucchini and patty pan squash: A mix of summer squash and zucchini will go out this week in shares including the yellow patty pan squash which are prepared just like the yellow or green zucchini.
Swiss Chard: After a couple weeks off of chard we are bringing back chard and taking a break from kale this week. these greens are best sautéed in butter or olive oil and can be used anywhere you would normally use spinach as a substitute.
Basil: Fresh basil for your tomatoes, stir fries, and salads. Basil makes a great pesto too.
That all our crops for this week folks. The first sweet peppers, and hot peppers have been coming in so hopefully we will have enough of these things for shares soon but just a few peppers for now. I hope everyone is staying safe, and enjoying the outdoors and time with family as much as possible this summer as we enter the last month of summer break for the kids. I’m hoping to have enough time to plow some more open ground this week also and plant some more salad greens for summer and fall like mustard greens, lettuce, and spinach but we really need the weather to cool down before those can grow well so we will also try to start more veggies for fall this week. -Kyle
