In the Share - Week 2

LETTUCE (F/P) These lettuces are too beautiful and scrumptious to waste. Lettuce prefers to be in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. That goes as well for almost any leaf vegetable you will be receiving from us. 2 big heads for the full shares, 1 for the partial shares.

STRAWBERRIES (F/P) More luscious ladies from the patch. Thanks to all of you who have been ordering bulk! We really appreciate the sales and it means we don’t have to schlep our products to market to try and sell the excess. So far you all have ordered 100 quarts. Way to go CSA! 

RED RUSSIAN KALE (F/P) The kale has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the crazy weather we’ve had. If you haven’t yet discovered the beauty of kale chips now is your chance.

ASIAN GREENS (F) The perfect ingredient in your spring stir fry. This week we have Tat soi or Yokatta Na. Partial shares get a choice of Asian greens or kale.

PINK BEAUTY RADISHES (F) the hail from last week did a number on the greens, but the roots are still plenty pretty.

GREEN GARLIC (F/P) These are young garlic plants that you can eat like a green onion. Search the blog for past recipes or just use like you use garlic.

HAKUREI TURNIPS (F/P) If you are new to the Hakureis, you are in for a surprise. They are not your grandmother’s turnips – oh so sweet and juicy you can eat them like an apple.

ASPARAGUS (P) The last of the spears until next spring. 

HERB CHOICE (F) Cilantro, dill or oregano.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms CSA shares

NEXT WEEK: More lettuce, turnips, greens and strawberries. Peas and green onions.

FARM REPORT
The month of May is in full expression on the farm right now. Peas, potatoes and broccoli paint the fields in hues of green. Sugarsnap and snow peas ornament the rows with their delicate white flowers. Meanwhile tomatoes, summer squash and cucumbers have adjusted to their new homes and are beginning their exuberant growth. The farm crew rushes through the days harvesting strawberries every morning and then tending to the plants in the fields even as we add to their ranks. It takes a bit of choreography to keep all of the crops planted, watered, weeded, trellised, hilled, irrigated and mulched.

Sometimes we lose one. As we realized this week when we uncovered the arugula. Seems that a pesky moth larvae, most likely a cankerworm, insinuated itself under the row cover and flourished. So, our apologies but there will be no arugula until fall. The other planting bolted in the unseasonably warm weather.

It is hard to say what the weather will do next week, much less next month. Tom and I rest easier knowing that this year we started a week early. That means we have some flexibility in the season. If we have a good harvest all season long the 24 weeks of the CSA season will end a week earlier than planned. But if sometime during the season the crops are meager we can figure on this early week as its substitute.