Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 6

GREEN ONIONS: First of the sweet Walla Wallas from the fields.  If you like to use onions raw in a recipe, these are the ones.

CABBAGE: The cabbage is as crisp as can be. It is always good to salt cabbage after cutting. It helps retain its crunchy texture.

YELLOW SQUASH and ZUCCHINI: This true fruit of summer is producing well at the moment.  Any of the zucchini or yellow squash make great "zoodles". We have a hand peeler that cuts the squash into thin noodles, called zoodles. Butter or oil, salt and pepper are all you need to cook up a tasty plate of vegetables.

BASIL: You can make basil pesto with a variety of ingredients. You can substitute sunflower seeds or pecans for the pine nuts. Any leftover garlic scapes sub well for fresh garlic, and grated Skyview cheese can take the place of parmesan.

CUCUMBERS: Peak cucumber harvest is underway. Like the cabbage, salt your cukes after cutting to help them retain crispness. They are delicious with a sweet onion.

SWEET PEPPER: As the pepper plants fill with fruit we are doing a bit of thinning to keep growth steady. Enjoy these first fruits.

CARROTS: The carrot harvest begins in earnest tomorrow morning.  Mainly orange varieties are ready with a sprinkling of yellows.

TOMATO: Surprise! Ripe slicing tomatoes in a June share is not the norm. Thank the heat for the early ripening of both the heirloom and hybrid types. The yellow and orange varieties tend to be less acidic than the red and purple tomatoes.

FARM REPORT:

Harvest at the farm has quickly gone from leafy and light salad greens to heavy fruits of squash and cucumber along with dense cabbages.  Each day another haul of heavy crates comes in from the field buoying our spirits along.  

 Sandy, the farm cat, and the zinnias

Bright flowers bring cheer to all who spend time in the patch.  If you are in the neighborhood, come on by and pick an armload of them.  The zinnias are bursting with flowers and could use some pickers to keep them coming.  CSA members can pick them for free, so don't be shy!

While Summer heats back up, we have started the first crops of Fall.  In the greenhouse the first cabbages are sprouting in their flats.  This little seedling will hopefully grow into a hefty head by October and feed us well.

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 5

BEETS: If you are looking for recipes try Beet Hash from our 2009 blog or Beets with Butter and Maple Syrup from 2016. Eat both tops and bottoms!

LETTUCE: This is it for awhile. These romaines and red leaf lettuces in the shares have seen a very hot spring and have done well under the circumstances. A hearty mustard or yogurt based dressing with some green onions and fresh sprouting broccoli is a great green accompaniment to a summer barbeque meal.

SUMMER SQUASH: Tender zucchinis and yellow squashes from the first picking. In the mix is a new yellow squash variety we are trialing. It is very flavorful and does not have a lot of seeds.

GREEN ONIONS: Fresh shoots go great with about everything.

CUCUMBER: Very first from the patch. We mainly grow pickling types which tend to be firmer and crunchier. A light salting after chopping helps keep them firm.

SPROUTING BROCCOLI: Still delicious in week 5 of the season. This versatile vegetable has made our job easier as it is more productive and reliable than the head broccoli we previously grew.

KOHLRABI: A must for any vegetable CSA, this is the only week of the season you will get the crunchy and tasty kohlrabi. Peel well and eat raw.

BASIL/HERB MIX: The basil patch is ready for its first picking. We will mix in other herbs from around the farm that are also ready for the picking. Expect some parsley or summer savory with your basil.

FARM REPORT:
The heat continues which means an end to the lettuce harvest.  We ate a lot of salads over the past few months and really we are surprised to have one last week of romaine to fill the shares.  Despite the 11 days at 90 deg. F. or above in the last 30 days, the lettuce patch took us from freezing in April to cooking in June.

It has been pretty dry here and we had the irrigation running regularly, but last night three-quarters of an inch of ran fell.  It really perked up the fields. especially the potatoes and onions in the far field that don't have any irrigation tape. It is a big job to put tape down on all of those beds and so far Mother Nature has watered them enough.  We planted an insectary strip between the potatoes and the onions.  The beneficial insects that are attracted to the flowers in the insectary are helping to control pests on both crops.

Insectary plants include buckwheat, radishes, dill, cilantro, alyssum, and phacelia.  Another insectary on the farm is the cut flower bed.  Filled with mostly zinnias, it is open for free u-pick for members.  If you order off the bulk list we will cut them for you and send them in to your distribution site.

Last week we moved the laying flock into a block of an oat and pea cover crop.  They are enjoying eating through the canopy that is also providing them some shade in this heat.