Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 8

CARROTS: These beauties were a question mark in April when they sprouted in the field and overnight temps in the low 20's required some hustling from the farmers to protect them. Our efforts paid off, and we have had a good harvest. Thanks to all who helped dig them.

TOMATOES: It is that time of year when the tomatoes are at their peak. The plants are looking good right now, and our second planting of summer tomatoes are starting to produce fruit. We hope you enjoy this week's plump share of the summer's favorite fruit.

ONIONS: More of our sweet Walla Walla's. A perfect choice if you want to put raw onion into your tomato and pepper fresh salad. Slice them thin, salt a bit, and savor their flavor.

SWEET PEPPERS: It is a wonderful time of year when we start to see the peppers turning colors. All are good fresh or cooked. The red bull horn type Carmen's are thin walled and best chopped or fried. The thicker walled yellow Escamillo and red/orange Islander can be roasted and peeled.

VEGGIE CHOICE: This week you can choose from salsa pack, okra, eggplant or squash. For you newbies, the salsa pack instructions for fresh salsa are here and roasted salsa are here.

HERBS: Top those salads and salsas with some fresh herbs. This week is a choice of parsley, summer savory, chives or herb fennel.

Recipe suggestions:
While we have not been posting regular new recipes for the shares, we hope that you have been using the many resources we have developed over our 15 CSA seasons. You can search for recipes within the Fair Share Farm system a couple ways.

1. Simply use the search bar at the left top of this page for recipes that have been on the blog.
2. Follow this link www.fairsharefarm.com/archive/info/recipes.html and search our old website.
3. Join the Fair Share Farm CSA Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/fairsharefarmcsa/) and check out all the recipe suggestions from your fellow members.

FARM REPORT:
 With many severe storms south and north of us last week, I guess we cannot complain too much about the dry weather.

Luckily, the irrigation pond is still fairly full of water, which we are carefully using to water in the fall crops.

This truckload of cabbage plants went in the ground last week.  When we aren't keeping the new plants watered, we turn the irrigation on the summer fruits like the peppers.  Peppers love water and need a good drink at least once per week.  So far, we have managed to keep them growing an making nice fruits for the shares.

 

On the other hand, the okra plants are perfectly happy with little water and lots of heat.  Since we planted the okra back in May, we have watered it only twice and yet it is producing enough fruits this week to include it as a choice for the 100 CSA shares.  It also has a beautiful flower.

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 7

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MUSIC GARLIC: The heads are still in the curing process, which means they are extra juicy. We love this hard-neck garlic with its half dozen or more nice size cloves, as it is easy to separate and clean.

TOMATOES: A mix of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes of multiple colors. We irrigate as much as possible right now to keep these beauties juicy and the plants happy.

POTATOES:  These Red Pontiacs are the first we have dug this year. Red skin with white flesh they are great cut into chunks, steamed until tender, and tossed with butter, salt and this week's summer savory and parsley herb mix.

SQUASH: After this week the zucchini and yellow squash will be on hiatus. We have a second planting underway that we will try to nurse through the next 5 days of 99.9 degree heat.

CUCUMBER: Enjoy this week's cucumbers, as the first planting's harvest is about done. A second planting is growing for later in the season.

SWEET PEPPERS: The peppers continue to grow, and they are slowing starting to take on some color. This weeks peppers will be green or purple with some blush. Our October 5, 2005 newsletter (our original blog) has 4 recipes for green peppers.  It also has news from the farm from 13 years ago. Ah, memories.

HERB MIX: The irrigation has kept the summer savory and parsley lush so far. A good harvest will be good for them as the heat dome settles on us. Enjoy these aromatic and flavorful herbs. Chop them up and put them in potato salad, tomato sauce, squash dishes, or with meats.

We appreciate those of you who have been participating in the ferment share. This standing order for our ferments is very helpful to our venture. This week we are springing a new item on you, our Garlic Pickle Chunks. We ferment these cucumbers with a healthy dose of both garlic and cayenne pepper. Spicy, flavorful, refreshing and savory, they go well with most any summer meal. As we grow the ferment business we appreciate your comments on recipes.

FARM REPORT
The drought and heat wave one-two punch is hitting the farm hard.  Number one goal this week is keeping everyone from plants to animals to humans safe.  We start early in the morning each day to bring in the crops that are ready before they literally cook in the ground.

potato harvest

Hundreds of row feet of carrots and onions are waiting to be brought in.  The fermenting kitchen with it's little a/c unit has become a refuge for ripening tomatoes, curing onions, sprouting fall seeds and farmers who need to cool off.

onions curing in the kitchen

Once the fall seeds sprout in the kitchen they are moved to the shade structure by the greenhouse.

So far the plants are happily ignorant of the blast furnace outside their shady spot.  By the end of the month, they will be ready to go out to the fields.  Hopefully it will be cooler by then!