Happy June, friends! Even though the long range forecast is looking to be colder than normal for the first few weeks of June, it is starting to feel like summer has finally arrived. Remember last year, when we had temps in the 90's in early June? This morning I was out on the tractor getting some field work done before the crew arrived, and I was downright chilly - but at least it's not raining and we are able to keep the tractor running out there in the fields..JPG)
This week, we seeded the first rounds of sweet corn and green beans in the fields, which makes it feel "officially" like summer to me. Those crops need warmer weather to germinate well, and the soil is finally warm and dry enough to make that happen. We also finished transplanting acres of winter squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon starts (yum!) plus thousands more cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. The fields are filling up as fast as we can get them prepped for planting. It's grow time here at the GO Farm..JPG)
Hoophouse crops continue to thrive despite the cool spring we have had. It's amazing how much additional warmth we can capture with those simple structures, and the plants are loving it. The cucumbers are beginning to climb up their trellises now, and we're seeing a nice early fruit set already. Fingers crossed we'll be picking those cukes in about 2 more weeks! Scallions have filled out really well, and you'll see those on a weekly basis for a while. Tomatoes are about waist high now and getting ready for another round of pruning and trellising once we get all of these field crops transplanted. Just for perspective, the crew has been spending pretty much their entire days on the transplanter plugging away this week. So. Many. Transplants.
And Hobbes our border collie has been supervising practically every single transplant as it goes in - it sure is nice to have such dedicated quality control. He seems to love watching the planting mechanism work as the plant gets placed into the ground. Pretty cute!.JPG)
Collards are sizing up fast now as well, so those will also be a regular staple in your veggie boxes from here on out. We like to cut them up stems and all and sautee lightly in butter and salt until they just start to wilt for a tasty side dish. The beets are nearly ready for harvest - probably one more week - but we're seeing a few that are approaching baseball size out there this week. Finally, the first planting of hoophouse peas is flowering prolifically, so only about 10 more days till the first pods are ready to harvest!.JPG)
This week we also got the first cultivation done of our first planting of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage with our old 1947 Farmall Cub. It was perfect timing to get those newly sprouting weeds knocked back, and the fields are looking nice and clean. Throughout the summer, we'll be cultivating every single one of our field crops about once every week to 10 days to keep the weeds at bay. It's a lot more work than a conventional "spray and grow" control system, but we're ok with that, and we hope you appreciate eating veggies grown without synthetic chemical inputs!.JPG)
As Organic farmers who don't rely on herbicides for weed management, our 2 old cultivating tractors are our primary defense against weeds. Another benefit to frequent shallow cultivation is that by disturbing the top inch of soil to root out the weeds as they germinate, we are creating a "dirt mulch." This "mulch" helps break capillary action of evaporation and works to keep soil moisture in the ground where plants need it instead of getting wicked away by the steady winds we've been seeing so far this spring.
It'll be a while until those first field crops begin producing, but in the mean time to supplement our hoophouse crops we'll keep offering plenty of microgreens for your veggie boxes. For those of you who are new to this CSA or unfamiliar with microgreens, don't worry - I was doubtful of them for a while too! I used to think of them as the confetti of the vegetable world, but boy was I mistaken.
Eating microgreens is one of the most efficient ways to get highly nutritious, fresh veggies year-round. Microgreen production creates far fewer demands on water, soil, and fuel than growing more traditional "mature" veggies, and by using energy efficient LED grow lights and automatic timers, coupled with electricity produced in part by our solar panels, we keep our carbon footprint as small as possible. And did I mention they taste great too? It's a win-win kinda crop..JPG)
Microgreens - grown in flats of soil for several weeks and harvested just as they are beginning to get their first true leaves - are a powerhouse of nutrition packed into a tiny package. Red cabbage micros boast some of the highest nutrition per ounce of any micro we offer - up to 40x as many phytonutrients per ounce as mature red cabbage. The broccoli micros are packed with sulforaphane, a cancer and inflammation fighting compound. Both the broccoli and cabbage micros have fresh, mild flavor. Our mild mix micros contain a blend of several brassica family crops, including red cabbage and broccoli. .JPG)
If you are looking for something with more flavor, we've got you covered as well. Spicy and radish microgreens have a nice bite, and the herb microgreens - basil and cilantro - are so much more intensely flavored than their mature counterparts.
If you'd like to try a variety of micros, or are ready to use them regularly and don't have strong feelings about which varieties you get, check out our microgreen sampler boxes. They are a great deal on 5 clams of micros, and the varieties ("farmer's choice") change each week depending on what we have available. .JPG)
Microgreens can be used just like you would lettuce or greens for fresh flavor and lots of nutrition. Try them on top of a burger, on a hummus wrap, or even as a side salad drizzled with your favorite dressing. Pea shoots are probably the kid favorite in our house - our kids even eat them by the handful for a snack sometimes. Cilantro micros bring taco night to an entirely new level, and we like to add them chopped up finely in our guacamole as well. As you might have guessed, basil micros go great with pasta - grilled chicken and white sauce, italian sausage and red sauce - and are fantastic on pizza. .JPG)
That's it from the farm this week - I hope you enjoy your weekend, and we'll catch up again soon!
In community,
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
