Summer officially began this week and our Tomato yields are becoming more abundant with every harvest! (They pair so nicely with our Basil, pictured in the photo above.)
REMINDER: Your TOMATOES will almost always be separate from the rest of your vegetables at pick up. Look in the crate located with shares.
On our farm, for most vegetables with seeds inside of them (botanically speaking they are "fruits") we harvest 3 times per week. For greens (lettuces and kale, chard, etc.), we harvest two times per week.
The rhythm on our farm shifts this time of year as we start harvesting more and more vegetables that are actually fruits. Your Farm Shares gradually change to reflect this different harvest! Vegetable "fruits" are more dense than the fluffy, leafy greens. These greens are a lot harder (or impossible) to grow in the hottest time of the year, but our family loves the balance of lettuce with the summer bounty and we figure lots of you do, too. So we've worked for a number of years on strategies to be able to harvest lettuce most weeks of the summer. We still need the right weather conditions to allow it, so cross your fingers for that cooperation from the skies and wind. And while you're at it, take a look at where you might be able to decrease your carbon footprint while also contacting your representatives to ask for large-scale changes to what powers our modern day life. Climate change impacts farming so greatly.
Last week we pulled our earliest-maturing garlic and hung it to cure. Curing is the process of the garlic skins drying so that the garlic can stay good/store for a few months. If the skins stayed wet, the garlic cloves would mold. The photo above shows some of our garlic after we pulled it from the ground. We let it dry for a day in the sun before moving it to our barn to hang.
Vegetable prep suggestions:
Roasted Beets with balsamic glaze (so easy) and goat cheese. Serve on Salad Mix combined with thinly-sliced raw Swiss Chard.
Serve roasted or grilled Summer Squash on the side. (Marinate the squash in oil with salt and garlic before roasting for an extra delicious treat.)
Dip carrots into hummus for lunch.
Put slices of Cucumbers into your sushi rolls and wraps and sandwiches...
- Same for cooler(s) at pick up locations with any cold items that aren't vegetables (tomatoes, eggs, fermented vegetables, etc...)
- Preparation ideas and recipe suggestions are in your email. Also check out our Pinterest Page for lots of recipe ideas, organized by vegetable.
Vacations:
If you will be gone and can't pick up a particular week's share you can reschedule that week's share for a different week in the Harvie software, or you can have a friend or family member pick up for you. Just forward this email to them so they know the details.
Janet, Dan, and the whole Broadfork crew (Julie, Mia, Natalie, Sophie, Magda, S., Zach, and the farm kids)
