Pictured above: some of the thousands of heads of garlic we're currently bringing in from the field and hanging in our barn to dry. We love garlic!
Farm happenings: Our cool, dry spring is over and conditions are now HOT and WET. Vegetable plants don't love these conditions, so a lot of our energy is now focused on trying to mitigate the disease that takes hold in this weather. Interestingly, bugs also love the heat and humidity so bug pressure is also on the rise and unfortunately the two problems compound.
Heads up: Our tomato harvest yield has decreased dramatically this week, so we have fewer Tomatoes available for you. We hope this will turn around soon and will keep you updated!
It's now officially summer (Summer Solstice was last week) The past two weeks have each brought us a severe storm and a severe storm is forecasted for this afternoon/evening. The first storm dropped hail on us, damaging our Summer Squash fruits and our Head Lettuces. The Summer Squash had clear pits on them where the hail hit them. The outer leaves of the Lettuces were quite shredded. The second storm thankfully didn't drop hail on us (we are so grateful!), but our very close neighbors got quite large hail. The most recent storm made us scramble to get our onions in from the field where they were drying before they got wet again (and then likely ruined) by the rain. We were mostly successful, and we hope these onions cure well. They are gorgeous and delicious -- and amazingly this is the onion crop that looked completely dead after the Dec 23, 2022 "Arctic Blast" that brought huge wind and 7 degree temp to our farm that one day. We were out of town and the wind blew off the protective ag fabric we had over the onions. When we got home, thousands of onion stems were completely white and laying flat on the ground - tell-tale signs of dead onions. Apparently with only one day of temps that cold, enough of the plant stayed alive deeper down than what we could see. We are so very thrilled to have these onions now! Now cross your fingers that today's storm is gentle!
We didn't get a photo of the onions from the field as we were madly packing them into crates and wheeling them under cover, but here's a photo of some of our onions from a separate field that we brought into our greenhouse to dry:
Our Carrots are coming out of the ground by the thousands each week and they are fantastic! These are a product of years of specific attention by Dan on his "Carrot Babies" and represent a lot of hard work and determination. We've earned a good reputation for #BFFCarrots so please enjoy them!
Our Flowers continue to bring us smiles each day!
Bread Share members: You'll get a SEPARATE email to customize your bread share in just a few moments.
To Customize Your Share:
Each time you are scheduled to have a share, you'll receive an email from us 2 days prior. It should have subject line "Time to Customize Your Share." The software will create a default share for you (based on your indicated preferences and what we have available to harvest) and list those default contents in the email. The email also contains a link saying "Want to make changes to your share or add extras?" Click on that link to customize your share! Customization ends between 6 and 7 am on the day before your pick up day (depending on the time of year and thus how early we start harvesting). The cut off time is always specified in the email.
For Pick Up:
- Same for cooler(s) at pick up locations with any cold items that aren't vegetables (eggs, fermented vegetables, etc...See below for more info.)
- Preparation ideas and recipe suggestions are in your email. Also check out our Pinterest Page for lots of recipe ideas, organized by vegetable.
EGGS: Steve Ault of Aults' Family Farm and Ring-a-Bell Farm in Pamplin offer their eggs for sale through us. Their chickens live on pasture and are fed supplemental non-gmo feed from Sunrise Farms. Their eggs are fabulous and we trust their farming practices completely. You can purchase their eggs in our self-serve FarmStand at our farm and you can order them through the Harvie system "Extras" when you customize your share.
Additionally, we send an e-newsletter a couple of times per season to let folks know what's growing and happening on the farm, what recipes we're digging, and any special events. We've added your email address to our list of recipients.
We so deeply appreciate the opportunity to farm for you. Thank you for being the most important part of our farm! We love you!
With blessings on your meals ~
Janet, Dan, and the whole Broadfork crew (Julie, Siera, Leah, Erica, Tait, Alisa, Jen, and the farm kids)
