Farm Happenings at Broadfork Farm
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Farm Happenings for July 20, 2024

Posted on July 17th, 2024 by Janet Aardema

The customization period ends at 5:00 am this week. Due to the heat, we are starting harvest at 6:00am, and it takes this farm owner about an hour to run the reports needed to start harvest. Thank you for flexing with our schedule!

Whoo farms and plants and weather are dynamic! We're now in a warm and rainy and humid spell. Lettuces are happier when there's regular precipitation, but plants in the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants...) don't love this much moisture on their foliage. It's a tricky thing to try to guide each of these different plants toward a successful harvest. 

Meanwhile, a critter has targeted our watermelon field as a tasty buffet bar. Ahh! We always do our best to harvest watermelons at the first signs of ripeness, but this pest is less discerning than us and is eating the melons before they are fully ripe - and eating them in large quantities! 

We're extra thankful for every watermelon that we get to harvest these days. Enjoy the fruits of these farmers' labors! The next month is the toughest month of our season. It's hot and multiple forces make it harder to allow a crop to reach harvest. Thank you for enjoying what we grow! We sure think it's delicious.  

 

Need to check on or make changes to your pick up dates? Log in here

More recipe suggestions: 

- Roast big chunks of Tomato, Eggplant, Pepper, and Squash. Serve on pasta with a roasted-vegetable sauce of your choice. 

Slice Summer Squash and Eggplant (any variety!) into long strips, 1/4 inch thick. Marinate in just olive oil if you're in a hurry. Add minced garlic and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper if you have more time. Grill to perfection!

- Roast Eggplant and make Roasted Eggplant Dip a la Cava and make at-home Cava bowls. Apparently folks on TikTok show you how to do that here

Carrot Top Pesto can be made with Basil or without Basil. Give it a try!

Kale Pasta Sauce can be made with any kind of Kale, not just Toscano as called for in that recipe link. And if you've maxed out your NYT Cooking recipe views, here's a link to a delicious non-NYT option: Kale Pasta Sauce. It's so easy. Just blend Kale with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. 

Pizza with Roasted Pepper Sauce is extra yummy and requires a little more time because you need to roast the peppers. But it's worth it!

Lettuce Wraps save us many a night during our busy summer. Load them up with tofu salad, chicken salad, egg salad, you name it...

 

Bread Share members: You get a SEPARATE email to customize your bread share.  

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 usually ends at 6am on the day before your pick up day, and sometimes at 5am when our harvest days need to start extra early. 

For Pick Up:

- Please remember to bring your own bags each week. 
- At Self Serve locations: Our vegetables are in plastic boxes at the pick up location, labelled with members' names. Find the box with your name on it. - Empty the vegetables into your bag and leave the empty box for us to collect.  
- Loaves of bread and bags of Tomatoes during Tomato season, for those who have ordered them, will be near the green boxes, labeled with your name. Pick up your bag(s) if you are due one or more. (Some people have purchased a Bread Share for a loaf each week of the season. Some people order a loaf when they please.)
- 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.)
- At Staffed locations: One of us will be there to quickly gather your items for you to bag up and bring home.
- Preparation ideas and recipe suggestions are in your email. Also check out our Pinterest Page for lots of recipe ideas, organized by vegetable. 

EGGS: Ring-a-Bell Farm in Pamplin offers 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 they are available. 

Our FarmStand is at our farm and open every day of the week, 9am-dusk (or 7pm, whichever is earlier). Visit us to see where your vegetables grow and pick up some extras for yourself or a friend. We have vegetable and herb plants for your garden available in the Spring, in addition to a host of our vegetables, and we have flower bouquets most weeks of the summer. Driving directions here.  
 
You are also invited to shop for our goods at the farmers' market where we vend on Saturdays: Farmers' Market @ St. Stephens
 
Finally, we have a Facebook group for our members to share recipes ideas, etc. 
 
 
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, Alisa, Jen, Clara, Tabea, Christina, Jackson, and the farm kids)
Want to follow along during the week, including Farm Stand updates? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram