It was so hot and dry. Now it is soooooo rainy. Many plants seem to just melt in this weather. We are still harvesting a lot of delicious produce, but while 2023 was our best growing year in our 13 year history, 2024 is shaping up to be one of if not THE worst year in our 14 years of farming. Sigh. This is just how it goes. We still have plenty of vegetables, but Farm Share members have fewer options than usual, and we have less on our market table, but it's okay. We're hoping for a fall farming season of easy weather!
Lettuces are happier when there's regular precipitation (but not THIS much precip!), 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.
Here are some views of different parts of the farm right now:
Pictured above are our green bean plants. We hope they will have beans for us to pick starting next week or so. (We usually time this planting to allow us beans in August, as August is usually a time when many other crops have a harder time staying alive!). As I looked closer in the bean plants, I found this little critter:
Hopefully he doesn't eat the bean plants or the flowers that are about to form beans!
Leafy greens get scarce this time of year as "fruits" (botanically speaking, any produce that has seeds inside it) rise to prominence. Tomatoes, Eggplants, and Peppers grow best this time of year. Cucumbers and Summer Squash actually struggle due to a number of diseases that travel by wind or bugs.
Here's a repeat image from last week: 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!
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:
- 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: 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.
With blessings on your meals ~
Janet, Dan, and the whole Broadfork crew (Julie, Alisa, Jen, Clara, Tabea, Christina, Jackson, and the farm kids)
