This Week
It's nearly peak season for leafy greens, and the farm share selections are loaded with all of our farm favorites! I had a conversation this week with a farm share member about our mutual love and admiration for rainbow chard. We have three beautiful rows, which are definitely one of my favorite spots on the farm. Right now, we are harvesting "butter chard", a unique classification where the leaves are no larger than hand sized. Chard is a crop we transplant and because the seeds are small, they come from the seed company in clusters. Thus, we have multiple chard plants in each transplant plug. Once butter chard size has been reached, we thin each clump of chard in the row down to one plant. In a few weeks, we will have some beautiful bundles of rainbow chard. I added a few of our first yellow squash to the add-ons! In the coming weeks, we will hopefully start getting a good crop. I also added a few beets that have started to reach harvest size, plus some bags of collard greens. We over-planted sunflower microgreens, and I added those into everyone's share so we can avoid wasting them. They are one of my favorite salad greens, so I hope you give them a try.
Next Week
As I said earlier, more squash and beets will be harvested every week. The green beans are going to be ready very soon, and I am so excited about that crop for the farm shares. The broccolini will soon form heads, which we will have to harvest first, before the plants will produce the shoots. Look for the first bags in around 2-3 weeks. The warm weather has every crop growing really quickly. Arugula may become a scarce commodity for just a few weeks. I was 10 days behind on planting the latest succession, waiting for the new tractor. We planted a lot last weekend, and there was an incredible germination rate on the beds. Radishes are here for a while, and we will have the rainbow and watermelon radishes nearly every week. Look for bundles of French breakfast radishes soon! They are the best radish, and that's a hill I'll die on! We ordered jars this week, so in the coming weeks keep your eyes peeled for lots of new jam flavors!
Farm Update
It's getting hot, so this week we deployed shade cloth over our salad greens tunnels and the propagation house. The irrigation dance has started on the 80 degree days, where we water our salad greens three times a day for 15 minutes. May is the time to plant early Fall cabbage, and we are starting our rounds of Fall tomatoes. Our farm secured a loan this week, and we will have some life-changing equipment on the way. We bought a paper pot transplanter, which will save us hours of some of the hardest labor on the farm. Transplanting crops is a big part of our farming system, and we are about to save so much time and energy through this tool. The same company makes a quick seed dropper for seeding the 264-cell trays, so dropping seeds by hand will not be a chore I will miss! Tomorrow, we will pick up the materials for walling-in and insulating our wash and pack station. Having the wash station air conditioned is going to really increase the quality of our greens in the summer. After 11 AM on a hot day, it's difficult to dry the leaves without them wilting, so looks like this problem is close to being solved! Right now, all of the preparations are underway for sowing the seeds for our first ever Summer farm shares. We are growing some crops we have never grown before, and this new season has me really excited for summer. Farming in the summer can be brutal. We used to depend almost entirely on farmers markets in the summer for our income, but I think that we are working smarter by sticking with the farm share model, and you are going to be happy by getting some great summer crops! The inventory is opening a little early today, because Tuna and I are leaving the farm early! Our friends on the ULM track team have a home meet this weekend, and we are going to watch the long jump this afternoon, and the pole vault tomorrow!
Recipes
Instead of a recipe, I would like to address the common reality of over-cooked leafy greens. Collards, brussels, kohlrabi, mustard, kale, cabbage are all in the same family. I think they cooked best when mixed together in a medley. Furthermore, it is my expert opinion, as a greens growing professional, that greens should not be a "leave on the stovetop all day" kind of ingredient. Over the years of growing food for myself, I have really come to enjoy a properly seasoned, and braised version of leafy greens. I heat a skillet good and hot, chop my greens, and add them to the oil. I stir for a few minutes, but I like to leave the stems a little crunchy. I always finish the greens with a splash of vinegar, and either brown sugar or honey. I also admit I love a spicy version with lots of hot sauce! I few years ago I asked a chef about the secret to good greens, and it truly is that sweet-vinegar combination. I only bring this up because I tried cabbage someone made a few weeks ago and the cabbage was see through!
I hope you prepare some great tasting meal this week with some of the freshest ingredients around!
Sincerely,
Conrad Cable
