I hope that your summer has been cool, relaxing, and an opportunity to spend time with your families. Here at the farm, we have been busy preparing our soil for the fall and tending the current crops. This is the beginning of our first ever summer farm share, and it's really exciting to have some produce available we have never offered in farm shares before.
This Week
We have a few greens for you like pea shoots, sunflower shoots, arugula and golden frills mustard greens. There is also squash, a few lbs of okra and cantaloupes, mucho nacho jalapenos, basil, cherry tomatoes, plus some really fun and seasonal ingredients. There are four types of legumes this week! They are frozen with two cups per bags. We have lima beans, crowder peas, zipper peas, and pinto beans.
We harvested some black mission figs and canning pears as well! Black mission figs are said to be the sweetest variety of fig. They are also at the top of the USDA's list of highest quality figs. Black missions have a honey and caramel flavor, with a thick texture.
We love using this fig for jam. Follow this link to try this recipe for figs and prosciutto! We will have Thompson's peaches every week until mid-September. Don't forget to add some free-range eggs and honey from Stowe Creek Farm, or some hot sauce from Fort Sumner. I'm going to add a lot of our small-batch jam flavors, so I hope that you see a flavor you like! You definitely can't go wrong with the sweet treat jam! Sweet Treats are a plum/sweet cherry hybrid fruit that turned into some dadgum good jam!
***There are only 5 jars of apple butter that we made from the apples at the end of last season. The green apples yielded a butter with a good tartness, and the blend of spices will surely be one of the best of our jams to try.
Next week
This might be the only week for figs. There might be more to harvest next week, but the numbers will be limited. I will add even more flavors of jam!
Farm Update
A lot has been happening on and off the farm. We recently received 50 yards of compost, so we have been busy amending beds in preparation for some big fall planting plans. The heat wave has really affected our crop plan. Several of our attempts to sow salad greens, carrots, and lettuce have failed. Until we have success, our salad options will be limited to shoots and arugula.
In the morning and afternoons we work out in the fields. During the heat of the day, we have been busy making lots of jams. It's really reconnected me to the homesteading lifestyle of our ancestry. Canning was originally invented in France, upon the request of Emperor Napoleon in 1795. He offered a cash reward for a way to preserve fruit for his military campaigns that would eventually terrorize the European continent. It took until 1810 for Nicolas Appert to devise the canning process. These first glass jars has straight sides, and were sealed with corks and wax. The history of canning is really fascinating! If you would like to know more, you can follow this link for a great article to get started!
While growing up, even through the majority of my college years, I never thought that I would be an entrepreneur. It's been quite the experience starting a business and growing it into something that can support itself, plus my brother and myself. It is a great feeling to make a living by doing work I believe has a positive impact in both my community and customers lives. But it wouldn't be possible without a dedicated customer base like what we have via our farm shares. Between the farm share seasons, Kaden bought a house north of Marion and is moving next week. Emi and I sold our house in Monroe and have put in a few offers towards finding a new one. I have just been in a constant state of gratitude for every single customer who has helped us grow into a successful farm in a short amount of time. Thank you for believing in us, and for supporting local farmers.
Members
A few changes to pick up and delivery days has changed since last season. We are really excited to add Medina Market and The Good Daze as new pick up locations! Stop by Medina Market on Wednesdays from 9 AM-6PM and grab your share anytime. The Good Daze pick up will be from 3-5 PM on Fridays. Friday afternoons will also be the Urban Farm pick up too.
HOME DELIVERY folks, we moved your day to Fridays. Farmerville and Ruston will go out in the morning before noon, and Monroe/West Monroe/Sterlington will go out on Friday afternoons.
We changed delivery days because of some issues that arose last season. With an increase in membership, we need more time to harvest and pack shares. Creating the inventory on Monday will mean you have less time to customize. However, making the list over the weekend proved difficult to accurately predict the harvest. There were several times that we just simply ran out of produce before orders were finished. It's really important to me to give you exactly what you selected, and it stung to have to substitute veggies. So hopefully this will solve that issue.
It's hard to say thank you enough, but as always, we appreciate your farm share membership. We look forward to a great season that is packed with some fresh summer flavors!
