Springtime veggies are in full swing- lettuce turnip the beet! I'm really proud of the produce we have grown this Spring, and of every single vegetable in the farm shares this week. There's a lot of options however, the inventory will be slightly adjusted to compensate for all of the planting we have to finish before the weekend.
This Week
We have a great harvest with all of your usual favorites like lettuce, bok choy, carrots, and beets. The beets are not by Dr. Dre, but they are Chioggia, Detroit dark red, and golden beets all in a bundle. We also have a small harvest of cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and green beans. You will want to customize your share ASAP to grab some of these. Also check back on the inventory on Thursdays, because after we finish harvesting, I might make some adjustments.
It's a really busy week, so to keep from beeting ourselves up too much, most of our salad mixes will be add-ons this week. Instead, there will be lots of spinach, escarole, Napa cabbage, kohlrabi, and rainbow chard. If you haven't cooked with the escarole yet, you are missing out! I braised some this weekend and it has such a great flavor and texture. It's only here for a few more weeks. We are now adding a few orange carrots to the stir fry mixes, so I hope you enjoy that addition!
Next Week
Hopefully there will be even more green beans and sugar snap peas listed. We might have the first few lbs of yellow squash too! Leaf fennel and celery coming soon! Bok Choy will be an add-on/swap item next week.
Farm Update
We had 50 yards of mushroom substrate compost delivered last Wednesday. Compost is our number one soil amendment, and I see it as such an investment in our farm. We apply 4-6 inches on every single new bed we make, and at least one inch to every row twice a year. Over the weekend and this week we have focused on getting the remainder of the large summer succession of plants in the ground. So far we have planted dozens of 100 ft rows in collards, broccoli, watermelons, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and so many salad greens! We started more than 20,000 seeds a month ago and hopefully by Friday they will all be in their new places, then it will be time for the next round!
I finally mounded all of our potatoes, so that crop will be ready in about a month! I can't wait! I wanted to post a photo of the beet field block, because these are the best beets I have ever grown in my life! I have failed at growing beets so many times, but I solved a lot of the problems. Last year we had a good harvest, but this Spring I cleaned up the rest of mistakes and now we can all share in the excitement of an excellent beet crop!
Every week new farm share members are joining for the season, and we have had a great membership drive for this season. There's room for a few more spots, so keep telling your loved ones and neighbors that you can't beet our farm shares! If we can sign up 15 more shares we will be in a good spot to make some important investments to grow the farm.
Thank you all for supporting our farm! The Thirsty Farmer Vineyard is going to give me a date for the Farm Share Party any day now! We will be sending out invitations when we set everything in stone! It's going to be fun!
Best,
Conrad Cable
