The tomatoes are finally ripening!!! Yay!!! We grow lots of types of tomatoes from heirlooms to cherry to sauce tomatoes. Pictured above are the black cherry, speckled roman (striped), blue brandywine, and tangella (orange tomato). We also have some Native Sun a yellow determinate tomato starting to ripen, orange cherry tomatoes, super tasty red cherry tomatoes and Antique Canestrino slicing tomato. We've collected and seed saved tomatoes over the years and have developed quite a lot of varieties.
Fun Facts: The orange tomatoes have a higher bio-available lycopene content than the red! The Tangella, large orange cherry tomatoes were shown to have a super high lycopene content that isn't lost through cooking. Some varieties also boast higher beta-carotene content than carrots. These seeds were collected from a friend in New Zealand that runs The Heritage Food crop research trust. He grows, tests, and studies them and their effects on cancer and chronic diseases. Check out their website here: https://www.heritagefoodcrops.org.nz/
Throughout the season you'll also be seeing some fun varieties from Wild Boar Farm like Brads Atomic (a beautiful rainbow of color and delicious flavor), Cherokee Green/Purple, Amethyst Cream Cherry Tomato, Solar Flare, Green Tiger and Green Zebra. Some of our very favorites for taste and color are the Brads Atomic, Golden Eye (extremely high beta-carotene content), Green Tiger, Blue Brandywine and Corleone (or we sometimes call it the doughnut tomato).
We will also start having a few peppers available for shares. This week you'll see a few Shishito's (a Japanese variety with little to no heat that is excellent grilled with a little oil and salt), Padron's that can be prepared in a similar way but have a little more heat, and Cubanelle peppers (a multi use pepper that is great for stuffing and has a mild slightly sweet flavor).
As summer crops start producing more and more we will be looking into starting the downtown Vancouver Farmers Market again. More updates on that coming up soon!
***We were also notified that some of the basil last week may have turned brown in the bag! This happens due to bruising. Bruising can be caused by temperatures that are too cold or hot. The basil may have gotten too cold in our walk in fridge. Our basil is harvested Friday morning and then stored in zip lock baggies to keep them from wilting. With long enough stems, the best way to store basil is in a glass of water on the counter! The fridge temperatures are normally too cold for them. If you do put them in the fridge, insulate the basil bag inside of another paper bag. Here is a helpful blog post on storing basil: https://food52.com/blog/22732-i-tested-basil-storage-methods
*** As always our aim is to provide you with fresh and yummy produce! If you ever get an item that doesn't meet your expectations please let us know and we'll get you a replacement! Sometimes it is hard to know how the veggies are doing once they leave the farm. We try to keep pick up times shorter that way the produce doesn't warm up from sitting around. You can always send us a message at: flattackfarm@gmail.com
Thank you all so much for your support and patience as we navigate the new waters of online CSA and deliveries!
Your farmers,
Kelly & Patrick
