Years ago, a good friend of mine wrote a book. It was a dense volume dealing with some arcane matter of jurisprudence, so he didn't expect me to read it, but he was very proud of the introduction, which he had me read twice. Mistakes, he said, were strange friends-- never welcome at the time, but helpful in the end. I don't know about that-- last week was, hands down, the worst first week delivery I've had in 15 years (I don't mean the vegetables, I mean the actual process of getting them to you. Or, in some cases, not getting them to you. Ugh.) Anyways, I'm sorry for all the confusion, and thanks to everyone who was so understanding and forgiving. There's two mistakes-- strange friends indeed!-- I won't be making again! If you don't know what the blazes I'm talking about-- good.
The above picture is the same peafield I showed you a week ago. Do they look bigger to you? To my great relief they are not flowering yet. The larger the plants are before they start flowering, the bigger the crop-- generally-- and also It's very bad for us when peas and strawberries are ready at the same time-- too much to pick. Strawberries should be here next week, peas in two or three.
Please remember to wear your masks when picking up your share. Your site hosts request it also. We wear masks when packing the shares, and also when I (or my 80 year old delivery boy, my father) makes the deliveries. My mask has pictures of little chickens and sheep on it. so cute!
We made at least two mistakes, that I know of, packing last week. If you find the contents of your bag don't match the label on it, please do let me know, so I can correct the error the next week or credit your account. And remember please, we are only human (although in my case, when my mother insisted I get DNA test done for family history reasons, it turned out that I'm only 94% homo sapiens. The rest, if anyone is curious, is Neanderthal, Denisovian, and just under 1% Toggenburg). As I was saying, we're only human, and while we are as careful as we can be, we're also trying to keep from handling the produce more than we have to, for food safety reasons.
Here is a picture of sorrel growing in the field.
Sorrel has a delightful, zesty lemon flavor. Sorrel soup is very popular in Russia, and here it is often cooked with fish, made into pesto, or used in small amounts in salads. The only drawback is that it loses its bright color when cooked and turns drab. I don't grow a lot of it, but it will be offered sporadically throughout the season. I consider it an herb, not a vegetable.
Sweet potatoes-- we are approaching the end of our stock. You may get regular sized, you may get very large ones, or you may get very small ones, which we call "fingerlings". It is also luck of the draw concerning variety.
We also have two new items available for purchase as extras-- fresh tofu and raw milk cheese from grassfed cows. The tofu is made by my friend and neighbor Yasoda of Threeleaf Farmden. The cheese is made by my friend Brian of Stone Meadow Farm in Woodward, Pennsylvania. One piece of cheese is about half a pound. What else can I say about them? Delicious.
Well, gotta go-- no sooner are the peppers planted then it's time to get the sweet potato field ready. If there are any issues with this week's delivery-- I really hope there aren't!-- email me or text 717 585 4897 right away.
John
