On The Farm
Well, it's happened - the zucchinis are here! Their arrival truly heralds the beginning of summer. And they've arrived with a vigour, completely exploding after the weekend of heavy rains. Like everything we grow here, it is a long journey from the first seeding in the greenhouse to the first harvest, with so many potential curveballs along the way. This year it was a sneaky mouse eating our zucchini sprouts in the greenhouse. We eventually figured out to cover the newly sprouted seeds with sheets, but it was a hectic time. We actually have a second planting of zucchini now sprouting in the greenhouse (covered with sheets, don't worry), since this season we want to extend our zucchini harvest as long as possible.
Volunteer Call Out!
There are always a few crops that have trouble with weeds each year. This year, sadly, it is our onions. They are a bit overwhelmed and we could use some help weeding them! If anyone wants to lend an hour to help us out, we would greatly appreciate it! Just send me an email and let me know when you might be able to come by. It's a job that can be done on your own so it doesn't have to be during our usual working hours.
Veggie Highlights
This is our last week for Bok Choy, so if you're a fan you should check to make sure its in your share.
We continue to have Kohlrabi because it stores really well, and we grew more of it than we ever have before. I made a slaw with kohlrabi and spring onions the other day, and ate it with tacos. It's so easy to grate the kohlrabi after peeling and it has a fantastic texture for a slaw.
We are harvesting our first Garlic this week. It's fresh, not cured, so you should keep it in your fridge. It will get stronger and hotter once we harvest it all and cure it. Other than that, it's just regular garlic, so use it as you normally would.
We have some sugarsnap and shelling peas this week! We should have them for a couple weeks. Sadly, this was not our best crop this year, for reasons we're still trying to figure out. We don't have enough for everyone. I highly recommend you change your settings for peas to a 5 to try to get some in your share next week - or, pop on to customize your share on Tuesday to see if there are any extra available to add.
There are tons of zucchini, and lots of extras to add to your share if you'd like. Cucumbers are also starting this week but in smaller quantities. The variety you might see this week are a pickling variety that are absolutely delicious eaten fresh. Their skin is a bit thicker than an english style cucumber, so depending on your preferences you might want to peel it.
We're happy to be able to continue to offer plenty of beets, salad mix, lettuce, kale, and rainbow chard!
Extras This Week
We are slowly expanding the extra items we're offering from other local producers.
Starting this week, you will be able to add a seasonal bouquet of flowers from the Green Bee Floral Co! Brittany and Nick (who also keep bees on our farm) grow all their own flowers. Each bouquet has 15-20 stems of seasonal blooms which change weekly. I'm so excited to offer this add-on because flowers bring so much joy!
Also this week we have Clara's Kombucha. Clara is our friend and farm share member and she makes extremely tasty kombucha! We'll put it on as an extra whenever she makes a batch. All her kombucha is made from organic black tea, organic cane sugar, and 100% fruit juice. Flavours vary batch-to-batch. This usually gets bought up fast!
As always, you can add local honey to your share - Z&Bee's honey comes from the bees here at our farm, as well as other local ecological farms in the area.
Thanks as always for keeping us growing. We love sharing our produce with you!
Happy eating!
Your farmer,
Kim
