Welcome to Week 4 of the Farm Share!
Cucumbers, broccolini, cabbage, zucchini, sugar snap peas and everything keeps on coming! Friendly reminder to return your Green Bags! We started packing some items in pint containers - please return those too!
On The Farm
The heat is picking up at the farm - literally and figuratively! When June creeps towards July, the harvest increases, the to-do list gets longer, and the weeds grow faster. We sweated through some very hot days this week. A big thank you to all our farm crew and volunteers for pushing through some truly intense heat. How did such wonderful people find us?
Jonathon planted all day today!
We bought Alex a hat!
We harvest daily now for some crops - zucchini, cucumbers, broccolini. We prune cucumbers daily, and peppers bi-weekly. Beyond that, this week we got a whole block of beds prepped, so next week we can catch up on planting! We also tackled some of our highest-priority weed issues.
Here's some photos of crops coming up...
Tip of the week
Yellow zucchini = green zucchini. They're the same! Maybe a zucchini aficionado will notice the subtle differences in flavours, but don't be afraid to treat the yellow zucchini exactly as its green sister. Fun fact - we have a lot of yellow zucchini because our own planting of zucchinis got decimated by the corn fly maggot! Luckily we had extra zucchini from our seedling sale which we were able to sub in. Just happens that there were many more yellow plants than green!
What’s Fresh This Week
No new additions this week, but this is likely the last week for sugarsnap peas (until the fall) and I don't know how much longer broccolini will last. We have tons of cucumbers! And right now we have a TON of kale, cabbage, and kohlrabi, so why not try those out?
We also have some more potatoes from Pfennings Organics which you can add to your share! *NOTE* this week they are in 3lb quantities rather than 2lb.
Recipes and Cooking Ideas
Smacked Cucumber Salad: I made this Asian cucumber salad the other day and the dressing was SO delicious. My dressing was not as thick as I saw in the recipe video - perhaps because I used regular sugar instead of caster sugar? I would definitely make again and it's a fun way to eat cucumbers. Also smashing the cucumber took me a minute to figure out but then I had a smashing good time.
Here's the video: https://www.instagram.com/brendan_pang/reel/C499i44vFQy/
And here is the recipe:
- 2 - 3 cucumbers
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 tsp chilli oil (homemade recipe on my page)
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 long red chilli, chopped (optional)
- 2 spring onion, chopped
Place a large knife flat against the cucumber and smack with your other hand to bruise and crack open. Repeat along the full length of each cucumber then cut into bite sized pieces. Make the dressing by mixing together salt, sugar, light soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, chilli oil and sesame seeds. Transfer cucumber to a mixing bowl with the chopped chilli and spring onions, and toss through the dressing. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes before serving.
Kale Chips
Have you made kale chips yet? If not, it's time to try. If so, it's time to try again!
The basic recipe for kale chips is to chop your kale into bite sized pieces (remove from stem first), and then to massage it with a lug of oil. You then add whatever spices you would like (start with salt, then begin to experiment with garlic powder, or italian seasoning, or montreal steak spice, or red chili flakes... use what you'd like). Spread the kale out on a cookie sheet, make sure it isn't crowded. Then bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until they are crisp, and beginning to brown. You can add them back to the oven if they need a bit more crisping up. And that's it!
This is your sign to try Kale Chips! Here's a video for the visual learners out there: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzEJSiBAD_k/
We hope you enjoy the veggies! I'm always happy to hear any feedback or answer any questions at all. Our email is mulberrymoonfarm@gmail.com and my cell is 519-719-7253.
Your farmer,
Kim
