Welcome to week 12 of the Farm Share! It's time to get on and customize your share. You can always check it a couple times throughout the customization period as more items become available during swapping. Please don't forget to return your green bag! Garlic braids are back, sweet corn and bartlett pears are optional add-ons this week and the tomatoes.keep.coming. so get your freeze on!
On The Farm
Some cooler mornings this morning put the thought of fall in our heads - but we quickly swished it away and got back to our tomato sandwiches!
Bok choy is back in the ground, same with peas and kohlrabi and broccolini! They are tucked under their row cover to protect from the cabbage moth.
Miraculously, our cucumber plants (one planting only!) keep on producing in the greenhouse although you might notice they are looking a little wonkier than at the start of the season. The cucumbers have mosaic virus (I think this is inevitable when growing them organically but perhaps we can learn a way to prevent it in the future) so they are dying off but I'm surprised how they are still producing.
It's a bit of a wonky year for zucchini too. Not really sure why!
My farmer friend commented to me that she wished that farming came with a manual instead of a whole load of trial and error.
I agree.
Every other organic market gardener I know has had to contend with failures this year, whether it's pests, weather, soil, weed pressure or one of many combinations of potential problems that are difficult to assess.
The more I farm, the more I know that this is the reality of every year. Especially when growing organically.
You never really know what will work out and what will not, no matter how much knowledge and experience and tools you have.
For us, this year is an AMAZING and literally our BEST YEAR EVER for tomatoes. We have more than we ever had before, and the plants are healthy. It's also our best year for peppers! They are looking amazing and producing more ripe fruit than ever. Ground cherries and tomatillos are abundant as well, and we have harvested our biggest garlic bulbs ever. Other than a delay for just a couple weeks, our salad mix has been doing awesome.
This time of year, we always start getting excited to think about what we can change for next year based on what we learned this year. Transplant beans earlier, install proper ventilation in all hoophouses, flame weed carrots a million times, plant more broccolini and cabbage and spring onions, add more boron to the swiss chard. Of course, there will be more unexpected lessons to learn next year.
It's one reason why our Farm Share is such an important part of the success of our farm, because our members take on that risk with us, receiving what is doing well and foregoing what is not.
Growing pole beans in the hoophouse was a learning curve for us this year. They are much easier to harvest (well, except for the ones you need stilts for!) and they last for a long time, but they weren't as productive as we hoped for.
Found another horn worm!
Tip of the Week
To get the most out of your farm share, try preserving things you have in excess.
Tomatoes can be frozen whole.
Peppers can be roasted and then frozen.
Leafy greens can be blanched and frozen.
Ground cherries can be frozen too!
I love to dehydrate cherry tomatoes. I slice them in half/thirds (thirds dries faster) and once they are a leathery dry consistency I put them in a jar. They're beautiful. In the winter I throw them into sauces, risotto, pasta salad, whatever I would use sundried cherry tomatoes in! If you're adding them to something that is cooking they will rehydrate and become just like sundried tomatoes - if you're adding them to something cold then just rehydrate them in a pan first.
What’s Fresh This Week
Little Gems (aka mini romaine lettuce) are back again after a hiatus. I loooove these on burgers.
This week we are adding a Salsa Verde kit that you can add to your share. It has all the ingredients needed to make this tomatillo-based salsa; tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro, onion, and garlic. You just need to add lime.
Here's the recipe: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillo_salsa_verde/
But the basic idea is that you roast the tomatillos and then blend all the ingredients together! YUM! I made a big batch of this the year Rosemary was born and dream of it ever since. You can also can it too!
We've got organic sweet corn again this week! How did you like it last week? Red and white potatoes are available too.
We also are bringing in some organic pears, because who doesn't love organic fruit!
Recipes
Ground Cherry Compote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ndG97Fwv4k
Ground Cherry Salsa
https://theproducepack.com/ground-cherry-salsa/
Grilled Corn and Ground Cherry Salad
https://food52.com/recipes/23474-grilled-corn-basil-and-ground-cherry-salad
Spicy Chicken Tinga
https://www.mexicanplease.com/spicy-chicken-tinga/
Thanks again and please enjoy the veggies! I am always just an email away if you have any questions, comments or concerns! We love when you share pictures on social media too!!
Your farmer,
Kim
