Welcome to the second share of the season for weekly members, and the first share for bi-weekly members! This weekly newsletter will accompany the announcement of shares and includes some news from the farm, logistics notes for members, and commentary on some items we are putting into shares, when needed. There can be important information in these, so we strongly encourage you to click "continue reading" and read the whole thing in a web browser.
First, considerations for bi-weekly members. We harvest different crops each week based on what's ready in the field. The nature of getting a box every other week means you'll be getting a different assortment than folks who received a box the previous week. Most items will be offered in multiple weeks throughout the season, so hopefully you'll get a chance to receive everything you want at some point. But this can be harder with certain very seasonal items, and when our supply is limited.
Despite the summer season just beginning, we are nearing the end of our asparagus and rhubarb season. And as noted in last week's Farm Happenings newsletter, we don't have large enough plantings of these perennial vegetables to supply all of our members for multiple weeks. We do have both crops available for harvest next week, but only for about 20-25% of members.
Unfortunately, there is no tool in Harvie to allow us to offer items only to bi-weekly members - they just get assigned to shares based on member preferences; when supply is limited, as is the case here, it's a random selection of members who get them assigned to their shares.
Here's what we're going to try as a workaround to give bi-weekly members who didn't get rhubarb or asparagus last week the best shot at getting them this week:
We have set up this week's items so asparagus and rhubarb will not be assigned to anyone's shares automatically - they can only be "swapped in" in place of a different item in your share, or purchased as an extra. This means you must take action to get them in your share. If you want to receive either of those in this week's box, click "Swap Items" in the email and swap in asparagus/rhubarb in place of a current share item, or add them as extras. We have a fixed inventory, so they'll be available first-come, first-served.
Farm News and Crop Updates
We had a pleasant week with mostly milder temperatures and a good bit of sunshine. We had a moderate rainfall early in the week, which, combined with the cooler temperatures, left many plantings looking much happier. Heat and wind can be stressful for plants (and people).
We are starting to see our crop mix move beyond greens and herbs, with the entrance of snap peas and zucchini this week! Most fruiting crops show a bell curve patten in yield, so our harvests on those crops next week will likely be modest. If you didn't get one or the other in your share this week, fear not! We will be harvesting peas a couple times per week for the next 3-4 weeks, and zucchini and summer squash for weeks beyond that.
Another hallmark event to kick off summer occurred on Friday with the planting of our sweet potato crop! They are grown from "slips," which are basically shoots that grow from sprouted "eyes" of sweet potatoes. We buy our slips in from the southeast (the nation's epicenter of sweet potato production). They get planted by hand and have virtually no roots at the time of planting, so we must keep them well watered for the next couple weeks while they root in and get established. Then we keep our fingers crossed for a warm summer and hopefully dig up a nice crop in early October.
Our tomato plants in the high tunnel all have green fruit, which means we are around two weeks away from the first ripe cherry tomatoes and probably another couple weeks beyond that until our first ripe slicer and heirloom tomatoes.
Veggies on the horizon for upcoming boxes include basil, bunched kale and chard, spring garlic, parsley, and more broccoli, peas, and zucchini. We have nicely established plantings of radishes that should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks; cucumbers should be coming on around the same time.
Notes on items for this week's box:
***remember that all members are receiving different items, so these may not apply to you.
- Garlic scapes - these are the developing flower stalks of hardneck garlic plants. I love eating fresh garlic scapes even more than regular garlic. The flavor isn't quite as concentrated as in garlic cloves, but the flavor is all there. This is a very seasonal item - available only for 2-3 weeks per season - so get them while they're available! Here are a couple of great recipes that feature scapes:
- Salad turnips - these spring turnips are a different breed than fall purple top storage turnips. They're mellow and slightly sweet; they have turnip flavor but aren't spicy; and they're tender and, in my opinion, best eaten raw. We like slicing and putting on salads or eating for snacks. They can also be sautéed or roasted, but I would encourage you to try them raw before cooking! The greens are also edible (I would sauté those) but they're thoroughly perforated with flea beetle holes so aren't the prettiest. We do wash these prior to delivery, but the snow white roots are hard to get completely clean without scrubbing each root - they tend to have a bit of "staining" after we spray them off.
*** Thanks to Farm Share member Sarah Hyde for generating a database of recipes that use fresh produce - we will be linking them to these newsletters going forward.
Extras (this is repeated from last week's newsletter so bi-weekly members also get this info)
You will see the option to purchase extras when you log in to customize your shares. When we have enough available, you will be able to purchase additional veggies.
This year we are also stocking a handful of other products from food makers in the Twin Cities who buy our veggies. You will see hot sauce and salsa from Double Take Sales, Cry Baby Craig's, and soon Lucky's Sauces and Lost Capital Foods - most of these products contain peppers we grew for them last year. You will also see three different spice levels of kimchi from You Betcha Kimchi. We have historically grown many of their ingredients (cabbage, carrots, daikon radish, onion, chiles) but this year have scaled back to just supply their chiles. All of these items can be added to your share as needed, and you will find we are selling them at a lower price than you would find at the grocery store.
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Here a couple reminders to leave you with:
- You can customize your share by swapping one item for another or adding extras.
- Make note of the customization window. We are choosing Sunday night at 8:00 pm, which gives you over 24 hours to make changes to your share but also gives us enough time to harvest and pack shares.
- You do NOT have to customize your share. If you like the box that's proposed to you, do nothing and it will be available at your delivery location and time.
- If you see a yellow banner on your Harvie page indicating there are items for which you have not filled out your preferences, please click the link and rate those items. It will help the Harvie algorithm build the best box for you.
- If you have questions about something in the Harvie platform, please reach out to their support team: support@harvie.farm. They know their software interface far better than the farmer does and their help relieves administrative burden on us.
- For bi-weekly members on payment plans, this week will be a larger payment, with the second 25% installment being charged. Going forward, it will just be 50% of your weekly box cost.
- Please remember to bring a tote bag for your veggies and leave the plastic share boxes at your pickup site. For home delivery members, just make sure to keep your box in a clean space and leave it out for us to pick up the following week.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Dana
