This week's farm update comes to you from crew member Justin:
Another busy week in the books at SVF! Cooler temps early in the week brought a perplexing
feeling of autumn to the farm complete with sweater weather on Monday, a welcome reprieve
from the heat albeit a brief one. Our crew is working hard every day to make the share look
beautiful and bountiful so remember to raise your fork to your farmer when you sit down to eat
this week.
The crew has also welcomed another part-time employee starting this week to share in the
collective work load support our day to day operations. New crew members always present a
great opportunity for us to reframe, reorient, and refresh our techniques and protocols which
may become “rusty” without the perspective and teaching opportunities which new employees
bring to the table. I have appreciated the chance to touch up my techniques while giving some
fundamental instruction to new crew members about the most efficient and ergonomic
methods for saving time and our bodies!
From planting to harvesting, weeding to washing, our goal is to work quickly and efficiently to
get as many tasks accomplished in a day as we can. Speaking of weeding, we have been
undertaking a huge amount of cultivating to stay one step ahead of those “opportunistic” flora
which sneak into our crops. The simplest means to ensure our plants grow big and uncrowded
is to dispatch the weeds while they’re still small. We employ a number of methods to stay on
top of our fast-growing adversaries including tractor mounted cultivators, mulching fields (with
straw and plastic), and good old fashioned hand weeding. Based on the big, beautiful veggies in
your share this week, I’d say our we our winning the battle. Have a good week and enjoy your
share!
-Justin B.
SAVE THE DATE: We are excited to be participating in this year's Co-op Farm Tour on Saturday, July 10th from 10am - 4 pm. This is a great chance to come out and meet the farmers and see that farm. Hope to see you there!
A quick note on the cilantro in this most recent box: During pack out, we noticed that some leaves had developed spotting in the few days since harvest. This was likely there during harvest but very inconspicuous and got worse in storage. Much of the cilantro in shares didn't meet our quality standards, but at that late stage, we didn't have any alternative. We picked out most of the affected leaves from each bunch during share pack, but there are likely few more to pick out when you open up your bunch to eat. If you haven't yet used any of your cilantro, we would recommend going through it and eating it sooner than later.
-Dana
Notes on items in this week's share (coming to you from Sarah)
Red Beets: Just the roots this week (no tops). We'll roughly size them so they're easier to cook.
Salad Radish: Our standard red skin, white flesh crisp variety. These early summer radishes have quite a bit of bite to them, so consider sautéing or roasting them to cut the heat if that suits you. These are likely the last radishes until fall.
Zucchini: These plant have tapered off a bit since last week, but are still kicking out some nice fruits. Expect two fruits per share. We harvest them while they're young and tender.
Garlic Scapes: This is likely your last chance to grab some of these seasonal favorites. Do you have a stock pile to use up? Try this Garlic Scape Pistachio Pesto for a fresh spin.
Sprouting Broccoli- Tender stems and crowns that are sweeter than regular broccoli? Sign me up! This cross between heading broccoli and Chinese kale is great raw, grilled, or roasted. Plan to use the entire plant.
Scallions- Can sub for onions in most recipes. These are the last scallions of the season.
Sugar Snap Peas: Are at their peak. We'll have more available this week. There may be some on the following week's share, but in more limited quantities. It's always a bit of a gamble projecting how much yield we'll have on crops like this before shares. If we come up a bit short, we may sub in shelling peas for a few shares. They're also young, tender and super sweet, and we'd include a note if this happened to be in your share.
Chard: Our first harvest of the season! The plants have that beautiful young, vibrant, ornamental glow they get in their glory days. Wow!
Green Leaf and Red Butterhead Lettuce: Limited in quantity this week and will be our last head lettuce for a while. We should still have salad mix and loose lettuces fairly regularly.
Salad mix: Our standard mix.
Spinach: Some of this will be first cutting and some second, so expect a mix of full and half leaves. Good raw or cooked. Leaf size will be a little larger this week, so expect to cut it into smaller pieces for both prep styles. This may be the last of the spring spinach.
Basil: First harvest of the season! We can't wait for tomato season to start. Looking for a great recipe in the meantime? Try this Roasted Beet Pesto. It's color is very impressive!
Dill: Big bunches this week. Pair it with yogurt and garlic for a zesty roasted or grilled potato topping.
Cucumbers: We are calling these blemished, and they require some explanation. We are on the precipice of having loads of cukes, but cucumber beetles (major pest of cucurbit crops) are here in incredibly high numbers this season. We have tried to keep them at bay by coating the plants with a sprayable clay and even used some organic insecticides, with little success. Organic control methods aren't very effective. Almost every cucumber we harvested today had some scabbing and feeding damage from this pest. SO... we are listing a modest amount of cucumbers as available for swap-in (you must customize your share if you want cucumbers). They aren't pretty, but can be peeled and are just as delicious as the #1 fruits we hope to eventually have.
What's on the horizon? Purplette bunching onions, fennel, cabbage, and cherry tomatoes! The cherries should be available in limited quantities the following week and more substantially in week 6. Full production should come week 7, in mid-July.
Big thanks to Daisy and Coco for pitching in with transplanting and pea harvest this week!
Happy Fourth of July!
-Your Farmers
