We are enjoying some beautiful days here this week. So nice to see the sky without smoke! We also got a good rain last weekend, although it did bring with it some wind that caused lodging (falling over) of plants in some of our fields - sweet corn and peppers, primarily. We were still able to harvest the corn from the jumble of plants. When pepper fruits are suddenly exposed to the sun after a plant lodges, they typically get sunscald, which ruins the pepper. So that's a bummer, but a common occurrence each year in some amount, so we'll deal.
We have a couple of interesting items available as extras this week. The first is seconds slicing tomatoes for processing. These come in 10-lb boxes and contain blemished but highly usable tomatoes. You'll see some cracking, scarring, or light bruising. These will likely be in a separate cardboard box. These should be consumed or processed quickly, as their shelf life is shorter than our regular tomatoes.
The second is aronia berries. We planted some a few years ago partly for pollinator habitat and our own consumption, but they've really started to produce and we have enough to offer to you! Aronia berries, also called black chokeberries, are highly nutrient-dense fruits similar in appearance to blueberries. However, they are high in tannins and produce a very dry mouthfeel when eaten directly, so they're best processed into preserves, juice, or (along with another sweet fruit) a crisp. In other words, don't plan to snack on them raw like blueberries :) If you don't have time to process them right away, they freeze very nicely just as they are - simply put in a ziplock bag in the freezer. The containers we're offering them in hold 1.25-1.5 lbs. If you are interested in a very large volume, you may be interested in U-picking some - send us an email!
A couple of weeks ago, I promised a more thorough introduction to our new trainee from Georgia, Tato. Scroll down below the share contents info to read an autobiography he wrote up for this newsletter. It's a bit long, so I decided to put it at the end so the item descriptions don't get too buried!
Notes on select items in this week's shares:
- Sweet corn: Another big haul for the upcoming box! This is prime season for sweet corn. We do have one more planting that should be ready for week 13. We will again be checking the tips for quality, and slicing off a portion if earworm is present.
- Colored bell peppers: We are offering these in pairs this week, so expect two fruits of different colors (red, orange, yellow). If you order a single pepper as an extra, it'll likely be red.
- Turnips: Last call for salad turnips for the season! These are again coming with tops removed. Enjoy these raw as a snack or on a salad, or roast or sauté in some butter.
- Watermelon: We again have a small amount of watermelon available this week, and this may continue to be the case. We have some production issues in the watermelons field that greatly diminished our yields this season. I hope we'll have a couple of bigger harvests where it's more of a staple of the share, but I'm not certain we will.
- Saladette tomatoes: These tasty tomatoes are somewhere between a grape tomato and a roma tomato in size and appearance. We are participating in a breeding trial with researchers at UW-Madison, and these fruits were harvested from over a dozen genetically different plants, so you'll notice variability in the appearance and flavor of the fruits. At the end of the season, we'll select out favorite plants to save for seed and then send it back to the breeders for another grow-out in 2022!
- We are in peak season for heirloom and cherry tomatoes, so they're abundant in shares this week. Enjoy it while it lasts!
What's coming ready soon? In box 12, we expect to offer yellow beans, baby fennel, cantaloupe, and possibly roma tomatoes.
Introduction from Tato
My name is Tato Chakhnashvili. I was born 20 December in 1990. My family: father - Gela
Chakhnashvili, mother – Asmati Gvimradze and brother – Giorgi Chakhnashvili.
Our village where, my family lives is in east Georgia, Kakheti region, Signagi Municipality. This is
small village named “Mashnaari”. We have big rural land and we cultivate it every year. This is
usually works for local farmers. We plant different type of plants in nurseries, in gardens. For
example: tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, cabbage, onion, garlic. In addition, we have small
vineyard. I decided to build something new in my small farm and decided to create Eco farm,
where I will grow totally fresh vegetables, berries and fruits as well. This is my main goal to
build big Ecological farm to produce fresh products. Because I do not have big experience with
it, that is why I decided to participate in MAST International program. I am sure, that I will get
enough knowledge and experience in this program.
About my education: I studied in secondary school in 1997-2009 years. In 2009 year, I have
passed the national exams and continued studying one of the best University in East Europe,
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. I have degreed Bachelor of Journalism and Mass
Communication in 2014. Same year I passed Master exams and I continued studying in the
same University on the Master program of Human Geography. Geography, ecology, forestry
and green movements are one of the main interests for me. That is why I am so interested
producing Eco products.
During years, I was in Travel business. I was General Holiday Manager and Business
Development Manager of different Travel Agencies. I had a lot of meetings and exhibition
presentations in different countries, about tourism in Georgia, about my company. We hosted
and guided guests almost from whole over the world. I suggested our guests also new travel
packages, which includes, visiting Eco farm, represent our eco products, taste local fruits, and
local Eco products. This is like direction of Eco-Gastro Tourism.
At last, I would to get knowledge and experience producing and planting of Eco products and
when I will come back in my country, will use it development of my small Eco farm. Make it
huge and my connections abroad with travel companies’ managers will help me to suggest to
much tourists this new idea of new directions of Eco-Gastro Tourism.
Tato Chakhnashvili
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HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Dana
