The end of June is one of our favorite times on the farm, as so many things are 'new'. Fast and cold-hardy spring crops (like radishes, turnips, greens, peas and more) are still sweet and plentiful, but around this time we start to add in more variety into our diets. On the farm, we almost exclusively eat veggies we grow here, apart for some extras we purchase from our local farming friends and treats that we can't get from here like avocados and sweet potatoes. With such a short traditional growing season, we store crops for the winter and continue to grow a smaller amount of greens in our high tunnels. Sweet spring carrots and crisp new kale leaves are so welcome come May, but around now come the real seasonal treats that we only get to enjoy fresh a few months of the year.
The photo above shows our plentiful kale and rainbow chard beds, and behind them three successions of broccoli and cauliflower; and broccolini which is still a bit too small to see from here. These crops are at their absolute best this time of year and we're so excited that they're almost ready. This year we transplanted broccoli and cauliflower as early as possible, when irrigation came on early April, and kept planting more every two weeks for a fairly constant supply throughout the summer. We know many love these as much as we do--in our end of the year CSA survey, almost all members asked for more of these! Hold tight, they'll be here soon, along with so many more goodies!
Speaking of goodies, our early tomatoes are very limited in quantity this time of year. In order to make them available to everyone, we've made the different types available for swaps and extras this week, but they won't automatically go into shares. If you want some, go get customizing!
Your farmers,
Ashley and Caleb
