I'm sure you're not too thrilled about this heat, and the veggies aren't either. Not even tomatoes like to be over 95 degrees, they often drop blossoms rather than forming fruit in orer to conserve energy when temperatures get too high. On the farm this week we're doing everything we can to prevent damage to our crops in the heat. Fans that we have in a couple greenhouses run nearly all day, and we've got shade cloth over all greenhouses to help lower temps. We're watering many crops every day to keep their leaves from getting singed. Our crew is starting a half hour early, at 6:30am for the coming week so we can get our work done and out of the heat as early as possible. Some crops may be stunted by the heat, but others grow out of control (especially the weeds). We're having to harvest zucchini at least 4 times a week to keep up with their current growth. As much as we want to spend our afternoons by the river, this is when the crops need us most, so we instead take breaks, stay hydrated and press on!
Aside from the heat, this is an exciting time on the farm. Our garlic is starting to be ready to harvest, and we have green garlic in boxes this week. Use the head like you normally would, and you can also chop up the stalk to sauté, bonus! We've also got the first of our early walla walla onions, and we hope you're as excited as we are. We got these in the ground in early March, almost two months before our other onions, and they truly are a special treat. For how commonplace an onion is in cooking, they sure are time consuming to grow. Our regular crop of onions won't be ready to eat fresh for at least another month. We've also got the first basil and broccoli in boxes this week and about the last of the spinach until fall, enjoy it while it's here! We even have a limited quantity of cherry tomatoes to share.
Other box contents include crisp salad turnips, the return of snap peas, lettuce mix, broccoli raab. Almost all of these box contents are great raw, and I'd encourage you to cook as little as possible during this hot week and just chop, mix, dress and eat.
A couple housekeeping notes:
Thanks for leaving or bringing back your boxes, we love to reuse them! If you've got any at home, remember to throw them in the car, and don't forget to be gentle when collapsing them, if the flaps get too ripped we have to throw them out. We can also take egg cartons, box liners (if clean!), as well as clean pints and farm provided rubber bands if you'd like to send them our way, just place them in the plastic tote at your pickup site.
Don't forget to check in on your deliveries tab every once in a while, especially if you have a flex share. Remember to reschedule your share if possible rather than hold it, so you don't forget to reschedule later, and to also reschedule your egg share if you have one and will be gone. Flex shares automatically have the last two weeks off of pick up unless you reschedule shares throughout the season. Our main season runs through October 21st.
Your farmers,
Ashley, Caleb and the Sungrounded Crew
