I'm writing this on Saturday as we're preparing for a few potential frosts over the next days. Most of our crops are hardy enough to weather a light frost, or are safely tucked into hoop houses (because central oregon does this to us all the time), but some of our storage crops just can't be planted in a hoop house and so we always have to get the frost cloth, bags and hoops back out to keep the squash alive through one last (hopefully) cold spell.
Every time a cold weather system moves in, it comes in with a bunch of wind, so we've learned to put the dang frost cloth out beforehand otherwise we're out there fighting with sails. We got everything prepped on Friday, and now we'll just monitor the covers to make sure they stay put in the wind. Saturday night is looking to be the coldest so Caleb is also going to turn on irrigation in the early morning during the likely freeze to protect our potatoes (which are not covered) from the worst of it. It's a bunch of extra work when we don't really want to do it, but we know at this point that it's what is necessary to produce winter squash in our region, and we're always much happier having done the work and looking at a field full of plants all summer, rather than to have skimped and have had huge losses. Here's to hoping everyone makes it through!
Despite the cold, we are thrilled to tell you that we have the best buttery early season new potatoes for you as well as parsley and the first taste of zucchini. We also have tomatoes available to add-on if you like. Our tomato supply is still limited, but we want to give you the option to savor what we have now, until we have enough for everyone. We plant these tomatoes in late January and heat them all spring to extend the season in our chilly + erratic growing climate. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to get them to you until late July!
We're also sending you another round of garlic scapes this week because the season only lasts for a few weeks, so now is the time! I want to share one of my favorite recipes for Garlic Scape Pesto in case you need something to do with this week's scapes (or last week's!). This pesto is fantastically pungent, and great to toss roasted veggies or pasta in, or both! If you aren't ready for it this week, you can also freeze it and pull it out when you need it most.
A few crop notes this week, our parsley got a leaf spot disease this early season that had caused some browning on the leaves. We're attempting to control it on the new growth, as well as sorting out the worst of it, but if you see a few brown spots on leaves, have no fear it still tastes great. Additionally, we had some bird attack on our head lettuce which we usually don't have much of an issue with. Same thing here, it still tastes great, someone just had a snack at some point in its growth.
Happy cooking,
Ashley, Caleb and the Sungrounded Crew
