Broccolini Bonanza
We're really excited for the forecast this week! We hope the broccolini and sugarsnap peas can hold on for a bit longer. 90 degree days are rough on these cool season crops, and rough on the farmers (especially in the early part of the summer when we aren't acclimated to it yet). We peaked production with the peas and broccolini last week with way more than were able to make it in your shares or even sell the excess at market so we'll be donating a lot of that produce this week. That's because we harvest fresh for you and don't send you the leftovers. Since the excess broccolini and peas from this past week, won't be going into shares this week we anticipate production for both will be dramatically down this week. We try so hard to stagger plantings in an attempt to spread out the harvest (broccolini were transplanted three weeks apart) but when it gets hot and sunny like last week, all the plants get triggered at once and push out tons of peas and florets in an attempt to reproduce before the summer heat kills them. We were working like crazy just to keep them picked last week because if you let these plants flower or make mature peas, they'll stop producing (they think their work to reproduce is done). So the trick is to keep them picked even when they are sending up hundreds of shoots and pea pods daily. The crew did a great job keeping up with the harvesting this week with early 6:00AM start times to get them in the cool of the day and maximize freshness.
Cherry tomatoes are doubling in production every week so with the exponential growth in production we should soon have more than you can eat. If you want something (especially fruiting crops) that show sold out when you log in, make sure to check Harvie again Monday afternoon or evening for last minute items added to the inventory. This week there were leftover cherry tomatoes that no one claimed that we added Monday afternoon after some initial harvests showed we would have more than expected.
We're still a few weeks away from cucumbers, peppers and slicer tomatoes. Once they start producing, these will be similar to the cherry tomatoes with limited quantities the first few weeks while production ramps up. Based upon our increased plantings this year of these favorites, we anticipate more than enough of all of these (just like we had too much broccolini and sugarsnap peas last week). The good news is, these crops don't spike and peak production and then decline quickly like the peas and broccolini do. So we hopefully won't have them all coming at us at once like the peas.
Don't Skip this Section
Skipped shares remained steady this week at 15.2%. This is the high end of our planned window for skipped shares so we're still taking on new members to account for the smaller number of boxes going out each week. But overall it's much better than earlier in the season, so thank you for helping us out by accepting your share every week unless you encounter extreme difficulty.
Meat other Farmers
Did you know we once raised animals for meat on our farm? We had beef and pigs and goats and chickens. They are a lot of fun and a lot of work and we got hooked on the quality of grass fed dare I say "real" non-supermarket meat. When we decided we couldn't focus on the homesteading AND the growing vegetable farm business, we slowly stepped out of the animal farming world but we didn't want to go back to store bought antibiotic-riddled GMO-fed meats. That's why we were so glad to meet Gabe and Katie Farrar from Farrar Family Farms. They raise meats the way we wanted to (better than we ever did) through rotational grazing, forest raised pork and pastured chickens and lambs. They're great friends of ours that share in our love for the land and feeding people healthy food. If you are looking to know where your meat comes from just like you know where your veggies come from, we highly recommend you check them out. https://farrarfamilyfarmkc.com/
They do home delivery in certain areas and they do a monthly community drop off delivery at our farm. The next one is this Thursday June 15 so if you go online now, you could pop in an order and pick up your meat and meet Katie when you come to the farm for your veggies. They also do a meat CSA as well.
Honey, you're the best
I've gotten some questions about when the honey will be available. Yes, we have almost a dozen hives on the property that help pollenate our veggies and provide honey for members. Honey is typically available as soon as the harvest comes in late July or early August. Don't worry, we'll make it obvious when we have it available for sale again. We sell out every year, so late summer is the time to stock up.
Bread and Cheese Shares
If you ever wondered why we allow non-bread share members to buy bread a la carte, but cheese is only available for cheese share members each week, that's because we order bread to order. The bread is delivered fresh Thursday morning to go into boxes as we pack them and we make that bread order to the bakery based upon the number of bread loaves (both bread shares and individual orders made that week). Cheese is different. David Hemme, the owner and farmer from Hemme Bros doesn't have the ability to make and deliver cheese in such a short turn around time, so we have to pre-order. We pre-order based upon the number of cheese shares that are scheduled in upcoming weeks. Since we run a farm, not a retail establishment, we don't want to order inventory in hopes of sales, so the cheese we order is already spoken for. When cheese shares are skipped last minute, we end up having a few extra blocks of cheese from week to week that we ordered in advance and THAT is where the mystery cheesepacks come in. Sheri mixes and matches three different kinds of cheese into these bags and sells them at a slight discount so we don't overindulge on the delicious cheeses ourselves! Due to logistics, those mystery packs are the way you can buy cheese even if you don't have a cheese share. Just in case you were wondering, now you know.
This week's bread: Farm to Market 100% Whole Wheat Sliced
Cheese Share: Hemme Brother's Feta Block
We're grateful for the opportunity, to plant, water, weed, harvest, wash, bag, custom pack, and deliver a box of vegetables to you week after week. We hope you can taste care that went into that box in enjoyable meals with family and friends. it is our prayer that your meals will be blessed by the hand of God.
Your farmers,
Dave and Sheri
