Don't forget Pizza Night this Saturday. Our tables are filling up. Get a few friends together and reserve a table of eight for one of our evening time slots: 5 pm, 6 pm or 7 pm. $15/person.
BEAN PICKING PARTY
In an attempt to create good morale and get as much picked as possible, Farmer Reuben worked with our 5 man crew to pick the green beans. Some of the younger members of the team aren't fond of picking beans but it you can get them talking about the books they read or singing, it goes much better.
Picking the green beans can be tedious because the beans are the same color as the plant. (Yellow and purple beans are easier). You also have to look under the leaves and make sure you don't miss any. You have to pick the right size and leave the smaller beans to grow for the next picking, in a couple days.
The only way around hand picking beans is to invest in a bean picking machine. However, that machine allows you to only pick once and destroys the plants. Beans will keep producing week after week if hand picked. But if you have the means to plant large fields of beans, plan your machine picking just right, and buy the machine, it works for some farms.
Other CSA farms plant the beans but leave the for their members to pick themselves. That sounds appealing to us too, but we know that most of our members have other commitments and picking your own beans here at the farm probably wouldn't fit into your life.
Picking obviously went well on Friday because, as you can see from the picture, they brought in almost 100 lbs of them. That's a lot of work for a many hands, but yum, they are so fresh and good. Enjoy your beans this week!
We also picked 35 bins of eggplant. The pickers commented when they brought them in to the pack barn "That was just the end of one row!"
Happily, we have another farmer friend who didn't plant eggplant this year and will buy some of our extras. It's great to be in the position of having enough to help out other farms and their CSA members with organically grown vegetables.
Hot Peppers - We are picking the first of the jalapeños and Czechoslovakian black peppers. These are both similar on the heat index.
We'll keep farming for you!
Reuben and Tessa
