Week 4
Yippee, there are clouds in the sky. All that sunshine was slowing me down. The tomatoes on the other hand were thrilled with the sunshine. I ate my first BLT on Friday. I can't believe I ate a BLT in June. It was a bit messy because cherry tomatoes don't really work that well on sandwiches. Even when you cut them in half they want to pop out the sides. So, it was a bit of a messy, unconventional BLT, but it was delicious. The weather forecast is calling for more tomato weather and I hope there will be more cherry tomatoes for everyone soon.
We have been busy on the farm, but not really getting as much done as we would like. The weeds won the battle last week. Hopefully we can take control of the situation this week. The peppers and the winter squash have been covered with row cover since we planted them and we are going to remove the row cover this week. I know there are some weeds in the beds that are as big as the peppers. I have peaked under the row cover and checked out both the peppers and the squash and they look awesome despite the weeds. If you drive by the fields on South Bay on Monday you will see rows of covered squash and paths of lettuce and weeds. If you drive by next week hopefully you will see some nice healthy squash plants, the two weediest beds of lettuce tilled in (the lettuce has either been harvested or bolted) and everything looking very orderly. I love order in the fields even if it fleeting.
Your box is filled with lots veggies I associate with the 4th and with picnics this week. The potatoes are little new potatoes and while I like to make a production out of most things they are amazing just steamed. I have a feeling there aren't many snap peas out there and we are probably done with them but if we get a significant amount tomorrow your box may differ a little from below. There is no lettuce this week but your cabbage can fill in in salads and provide an awesome crunch on sandwiches. I ate a delicious slaw/salad at a neighbors house this weekend with thinly sliced cabbage, turnips, scallions, cucumbers, sesame seeds and a sesame vinaigrette.
Enjoy your veggies.
Hope you all had a nice weekend.
Carrots
Cabbage
Scallions
Bok Choy
Zucchini - yellow and green
New Potatoes
Cucumbers
Summer Turnips - Large Only
Raspberries - Only shares that didn't receive them last week
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Week 3
Finally, summer is here! Oh wait, it has been summer for the last month. When I first moved here I heard the word Junuary used to describe a cold and rainy June and I thought it was funny. I don't find myself wishing for Junuary but I do find myself wishing for rain on a daily basis. There is no sense in complaining about the heat, which I kind of like, but I am all about wishing for rain as a positive alternative to whining about how hot I am.
Every summer I have a wish list of sorts. It is stuff I want to make and eat and places I want to go. I call it a wish list because I don't usually go anywhere in the summer (not that bad of deal, really) and I don't always have the chance to cook an elaborate meal. This summer I am determined to do something that has been on my wish list for years - go to a Tacoma Rainiers game. I bet you didn't know I was a baseball fan. Actually, I am not, but there is just something really summery about having a beer and a hot dog at a minor league game. On the eating front I have too many to list but held over from last year and still on my mind are peach pie, cold cucumber soup and beet burgers. You are getting beets in your box today and I will include a link to the recipe…maybe you will get around to making them before I do. I do realize that I am not going to convince those of you who don't like beets to like them but I am also including a recipe for a vegan chocolate beet cupcakes that I hope to make soon for the two guys working with us this summer and a beet hummus that seems to be a little trendy at the moment with customers at the stand. I made it by tossing a beet into my usual hummus recipe which involves no measuring and as a result never tastes the same. For those of you who prefer a recipe to just throwing everything willy nilly into the food processor I have included a link below. In the hummus I made the beet flavor was subtle but the color was amazing! I didn't use any mint but I love mint with beets and that sounds good. I also like cumin with beets and a few toasted cumin seeds might be a nice garnish.
Have a great first week of summer. We should have zucchinis and new potatoes for next week.
Carrots
Snap Peas
Beets
Garlic
Japanese Cucumber - Last week the small shares had an American slicer and the large shares had an American slicer and a Japanese cuke. This week everyone is getting a Japanese style cucumber. They are the one that we prefer but you can let me know what you think. In general you will see more American style slicing cukes in your boxes because we grow more of them. In order to get a nice looking Japanese cucumber they need to be trellised and pruned and we only do that in the high tunnels. The American slicers get a small planting in the high tunnel for early cukes and then our field planted in larger quantities.
Berries - You will have some berries - they may be all strawberries, there may be some raspberries - tough to make an accurate prediction. Our raspberry patch is in decline. We tilled up some new ground but it wasn't ready to plant this spring so sadly an epic raspberry year is ways in the future.
Butterhead Lettuce - Large Only
Salad Mix - Large Only
Parsley - Large Only
Swiss Chard - Small Only
Beet Hummus looks beautiful and tastes great.
Vegan Beet Cupcakes Beets and chocolate sounds weird but it actually is pretty tasty and a great way into fooling someone who doesn't like beets into eating them.
Grilled Beet Burgers - It was the color of these burgers and the pretty photos that intrigued me along with the thought that they are nothing like anything I normally cook. The fact they have feta cheese in them probably peeked my interest as well.
Finally, summer is here! Oh wait, it has been summer for the last month. When I first moved here I heard the word Junuary used to describe a cold and rainy June and I thought it was funny. I don't find myself wishing for Junuary but I do find myself wishing for rain on a daily basis. There is no sense in complaining about the heat, which I kind of like, but I am all about wishing for rain as a positive alternative to whining about how hot I am.
Every summer I have a wish list of sorts. It is stuff I want to make and eat and places I want to go. I call it a wish list because I don't usually go anywhere in the summer (not that bad of deal, really) and I don't always have the chance to cook an elaborate meal. This summer I am determined to do something that has been on my wish list for years - go to a Tacoma Rainiers game. I bet you didn't know I was a baseball fan. Actually, I am not, but there is just something really summery about having a beer and a hot dog at a minor league game. On the eating front I have too many to list but held over from last year and still on my mind are peach pie, cold cucumber soup and beet burgers. You are getting beets in your box today and I will include a link to the recipe…maybe you will get around to making them before I do. I do realize that I am not going to convince those of you who don't like beets to like them but I am also including a recipe for a vegan chocolate beet cupcakes that I hope to make soon for the two guys working with us this summer and a beet hummus that seems to be a little trendy at the moment with customers at the stand. I made it by tossing a beet into my usual hummus recipe which involves no measuring and as a result never tastes the same. For those of you who prefer a recipe to just throwing everything willy nilly into the food processor I have included a link below. In the hummus I made the beet flavor was subtle but the color was amazing! I didn't use any mint but I love mint with beets and that sounds good. I also like cumin with beets and a few toasted cumin seeds might be a nice garnish.
Have a great first week of summer. We should have zucchinis and new potatoes for next week.
Carrots
Snap Peas
Beets
Garlic
Japanese Cucumber - Last week the small shares had an American slicer and the large shares had an American slicer and a Japanese cuke. This week everyone is getting a Japanese style cucumber. They are the one that we prefer but you can let me know what you think. In general you will see more American style slicing cukes in your boxes because we grow more of them. In order to get a nice looking Japanese cucumber they need to be trellised and pruned and we only do that in the high tunnels. The American slicers get a small planting in the high tunnel for early cukes and then our field planted in larger quantities.
Berries - You will have some berries - they may be all strawberries, there may be some raspberries - tough to make an accurate prediction. Our raspberry patch is in decline. We tilled up some new ground but it wasn't ready to plant this spring so sadly an epic raspberry year is ways in the future.
Butterhead Lettuce - Large Only
Salad Mix - Large Only
Parsley - Large Only
Swiss Chard - Small Only
Beet Hummus looks beautiful and tastes great.
Vegan Beet Cupcakes Beets and chocolate sounds weird but it actually is pretty tasty and a great way into fooling someone who doesn't like beets into eating them.
Grilled Beet Burgers - It was the color of these burgers and the pretty photos that intrigued me along with the thought that they are nothing like anything I normally cook. The fact they have feta cheese in them probably peeked my interest as well.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Week 2
A couple of you came by the stand this weekend and bought some potatoes from an early experimental planting. It was a small planting and we sold the last of them on Saturday. I expected a gap between them and our main planting of potatoes but it looks like you should have some potatoes in your boxes in a couple weeks. Kelly hilled them for the third and maybe the final time today. The plants are starting to flower. I dug around under one of the early varieties and pulled out a couple small potatoes. I knew they wouldn't be big enough to justify harvesting them but I couldn't resist checking. This year the potatoes are at our South Bay Road fields at Thunder Mountain Farm. We are very unoriginal when it comes to names. For example with our chickens we have a Golden Laced Wyndotte named Goldie, a Buff Orpington named Buffy and a Welsummer named Welsie. We used similar naming methods on our tractors. The Farmall 100 we use to hill the potatoes is called The Hundy. The Hundy is a great tractor and up until this year we used it for other stuff as well. This year we have been able to leave the hilling disks and shoes on it so it is ready to go with some minor adjustments whenever we want to hill the potatoes.
The current planting of broccoli is also at South Bay. It looks and tastes great. We are having some on our pizza tonight for dinner(as soon as I hit post I am headed for the kitchen). I have been thinking about making it for at least a week and can't wait.
Hope you all find some yummy ways to use your veggies this week.
Carrots
Lettuce
Snap Peas
Snow Peas - not a ton but plenty for a stir fry or sautéed with some carrots.
Cucumbers - out of the high tunnel
Dill - We have been using a lot of dill this spring. It is great with carrots, snap peas and of course also with cucumbers.
Broccoli
Strawberries
Radishes - Large Only
A couple of you came by the stand this weekend and bought some potatoes from an early experimental planting. It was a small planting and we sold the last of them on Saturday. I expected a gap between them and our main planting of potatoes but it looks like you should have some potatoes in your boxes in a couple weeks. Kelly hilled them for the third and maybe the final time today. The plants are starting to flower. I dug around under one of the early varieties and pulled out a couple small potatoes. I knew they wouldn't be big enough to justify harvesting them but I couldn't resist checking. This year the potatoes are at our South Bay Road fields at Thunder Mountain Farm. We are very unoriginal when it comes to names. For example with our chickens we have a Golden Laced Wyndotte named Goldie, a Buff Orpington named Buffy and a Welsummer named Welsie. We used similar naming methods on our tractors. The Farmall 100 we use to hill the potatoes is called The Hundy. The Hundy is a great tractor and up until this year we used it for other stuff as well. This year we have been able to leave the hilling disks and shoes on it so it is ready to go with some minor adjustments whenever we want to hill the potatoes.
 |
| Kelly checking to see if there are any adjustments to be made |
 |
| Shoes in the back and disks on the belly - both help push soil towards the row |
The current planting of broccoli is also at South Bay. It looks and tastes great. We are having some on our pizza tonight for dinner(as soon as I hit post I am headed for the kitchen). I have been thinking about making it for at least a week and can't wait.
Hope you all find some yummy ways to use your veggies this week.
Carrots
Lettuce
Snap Peas
Snow Peas - not a ton but plenty for a stir fry or sautéed with some carrots.
Cucumbers - out of the high tunnel
Dill - We have been using a lot of dill this spring. It is great with carrots, snap peas and of course also with cucumbers.
Broccoli
Strawberries
Radishes - Large Only
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Week 1
Here we go again!
We hope you all are looking forward to the first of many boxes of vegetables you will pick up this season. If you ever have any questions about the vegetables in your boxes (how to cook, how to best keep them fresh, what the heck it is, etc) please speak up. Sometimes, because they are so familiar to Kelly and me, we forget to offer up information.
If you ever want to take a walk around the farm please do. One of us can even follow behind you telling you all sorts of stuff you may or may not be interested in hearing! Looking around every few weeks will give you an idea of how we succession plant and how quickly things change this time of year.
I don't know why I am surprised that we are in just a wee bit of veggie chaos. This time of year is always hectic. We have a couple great people working with us this year and they stayed late every day last week to help get us caught back up. It is okay to be a little behind but some things can't be corrected if they don't get done on time. Fortunately, everything is still within our grasp at the moment.
We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow or Wednesday. Enjoy the sunshine.
Carrots - These are great raw but also delicious roasted (I know, you are all dying to use your oven this week).
Head Lettuce - The lettuce is always so beautiful this time of year.
Snap Peas - plump and juicy with an edible pod
Green Cabbage
Bunched Turnips - My standard line for these is that many people cook them but I prefer them raw. That is probably still true but I did add some to a Thai curry and loved them. I think I might try sautéing them soon.
Strawberries - These have been really good this year.
Rainbow Chard - Large Only - Don't let the big leaves fool you they are nice and tender. I peaked under the row cover we use as pest protection (cucumber beetles) on Friday and surprise! The plants had grown so much since we last weeded them.
Happy Eating!
Here we go again!
We hope you all are looking forward to the first of many boxes of vegetables you will pick up this season. If you ever have any questions about the vegetables in your boxes (how to cook, how to best keep them fresh, what the heck it is, etc) please speak up. Sometimes, because they are so familiar to Kelly and me, we forget to offer up information.
If you ever want to take a walk around the farm please do. One of us can even follow behind you telling you all sorts of stuff you may or may not be interested in hearing! Looking around every few weeks will give you an idea of how we succession plant and how quickly things change this time of year.
I don't know why I am surprised that we are in just a wee bit of veggie chaos. This time of year is always hectic. We have a couple great people working with us this year and they stayed late every day last week to help get us caught back up. It is okay to be a little behind but some things can't be corrected if they don't get done on time. Fortunately, everything is still within our grasp at the moment.
We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow or Wednesday. Enjoy the sunshine.
Carrots - These are great raw but also delicious roasted (I know, you are all dying to use your oven this week).
Head Lettuce - The lettuce is always so beautiful this time of year.
Snap Peas - plump and juicy with an edible pod
Green Cabbage
Bunched Turnips - My standard line for these is that many people cook them but I prefer them raw. That is probably still true but I did add some to a Thai curry and loved them. I think I might try sautéing them soon.
Strawberries - These have been really good this year.
Rainbow Chard - Large Only - Don't let the big leaves fool you they are nice and tender. I peaked under the row cover we use as pest protection (cucumber beetles) on Friday and surprise! The plants had grown so much since we last weeded them.
Happy Eating!
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