Week 13

Another melon season is almost over with and once again I missed my opportunity to attempt a square watermelon.  I don't have an interest in attempting to replicate tennis ball size strawberries or the square watermelons of Japan's luxury fruit scene to sell but one of these years I will find time to mess with some watermelons for the fun of it.  They just look so unusual, even if they taste the same.

In your boxes today is a melon that is probably our favorite (so hard to choose).  Melons in general hold a soft spot for us because one the fondest memories of our courtship is the two us sampling all of the melons that the farm Kelly worked on in Maine grew.  It was maybe my first experience of the gluttony(in a positive sense, if that is possible) of being on a farm affords.  Cutting into melon after melon, passing up the occasional mediocre one and eating well beyond the "I can't eat another bite of melon" moment.  Kelly gave me the nickname of Sweetie #6 that summer.  Sweetie #6 was a butterscotch melon that you can no longer get seed for, but Serenade, which is in your box today, is similar and the only butterscotch melon I have been able to find.

There is a melon article from Saveur magazine that I cut out and read to Kelly when I first saw it because I knew that he would relate to it as much as I did.  It is still hanging around our house seven years later.  If you love melons you might enjoy reading it.  I am including one of my favorite sections below and it speaks a little bit to what I mean when I use the word gluttony in terms of sampling produce and the joy that can come with it.

A couple approach. The husband, a fondler and caresser, picks up a smooth, yellow-skinned Charentais melon, inhales its fragrance. "These smell fantastic," he says. He turns to his wife. "Let's get a couple of them."  

The wife pinches the clasp of her purse with both hands. "No," she says, "we couldn't eat that much. Remember, we'll be away on Saturday."

I'm thinking to myself, the two of you couldn't eat a pair of these little melons in three days? I eat one by myself in about three minutes, standing in a muddy field with my pocketknife in my hand, cutting off slices and tossing the chewed rinds in every direction. And 20 minutes later I eat another one.

Lettuce
Carrots
Zucchini
Serenade Melon
Piel de Sapo Melon - Large Only 
Cherry Tomato
Cucumber - Large Only These are last round of the Japanese style cucumber we grow.  We have battled the cucumber beetle all summer and they are winning!  You will notice some bug damage, but the bigger problem is that they are spreading bacterial wilt and the plants are dying.
Sweet Onions
Collards - Large Only

Week 12

Yesterday after market, Aaron from Humble Stump Farm and Maya and Phelan from Little Big Farm stopped by for a beer in the orchard.  They are both part of the smaller is better trend in small farming and I always enjoy hearing their perspective.  As we walked around our fields, a little weedy, a little poorly managed, I contemplated the trend.  The idea is to stay small.  In order to do this you farm very intensively with little cover cropping and often filling a bed with a new planting as soon as you finish harvesting a bed.  There is also more of a focus on crops that are the most profitable and therefor that type of farm tends to be less diverse.   Very small farms often have permanent beds and less of a need for tractors and all the implements that go with them.  All systems have their advantages and disadvantages.  With an impending move (to who knows where) Kelly and I have been having a lot of discussions about what we want our farm to be and how we want to manage it.  We like diversity, we like tractors and we like cover cropping but that doesn't mean we can't take some new ideas and mix them in.  We are still very small (7 acres) in terms of most farms and at our size I feel like we should be able to create a little bit of a hybrid farm in a way that makes sense.  There are some things that are not practical to adopt at our size, but it is important to remember that there can be more than one way of doing thing something and just because something is working okay doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve on it.

On the other side of the spectrum is large scale organic agriculture.  We receive a publication put out by the Organic Trade Association, which does many things including lobbying the state and federal government with an organic agenda.  Of course not all organic farmers think alike and sometimes they push policies that people don't agree with.  They don't only represent large scale organic agriculture, but naturally many of their members are larger corporations.  There were some interesting statistics in the recent issue about the rise of organic agriculture.  For example, in 2016 there were 17,525 certified organic producers, a 13 percent increase over the previous year (we were a farm that certified for the first time in 2016) and organic vegetables made up 14 percent of all vegetable sales.  As the organic industry grows and organic food becomes more readily available, smaller producers like us will have to find ways to distinguish ourselves.  Hopefully we can do that with both quality and freshness.

Anyway, when I am not looking at Petfinder for a friend for Tucker I like to think about this kind of stuff!

Alright, back to the food.

Carrots
Colored Bell Peppers - should be some beauties to pick tomorrow.
Broccoli
Cucumber
Slicing Tomato
Melon
Potatoes - Pinto - We are growing two striking potatoes this year.  One is Masquerade which is purple and white and the other is the one you are getting today called Pinto which is red and gold.  We tried them both and my favorite is the Pinto.

Week 11

We pulled all of the Walla Walla onions that had fallen over before the rain.   Having them dry and cozy in the barn gave us some peace of mind and allowed us to fully enjoy the rain.  There is an overhang off the living room that is roofed in metal and I love sitting out back and listening to the rain fall on the metal roof.  I enjoy it in winter as well, but it is extra nice to do it in mid August.  A little break in the heat was great, but I am happy that it warms up again a little later in the week.  Summer is so brief, I am not ready to give up on it yet!

You have a hallmark of summer in your box today - corn.  We made some delicious tacos from Rick Bayless's cookbook and I am including the recipe below since there are many of the ingredients in your box today.

Melons are starting to trickle in - should have something fun for your boxes next week.

Red Leaf Lettuce
Cucumber
Corn - The corn will be picked the morning of your pick up day.  It will keep in the fridge but corn is best eaten as soon as possible.
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini
Poblano Peppers - While these are on the lesser end of the spicy scale as far as chile peppers go, they do still have a bit of heat to them, particularly if you are using them in a dish where the pepper is the lead role such as chile rellenos.
Swiss Chard
Carrot - Large Only

Mexican Style Zucchini Tacos

Week 10

Things are humming along.  Last week the onions started to fall, the eggplant began to pick, the melons were in need of sampling and some clean up took place in the pea field.  Feeling a momentary sense of control.  Boxes seem fun this week.  I think the food is always tasty, but sometimes imaging it in the box makes me extra happy - I like a good mix of colors.

Enjoy the rainbow.

Carrots
Cauliflower
Green/Wax Beans
Sun Jewel Korean Style Melon - If you have done the CSA before then you have had this melon.  It has kicked off melon season every year since the beginning when it was one of only two melons we grew.  This year we have at least a dozen different varieties.  We are experiencing a little mole issue in the melon field, but there should still be plenty in future boxes.
Purple Potatoes - The purple potato we grew last year was great tasting, but the yield was horrible so we are trying a different variety this year.  It was developed by Dr. Lim in Korea.  On his website he says that it can fight obesity, chronic constipation and hyperlipidemia.  He developed it as a fresh(as in raw) eating potato.  Wild, right?  I have never heard of such a thing.
Slicing Tomatoes
Kohlrabi - If the Kohlrabi isn't quite ready there will be an herb choice instead.
Eggplant - Large Only