Week 9
This past week a dear friend and her family came to stay with us for a few days. Maryanne and I spent our junior year of college living and studying in Rouen, France. The study abroad program connected her family and mine so that I could catch a ride with them to airport to meet up with the rest of the study abroad group. We were friends instantly, talking nonstop the entire two hours to JFK airport. France was incredible and without that year in France, I don't know that I ever would have found my way to a life in agriculture. I was fascinated by their food systems. I loved the regional pride they took in certain foods that could only be found in one region of the country and was struck by the joy people took in eating. It was the nightly cheese plate that stuck with me the most and I knew I wanted to learn more about making cheese. It took me ten years to follow up on that dream. When I left Colorado for Maine to learn cheese making, I had no idea that it would be the the other most transformative year of my life. I learned a lot about making cheese that year, but more importantly I discovered farming and I met Kelly. Maryanne was living in Maine and I spent a lot of time at her house, sharing food, doing laundry and hanging out on my day off. She has been a part of two of the most important years of my life, not just in terms of my interest in agriculture, but really just in general. We hadn't seen each other in about six years, but it didn't feel that way. It was so wonderful to spend time with her and her family and also to be reminded of why I fell in love with farming and how I got to this spot. I also slacked a bit on doing farm work which was an incredible luxury for July and I feel ready for August! A special shout out to Kelly who was so supportive and who along with our crew picked up my slack so that I could enjoy having my friend in town.
The heat has given us a boost and the first good harvest of slicing tomatoes happened on Friday. I was also surprised to see how much the melons have grown in the past week. Stuff happens so fast this time of year, it can be hard to keep up, but so far so good. I was particularly pleased we got the parsnips and leeks weeded. I don't know how many of you missed getting them in your boxes last year but I really missed having them to both sell and eat.
Carrots - We have a crew member out this week and we are going to save a bit of time by giving you carrots without the tops. The only purpose the tops serve is that they look nice, which admittedly I put a lot of value in, but these will taste just as good.
Beets
Lettuce
Potatoes - We have moved our next planting of potatoes and these will be true new potatoes with very thin skins. If you pick up at our house you can see the potatoes flowering in the back field behind our house.
Japanese Cucumber - Our favorite cucumber - has a thin skin and is more perishable than the type you had in your boxes a couple weeks ago.
Slicing Tomato
Kohlrabi
Cherry Tomato - Large Only
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Week 7
Many of the crops that like heat get covered with floating row cover when we transplant them. Floating row cover is a very light weight spun poly that adds a little warmth and protection but still allows light and water to pass through it. For things in the cucurbit family like zucchinis, cucumbers, melons and winter squash it also protects them from the cucumber beetle. We like to leave the cover on as long as possible, not taking it off until we see the plant starting to flower. This past week we uncovered the melons and this coming week we will remove it from the winter squash. Typically the winter squash are attempting to spring loose by the time they flower. Yesterday Kelly took the tractor over and rototilled the paths while the squash is still contained. Hopefully we will get a chance to uncover it tomorrow. Before we had cucumber beetles, we still used row cover for heat, but we would be little more casual about it. If we were reusing row cover and it was just a little short we would leave a dozen or so plants uncovered with the idea that we would cover them later (ya, right). One thing that proved to us was that it really makes a difference. Plants that get covered get off to a much quicker start and seem more productive. Looking out at a field of white is less pastoral but the advantages of using it more than make up for the looks and cost of it.
I thought last week's box was lovely as I was packing it. This weeks box isn't as bountiful ,but it will contain some of our first cherry tomatoes. Ahh, summer. We gorged ourselves on apricots, blueberries and peaches this week. Tomatoes and stone fruit are a couple of the things I look forward to most this time of year. I bought some delicious peaches at market the same day I was given a small depression glass mixing bowl by someone who knows I love old dishes of all sorts. The peaches and blueberries looked so beautiful in the blue glass and it gave me a reason to use some adorable pink depression glass custard cups I picked up at a yard sale last winter. I will admit that most of the time I enjoy choosing what plate I want to use for a particular dish as much as I do making and eating the food. As tiring as July can be, it is also a wonderful time of year- good food, nice weather. We ate outside most nights last week. One night as dusk set in we were treated to watching three barred owls fly around. They were making short trips from tree to tree in our orchard sometimes landing on the ground and calling to each other the whole time. They were so close, it was an amazing thing to see.
Hope you all have some nice meals this week! So far the only thing in my meal plan is to make some peach ice cream.
Carrots - I know some of you are keeping up with the carrots because you are buying extra at market. For those of you who need some inspiration we love the carrot salad from the Portland restaurant Kachka. Admittedly, I have never eaten there, but a customer turned me on to the cookbook of the same name. We served it this winter along with a few other root vegetable salads and some pierogis at a dinner party and everyone loved it. The link is a little strange, but it was the only place I could find it. If you look towards the top of the page when you open the link you will see that it is showing on 1 of 5 pages in the cookbook where the salad is mentioned. You will have to click next to see the actual recipe. Russian Korean Carrot Salad
Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Herb Choice - Mostly basil or parsley.
Green or Purple Bell Pepper
Scallions - I think in most years we are giving you bunched onions at this point in the season. They are a bit behind this year. I am still confident they will size up, but for now we are sticking with scallions
Green Beans - Large Only
Collard Greens - Large Only
Many of the crops that like heat get covered with floating row cover when we transplant them. Floating row cover is a very light weight spun poly that adds a little warmth and protection but still allows light and water to pass through it. For things in the cucurbit family like zucchinis, cucumbers, melons and winter squash it also protects them from the cucumber beetle. We like to leave the cover on as long as possible, not taking it off until we see the plant starting to flower. This past week we uncovered the melons and this coming week we will remove it from the winter squash. Typically the winter squash are attempting to spring loose by the time they flower. Yesterday Kelly took the tractor over and rototilled the paths while the squash is still contained. Hopefully we will get a chance to uncover it tomorrow. Before we had cucumber beetles, we still used row cover for heat, but we would be little more casual about it. If we were reusing row cover and it was just a little short we would leave a dozen or so plants uncovered with the idea that we would cover them later (ya, right). One thing that proved to us was that it really makes a difference. Plants that get covered get off to a much quicker start and seem more productive. Looking out at a field of white is less pastoral but the advantages of using it more than make up for the looks and cost of it.
I thought last week's box was lovely as I was packing it. This weeks box isn't as bountiful ,but it will contain some of our first cherry tomatoes. Ahh, summer. We gorged ourselves on apricots, blueberries and peaches this week. Tomatoes and stone fruit are a couple of the things I look forward to most this time of year. I bought some delicious peaches at market the same day I was given a small depression glass mixing bowl by someone who knows I love old dishes of all sorts. The peaches and blueberries looked so beautiful in the blue glass and it gave me a reason to use some adorable pink depression glass custard cups I picked up at a yard sale last winter. I will admit that most of the time I enjoy choosing what plate I want to use for a particular dish as much as I do making and eating the food. As tiring as July can be, it is also a wonderful time of year- good food, nice weather. We ate outside most nights last week. One night as dusk set in we were treated to watching three barred owls fly around. They were making short trips from tree to tree in our orchard sometimes landing on the ground and calling to each other the whole time. They were so close, it was an amazing thing to see.
Hope you all have some nice meals this week! So far the only thing in my meal plan is to make some peach ice cream.
Carrots - I know some of you are keeping up with the carrots because you are buying extra at market. For those of you who need some inspiration we love the carrot salad from the Portland restaurant Kachka. Admittedly, I have never eaten there, but a customer turned me on to the cookbook of the same name. We served it this winter along with a few other root vegetable salads and some pierogis at a dinner party and everyone loved it. The link is a little strange, but it was the only place I could find it. If you look towards the top of the page when you open the link you will see that it is showing on 1 of 5 pages in the cookbook where the salad is mentioned. You will have to click next to see the actual recipe. Russian Korean Carrot Salad
Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Herb Choice - Mostly basil or parsley.
Green or Purple Bell Pepper
Scallions - I think in most years we are giving you bunched onions at this point in the season. They are a bit behind this year. I am still confident they will size up, but for now we are sticking with scallions
Green Beans - Large Only
Collard Greens - Large Only
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Week 6
All but a very small section of garlic, Spanish Roja, is pulled and drying in the barn. The garlic field is being flipped for fall carrots that are due to be seeded in one week. The quick flip of fields and getting two crops out of the same space has been a regular strategy this summer. We really haven't downsized plantings much, but our space has been downsized by a little over 20 percent. In my mind it didn't seem like that would be as difficult as it has been. Our labor is considerably higher than last year and I am not exactly sure why, but I suspect loosing Shincke is contributing to it. Every year is different. Every year we hope to be better farmers and better managers. I think both Kelly and I are really struggling with that this year. It is much easier to become better at something when you first start doing it. We are in our 12th season of farming and our drive to always be better is still there, but it seems harder to make large improvements. The transition to South Bay has gone okay, but it hasn't simplified things as much as we had hoped. I still am not happy with the flow of our new washroom and walk-in or the organization of all our stuff. I don't think I realized how many systems we had in place. Those systems just kind of formed naturally and got tweaked a little each year. I thought we would take all that knowledge, bring it to South Bay and set up a perfect system, but it is just going to take a bit more time than either of us expected...story of lives :)
We started going the Oly market all four days last week and we applied for a double stall/permanent stall assignment. Up until this week we showed up at 8:55 and waited for our name to be called based on a seniority system. We then unloaded the van, parked it a couple blocks away and then set up, all in under an hour. We never knew if we would get to spread out into an extra space or not. Now we can show up earlier and just head to our stall! It feels so much better. We also hired another person. She will cover crew taking summer vacations and work on Fridays since we will be loosing a harvest position to work the market on Friday. July is always a hectic month. While you all are still in the first half of your CSA season, July is the month that really sets us up to sell through November. Today I am seeding the last round of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, all of which should be planted in the field by August 1st. Seed, weed, harvest, repeat! The motto for July is now or never. Well, there is always next year, but I promise I am still trying to make this year the best yet.
On that note, I am off to seed.
Enjoy your week. Hope you all had a nice holiday.
Lettuce
Carrots
Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Zucchini
Garlic
Cauliflower - If you don't have cauliflower this week you will next week. I am hoping we can harvest enough for everybody but we might have to do one size share this week and the other size next week.
Bok Choy - Large Only
All but a very small section of garlic, Spanish Roja, is pulled and drying in the barn. The garlic field is being flipped for fall carrots that are due to be seeded in one week. The quick flip of fields and getting two crops out of the same space has been a regular strategy this summer. We really haven't downsized plantings much, but our space has been downsized by a little over 20 percent. In my mind it didn't seem like that would be as difficult as it has been. Our labor is considerably higher than last year and I am not exactly sure why, but I suspect loosing Shincke is contributing to it. Every year is different. Every year we hope to be better farmers and better managers. I think both Kelly and I are really struggling with that this year. It is much easier to become better at something when you first start doing it. We are in our 12th season of farming and our drive to always be better is still there, but it seems harder to make large improvements. The transition to South Bay has gone okay, but it hasn't simplified things as much as we had hoped. I still am not happy with the flow of our new washroom and walk-in or the organization of all our stuff. I don't think I realized how many systems we had in place. Those systems just kind of formed naturally and got tweaked a little each year. I thought we would take all that knowledge, bring it to South Bay and set up a perfect system, but it is just going to take a bit more time than either of us expected...story of lives :)
We started going the Oly market all four days last week and we applied for a double stall/permanent stall assignment. Up until this week we showed up at 8:55 and waited for our name to be called based on a seniority system. We then unloaded the van, parked it a couple blocks away and then set up, all in under an hour. We never knew if we would get to spread out into an extra space or not. Now we can show up earlier and just head to our stall! It feels so much better. We also hired another person. She will cover crew taking summer vacations and work on Fridays since we will be loosing a harvest position to work the market on Friday. July is always a hectic month. While you all are still in the first half of your CSA season, July is the month that really sets us up to sell through November. Today I am seeding the last round of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, all of which should be planted in the field by August 1st. Seed, weed, harvest, repeat! The motto for July is now or never. Well, there is always next year, but I promise I am still trying to make this year the best yet.
On that note, I am off to seed.
Enjoy your week. Hope you all had a nice holiday.
Lettuce
Carrots
Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Zucchini
Garlic
Cauliflower - If you don't have cauliflower this week you will next week. I am hoping we can harvest enough for everybody but we might have to do one size share this week and the other size next week.
Bok Choy - Large Only
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