August 18th-wk #10 2020

CSA Share this week

• Delicata Squash
• Leeks
• Grape Tomato-pint
• Eggplant (mix-globe/Japanese)
• Scallions
• Mini Sweet Pepper
• Garlic
• Tomato (heirloom/field varieties)
• Summer Squash

Vegetable Directory

For more information about the above items, you can find storage and usage tips on the Vegetable Directory. There are also links to recipe search sites – type what ingredients you want to use and you will get some inspiration. This can be found from the menu on the website or the link above.

Quick Tips – This is a great week for ratatouille- eggplant, tomato & squash. Delicata Squash – These will store for a while at room temperature. There is no rush to use these and they will continue to ripen and sweeten. The creamier/yellowish color on the outer skin the riper it is. You can eat the skin. Excellent for roasting sliced into 1/2 rounds or scooped out and stuffed. See the vegetable directory for photos and more info. Leeks – I just realized that I don’t have a Leeks in the vegetable directory- sorry. They pair excellent with tomato and the first thing that comes to mind is a Leek and Tomato tart. This is the week to do it with all of those tomatoes. Luckily it is a bit cooler over the next few days to heat up the oven. Eggplant – Excellent on the grill! Be sure to look at the vegetable directory Eggplant Page or Pinterest board for ideas Tomato – store at room temperature for best flavor. They will continue to ripen so keep an eye on them. Ripeness is determined by firmness. Tomatoes ripen from the inside out. Can be refrigerated if necessary but allow them to come to room temp before eating for the best flavor. Tomatoes that are super ripe are great for cooking with to simmer with other veggies. Scallions – after you clean them up they can also be sliced and frozen -place in a freezer baggie and grab a handful when you need them for cooking. Peppers of all kinds can be cleaned, seeded, diced, or chopped and frozen without blanching.

All posts this season and past seasons can be found in the archives are searchable at the bottom of this page. Also, find info in the vegetable directory and on our Pinterest Boards. As always — if you have any questions –please feel free to ask – text or email too.

Farm Update: Not much of a change in the pond. We had a few showers over the past few days and the total accumulation of those was just under 1/4″ of rain. This is the hottest and longest dry spell we have had in 15 years of farming. Thank goodness we farm organically and our soil is prepared to handle drought conditions. Organic farming improves soil to better tolerate extreme conditions.

We found something we have been hoping to find for many seasons — Allis-Chalmers G. This will be an addition to our cultivation equipment. We currently have a Farmall that we use for cultivation. It will take some getting used to and we need to get some cultivators set up but we are thrilled for the new addition. This will hopefully alleviate some of the hand hoeings and weeding since we will have a better chance of hitting the small weeds when required. We can have each tractor set up for different row spacing which will save time since we won’t need to change implements. This will also increase the chance that one of them is working when we need it!

Crops that we expect to be ready soon are…Sweet Corn, cantaloupe (fingers crossed)

The field tomatoes are beginning to ripen. The varieties of tomatoes we are growing this season are

Farm Events —

We have our annual farm events scheduled. We will decide at a later date if they will go on depending on how the current distancing requirements evolve. These events are held outside for CSA members and their families.
SAVE THE DATE:
Saturday, June 27th – Celebrate the Season – CANCELLED
Saturday, July 18th – Glorious Garlic Harvest – 9-12 – SUCCESS!!!
Saturday, August 8th – Can You Dig It? #2 – Potato Harvest 10-2 – CANCELLED
Saturday, October 17th – Gratitude Gathering 1-6

Thank you for supporting our small farm!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Feel free to email or text. Our cell phone number is listed on your weekly email update.