August 25th-wk #11 2020

CSA Share this week

• Sweet Corn
• Cantaloupe
• Grape Tomato
• Eggplant (mix-globe/Japanese)
• Gladstone Onions
• Mini Sweet Pepper
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Garlic
• Tomato (field-grown varieties)
• Summer Squash
• Lettuce Head
• Italian Flat Beans

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.

Special Notes: Sweet Corn – Don’t panic…it’s organic!! We would like to you know that this corn is NOT grown from pesticide-treated seed or sprayed with any pesticides. For this reason, you may find a worm at the top of your ear of corn. We suggest that you take a peek inside the top and cut off the portion that has worm damage if you find some. Please accept our apologies if you do. We do our best to not send those home, however, sometimes we do miss them. Also, we try our best to send home full ears. If you are missing kernels this is due to inconsistent pollination. We like to grill ours right in the husk. It steams itself in the husk and the silks will slip right off. These are freshly harvested for your share and should not need soaking prior to grilling. You can also blanch the ears and cut from the cob to freeze in baggies for later use. Cantaloupe – This is a new variety for this season. We don’t have a lot of experience with this one. We will do our best to send home a ripe melon. This melon is yellow when ripe. They smell delicious.

Quick Tips – Italian Flat Beans – a special treat. These are pole beans. They are excellent braised and would pair nicely with your tomatoes, onions, and garlic this week. You can cut them into bite-size pieces on a diagonal, cook them with the onions and garlic and then braise with a cut-up tomato or two with salt and pepper to taste. This is another great week for ratatouille- eggplant, tomato & squash. Eggplant – Be sure to look at the vegetable directory Eggplant Page or Pinterest board for ideas. Are you looking for new ways to eat eggplant – try eggplant “meatballs” These are great for someone that typically does not like eggplant. Tomato – store at room temperature for the 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. 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: Our parched farm finally received some rain last night. This was approximately 1/2″ of much-needed rain. There is still not a significant change in the pond, but the crops will really enjoy the moisture in the soil. This has been a very hot and dry season for us and much of the region’s passing rain has missed us. Over the past couple of months, our farm has only received about 1/2″ of total rain. Typically, growing vegetables would like 1/2-1″ of rain weekly. Due to the lack of rain, we have been watering very selectively to reserve water for future use just in case we don’t get any rain.

At the very core of organic farming is soil health. We are thankful that we have been organically farming for 15 years and have been improving our soil to tolerate these extreme conditions. Over the weekend, we dug down a bit in the soil and found that just a few inches down there was cool and moist soil. This has allowed our established crops to survive. Below is a video for you.

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.