We’ve been busy out here during the past week. We had an incredible work day on Monday! The morning was spent weeding; all the spring onions are now without a weed around them (10,000 onions!), a bed of flowers, broccoli, carrots, beets, all weeded. IN the afternoon we planted two beds of sweet potatoes, strung up the field tomatoes, mulched in between half the winter squash beds, and sowed all the fallow fields to either buckwheat or a mix of sudan grass, millet, sunflowers & cow peas. Wow! Then it started to rain and hasn’t really stopped. It’s nice to get everything a nice drink of water, but now it’d be nice if the rain ended.
We’re almost fully into the summer season. There are still some spring crops coming in, but we’re really looking forward to some good summer fare. The first of the summer squash is in your boxes this week. Perhaps there will be basil next week, maybe. The tomatoes in the tunnels are looking really good, lots of little green tomatoes. We’ll be planting the first round of sweet corn as soon as the ground dries out.
OK, We know. Beets again. Last year we hardly ever had beets, and this year, as you are experiencing; there’s an abundance. If you’re having trouble getting through them all, they are easily pickled or you can simply take the tops off, put the beets in a plastic bag and store them in the frig. They’ll last for weeks and weeks like that.
The Farm Party is scheduled for JULY 12th! Mark your calendars and we hope that many of you will be able to attend. It’s a potluck get together and a chance to see where all these vegetables are coming from!
Worker members, we are ready to put you to work! Please take a moment to look at your calendars to see when you might be able to fulfill your work commitment.
And this from Robin Reeves of Reeves Home Place, where we are getting eggs and meat from this season. (The bolding is mine.)
Shew! We sure have had a lot going on here at the farm.
All of the cow/calf pairs have been moved to their high mountain summer pasture. They are now enjoying at cooler climate and grass up to their bellies. Talk about some happy cows. We are working on new fence and automatic water for the pigs, which will take a lot of physical labor away from us as we carry water to them now. Ducks are almost ready to harvest and we have some more baby chickens and turkeys on the way.
We were a stop on the Articulture tour which was a lot of fun and we will also be on the ASAP tour in September.
We have also been putting up hay between all of this rain. We have about 50 more acres to get up of first cutting hay. So we are already planning for the winter. Work never stops, but that’s one reason we love what we do.
Oh and just one more thing, I went to Raleigh yesterday and took a couple of workshops on pasture management and one on cuts of beef. Both of the classes were great and I learned so much.
Well let’s get with it!!!!!!
Robin
The boxes we use for the CSA shares are waxed and are not recyclable, but we do reuse them. So PLEASE remember to BRING THEM BACK next week.
Ideas for CookingGRITS – “ I don’t like grits,” I hear folks say. If you don’t, Dear Ones, you just don’t know how to cook ‘em. Grits are not just boiled, ground up corn, dumped into a bowl and eaten. Done right, they can be a tasty dish on their own and a great dish when seafood and vegetables are served on top. To a recipe using a cup of grits plus ¼ tsp. salt and 2 cups water, one can add butter and a quarter cup of sharp cheddar cheese at the end. Light cooked onions, green peppers and a bit of celery will also render the dish transcendent. Fried chopped bacon (Benton’s if you can get it) is pretty nice also.
Why all this about grits? Cooked right, they are a wonderful bed to put your sautéed, and especially your grilled vegetables on. Adding shrimp isn’t too bad either.