What a week of planting we’ve had. There’s still a few more things to go in the ground, but we got to the bulk of it over the last week. We planted three kinds of eggplant, five different peppers, many kinds of summer squash and cucumbers, basil, and sowed a dozen or more varieties of winter squash. We’ve planted many more dahlias, tuberoses, and specialty salvia, and scented geraniums. We have some more lettuce to plant along with some tomatoes to go out either Wednesday or Thursday.
Our valley is a buzz with all the cattle farmers baling hay just as fast as they can. We have a neighbor bale our hay, partially in small square bales, which we keep, and the rest in large round bales, which he keeps. There are large tractors and truck with huge trailers whizzing up and down our road moving bales from the field to various locales where the cattle are fed during the winter months. This process happens at least twice during the year, sometimes there is enough rain to warrant a third cutting of the hay.
We’re approaching a real transition time on the farm, one of many really. The early spring crops are starting to end and the summer crops are just beginning. At times this leaves us “in-between”. We don’t seem to have either enough of certain crops of the diversity of crops that we’d like to have. As you see in this week’s box we had 26 bunches of daikon radish, but we have 30 Wednesday CSA members!!. So four of you are easing into summer a little earlier than everyone else with your bags of basil. And POPCORN! We have a good bit left over from last fall and well, why not pass it along for you to enjoy it. It can be popped on the cob if placed in a paper bag and put in the microwave, on high until the kernels stop popping. Or you can take them off the cob and pop in an air popper or stove top popper.
Garlic scapes. They are the flowering stalk of stiff-neck garlic and are wonderful. Stop them into the desired length and add to a stir fry, soup, or use as a pizza topping. Any where you would use clove garlic you can use the scape, though the consistency will be a little different.
Enjoy!
Please return your CSA box next week. These boxes are waxed and are not recyclable, but we reuse them. So PLEASE remember to bring them back next week.
Tomatoes getting big and full of little fruit.
Summer squash days away…
Eggplant under their protective hoops & cover. keeping flea beetles away until they start to flower.
Ideas for Cooking
(We want to thank long time CSA member John Loyd for providing ideas and inspiration in this section!!!)
“Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.” The Koran
A side bar on the Dirty Dozen list from last week. The vegetables on the list tested positive for at least 47 chemicals, with some testing for as many as 67.
All food was organic until 1947. The rise of DDT etc. changed our world.From the President’s Cancer Panel. The Clean 15 – The Clean 15 tested for little to no traces of pesticides.
Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet onionsThis Week’s Recipes (click on link):