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What's happening on the farm right now?
We have a former apprentice visiting with us this week and next. Sophie, on the right in the photo above, worked with us in 2018 and started her own flower farm, Mindful Blooms, down in Florida this past year. (You can follow her on Instagram @mindfullblooms)The growing season in Florida just finished, so she sowed her fields to cover crop and came back to Full Sun Farm to work and learn, now with eyes of a new farmer. It has been great to talk with and learn from her as well, to realize all the things that have changed and improved on the farm since 2018 and to hear about how she is going about building her business.
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We have been doing a lot of trellising this week, eggplant, peppers and some of flowers all got stakes and either string or netting woven around them to support them as they grow. The peppers and the eggplant both get so heavy with fruit that they flop over, exposing the peppers and eggplant to the direct sun and often causing them to get sunburned. The upright plants are also a lot easier to harvest from and the eggplants and flowers grow nice and straight.
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Eggplant before trellising
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And after.. The popcorn and winter squash on the right are looking good too.
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What's available in the store and at market this week?
We only offer blueberries a couple of weeks out of the year and this is one of them. They are just starting to turn so are a little on the tart side and made great pies and jams, and of course, fresh eating too. We have lettuce mix but no head lettuce online this week. We're hoping with some extra water the heads will size up and we'll have some at market on Saturday but we don't want to count on it. We have plenty of summer squash, kale and Swiss chard. New red potatoes are so tender and almost sweet. Cilantro, basil. We have red and yellow onions. Sunflowers, mixed bouquets.
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Please note: Pick up locations for this coming Saturday are at the North Asheville Tailgate Market 8am until noon, and out here at the farm, 9m until dusk. Remember: You don't have to wait in line at market! Come to the check-out table and we will quickly grab your box for you.
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John's Recipe of the Week
John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful cooking observations and delicious recipe offerings appear here each week.
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“Don’t go bacon my heart.” Elton John, maybe
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Speaking of bacon. Benton’s bacon is available at the Sunburst Trout store in Waynesville or online. The Nueski bacon at Fresh Market is not a bad second choice.
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Are you cooking up something that’s cool, using our vegetables? Send us your recipe and we will pass it around.
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CARROT TOPS – You might consider eating them instead of putting them in the compost.
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Chop and put in salads and soups or broths
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Make pesto – there are good recipes on the internet
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We feed them to our chickens.
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The Internet has lots of ideas.
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KALE – At our house, we were slow adopting kale. I remember the looks of horror on the Full Sun interns faces when I said we fed it to our chickens. Once we learned various ways to prep the kale, we loved it.
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You will not find kale in Southern food writing, excepting the most recent cookbooks. Collards are a form of kale. Although used a lot in northern Europe and the UK, kale used widely here is a recent thing. Early on, kale ended up in juicers. It is super rich in vitamins and minerals. For the most part Kale comes in two varieties. Curly and flat leaf known as lacinato is also called Tuscan. Some folks think the lacinato tastes less bitter. There is a Russian or red kale we sometimes grow that is in-between the curly and lacinato.
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Using kale - You probably want to cut the stems out before using.
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Cooking with the curly, you can wilt as much as you like. This takes a minute or more though the lacinato is fast.
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You can cook all types of kale down like spinach or think stir frying or adding to soup.
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Raw, you can massage the curly and make salads. About 5 minutes with a bit of salt and lemon juice does it and the transformation in dramatic. The curly is great for making chips and smoothies. The lacinato is great in salads and soups. Kale can most often take the place of lettuce. In salads we find that oil and vinegar style dressings work really well.
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So have fun with your kale!
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A sturdy drip tape roller-upper, instead of wobbly, constantly about to fall or pinch your fingers saw horse.
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(Hmm, maybe only a farmer can truly appreciate the beauty of this contraption!)
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Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
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- Cheri Huber and Ashwini Narayanan
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