Ahhh, summer, as one has come to expect it: highs in the high 70's / low 80's, coolish nights, irrigating because the crops simply need water, not because they are burning up in the searing air of a heat dome. We are pleased to find the garden in mostly good health after the inferno two weeks ago (high of 106 degrees here on Tuesday, 6/29). Most of our tender succession greens are gone for the moment, lettuce, bok choi, spinach most notably. We are planting new beds of these, however, so you'll see them in your boxes before long. More cherry tomatoes this week, and slicing tomatoes offered as an extra if you want to swap or purchase them. This is one of our earliest tomato harvests, so we are encouraged that a long season may be the result. Also encouraging is the overall quality of the slicing tomatoes, with much less cracking than in previous years. We think this is a result of regularly timed, low frequency irrigation that simple battery timers we purchased have made possible. That, and also more attentive picking to gather in the pink and purple varieties before cracks begin to develop. We expect production of the slicing tomatoes to increase soon to the point where we can supply all our members who want them.
This Week's Photo: Harvesting broccoli raab in bright summer light.
Extra Items This Week (for swapping and purchase):
** Shiitake Mushrooms (Cascadia Mushroom Farm, Bellingham)
** Goat (chevre) Cheese (Lost Peacock Creamery, Olympia)
** Medium Sharp Cheddar (Golden Glen Creamery)
** Parmesan Cheese (Golden Glen Creamery)
** Fresh Butter (Golden Glen Creamery)
** Eggs, Organic (Misty Meadows Farm, Everson)
** Chicken, pasture raised (Osprey Hill Farm)
** Cauliflower (Cedarville Farm)
** Slicing Tomatoes (Cedarville Farm)
