Farm News and Crop Updates
It was another busy but productive week on the farm. The crew's main focus outside of farm share harvest and packing was weeding and trellising. These are essential crop maintenance tasks that have often been shirked in years past when we were running a CSA, while also selling at two farmers' markets and to lots of wholesale accounts. In those times, it felt like we never stopped picking or washing produce long enough to take care of future plantings. We have pared down our wholesale offerings to focus on just a few crops (mainly peppers, but also tomatoes watermelon in late summer) which has made the process more efficient. And since we made the decision to not attend the farmers' market this year, we have time on Thursdays and Fridays to do crop maintenance when we otherwise would have been prepping for market. Weeding and trellising should never be treated as optional tasks to squeeze in here and there - but that's what we were often forced to do in the past. It feels great to be able to stay up on that work, and we'll be thankful we did a month from now.
I'm very excited to report the best sweet potato establishment in our farm's history. Sweet potato slips (sprouted "eyes" of sweet potatoes that are the propagation material for this crop) arrive via ground transport and always look a little sad when we get them. They have few to no roots on them when they arrive, and they cannot begin to absorb water from soil until roots form. We typically receive the shipment of slips the week after Memorial Day, and it unfortunately often coincides with very hot, 90+F weather. While sweet potatoes, as a crop, love heat, they must first get established. This year we were lucky to have more moderate temps, and the crew did a great job with planting. At last check, I estimate that 95% of slips are putting on new leaf growth, indicating they have formed roots and established in our beds. They still need lots of hot weather July-September to size up enough for a good yield - so I don't want to count my chickens yet...
We have continued to battle our resident deer population. Despite our 7-ft electric fence, many know how to get over it or through it. Acknowledging this, we have started covering every planting of lettuce (the deer's favorite) with row cover to block their access. However, apparently even that labor intensive strategy isn't bulletproof...here's what I saw in a recently field walk, evidence that deer tore through the row cover and ate the lettuce below. We are hoping to receive cost-share from the Department of Natural Resources in construction of a 10-ft woven wire deer fence this fall.
We picked a few cucumbers today - so they're on their way. But they're precocious outliers, barely enough to feed the crew. We think we will start picking moderate amounts toward the end of next week and put them in shares the following week. I suspect we'll also start to see a few cherry tomatoes start to ripen next week, but realistically it will be two weeks before we would put any in farm shares, and three weeks before yields will be high enough a sizable portion of members to receive them. I know you are likely itching for some of these summer crops to show up in your box, and they're on the horizon.
Crop outlook for upcoming boxes: we decided to wait another week for fennel bulbs to size up a bit more, but they should be abundant in Week 5 boxes. We should also have a good amount of spinach, provided it fares next week's forecast heat ok. We might also be able to include modest amounts of cucumbers, bunched beets, and parsley in that box. That may also be the last of the snap peas. For Week 6, we hope to have more beets, the first carrots, cherry tomatoes, and more abundant cucumbers. Possibly some early sweet onions, as well.
Notes on items for this week's box:
- While it is our goal to include lettuce or some kind of fresh-eating greens in almost every box, this box is admittedly pretty heavy on salad greens for many members. We do continue planting successions of lettuce throughout the summer, but lettuce isn't as happy in summer heat and has a higher cull rate during mid-summer (so won't be as abundant in shares as lettuce is now). I hope you can embrace this last leg of "salad season" as we pivot to warm-season crops. Here's a salad dressing I have been making for our twice-daily salads in recent weeks. For long-time consumers of our standard salad mix, heads up that the majority of this week's salad will be a different variety that's a bit more tender but with a somewhat shorter shelf-life - more similar to the types sold in stores. Still delicious and should be good for a week or more in your fridge.
- Our own plantings of zucchini and summer squash are starting to yield heavier, so we likely won't be bringing in extra from Seeds Farm this week. Thus far, we have packed mostly green zucchini in shares, but we're starting to see more yellow summer squash coming out of the field. Many will see straight zucchini, but we'll do our best to include a mix of zucchini and summer squash as much as our supply allows.
- Spicy Mix microgreens contains a blend of different mustard greens. If you aren't a lover of spicy things - don't worry. They have a bit of pungency the way that arugula and radishes can, but aren't overbearing. They have the most flavor of any of our microgreens, in my view. We like to sprinkle a few atop eggs, salads, sandwiches, and meat dishes.
- This week will likely be the last of the garlic scapes. They're mostly a different variety (Chesnok Red) than last week's scapes (Majestic), and they'll be more slender in size.
- Cumin Scented Summer Squash Salad uses zucchini and cilantro.
- Baked Zucchini Fries uses zucchini.
To members who paid in full prior to April 15th, your $25 in credits for purchase extras and swaps were uploaded last week and should be available to use. If you add extras, or swap out a lower value item for a higher value item, Harvie should automatically apply your credits rather than charging your card. If you expected the $25 credit but do not see it in your account, let me know.
Thanks, and have a wonderful week!
Dana
