An inch (26mm) of rain fell on the farm over the weekend – a very, very welcome inch of rain! All the crops (and weeds too) are looking refreshed and healthier this morning. While an inch isn’t a lot after so many weeks of drought, it will still go a long way to helping all our vegetables and the blackberries.

What’s in the box ?

Jalapeno peppers, fresh cut herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro…), tomatoes, beets, zucchini, onions, fresh garlic, salad greens.

extras – kohlrabi, sunflowers, basil ?

• We don’t often put hot peppers in our CSA box, offering them as an extra rather, since many people do not prefer them. But our jalapenos are so beautiful this summer we couldn’t resist. You will find just a couple in your share this week. Jalapenos are usually on the milder end of the hot pepper spectrum – but they can sometimes pack a punch! It’s a bit of a surprise! Slice them into your salad, or morning eggs, or whatever sauce or dish you are cooking for a little something extra. We like to scrape out the seeds and stuff them with whatever cheese is around, wrap them with bacon and bake or roast them until the bacon is cooked and the cheese is melted. Or instead of cheese we’ll use a piece of fruit.
• Choose a bunch of fresh cut herbs this week – parsley, dill, cilantro …
• The rest of your CSA share includes the bounty of summer – tomatoes, juicy & flavourful, sweetened by the sun, beets, zucchini (amazing how some hot sun & a bit of rain on the weekend plumped them up. Most of them are grilling size – perfect for the BBQ), onions, and fresh garlic. The salad greens this week will be either spinach or a lettuce mix. Most of the spinach & lettuce we have planted in the last few weeks has succumbed to the heat and lack of moisture (despite our efforts to water & keep it growing) but a few small patches made it! Maybe they were planted at the right time & caught the few raindrops we had the other week, maybe the moon was right, maybe they were in better soil, maybe I watered them a bit more or prayed over them more ???? But enjoy a mid-summer salad this week. This weekend’s rain will certainly benefit the salad greens and hopefully increase production again in the next few weeks.
• Also available for those who choose are kohlrabi, sunflowers & maybe basil (weather dependant).

____________________________________

Around the farm this week …

Blackberry harvest has begun! We will pick blackberries every Monday, Wednesday & Friday now, until the season is over – usually mid-September. It may take a another week or 2 until we get enough for our CSA boxes.

Lettuce patch ready to harvest – the first nice lettuce we’ve had in a few weeks.

 

Other crops have struggled.

Transplanted these vegetables last Thursday. Thanks to the rain they are (mostly) doing well.

77 large round bales were delivered – for mulching crops next year.