Green beans, cabbage, basil, tomatoes, zucchini, salad greens, garlic ...
It’s always exciting to have a new vegetable for the CSA box! This week it is green beans.
Cabbage was in the box back in week 5. This week’s cabbages are from the same planting. We have been waiting for them to grow but it has been so dry they have not gained much size. The rains we had last week were beneficial for many of our crops, but came to late to help the cabbages. So the choice will be small cabbages or even smaller cabbages!
Hope you like pesto because our basil is doing great this year. If you need a recipe check out http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com. This subscription website has 900+ recipes, templates, storage and preserving tips, pantry stocking suggestions and vegetable prep videos, organized by vegetable and created using CSA Produce. Log in using the access key you received at sign up or ask us to send it to you again.
We are picking more & more tomatoes – not just the small cherry tomatoes but the medium size heirloom varieties and even the large beefsteaks now.
There is a zucchini race happening on the farm right now! The 1st planting is showing a lot of disease and many of the plants are dying – more every day. This is due to the dry, hot & humid weather we’ve had recently. But our next planting is racing to grow and produce fruit before the older plants are finished.
Healthy plants.
Sick plants
New plants.
Salad greens and fresh garlic complete the box this week.
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Around the farm this week …
We received 2 good rains causing an explosion of growth – including weeds! The eggplant surprised us with a good pick for market. Within a week or two there should be enough for CSA.A beautiful sunrise on the way to market Saturday morning.
Lots of colour on our market tables!
Big Flynn catches at least 1 snake every summer and it always turns out the same – he watches it for awhile, then loses interest. The snake slithers away …Rosemary catches nothing yet – just makes trouble!And Sage surprised everyone – including herself – by catching a groundhog the other week. She’s still tired out from the excitement!
Right now our rain gauge shows about 40mm or 1.5″.
This rain was desperately needed. The vegetables already look greener and healthier and happier. I will have far less watering to do for at least a few days. And the cisterns (which were just about empty) will be full again. We are beyond happy and thankful!
Until now I had been spending a lot of time watering the just-planted vegetable seedlings every day. Even then they have struggled to survive. We have lost a lot (and also saved a lot). But the rain does a far better and more effective job. It is great to see some puddles around the farm again. They won’t last long – but the benefits of this rain certainly will!
Finally beets! We have been taking beets to market for a few weeks now, but have not had enough for CSA. This week there should finally be an ample supply. And for a change, the shortage of beets cannot be blamed totally on the weather! While we did lose some due to heat & drought, we also made some mistakes in our planting. But we seed beets every 2 weeks so there should be lots of beets coming yet. They are tender & delicious! We don’t even bother peeling ours when we eat them.
Most herbs love hot, dry weather. So it’s no surprise that we have an abundance right now. Basil, dill, cilantro and parsley bunches will be available this week. You may choose 1 of these.
We are in the midst of garlic harvest. There is lots! And the quality looks great! Fresh garlic has a wonderful strong, pungent garlic flavour – much stronger than the garlic scapes you have been receiving in your box. Because it has just been pulled and is not dry, it should be kept at room temperature, and in a place with good air circulation. You can leave it there and it will slowly cure & dry. Or enjoy it right away in your cooking, but know that once the bulb is broken open, it should be stored in the fridge and used within a few days. Enjoy!
The tomato plants will benefit immensely from last night’s rain. But the tomatoes themselves will probably have a lot of cracks from all that moisture coming after the prolonged period of dry weather. But there will be tomatoes in your box – hopefully a few more each week!
Zucchini, kohlrabi and a salad green complete your CSA box.
Monday morning and my work is ready and waiting for me – 3 trailers of seedlings, with close to half of them big enough to be planted.
The actual planting is the easy part.
But first the beds must be prepared. Normally I would lightly rototill the soil to clean up any weeds and make a nice, smooth surface for transplanting. But the ground is too dry to waste moisture by rototilling. Besides, my rototiller is broken and at the mechanic for repairs – expensive repairs – and the parts are difficult to source (thank you COVID!), so who knows when it will be up & running again. So we prepare the beds by hand – pulling the weeds, then raking and smoothing the soil. It takes extra time & effort – but it works!
The top few inches of soil are quite dry – dusty even – and that’s where my tiny seedlings are planted. So we have to water … and water … and water. Daily we give them a soaking, for about a week. By then they are established, their roots have reached the moisture and they are left on their own. We collect rainwater off the barn roofs, save it in a couple of cisterns and use that for watering.
Seedlings (edamame, fennel, green onions, edible flowers, lettuce & mini romaine) planted and watered. Today was not only hot but very windy as well. This is an extra challenge for the new vegetables as they dry out so quickly.
What’s in the box?
Cherry tomatoes, Chinese cabbage,kohlrabi, zucchini, salad greens, green onions.
extras – garlic scapes.
It’s tomato time! Enjoy the first taste of cherry tomatoes this week. We’re still only picking a few, so it really will be just a taste – a tease of what’s to come!
Chinese cabbage is one of my favourite vegetables. Crisp, tender, and mild – it is delicious used fresh in a salad instead of lettuce. Or use the large leaves as wraps, make it into coleslaw, kimchi or stir-fry it. While the outer leaves are a lovely green colour, the inside is often creamy white. It prefers cooler weather and does best in fall, but we like to try it in spring & summer as well. This week’s cabbages are smaller and looser heads due to the warm weather we have had, and lack of rain. There are a few insect bites too – bugs also like Chinese cabbage!
Kohlrabi is a new vegetables for many of our 1st time CSA members. Did you like it? We plant kohlrabi every couple of weeks and try to include it in the box regularly. It makes a great snack!
The zucchini harvest is increasing. (Plus we just seeded again so hopefully we will have zucchini all summer.) Many of you prefer very small, green zucchini, but the yellow, and the green striped zucchini are similar in taste & texture. I always suggest choosing the smallest size for eating raw. They are the most tender. Larger ones are great for spiralizing or for grilling. And if zucchini bread or cake is on the menu then choose the biggest fruit!
Green onions and a salad green finish off the box this week.
Garlic scapes are available for those who want them – we still have lots!
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Around the farm this week …
Our butterhead lettuce went to seed due to the high heat, before we could even harvest any!But the colourful & delicious lettuce mix continues to grow well.It is Japanese beetle season. Edamame is their preferred vegetable on our farm.
While us humans keep working regardless of the weather, our animal friends know how to relax during the heat of the day!
And the little guys have fun playing in the fountain!
Kohlrabi is a strange-looking vegetable – sort of like a cross between a little cabbage and a turnip. It is considered a root vegetable, though the edible round globe grows above ground. Kohlrabi is most often eaten raw – just peeled & sliced. The taste & texture resembles fresh, crunchy broccoli stems, with a bit of radish thrown in. Use on raw vegetable platters and serve with a creamy dip. Grated kohlrabi can be added to slaws. We like to spiralize our kohlrabi and use it instead of pasta. Kohlrabi can also be steamed or boiled – when the bulbs are tender, peel skin, and season with butter, salt, and pepper, a cheese sauce, or just enjoy plain. They are good for mashing with other vegetables – parsnips, carrots or potatoes. Kohlrabi absorbs the flavour of other ingredients making it ideal to add to soup, stew and stir-fries. The bulbs should be stored, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the fridge. They will hold for a week. Our favourite way to cook kohlrabi is to sautée it in butter & garlic(scapes) for just a few minutes. Then add just a dash of nutmeg. Delicious!
The early cabbages are ready! You have told us you prefer smaller cabbages, so that’s what we grow. These are a good size, just right for a meal or two.
Zucchini are coming on strong! Green, yellow and striped – they all taste similar and can be used the same way. Enjoy!
We’re coming to the end of our salad turnips. Enjoy them in your box for perhaps the final time.
Salad greens of some kind, green onions and garlic scapes complete the box this week.
*** As a member of our CSA you have access to http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com. This website has 900+ recipes, templates, storage and preserving tips, pantry stocking suggestions and vegetable prep videos, organized by vegetable and created using CSA Produce. Log in using the access key you receivedat sign up or ask us to send it to you again.
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Around the farm this week …
Eggplant & peppers.Lots of fruit on the field tomatoes! We even picked our 1st cherry tomatoes – just a very few.The garlic scapes are all harvested and the garlic is beginning to turn yellow. Another couple weeks and it will be ready to pull.We covered a bed of lettuce & mini-romaine with a dark shade cloth to protect them from the hot sun. Extreme sunshine & heat turn the lettuce leaves bitter and cause the romaine to stretch and go to seed.Edible flowers growing …… and packaged, ready for the market.Transplanting vegetables today with my helper! The soil is quite dry now. I have to water the tiny seedlings for several days after transplanting to help them get established.The new chickens are big enough to come outside now – and they’re loving it!Rosemary rarely sits still long enough to allow us to snap a photo – she’s a little terror!
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