Our farm is a fun place!

At least the coyotes think so.

We are used to them stealing Sage’s toys from Amy’s yard – we find them all over the farm. But the other night they had a blast in the new row of zucchini that we recently planted. They tossed the straw mulch around, tore up sections of the insect cover, & tromped on the tender, little zucchini plants. And shrieked and howled loudly while playing – we heard them! Fortunately they only damaged the one end of the row.

Our farm is a great place to call home!

At least the groundhogs think so – though this newly excavated opening under the barn is larger than the holes they usually make.

Our farm grows tasty vegetables!

At least the mice and rabbits and … think so.

Critters have been munching on the beets especially, and now they’re enjoying the tomatoes too. This is the downside of farming next to the railroad. All sorts of animals and bugs live in it’s wild, unkept edges.

But I guess the farm should be big enough for the animals and us. We’ll try to get along and coexist peacefully together.

What’s in the box?

Blackberries, kale or Swiss chard, fresh garlic, fresh herbs, lettuce mix, arugula, tomatoes, beets, zucchini.

Extras – Eggplant.

Fruit share – Nectarines & early blue plums.

• The blackberries surprised us today! Usually they start slowly and gradually increase in quantity – but today was the 1st pick and we already harvested enough for CSA tomorrow. For those not familiar with blackberries, they are a bit sweet & a bit tart. If they aren’t quite ripe they can be sour. Too ripe and they are soft & mushy – but incredibly sweet. We try to pick them as ripe as possible but still firm. Unlike raspberries, blackberries are not hollow but have a soft edible centre core. The only way to eat a blackberry is to pop the whole thing in your mouth. Try to take a small bite and you will be covered in dark, staining juice. While best eaten fresh, blackberries also make great jam, juice, sauce & ice cream. (Lorie has her homemade blackberry jam for sale in the barn.) Enjoy your 1st taste – there will be more next week! (and the week after …)
• *Please note that we do use pesticides on our blackberries. For many years we did not. That was one of the good things about growing blackberries – no spraying necessary! Then along came the spotted wing drosophila. Spotted wing drosophila is an invasive vinegar fly that has the potential to cause extensive damage to many fruit crops, especially soft and dark coloured fruit – like blackberries. In the last number of years it has been found throughout much of southern Ontario and most of the fruit-growing areas of North America, and has become a chronic pest in berry and tender fruit crops. Effective biological controls are not yet available. There are cultural practices that we use to help reduce the insect populations, but the only effective control right now is chemical. And so we spray regularly to try to kill the spotted wing drosophila and protect our blackberries. We would rather not! But then again, we would rather not have worms in our blackberries either!
• Two new greens this week are kale & Swiss chard. You will find 1 of these in your box. We are growing both curly kale and dinosaur or black kale and the rainbow chard.
• Garlic was a hit last week in the box! Remember – it is fresh and not yet dried. Once the bulb is broken open, it should be stored in the fridge and used within a few days. Until then it can be kept at room temperature, and in a place with good air circulation.
• Herbs – choose from fresh dill, cilantro, parsley and basil.
• This week’s salad greens are lettuce mix & arugula. Lettuce is not a fan of this hot weather. Germination is difficult. (Right now we’re germinating lettuce in the cold storage!) It struggles to get established when we transplant it to the field, and it struggles to grow in the heat & humidity. So we overplant in hopes of getting enough for CSA and market – with some success! Where we are falling short right now is with the mini-romaine. But we will have it again soon (we hope) and also the beautiful heads of summer crisp lettuce!

• Tomatoes, beets & zucchini finish the box this week.
• We are getting big picks of eggplant these days – it will be available as an extra for those who want it.

__________________________________________

Around the farm this week …

Last week at CSA pick-up.

Our market stall on Saturday in Georgetown.