A brief thunderstorm rolled through the farm late this afternoon. Just enough rain fell to freshen things up, and water the vegetable seedlings I transplanted earlier in the day.

(By the way, in case you did not notice, I have not mentioned the weather here for 3 weeks now – not since week 8! This is a big deal for me!)

The hot & humid weather these past weeks has been challenging for the plants as well as the people on the farm! While the summer crops – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant – love hot weather, sometimes they will not set fruit when the temperatures are this extreme. Often the blossoms simply fall off and the crop can be affected later, in a few weeks. But the plants themselves are mostly thriving and producing well right now.

Vegetables that prefer cooler temperatures and more moisture – all the salad greens, green onions, fennel, beans – are having a harder time. For example, the lettuce doesn’t taste as sweet nor are the leaves as tender. The spinach harvest is much smaller as many plants dried up. Green onions are short and barely green. Green beans are taking forever to mature.

We still have a lot of great produce to harvest, but what ends up in our CSA box or on our market tables may differ from our original plans. The timing of the vegetables can also change. But these variations are normal. The weather always dictates our course, and we adapt accordingly. This is why we grow so many different crops and varieties. Some may fail while others flourish. It makes farming exciting!

So …

What’s in the box?

Carrots, blackberries, shishito peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, salad green, fresh garlic.

Extras – Eggplant & zucchini.

Fruit share – a mixed basket of peaches, nectarines & blue plums.

• Our 1st carrots of the season are ready to harvest. Fresh carrots are hard to beat for flavour!
• We picked an abundance of blackberries today. And they are beautiful! Large, dark & delicious – a bit sweet & a bit tart. 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.)
• *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!
• Shishito peppers are back again! These are small, bright green peppers, with a sweet, fruity flavour and thin, tender, wrinkled skin. What makes a shishito exciting is that 1 in 10 peppers could be slightly hot! They are simple to prepare and delicious – char them in olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or other heavy pan over medium-high heat. Cook the peppers whole, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides. This only takes a few minutes! Sprinkle with salt & pepper and a splash of lime juice and some parmesan cheese, and serve immediately. Eat the whole pepper – except the stem. Charring shishitos on the BBQ also works well, or try them in the air fryer.
• Our 2nd planting of cucumbers is producing. These, together with tomatoes (large & small), a salad green & garlic complete the box.

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Around the farm this week …

Our 2nd zucchini planting is already succumbing to disease. Fortunately the 3rd planting is close to producing, and we will continue to have zucchini to harvest.

Rue learning to hunt from the best!