Hello CSA members. I hope you all had a nice week as we have here at the farm. We have yet to receive rain, but as time goes on, I personally stop expecting it or hoping for it so it seems as though it is not as big of a deal somehow. Thankfully, as I always say, we have irrigation so things will not die. We have been busy this past week on the farm weeding, harvesting and generally caring for the crops. The tomatoes are growing very well so far, and we are in the process of suckering them and tying them up on their trellis. Suckering means that we break off the lower growing tips of the plant to give it one main growing tip to focus its energy on. Left on its own, the plant will produce so many growing tips that a lot of its energy gets consumed with them and not consumed with producing high yields of tomatoes, which is what we want right? All in all the summer crops are doing well, we will start to see the beginnings of them in about a month or so with summer squash and cucumbers.
This week we had almost enough sugar snap peas for everyone, less a handful of folks. These people received the small amount of strawberries that we were able to harvest as the dry weather and heat are causing them to have a week or so early decline. The beets and carrots are just about to really take off, we are waiting eagerly. There are a lot of them in the ground and I keep thinking any day now they will fully burst with size. It will be soon, perhaps the colder nights we have had have slowed them down a bit. This week marks the first harvest of broccoli and cauliflower for the season. I gave 3lbs to the full shares because there was not much yet to harvest as far as quantity (and there are only 30 full shares), but what was there to be harvested was HUGE. I harvested my first 2.5lb. head of cauliflower! Also my first 2lb. head of broccoli! This is why we didn't divide them up amongst the whole membership, we would have had to cut the heads to do so and that would just have been not right.
Next week we will have kohlrabi for the half shares, more sugar snap peas, more carrots and beets for everyone, more onions and or leeks, garlic, lettuce, big boc choi, kale and *maybe* some broccoli and cauliflower although we may have a bit of a gap until we have more (but no worries, we will have more!). There may be some surprises in the shares as well, it can be hard to tell too early exactly what will be ready.
Once again, please let me know if you have any feedback, I do love to hear from YOU. Elise.
| Crop | Amount | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Total | $24.50 | |
| Sugar Snap Peas | ½ lb. | $2.50 |
| Leeks | two | $3.00 |
| Swiss Chard | one bunch | $2.00 |
| Brocolli / Cauliflower | 3 lb. | $6.00 |
| Kohlrabi | one bunch | $2.00 |
| Lettuce | two heads | $4.00 |
| Baby Boc Choi | three | $3.00 |
| Carrots | one bunch | $2.00 |
| Crop | Amount | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Total | $16.00 | |
| Sugar Snap Peas | ½ lb | $2.50 |
| Leeks | one | $1.50 |
| Swiss Chard | one bunch | $2.00 |
| Beets | one bunch | $2.00 |
| Cabbage | one | $2.00 |
| Lettuce | one head | $2.00 |
| Baby Boc Choi | two | $2.00 |
| Carrots | one bunch | $2.00 |
Heat oil in skillet, stir in garlic. Add peas, cook and stir 2-4 minutes on medium heat. Remove and sprinkle on lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Serve over rice.