Good morning All!
I hope everyone had a great week and hopefully you've had some time to get out and enjoy the weather. SUMMER is finally here!! It feels like it this week, at least. We needed this heat really bad for the plants; there are a lot of varieties that need this heat to grow well! It also helps dry out the soil a bit more which is helpful to avoid getting blight which is a bad disease. When you get blight, your plants will wither and die basically so we're happy to see things going so well here- no blight!!
Farmer Ben told me that the watermelons are doing much better than they were. He's been cultivating that patch like a mad man trying to dry it out and he's seeing them rebound finally. They're looking good! This weather is definitely helping!
We got another 4 rows of pickles direct seeded yesterday & another 3 rows of slicing cucumbers which will be really nice to have later this fall! He and our employees were tying tomatoes yesterday and got the second tie on, which I'll explain more below. They got a bunch of trays of plants dumped that weren't able to get planted in time.
We opened up the pigs to the lower yard for them to forage a new spot. Got word back from our butcher shop that they are almost done with our order!! And we DID get our own maple syrup in those snack sticks!! Super cool.
Tomato Update!
They're looking great! I was a little worried because we still had about a thousand tomato plants left from this spring that we couldn't plant because we didn't have any dry ground. Ben just informed me that this crop of tomatoes could be his best crop yet- even with less plants!
We were referred to a new heirloom tomato from our friends, Tom & Lydia. They were telling us about this fantastic sauce tomato and we had to try it out! The San Marzanos are holding the most fruit out of every other tomato variety out there!
I know a lot of you guys know what this picture is, but I'm going to explain tying tomatoes to all of our new folks this season :)
In a lot of smaller operations, you can use the metal tomato cages, just put them on when the plants are young and walk away basically. The tomatoes grow up through the cage and then it supports the plants as they put on fruit. When they're loaded down with fruits, they will literally break their own branches because of how many 'maters are on. So it's a MUST to support the tomatoes somehow. We have roughly 4,000 tomato plants in the field, so a little too many plants out there to use tomato cages (where would we store them all? lol). So Ben ties his tomatoes, like the other farm he worked for when he was a kid. He was tying tomatoes at 10 years old and has applied the same strategy to his own tomato plants now. The way it works is you pound a 1x2 furring strip. They come in 8 foot lengths so we use the chop saw and cut them in half. Each one of these 4 ft long posts is pounded into the ground about a foot so it's got plenty of strength to hold up to the weight of the tomatoes as they put fruit on. The pattern is 2 tomato plants, a stake, 2 more tomato plants, another stake, all the way down the field. It's quite pleasing to look at it from the edge of the field because it's really pretty!! You can see in this pic at the very end where we had to buy new stakes this season- they're brightly colored. We can reuse these 1 by 2s for several years, there isn't a system to it, we just burn the ones that break every spring.
We use a special twine for tying tomatoes. You tie it on the end and then push the foliage up and the loop it around the next 1x2. Then onto the next, and the next, all keeping the twine tight so it supports the plants. We tie tomatoes 3 times usually; once every few weeks we'll get another tie on them to support the plants as they're putting fruit on! They're looking really good!!
FUN FACT
What is this picture you're wondering, why I am I sharing it with you? Well, it's NOT a head of broccoli. It's actually the absence of that head of broccoli lol. I was walking with Ben the other day in the field and realized this is one of those weird things in the garden that most people probably don't know, so I wanted to share. I imagine some of you probably have a garden at home or friends with a garden that you could share this with.
There are a few crops that actually produce MORE if you harvest the main head. Broccoli is one of those crops as you can see here, this head of broccoli was harvested earlier last week and the large center stem has dried now. Around the outside of that, you can see small little heads developing. Those are side shoots, and if you let them grow long enough they will actually get to the same size as the original head of broccoli! So in a couple weeks I would guess, those little side shoots will be harvestable as whole heads.
We had a lot of those side shoots at our Fall Sale last season which was great because folks were buying them by the box full and then blanching them for freezing for the off season.
We have a one-time event here at the farm in mid-October where we go out and glean the fields. Meaning we harvest every single thing that's left in the fields after our CSA commitment has been fulfilled. Once we glean the fields, we set up the pole shed with produce and canned goods, honey, pork products, all sorts of goodies! You'll all hear lots of info as that approaches; we have a lot of time yet before we start talking more about the fall sale lol!
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IN YOUR CSA'S NEXT WEEK:
Jumbo & Family Shares: Cauliflower, Red Potatoes, Summer squash, Onions, kale, & cucumbers/pickles! Single Shares: Broccoli, Red Potatoes, Zucchini, Onions, Swiss Chard, & cucumbers/pickles!
On the list here you'll see it says "cucumbers/ pickles". That means that as the patches are starting to produce, we are unsure what kind of quantities we'll have. That means that everyone will get cucumbers OR pickles, but we're not sure if we'll have enough of one kind or the other.
I keep track of literally everything all summer long. I have documents and charts in my clipboard so that I can keep track and make sure that everyone is getting an even split throughout the season. I keep track of EVERYTHING. I even have it on color coded craft paper that I run through my printer because I'm such a geek lol.
I keep track of how many cucumbers you get, how many zucchini (and what colors), how many tomatoes and what varieties they are, literally everything is written down. The reason we do that is because that's going to get you the best experience! We want you to get a big variety on a weekly basis and ensure you're getting an even split of the different variations of the crops.
CUCUMBERS VS PICKLES
Pickles and slicing cucumbers are different. Slicing cucumbers are longer and darker green with a thicker skin and a wider seed cavity. They hold a bit more water than pickles. Those are the ones you get at the grocery store. Pickles are a lighter green color, with a smaller seed cavity and thinner skins so we don't peel pickles before we eat them. We just bite off the flower end because it can be bitter, and then munch away!
Pickles have a lower water content which is part of the reason they're preferred for making pickles. You can make refrigerator pickles out of either pickles or slicing cucumbers, but if you were actually pickling them and processing them, I would only use pickles.
Oh what an awesome time of year. We've waited a WHOLE WINTER for this! I want to mention that this week, as they're just gearing up in production, you'll get a handful in your boxes but as the season goes on these plants will grow and put on more flowers. Meaning that we'll have a larger and larger quantity to distribute. So this week you'll probably just get a couple because we're not harvesting a ton yet. In the future, we will give you more as the patch increases in production!
Side Note
Pickles are not actually pickled, they're just a type of cucumber! Seems obvious for most but there is someone out there scratching their chin. No shame in learning about something new-to-you or different! A big part of our CSA is learning about the food we're enjoying, while also getting a box of freshly harvested goodies every week.
Fun fact, did you know that I had never even eaten a zucchini until Ben grew one for me? I literally couldn't even ID it if you gave one to me and asked me what it was.... that was 12 years ago. I've come a long way in my understanding, but I learn something new everyday.
The weirdest thing I learned this week is that beets actually produce more than one beet per seed. You'll get several plants from each seed, so every hole in the field actually has multiple beets growing but we only planted one seed... It's incredible how much there is to learn and this is part of the reason I love what we do! Plus- it's food... it's always applicable because we all have to eat and honestly if you want to do something good for yourself, study what you're eating! ;)
Zucchini and Summer Squash flip-flop!
If you got zucchini last week, you'll get summer squash and vice versa. Every once in a while we come up short with one variety or the other. Of course we don't want that to happen, but if it does, I write it down on the charts I have in my clipboard and then flip flop the following week. I keep track of everything!!
Onions!
It's a good thing that we have multiple patches of onions because the first patch is struggling. They were planted through the black mulch but they were in a lower spot where Ben couldn't cultivate to get rid of the weeds between the rows. He went in there with his cultivator and dropped the tines and ended up dragging the black mulch and wrecked a handful of onions. The point is: Ben couldn't do the regular upkeep required to maintain that field. He waited for an extra couple weeks for it to dry out so he didn't drag anymore onions. By the time he got in there, the weeds and grasses are too tall for the cultivator to take out. So we're just pulling that whole patch!! They've got to go because with all the grass there, there is a good chance they're not going to make nice big bulbs (for drying) anyways.
We will start with a row at a time obviously, since we want everything to be super fresh for you guys! We'll include some fresh onions with everyone's CSAs this week in an effort to clear that whole area out, so he can pull the black mulch and work it up. We might put another crop there this year, like direct seeding some herbs or beans. It's not a huge area but it was overtaken by grasses and we need to hit the 'restart' button. It's uncommon for Ben to plant the same spot in the field two times in one season, but this season is uncommon too. Gotta use the space we can use. As a result, everyone gets onions this week!!
They're not large bulbs yet. There are some dandys out there but for the most part they're more of a shallot size. Great for shishkabobs- which is another easy dinner that's quick to throw on the grill!
Red Potatoes
Did you guys try the fingernail test?!
I was cleaning some up the other day and as I was cutting them I was almost startled by the "POP" they make when you cut into them. They SNAP! I'm not sure how else to describe it- you get the knife just barely into the potato and they're so fresh they just snap right in half!
The skins are super thin on these potatoes as you can see in the pic above (and your potatoes at home too I'm sure). These need to be stored in the fridge when they're new potatoes like this, because the skin isn't thick enough to protect them right now. Later in the fall when the skins are thicker we will have you store them somewhere cool and dark.
Cauliflower & Broccoli!
This is so exciting!! We LOVE cauliflower here. We can grab a head and eat through the whole thing in a sitting. You'll notice the flavor is different with fresh cauliflower- it's not like the grocery store. Not that I'm knocking the store- I eat during the wintertime too, but I sure look at these fresh cauliflowers like a treat!
These are the same as broccoli- they're affected by the same little white moths. They lay eggs and the larva eat the greens and sometimes go into the heads. Like we talked about before- you'll want to soak these in a sink full of water with some vinegar and salt. I usually measure with my heart, lol, I don't actually bust out a measuring cup but it's roughly a quarter cup vinegar and a tablespoon or two of salt. If you let them soak for a half hour and rinse it out. It doesn't affect flavor.
I know that worms are icky and some folks are probably really grossed out so I'm sorry for that. We choose not to spray these because in a world of "what the heck is on our food", I'd rather it be a bug. I've harvested plenty of heads of cauliflower and broccoli and cleaned them up without soaking them and never found a worm. So it's not like there are a million out there; but you may encounter some if you don't soak the heads.
WRAPPING IT UP
The stand is usually open by now. We usually have the stand opened the second weekend of July but since the weather hasn't cooperated, we aren't starting until next Friday the 19th. Ben is heartbroken that after starting the corn 3 weeks early (in the greenhouse) it's still going to be a week late. So it's a good thing he started it so early!!!
We're planning to open the stand either way next weekend Friday the 19th, which is at Hudson Hardware Hank in Zimmerman. Our hours there are Fridays 9-6, Saturdays 9-6 and Sundays 9-5, starting next weekend.
Since we're not able to start the stand yet, it's given us a rare opportunity. Ben & I made these plans 5 days ago and have worked extra-extra every day to free up this time today!!!
We are going to take the kids to the mine pits today in Ironton!! It's like a playground up there, clear blue water and you can see all sorts of fish and crawfish, there are even old abandoned mine shafts under water.... It's incredible and I wish I could take under water photos to share them here.
Ben & I met while we were going to college at CLC in Brainerd and I joke that I spent 2 whole summers underwater up there. We'd go to the dive shop in Brainerd and rent the snorkeling gear and spend a whole weekend at the pits. We knew all the back roads and we'd take random trails down through the woods hoping we didn't get our car stuck or run into a down log on a one lane 'road'. Oh to be young again, haha.
If you're big into biking- you've probably heard of the neighboring town of Crosby. They're well known for the Cuyuna bike trails.
I have to say this is really special to have Daddy with us today.... I usually get to go swimming with him in the lake maybe 1 time all summer? There have been summers when we haven't gone swimming together at all.
We've always wanted to get up to the mine pits with the kids but the pits are so cold because they're hundreds of feet deep... So by the time they are warm enough to get in the water, we're too busy to get up there. Every other year, we have started the stand by now so Ben is unavailable. So this year with the late corn- is giving us an opportunity to take a few hours for our family today <3
What a blessing!! Now we get to bring our kids with us!!!!!
Unofficial Quote of the week: "Give a little love to a child and you will get a great deal back".
Eat Good & Be Well,
~The Farmer's Wife
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