Back in the Swing of Things
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Greetings Folks,
This week finds us already 4 weeks into the summer program and we finally feel like we are back in the swing of things. With most of our summer crops planted out, it is time to fight back the jungle of grass and weeds that always threatens to engulf the farm in June. As organic farmers, we like to create habitat for native beneficial insects along our roadways, ditches and field edges so that we can encourage the good bugs to compete with the bad ones. This is often a blessing and a curse as we only have a few tools we can use to try to tame the habitat when it starts encroaching on our fields. We do a lot of "grounds keeping", meaning mowing and weed whacking as well as flame weeding (which is basically what it sounds like, walking around with a propane tank on our back and a burning back the smaller weeds, and yes we feel like a bada**). It is also time to start trellising tomatoes...a seemingly relentless task in June as by the time you get to the end of the row, the tomatoes have grown so much its time to start again (only exaggerating a little).
With mother's day, graduation, and summer vacations out of the way, June is here and its time to open the windows, pull out the grill and settle into that luxurious pace of summer (although technically it doesn't start for another 2 weeks). Green salads are always a fast and easy way to pack in the vegetables, but I'm partial to branching out a bit this time of year. Massaging heartier greens like kale and chard in your favorite dressing will leave you feeling oh so satisfied and make you something of a standout at your next bbq. I like to use a lemon and honey based dressing for mine and combine it with some fruit, nuts and delicious cheese. Pasta salads are also a nice change and can absorb most vegetables well. Blanched greens blend well with sliced kohlrabi and turnips in an early summer pasta salad. Speaking of Kohlrabi, I love to eat it raw but it is great combined with radishes in spring rolls or Asian dumplings or even just sliced and grilled. Sugar snap peas and zucchini will be trickling into the market over the next week. Our peas took a bit of a beating with late snow storm and some early deer pressure, so we are expecting loweryields. I know they are a favorite of everyone, so we apologize if they are a bit sporadic at the markets. Can't win them all every year.
Looking forward to seeing many of you soon,
Katie
This Week's Harvest
Kale
Collards
Chard
Radishes
Turnips
Salad Mix
Spicy Mix
Spinach
Baby Bok Choy
Broccoli Rabe
Kohlrabi
Zucchini (just starting, will have more soon)
Sugar Snap Peas
