CSA # 5 July 6
Good evening!
Kind of late getting this out tonight, we took our son out for supper and to get some supplies since he is leaving for camp. Can you believe that this morning started with my usual harvest in the rain? It did clear up though and ended up a really nice day.
Each year seems to produce different stars in the garden and last year I would say the top 2 were peas and summer squash. Peas went out like crazy- in the baskets, the store was full and I remember when we had a school visit I let the kids go wild in the pea patch where they filled their pockets for their mommy’s and daddy’s!
One thing I was not happy with last year was my lettuce drought and I said I would strive to improve and not run dry on salad greens in 2013. I am really happy with how things are turning out in the salad mix department and am pretty confident that I will be able to provide you all with an ever changing lettuce blend all season long. I have been trying a lot of new add in’s this summer to replace the Asian greens which help fill the bag during spring and Fall. Every week, I either seed Sunflower shoots or Pea shoots and have planted different Orach’s, Amaranth, Beetberry, Magenta Spreen, New Zealand Spinach, Purslane and herbs to keep the bags interesting and introduce new flavors, textures and nutrients. I have so many different kinds of lettuce growing and have been picking the leaves one by one which really helps get the most out of every plant. One by one at about 80 bags of lettuce a week and growing is a lot of leaf picking! I just can’t seem to keep the store full this year as soon as I stock it up someone stops by and leaves with a whole lot of it. Seems like some hired help in in order but we just aren't ready for that yet!
Anyways, things in the garden are still kind of slow but are doing well and are all green as opposed to those overly wet days which had them turning yellow. We have continued to get a lot of showers so it’s important to try and time weeding because the soil needs to be a little on the dryer side to use our hand tools. If it’s too wet things really gum up!
This week I have included an item in the Saturday’s group that I needed to talk about (wed group will get sunflower shoots instead since sat got them last week). So yes, my nasty looking Kohlrabi- they look so bad and I was going to till them in until I started eating them. As bad as they look, with a little patience and a knife all the ugly peels away to a beautiful crisp flesh. I have added a little more as opposed to those who would have gotten some of the nicer ones last week just to make up for how they look. I expect the Fall batch will be a lot better. Kohlrabi is so good wrapped in tin foil with a little olive oil, salt and lemon juice over the barbecue!
In this weeks basket:
2 bags of Chez Nous Mix
1 small bag of tomato zucchini mix
1 bag of baby carrots and a purple green onion
1 bag of Kohlrabi
1 bag of lime or Thai basil/ parsley
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| Tomatoes and cukes in greenhouse over our heads now! |
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| My lettuce beds needing weeding...still kind of damp but calling for more rain so i'm going to do the best i can. |
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| Got most of the weeding done. |
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| My collinear hoe getting gummed up way to often! |
A couple items in your salad mix:
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| Lettuce a few days later... not bad |
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| Amaranth in your lettuce mix ....look at all that purslane weed surrounding it- and the golden purslane seed I planted isn't doing so well but there is so much of the wild stuff everywhere! |
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| Purple Orach and more weeds! |
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| Magenta Spreen |
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| Pea Shoots |
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| Radish microgreens |
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| Microgreens take an eternity to clean....but add a good punch to the mix |
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| This lettuce mix taking it's final rinse and mix |
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| A few of the summer squash we are growing with patty pans on the way. Tomatoes from the greenhouse, not as sweet as i'd like we need to adjust the irrigation a little. |
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| And the ugliest thing i have ever grown that taste quite delicious! |
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| Here is a portion similar to yours ..believe me I wanted to peel your too but i knew that that would be a little crazy. |
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Our ducky ducks...only two left one disappeared early in the season- they have made friends with the old timer Pekin ducks.
Here's a link to a yummy creamy dressing that i have been making with any and all fresh herb combinations.
And that avocado scape dressing from last week is my new favorite green sauce, I've been eating it with eggs, on sandwiches, with steak, as a dip sprinkled with tomatoes and parsley...just yum
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Goodnight!
Shirley and Rick
Chez Nous Farms
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