Farm Newsletter June 27, 2023

Farm Newsletter June 27, 2023

Farm News        Crop Forecast

 U-Pick       Recipes       Nuts and Bolts

Greetings!

Wow another sunny June! This week’s cooler temps are a relaxing reprieve from hot sun every day.

Thanks to the new irrigation well we’ve had enough water to get everything off to a good start, with less labor than ever. And the weekend rains have been very well timed. This past weekend we got a total of 2.5″, and 2.25″ the weekend before! That’s a huge gift, to bank some moisture deep down for the crops to access in the coming weeks. Last weekend the rain was very spotty – -we heard in Northfield they got 0.3″ or less — but this weekend seemed more widespread which should be a relief to many farmers and gardeners!

The dry weather has its challenges but has been awesome for killing weeds! So in the last couple weeks we cultivated, hoed and hand-weeded nearly everything, some of it twice, and it’s such a pleasure to look at the weeds a couple hours later and see them withering back into the soil.  Overall the last few weeks have been filled with planting, watering and weeding, and the harvests for your shares. The next couple months are a steady round of plant, water, weed, harvest (and fix stuff) — but the planting now is at a much less furious pace, and the weeding is more spaced out as the crops mature and the weeds grow at different rates too, depending on when they were last weeded.  We’ll seed greens and lettuce every week for 20 weeks (we’ve already planted 5) , herbs and beans every other week, broccoli and cabbage every 1-2 weeks (we’ve done 6 of 10 so far), summer squash and cucumbers every 2-3 weeks (just one more left), and more.  We have 3 plantings of tomatoes and 4 of peppers, to spread those harvests out as long as we can into the fall.  Carrots and beets we seed every 3 weeks.

How’s this for a strange marker of the progression of seasons — The winter storage carrots will hopefully get planted this week! And could have been put in last week even, but we didn’t want pounding rain to wash them out, since this weekend’s storms could have been severe. It rained hard a couple times, but didn’t seem to do damage to soil or plants, and there were several gentle showers.

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Crop Forecast

This week is a transition week from spring to summer crops, so we will likely still need to have limits on the summer crops as they gain momentum.

This week — mostly the same as last week — Leaf and head lettuce, scallions, radishes, salad turnips, boc choi, kohlrabi, some squash and zukes, broccoli and cabbage. Also a few cucumbers and beets.

Radishes did not do great, but we’ll have a few more. Plenty of greens and lettuce. Kale and we’ll probably pick some swiss chard. Garlic scapes for the last time this week. If you haven’t before, you should make some Garlic Scape Pesto! It only takes a handful or a few to make a decent batch and it’s soooo flavorful. Click on that link for a couple recipes or see them below.

Next week we should have more summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers. Maybe carrots too.

The first tomatoes should be in mid-July — the earliest plants have fruit on them, and all the plantings of tomatoes look good. The Asian eggplants are flowering and look good too!

Once things start flowering and setting fruit — peppers, squashes, more tomatoes and eggplant — hot temps for more than a couple days can really interfere with pollination and yields. We’re enjoying this week and hoping for mild temps going forward!

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What’s for U-Pick?

Wow, what a Strawberry year! They have tasted awesome, and the size and amount has made for lots of easy picking.

Last weekend’s rain did some bruising damage so there were more going soft by mid week than we expected, but hopefully you all got at least 2 good picking opportunities. It’s such a short season. We’ve tried a few things to stretch it to 3 weeks, but it always seems to jam itself into 2 gonzo weeks, then some gleaning afterwards.

We’ll still have no limit, but this week it will take a lot more patience to pick. There are lots, but fewer, out there and they’re smaller. Being small they don’t fill up a quart fast but they’re pretty easy to find on the plants , so hopefully you find it worthwhile. We’ll miss the berries after this week! Good thing we have a great organic fruit farm next door! Little Hill Berry Farm has summer/fall strawberries starting soon, and blueberries of course too.

Peas are starting this week or next! They still need to plump up. They’re down the driveway in the southern field that’s closest to 320th St. They’ll have a flag and they’re staked with fence posts – so look for the 4 rows of posts. They’re just starting to trickle in , so we’ll probably have a small limit this week and it’ll probably be a quart (per full share) next week. Peas season is 2-3 weeks depending on temps. They love these cooler temps, and will be short-lived if 90s return.

Pick peas with two hands – hold the plant with one hand and pull off the pea with the other. Or get fancy one-handed and hold the stem between two fingers while your thumb pops the pea off. The key is don’t yank on the vine.

Beans are trickling in too!! A small limit this week and then hopefully a quart next week, and many to come.

FLOWERS!! As with so many things, this is just the beginning. Probably one small bouquet this week, unlimited in a few weeks.

Cilantro and Dill are cruising along.  Basil is open this week with a small limit of “2 pinches”. The best way to pick basil is to pinch the tops off, at a leaf joint which has new leaves waiting to grow out. That was the plants grow more growing tips or tops which can be pinched. So by “2 pinches” we mean 1 pinch from 2 different plants. Ask Erin or Alex if you’re unsure about this, we’re happy to show or explain.

Thistle is strange this year — some places we expected it to be bad and it’s not there at all. A couple places, like the herbs, we thought it’d be milder — but we were clearly wrong. We’ll keep trying throughout the summer to keep it out of the way, but it’s a good idea to bring close-toed shoes and some deep breathing to pick herbs this year.

This spot in the newsletter will keep you informed, and always check the U-pick board when you’re here to see what’s available and picking amounts. 

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Nuts and Bolts

From LuAnn in the Medicinal Herb Garden: 

From LuAnn at the Medicinal Herbs Garden

I have enjoyed meeting many of you over the past couple of weeks and catching up with those I’ve known from past years.  I hope to be hanging out at the garden during CSA pick-up times this week.  Please stop by to check out how the medicinal herbs are growing.  Here are a few highlights for this week:

–  Borage is just starting to bloom.  Did you know the bright blue flowers are edible, tasting like cucumbers, and are lovely sprinkled on a salad? 

–  Lemon Balm is ready to be snipped and is so tasty in a tea or sprinkled on salads.

–  Hyssop is in full bloom now, to the delight of the many pollinating insects you’ll find feasting on its pollen and nectar.

–  A full list of plants that are ready to gather is on my website.  Keep in mind that some on the list are used exclusively for making herbal remedies and not pleasant to our taste buds!  Do not pick or taste plants unless you are positive of their identification and edibility.  I am happy to help you out with this, of course.  If you have questions and I am not there, feel free to call or text me; my phone number is on the sign at the SW corner of the garden.

–  Along with planting and weeding, another important part of my responsibility at the garden and the farm is managing the harvesting of medicinal plants — not just in the garden but also in the “wild areas” around the farm — to avoid overharvesting and to assure the vibrancy of the many native plants Erin and Ben have intentionally added to their farm for beauty and to provide food and habitat for the many resident pollinators (that help to pollinate the food they grow for us)!   Please check with me before gathering medicinal plants either in the garden or in the uncultivated, wild areas so that I can tell you which areas are best to gather from.

–  However, plantain and dandelion leaves are in abundant supply in the you-pick areas and along the walking paths.  No need to contact me about harvesting either of those!  FYI – both dandelion and plantain are in my top five list of medicinal plants!  Ask me more when you see me at the garden.  

Bulk Produce for You

Check here each newsletter for what we have available for extra purchase.

You might know that while a lot of the produce we grow goes to you, some of what we grow is sold to wholesale accounts.  Once we get going later in August , we deliver 2-3 times a week to Just Food Co-op, St. Olaf College, Carleton College; plus Minneapolis Public Schools, and distributors who sell to schools, restaurants and stores, a soup maker (Chx Soup Co) and a kim chi maker (You betcha Fermntcha).  Mostly for peppers, fall kale and cabbage, carrots beets and other roots all winter. We don’t do it much in the summer — we’re plenty busy with harvesting your shares and tending summer and fall crops — but really get rocking with bigger harvests in mid-August.

We like to offer you the same produce beyond what you get in your share, at or just above our wholesale prices, to use for parties, special events, serving guests, or just filling your family’s bellies each week.

To place a bulk order, simply email us at least 2 days ahead of the day you’d like to pick it up.  Orders can be picked up at the farm during our regular pickup hours, but it doesn’t have to be your share pickup day. Usually we can make an order on the spot, too.

An email for TOMATO BOX PREORDER will come out in a couple weeks.

This week’s selection is : Lettuce Mix for $6 / lb . More next time!

Push Pin Sign-In  When you come to pick up your share, please “sign in” with the push pin by your name, inside the barn door. This helps us know how many people came each day, so we can be sure to pick/have more than enough for everybody.

For split shares — instead of leaving notes on the sign in sheet, you can email or text your share partner to communicate “Who gets what this time”.

Share Pickup Hours TUESDAY and THURSDAY 1:30-6:30 pm. 

Change Pick-Up Day Form — Click here.  Please fill out this form instead of emailing us.  Thanks! 

Where is the farm? 4151 320th Street West, Northfield.

Please Drive Carefully —Children are everywhere.

If You Send Someone Else to Pick Up Your Share  — Please forward them the basic pickup video in this link , which was also sent in an email earlier in June.  Then just tell them to introduce themselves to us in the barn, just so we know and we can show them around.

We love having all of you come to the farm! Thank you for making it such a great place to be!

Your farmers,

Erin and Ben, with Allia, Alexandra, Elliott, Emily, Kae and Karin

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RECIPES

Scallion Pancakes

from https://rasamalaysia.com/

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cupsAll-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoonSalt
• ½ teaspoonChicken Bouillon Powder (optional)
• ½ cupWater
• 4 stalksGreen Onion (or scallion, green parts only, trimmed and cut into small rounds, to yield about a tightly packed 1/3 cup or more)
• 2 tablespoonsOil (for brushing)
• add Extra All-Purpose Flour (for dusting and rolling)
• add Oil (for frying)

• Sift the all-purpose flour into a big bowl and then add the salt and chicken bouillon powder (if using) into the flour. Combine well and set aside.
• Heat the water to a boil. Slowly add the water to the flour and knead the dough until it becomes soft, no longer sticky and the surface becomes smooth and shiny, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of water to the dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Add the scallions into the dough and combine well.
• On a flat and floured surface, divide the dough into 8 small dough balls, as pictured.
• Working with one dough ball at a time, roll it to a thin disc using a rolling pin. Dust the rolling pin with some all-purpose flour as you go. Brush the surface of the pancake with the oil.
• Roll the dough into a cylinder.
• Coil it up like a snail.
• Dust the rolling pin with the flour and roll the snail-shape dough until flat, measuring about 6 inches (15cm) in diameter. Set the dough aside on a baking sheet. Repeat the steps above for the rest of the dough balls.
• Add about 1/4 inch (6 mm) of oil into a stir-fry pan or skillet over moderately high heat. Transfer a piece of the pancake onto the pan or skillet.
• Shallow fry each side of the pancake to a light golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancake over and shallow fry the other side.
• Add more oil, repeat the same for the remaining pancakes and serve immediately. They are best eaten with warm and homemade soy milk.
• Notes
• If you don’t use the chicken bouillon powder, then use a total 1 1/2 teaspoons salt for the dough instead of 1 teaspoon salt as stated in the recipe.
• To jazz up the aroma of the pancake, you may add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil to the oil and brush onto the surface before rolling up into a cylinder.
• You can also pan-fry the pancakes. Just grease your pan with a bit of oil and pan-fry both sides until they turn lightly brown with dark brown spots.

Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

from https://www.whiskaffair.com/strawberry-vinaigrette/#recipe

• 8 ounces strawberries (250 g, fresh or frozen)
• ▢2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ▢2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ▢2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ▢¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper

Instructions

• Start by preparing the strawberries. Rinse the strawberries and chop off their top leafy part. Cut the strawberries into rough slices.
• If using frozen strawberries, thaw them until they are softened.
• Add the sliced strawberries, extra virgin olive oil, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, salt, and black pepper into the small jar of a blender or a food processor.
• Blend until smooth.
• Store it in a glass bottle and refrigerate it until use. Shake well before using.