Farm Newsletter July 18, 2023
Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Greetings!
Such a cool July so far around here! So different than the heat down south. And we’ve had rains spread out by a week at least, compared to the deluge and floods in the Northeast. We know how hard those conditions are on farms and farmworkers — our hearts go out to all of them as they try to pull through those huge challenges.
As you know the wildfire smoke and low air quality has been the hardest weather challenge around here. Fortunately it moves on relatively quickly, but we have adjusted our work around it a couple times to make sure everyone is feeling good.
Believe it or not we got 7.5″ of rain in between mid June and last week. It wasn’t super wet but we were ready for it to stop! And now we’ve had a break to dry things out a bit, which makes it much easier to cultivate and weed and be sure the weeds are really drying out before getting a chance to reroot and continue to laugh at us.
We harvested garlic last Monday. It was in the greenhouse for a few days, maybe you smelled it when you walked up the driveway. The bulbs are big and gorgeous and appear to be free of the mite that gave us a half harvest last year. It was a fun day — and it went faster than it has in a long time thanks to help from friends and family member of our crew, which doubled the size of our harvest crew for most of the day!
Crop Forecast
We’re on mid summer cruise control for a couple weeks with fieldwork — a steady diet of weeding and harvesting — and also we have a nice steady selection of veggies to cook with til we hit peppers and tomatoes and melons in a few weeks. There are a few diseases that started after those rains, which had a few hard downpours, but hopefully they won’t spread. We’re doing all we can to keep them contained. Temperature wise, the coolness is slowing things down a little but there’s been just enough days in the 80s to keep them moving along.
We realized we didn’t properly announce sweet onions. You didn’t take very many last week, and we thought “don’t they know how much they can change your life??” They are in and bigger now, so take 2-3 and use them generously, raw or cooked. They are so mild they won’t bite you when raw or lightly cooked, and so sweet they add awesome depth and sweetness to many dishes you’d never think to put a regular onion in.
This week we also start off with Asian Eggplant and Fennel!
Plus carrots, beets (no tops), squash, zukes, and cucumbers, broccoli and cabbage. And scallions .
Garlic will be in the share for 6 weeks, starting in early August once it finishes curing and we have time to clean enough.
For some reason the greens and lettuce beds have been some of the weediest we’ve ever seen, but we should be able to keep brining in an ok selection . Finally we’ll have arugula again! But we might be short on totsoi and komatsuna. Kale is looking great and so is swiss chard.
The earliest tomato planting does not look awesome unfortunately, but hopefully in a week or two we’ll start having a tomato per share. The later plantings look very good and have lots of fruit on them. Peppers and melons look good and should ripen about the 2nd week of august.
What’s for U-Pick?
Peas — had a great run and lasted half a week longer due to the cool temps. Open for gleaning this week, if you have couple minutes to look and a hankering for a pod or two. We will be mowing them at the end of this week.
Beans — the plantings kinda piled up on each other and there are a few rows of overgrown pods out there. One of you pointed out there are lots of recipes online for overgrown beans. See below for a website with ideas. There are also a couple rows of younger tender beans , on the eastern side of the planting. And more coming in later too, so we should have a steady supply.
FLOWERS!! Great to see them being enjoyed so much.
Cilantro, Basil and Dill are cruising along. 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. The basil has downy mildew and its future is uncertain this summer so enjoy it while you can!
This week we will be opening the nasturtiums, anise hyssop and sage. Next week we’ll be opening parsley, thyme and oregano. The parsley needs to grow a little more, and we need to dig the thyme and oregano out of the thistle.
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.
Nuts and Bolts
From LuAnn in the Medicinal Herb Garden:
From LuAnn in the Medicinal Herb Garden, Honey Available!
The anise hyssop is perfect for picking right now! My herbal tip of the week is to make anise hyssop infused honey to use through the winter in place of jam on toast, mixed into smoothies, or eaten straight from the jar! It is my favorite tasting infused honey. In fact, I often use it for small gifts through the winter – it’s that good! Another infused honey I always make is sage and/or oregano infused honey that makes a great cough syrup and gives an extra immune system boost when added to tea. To make any sort of infused honey, just pick some leaves and flowers on a dry day, tear or cut up, fill a jar about half full, and pour honey over it. Put a lid on it and let sit at room temperature for a few weeks. The honey will absorb the flavor and liquid from the plant, becoming a bit more runny if thick, as well as offering some of the medicinal benefits of the herb. I strain my honey if giving it for a gift, but if eating it myself, I leave the leaf and flower pieces in the honey and eat them along with the honey. Delicious!
In order to start making my herb infused honeys, I picked up an order of honey from Mike Feist, a small-scale beekeeper outside of Kenyon who has the best local, raw, organic honey I’ve ever tasted. I picked up extra as several people have asked me about where to get good, local honey. I still have 25 jars left. They are 1/2 gallon (2 quart) canning jars for $35. Let me know if you want any by text (612-987-3960) or email (luannraadt@gmail.com) and I’ll have it ready for you on Tuesday or Thursday during your CSA pick-up time. Checks can be made out to me or you can venmo @LuAnn-Raadt.
Bulk Produce for You
Check here each newsletter for what we have available for extra purchase.
An email for TOMATO BOX PREORDER will come out later this week or next.
This week’s selection is : Carrots, Summer squash, Zucchini and Cucumbers for $1.25 /lb, Lettuce Mix for $6 / lb .
To place a bulk order, simply email us a day 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.
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
What to do with over grown beans?
This website can help give you ideas! https://cafesweetbasils.com/how-to-cook-overgrown-green-beans-delicious-recipes-and-tips/
Roasted Fennel with Parmesan
from foodnetwork.com
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 fennel bulbs, cut horizontally into 1/3-inch thick slices, fronds reserved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly oil the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange the fennel in the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then with the Parmesan. Drizzle with the oil. Bake until the fennel is fork-tender and the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Chop enough fennel fronds to equal 2 teaspoons, then sprinkle over the roasted fennel and serve.
Open Hands Farm 