Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Greetings!
If we put don’t look too closely, will it be summer forever?
But looking closely is so much of the joy of life, and such an important part of making this farming thing work.
We weren’t really thinking September was that close, but then had a few days last week when all we did was harvest, and harvest some more. The lovely light, the yellowing box elder leaves, the stink bugs in the house, the end of blueberries, the rising tide of tomatoes…. none of it has made it sink it quite like a few all-day harvest days.
And the incredible winter squash field out there! Every variety looks big and chunky and beautiful. Oddly it was the crop we were most concerned about during the heat dome last week. We had over an inch of rain a week before the temps soared, so all the crops had good access to water underground. We watered everything during the warmth, and as far as we know it all just kept growing fine. But the winter squash varieties with dark skins — the buttercup and acorn — can sometimes get “sunburn”, once the leaves die back enough to expose them to the sun. The sun-facing side of the fruit gets yellow and then white, and fungus moves in to the damaged tissue very quickly. It was a little early to harvest last week, and covering an acre with something sounded impractical, so we watered them through the hottest parts of the day, to try to keep the skin temperature down. It seems to have worked — there are a few sunburnt fruits on the edge of the field, out of reach of sprinklers, and the rest mostly look great. Phew. Once or twice before we’ve lost 100% of those varieties to sunburn before and it’s a bummer that lasts a few months, missing them through the fall and winter!
We’ll harvest those later this week, and maybe other winter squash too. It’s always one of the toughest projects to squeeze in, when it’s a good year for the other foods of late summer/early fall, and a major milestone when it’s done. We’ll sweat and get it done, in a day or two, and eat a cold melon afterwards! Then the bins will fill the greenhouse to cure, turning starch to sugar, into those various flavors we love.
The winter squashes help prepare our bodies for winter, but these juicy fruits help it thrive in summer. We’re excited for roasting and soups, but for now we still want more tomato sandwiches and luscious dripping salads!! We hope you’ve been enjoying it all too.
Crop Forecast
We’ve had a steady flow of nearly everything, and we’re very grateful. This week there’s a few more tomatoes, the first trickle of red peppers, a big pile of broccoli, and big pink/red watermelons.
And still plenty of eggplant, onions, carrots, beets, green peppers, hot peppers, fennel, celery, cabbage, napa cabbage and baby leeks. We might have fewer summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers, but maybe not. Good greens and kale. We’ll still be short on lettuce — we had low germination in 3-4 straight plantings and are eagerly waiting for the next ones to size up. This is great lettuce growing weather so they should move quickly. Our swiss chard is done for the season.
Tomatoes we’ll have a lot of heirlooms this week. They’re peaking and it will be more reds after that. The heirlooms are yummy, and have subtle different flavors, if you’re not familiar with them be sure to take a few and see what you think.
It has been a very good melon year. Many of you have said how great the flavor has been- thanks for letting us know! We have a new variety of the yellow watermelon and it’s a step above any other yellow variety we’ve had before. Both the watermelon and the cantaloupe handled the rains and the heat really well – sometimes they get too soft or split etc, but the vines were just healthy enough to keep them great. This week will be a choice between cantaloupe, orange/yellow watermelon, and the big pink/red watermelon. The flavors are mostly less intense though, due to sunburn from last week and/or cooler nights this week. The big pink/reds have sunburn on the outside but are still ok — the flavor may be more watery and less awesome (more like a store bought melon), but they’re still very good to eat. And some are as awesome as we hope and usually get. Tuesday people will get 2 melons, like Thursday people did last week. Then it’s back to 1 melon for thursday people. This is probably the last week for melons but they could surprise us.
Broccolii — we are in a new planting in a new field and it is looking really good! We will have a lot this week. Sorry if you got any that turned part black the last few weeks. It got a disease and we were trying to pick the healthier ones but some might have sneaked through.
Garlic is included in the share for 2 more weeks. We do 1 head per full share , with more available to purchase on the spot for $1.25/head (4 for $5). Split shares should communicate about who gets it which week. Each split share should each get 3 heads in the share over the course of its 6 weeks. It will store for many months; many folks buy a few weeks supply to keep stocked , if they split a share and or use more than a head a week, like us.
Next week we may have spaghettis squash (to pair with tomatoes), more red peppers, and maybe even delicata squash.
What’s for U-Pick?
Cherry Tomatoes! They are peaking and there are lots of them, if you want to pick a gallon or two and oven dry them, or give them to friends, go for it. In two weeks they’ll slow down and head downhill.
Beans — still going strong. If you keep them picked they’ll keep flowering and making more new beans, so dig in. There is some edamame ready, in the southern/earlier section (most of which is now mowed, just not the edamame island)
FLOWERS!! Are awesome, and so are the birds, butterflies and hummingbirds in them!
Cilantro, Basil and Dill are cruising along. All are now south of where were earlier, towards the road, (with a white sign as usual). Great time for pesto. The basil is healthy now but won’t survive nips of cold near freezing (wow did we just say that already?)
Also nasturtiums, anise hyssop and sage, parsley, thyme and oregano.
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
Bulk Produce for You
Check here each newsletter for what we have available for extra purchase.
TOMATO BOXES ARE AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER. Click on the link for the order form, in this newsletter’s email or in the email from August 3.
This week’s selection is : Beets and Carrots for $1.25/lb. Broccoli, Eggplant (freezes great once cooked), Green Bell Peppers for $2/lb. Cantaloupe and watermelon for $1/lb. Cabbage for 75 cents /lb. Garlic for $1.25 / head (4 for $5) ( no need to pre order garlic).
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.
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
RECIPES
Tomato Basil Chicken
from http://www.archanaskitchen.com
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons Mixed Herbs (Dried)
- 3 tablespoons Lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt , to taste
- 1 sprig Basil leaves , finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 cups Homemade tomato puree
- 1/4 cup Basil leaves , fresh leaves, loosely packed and roughly torn
- 1 Onion , finely chopped
- 10 cloves Garlic , finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Mixed Herbs (Dried)
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli powder
- Salt , to taste
- Sugar , to taste
- To begin making the Tomato Basil Chicken Recipe, wash and thoroughly clean the chicken breasts.
- Into the bowl add the chicken, add mixed herbs, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Mix well.
- Heat a skillet on medium-high heat to pan sear the chicken pieces. Place the chicken pieces and cook only for a minute on both sides till it gets a light brown colour and is just about cooked.
To make the tomato basil sauce
- Heat a saucepan with olive oil, add the garlic and onions and saute till until the onions soften and till the aroma wafts in the air.
- Next add the torn basil leaves, tomato puree, herbs, red chilli powder, salt and sugar . Bring the tomato basil sauce to a brisk boil.
- After a few minutes, add the grilled chicken breasts into the tomato basil sauce. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan and cook the Tomato Basil Chicken for about 10 minutes, until the chicken has absorbed all the flavours and is cooked through as well.
- Once done, turn off the heat and transfer the Tomato Basil Chicken Recipe to a serving bowl and serve hot.
Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup chopped salted cashews
Directions
- Place the broccoli into a large pot with about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes, or until tender but still crisp. Drain, and arrange broccoli on a serving platter.
- While the broccoli is cooking, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Mix in the brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and garlic. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Mix in the cashews, and pour the sauce over the broccoli. Serve immediately.
Open Hands Farm 