Farm News Crop Forecast
U-Pick Recipes Nuts and Bolts
Greetings!
Summer!! Wow. What a relief from a long spring, which felt like it started in February. And the rain stopped at just the right time -or at the last second – for our crops to stay healthy.
The sun and warmth have been great for helping crops catch up. August is always a big growth month, but this year everything has a little extra work to do in the next 2-4 weeks! Tomatoes will ramp up very soon, peppers will start next week, melons are close. And of course we’re watching the fall crops , and fortunately blown away by their beauty, speed and also the ability to mature in such a short season. Winter squash is closing in (the field by the corner with hwy 3), the sweet potatoes look thin but are filling out, and the fall carrots, beets and radishes are a few inches tall and hitting their stride. Since the weekly harvest doesn’t include all the summer fruits yet, and we haven’t lost any fields or crops to weeds or pests, this week is a calm, lovely and hopeful moment on the farm.
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A little bug and ecology story
We had a little spook about the big fall carrot planting a couple weeks ago. Aster yellows is a common bacterial disease that affects dozens of species of plants, including some veggies and commonly grown flowers. In 2012 growers in the Upper Midwest learned that it can also infect garlic. Garlic bulbs are typically planted in the fall, and in a warm spring, garlic shoots can emerge from the soil before much of anything else has sprouted or leafed out. Some insects get an early start in those years too — one being aster leafhoppers, which carry aster yellows. When there are fewer choices of foods, they can feed on garlic and infect it with aster yellows.
Many growers lost their whole garlic crop and had to buy new seed from other regions, which is very expensive and brings the risk of introducing other pathogens. Our garlic was moderately affected. Erin got very good at sorting out sick plants and then infected heads and bulbs, to make sure we didn’t replant them. By replanting only healthy ones every year, we had gotten it down to nearly no infection at all, without buying new seed. But this year’s early warm weather meant we got it again, most likely from an early visit by leafhoppers.
So we sorted in the field, and we’ll have to cull out some more that aren’t suitable for planting. They’re fine for eating, since they taste and store the same, but they often have a bright purple skin and sometimes a different odor.
But to the carrots – carrots with aster yellows get stunted and a bitter flavor. Half our big carrot planting is right next to this year’s garlic, so we were worried about the leafhoppers moving into the carrots. We borrowed an insect net from a friend, and before we harvested, Erin swept through the garlic to see how many leafhoppers we might have. Fortunately there were barely any in the garlic! There were many more in a nearby cover crop, but still not enough to be a concern for the carrot crop. Phew!!
The cover crop acted like a “trap crop” — a preferred food for an insect to “trap” the troublemakers, away from the valuable cash crop. Turns out leafhoppers, in general, prefer tall grassy plants to vegetables, and the sorghum/sudangrass mix was enough to lure them away from the garlic and carrots. It’s a small patch in a random unused strip next to the garlic, but it apparently served us well! We try to have small patches of cover crops interspersed on the farm, to generally provide insect habitat, and to reduce erosion. We didn’t know or do this one as a “trap crop” on purpose, but will from now on!
However a few of the flowers in upick flower section (calendula and cosmos) are showing signs of aster yellows – twisted and stunted plants with fewer flowers. That’s a bummer. We love the flowers and know you do too . But hopefully they’re taking the blow for the sake of the carrots!
Crop Forecast
Tomatoes arrived a week earlier than our prediction, which is impressive and nice. It will still be 1-2 this week but should climb steeply after that. Watermelons will probably start ripening in 2 weeks, and cantaloupes slightly after. Many years they start August 1, but not in cool years. We may have a few next week.
Peppers will be green bells, which should be ready next week. There are some big enough but the taste isn’t ready yet. The first ones to turn red will be in 2-3 weeks, but September is really the peak of red pepper season. Hot peppers will start about when the reds start.
Garlic!!!!! Starting next week. It is so, so good. It will be in the share for 6 weeks, then for sale in the barn after that. If you aren’t familiar with our garlic, take note that it is stronger and spicier than a lot of garlic out there. We love it for its big cloves and strong flavor. We pile it on or in so many things. Some people use less of our garlic in a recipe than they would use of other garlic.
Also for the next couple weeks — Beets, carrots, cucumbers, eggplants, sweet onions, summer squash and zukes, broccoli, cabbage, a few fennel, plus kale and chard. Salad Greens look great, but for leaf lettuce we might have a week or two without it, due to rains delaying planting opportunities , way back then.
What’s for U-Pick?
Beans — Likely will be closed this Tuesday so they can catch up. Y’all have some magical bean appetites!! Tuesday folks have been getting access to more than Thursday folks, so we want to try to even it out. The first plantings were a little thin but should keep producing as the next ones come ready.
Basil is recovering nicely with the sun and warmth and is unlimited. Remember if it has a bronze sheen it needs to be used the same day as picking.
Flowers look great from the end of the row but you may have noticed some don’t look so good up close. Seems like aster yellows to us.
Cilantro and Dill look good.
Cherry tomatoes will trickle in more soon — we’re uncertain about this week– and in a few weeks we will have alot!
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.
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 actually come out soon. So sorry! It is hard to be in the office these sunny days.
This week’s selection is : Cabbage for $2/head, Kale and Chard for $3/ lb, Beets $1/lb. Cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini for $1.50 /lb. Broccoli too, though we may have to cancel an order depending on the day’s harvest. Next week : also sweet onions for $1.50/lb.
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, River, Seneca, Grace, Sai Dang and Crew
Recipes
One Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese
(New York Times Cooking)
- 1pound elbow macaroni
- 1pound broccoli, stem and florets coarsely chopped
- 2½cups whole milk
- 2teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½teaspoon garlic powder
- 8ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (about 2 cups)
- Black pepper
- Step 1In a large pot or skillet, combine the macaroni, broccoli, milk, salt and garlic powder. Add 3 cups of water, and stir to combine. (The pasta may not be fully submerged. That’s OK!) Bring to an active simmer over medium-high. Reduce the heat to medium to gently simmer. Cook, stirring often to ensure even cooking and to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pot, until the pasta is tender, and the liquid resembles heavy cream and coats the noodles, 8 to 12 minutes. If the liquid evaporates so much that you don’t see any between noodles, add ½ cup water. Adjust the heat as needed to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Step 2Remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat!
Easy Baked Zucchini
2 medium zucchinis sliced into ½-inch rounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
⅓ cup parmesan cheese shredded, divided
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Toss zucchini slices with olive oil, seasoning, salt & pepper and about 2 tablespoons of the
parmesan cheese.
Place on a baking sheet and top with remaining parmesan cheese. Bake 5 minutes.
Turn oven to broil, place pan near the top and broil 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and zucchini is tender crisp.
Open Hands Farm 