In your share this week:
- Cucumbers
- Squash and/or Zucchini
- Swiss Chard
- Shell Peas
- Red Norland Potatoes
- Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
- Broccoli, last of the season
- Cauliflower, for members in Smoot, Alpine & Afton
- Tomatoes
- Sweet Onions
Farmer Shain is also the head chef in this home. He loves to cook and is often thinking of and looking up recipes for our fresh garden produce. When planning what to harvest for this week's CSA share, he was insistant that if we harvest shell peas we must also dig up some red potatoes. They go together! And so they are this week, just so you can make one of his favorite dishes - Creamed Fresh Peas with New Potatoes, recipe here. Enjoy!
Speaking of potatoes. This weekend we will start digging up all our potatoes. This is a HUGE, time consuming project. We would love your help and encourage you to take this opportunity to come visit and support your farm. There are even jobs for those with physical limitations. We will start early Saturday morning and continue until the work is done. (Please call or email if you can come help.)
The cucumbers, squash and zucchini are starting to tapper off now. (It took me a third look through all the cucumber plants to get enough to for this week's shares.) These plants have been very fruitful this year and our weekly harvests have been pentiful and somethimes even a little overwhelming. The pigs have eaten their fair share of the three and it makes me feel much better that they are here to make sure nothing goes to waste.
We've also found a new use for over sized or left over zucchini and cucumbers - target shooting. No joke. Just prop one end down in between some rocks, aim, shoot and *splat*. Sometimes it takes a few extra shots to blow up the bigger zucchini, but a cucumber usually explodes within a shot or two. :) Shain, myself and others have commented that shooting produce to pieces is quite enjoyable. (Shain and I use the word "satisfying", an indication that we have both put in a lot of hours on the farm this year.) In know this may sound completely bizare to some of you, but we do live out in the country on a farm. Having a few rifles around is a necessary part of life. This is the first year I've felt inclined to learn how to load and shoot a gun. And not to brag or anything, but I'm a pretty good shot.
Some exciting news for the farm is that we have ordered another greenhouse - # 7! I thought we were through buying greenhouses and moving on to building smaller hooped tunnels, but apparently not. Shain says we need just one more, maybe two. He has been so impressed with the improved quality we experience growing certain crops in greenhouses and decided it's not worth the fight of trying to grow them outside. What will this mean for the CSA? Since Shain is the head farmer here, I can't tell you for sure what he plans to plant inside the new covered space, but I can tell you the CSA will get even better next year. Just as we are much better this year than last. However, in an effort to be completely upfront, I should also point out that some of the new greenhouse space will be prioritized for growing crops we take to sell at the farmers market. Selling higly popular crops as early as possible at the market is how we earn extra funds needed for farm improvements. But overall, everyone involved in our farm will benefit from this new greenhouse.
Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!
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