In your share this week:
- Salad Mix - 2 bags!
- Japanese Turnips
- Radishes
- Camomile
Another very busy week here on the farm! I've been so focused on getting as much work done as possible that I've often forgotten to take pictures to share. I'll try to do better. I have been posting a little to our facebook and Instagram page, so please follow me there for more frequent updates. Links are on the right-hand column on this page.
In the last few weeks, we've planted more crops than I can probably remember, but I'll list some that were the bigger projects: one row each of Yukon Gold potatoes, Red Norland potatoes, French Fingerling potatoes, and Banana Fingerling potatoes. Also French fillet beans, more salad mix, basil, chard, kale, head cabbage, and more. I'm more involved with transplanting, Shain does the planting directly from seed (so I don't always know what exactly he's been up to if we are working on opposite sides of the farm). There's a lot in the ground that is growing well. We have more items to plant, but there's weeding that needs to be done to clear up some more greenhouse space. Always weeding.
The salad mix is doing very well, and growing like crazy. Sometimes there's just so much "perfect salad" available that I decide it's worth the time to give a double portion in the share. Most people are happy with the extra, but if you are overwhelmed with salad greens, I bet you have a friend who would love to enjoy them. As the summer heats up, the salad mix becomes more of a challenge to grow and clean up nice, mostly becuase the bugs love it so much too. So, enjoy the large portions now while the growing is good.
Heat! It's getting warmer quickly, especially in our greenhouses. This creates a bit of a challenge for us as many of our top priority projects are inside greenhouses. After a long Star Valley winter, it's almost hard to remember that it can get hot, even too hot to work. So now we move into our next stage of farming when we are racing the heat each morning to accomplish as much as we can, or harvest as much as we can, before the heat gets to us. Then we move to washing (cooling off in the water!) and packaging produce, or to weeding outside. Like we did today with the long row of beautiful camomile (as pictured above).
What to do with camomile? Unless you are an herbalist, chef, or extra creative in the kitchen (which I know some of you are), most people use this herb to make tea. And it's very easy. You can literally stick a handful of camomile in a large glass jar (I use a half-gallon mason jar), fill with water, and then leave in a sunny window ledge all day. I like to add licorice root, some of the Workshares add mint. Then pour it all through a strainer and enjoy your homemade tea, warm or cold. Some people like to add a sweetener to taste.
Microgreens - there was some disappointment expressed this week when people learned there would not be any microgreens in the share this week. I'm glad you love them! I will have them on occassion again in coming weeks, in fact, I am growing Arugula microgreens for next week's share. But I'm sorry to say they will not be grown on a large CSA scale for every week of the season. Growing microgreens is expensive and time consuming, something that was not factored into our CSA membership cost as a weekly or even regular share item. I will continue to grow microgreens as time permits, but it's more likely they will be available as an "add-on" item that can be purchased for a small additional cost when you come pick up your share.
Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!
Tara
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