Weekly Share August 1st – 7th

Swiss Chard
Crimson Sweet Watermelon
Peppers: Poblano or Padron
Black Eyed Peas or Borlotti Beans
Eggplant: Rosa Bianca, Prosperosa, or Dancer
Onion: Borretana Cippolini or Candy Sweet
Tomatoes: Red Pear, San Marzano, & Celebrity

Finally after a month with practically no rain, we have gotten poured on quite a bit this past week. Things look fairly wet around the farm and many plants look more hydrated although with these warm, humid conditions it is a perfect climate for disease to crop up. Our earliest successions of tomatoes are dying along with squash, cucumbers, and early beans. As we wait for our latter successions of these crops to begin producing we will have a short window without them. Our okra and eggplant crops are thriving and ramping up to full production, although we are still a few weeks away.
This coming week marks the beginning of our fall plantings; which dominates our time over the first three weeks of August. We look for windows of cooler weather to seed beet, carrot, turnip, salad, cilantro, and broocoli raab crops. We have a tremendous amount of transplanting to fit into our Wednesday and Thursday project days. All of our lettuce head, chicory, fennel, scallions, and brassica family (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, bunching greens, bok choy, etc.) crops get planted during these three weeks. So we keep our fingers crossed that the weather will be agreeable. Every week that we postpone planting means 2-3 weeks postponed in harvesting, because day lengths over the next two months begin to shorten considerably and this directly affects harvest dates. We are now in a small holding pattern for the soil to dry up enough to get our beds shaped and transplanted this week. Wednesday may turn out to be a 14 -15hour workday, going into the night hours. Each year we have expanded the amount of fall and winter crops that we grow, as we have found that our winter crops are very successful. This actually means a lot more workload in August and September. We are excited that this year we have not only our full time intern Ellen helping out, but we also have two other people working on Wednesdays and Thursdays to offset a bit of the work load.
In this weeks share you will receive either black-eyed peas or borlotto beans. These plantings are small trials and so the CSA gets small amounts, which are shelled easily and quickly. These beans should not need much preparation and will be delicious cooked with other veggies or in a rice or pasta dish. As we learn more about these crops and techniques for larger yields in small intensive plantings, we hope in coming years to get larger amounts to CSA members. For now though you get a smattering to accompany a dish. This is the beginning of the eggplant and peppers are slowly beginning to produce. This rain has helped both plantings considerably, as we literally could not get them enough water over the past 6 weeks to adequately hydrate them. Now we are seeing more flowering and healthier vegetation. Check out some of the recipes below and enjoy the share…..Brian and Autumn
Green Romesco (Use either Padron or Poblano peppers only in this recipe, delicious)
Couscous With Black-Eyed Peas and Greens
Borlotti Beans in Tomato Sauce with Creamy Polenta
BEANS WITH AUBERGINE AND PARMESAN CRUST
Incredible Sicilian aubergine stew (Caponata)
Tomato and Watermelon Salad
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