This week’s box
Potatoes
Dragon tongue beans
Sweet onions
Summer squash and zucchini
Tomatoes
Sungold cherry tomatoes and Juliette tomatoes
Basil
Garlic
Bell peppers
Hot peppers ( jalapeño and/or Hungarian hot wax)
Cucumbers
Fruit Share
Peaches and blackberries from Downing Fruit Farm in New Madison
Farm Notes
Somehow we were able to plant those thousands of brassicas I spoke about last week. Because we had gotten 2 inches of rain over the weekend the fields were not dry enough until Friday. Of course Friday is typically our harvest day and bouquet making day for market. We tweaked the schedule a little and harvested some on Thursday, making it possible to have a planting crew on Friday. We are so glad we were able to squeeze the planting in, because, as you know, we got another 2 inches this past weekend! (right after we ran irrigation all night long to water the seedlings in!)
During a typical week not dictated by weather, Wednesday is our planting day. Since the fields were still too wet last Wednesday, we had to come up with another job for our crew. Of course there are no shortages of things to do, it’s just a matter of prioritizing. We decided to pull the onion crop. This was perfect timing as the fields were just moist enough to make the onions pull out very easily, but not too wet to have the onions come up coated in wet mud. We transferred the onions to tables and had them dry in the sun for a couple days.
And now the onions are living in the barn where they will finish drying, develop their skins, and then eventually make it into your boxes. We still have a few more weeks of sweet onions before you will get these storage onions.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about harvesting the onions was that Ben was then able to mow the field. Seriously. By this time, the field was just covered in weeds and being able to mow weeds in before they go to seed is an absolutely crucial step in organic farming. Speaking of organic farming, we had a surprise visit from an OEFFA employee. OEFFA is our certifying agent and they came to sample our fields and crops for pesticide residue. They have to test 5% of the farms they certify. So off to a lab our tomato field soil and fruits will go to be tested for 300 pesticides and herbicides! We had no idea this was something organic certifying agents have to do! We also had no idea there are 300 hundred kinds of pesticides/ herbicides! We hope you enjoy the bountiful, pesticide free, tomato harvest this week! Here are some tomato filled recipes to get you started.
Roasted cherry tomatoes with fresh ricotta