This Week’s Harvest
Basil
Salad Mix
Broccoli
Cucumber
Farm News
This box welcomes the start of our summer crops with cucumbers, eggplant, basil and zucchini while spring crops like fennel and broccoli linger a bit longer. It is becoming increasing harder to grow spring crops. We can only get in the fields so early because of cold and wet weather and then it warms up too quickly for a lot of crops. We were surprised to only offer one week of radishes this spring and our spinach and snap peas faded much sooner than we had anticipated. The broccoli is on the small side because alternaria, a disease that causes brown spots on the heads, is accelerated in hot and wet conditions and is starting to take over and we decided to harvest heavy before the entire crop is ruined.
We’ve not really been interested in hoophouse growing in the past but the past 2 springs have got us seriously contemplating getting more hoophouses. They would allow us to plant earlier and have cold loving plants mature sooner. Crops like broccoli take up too much space to be a good candidate for hoophouse growing so we’ll continue to work on ways to get a successful spring crop– or quite possibly– just have to settle and be happy to give it to CSA for 2 weeks in spring. And there is always fall to look forward to! Radishes, broccoli, turnips, and fresh eating and cooking greens typically thrive in our Ohio falls.
Speaking of which, we seeded the first round of these crops last week and they’re up this week! Despite the inevitable issues, the growing cycle continues ensuring we are all well fed! Enjoy this week’s harvest!
Recipes
Swiss Chard Tacos (I say the more the merrier–add zucchini or broccoli to the chard sauté and top with chopped lettuce)
Fennel and Chard with Parmesan
Eggplant Gratin (cut the fairy tale eggplant lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices. There is not enough eggplant in the box for this recipe so supplement with one zuchinni and follow same instructions)
Coming Up Next Week (Our Best Guess)……… Carrots, salad mix, sweet onions, zuchinni, green bell peppers, cucumbers, fennel, kohlrabi, and more