This Week’s Harvest
Head Lettuce
Salad Mix
Scallions
Cilantro
Broccoli
Cabbage
Zucchini and/or summer squash
Farm News
Happy Summer! Let’s hope summer is a bit drier and calmer than spring was! The wet weather is wreaking havoc on Ohio farms.
According to the USDA, by June 9 only 50% of Ohio’s corn crop and 32% of its soybean crop were planted. And I imagine a significant number of the fields that were planted have experienced flooding. Vegetable farmer friends of ours are weeks behind and the weather just isn’t breaking. For us we’ve managed to have long enough breaks in the rain to get field work done and even had to run the irrigation a couple times this spring. But this past week was the first time I felt that we had indeed gotten too much rain. The ground was saturated after a first round of rain and then we got more rain on top of it. With water logged ground, crops will melt down. Disease thrives in wet humid conditions so we have to monitor crop health. We missed a salad and basil planting and have some late season peppers and eggplant ready in the greenhouse that won’t get in the ground unless it dries out in the next couple of days.
The good news is we have plenty to do harvest wise to keep us busy during this wet spell. In addition to harvesting a large variety of crops 3 days a week, some of our spring bulk harvests are underway including cabbage, kohlrabi and beets. These crops keep for months and we can sell them out of our cooler to CSA, market and wholesale accounts. Which brings me to another wet day project– building another cooler as we are quickly running out of cooler space!
Coming Up Next Week (our best guess…….) Kale, Golden Beets, Fennel, Basil, Carrots, Zucchini, Salad Mix, and more!
Recipes
Escarole Soup with Sausage and Zucchini (use scallions in place of onion)
Garlic Scape Vinaigrette (make a hardy salad with hard boiled eggs or grilled chicken or both)
Stir Fry Veggies with Rice Noodles and Peanut Sauce (use any veggies you’d like and garnish with chopped cilantro)