by milecreekfarm

CSA Week 17

This Week’s Harvest

  • Cauliflower or Broccoli
  • Spigarello
  • Kale
  • Tomatoes
  • Shishito Peppers
  • Delicata Squash or Honeynut Squash
  • Sweet Onions
  • Bell peppers or Sweet Italian peppers
  • Escarole OR Salad Mix
  • Potatoes
  • Cilantro
  • Jalapeño peppers

We obviously got our most wanted rain and in a major way! On Monday we got 3/4 inch which was perfect for germinating the oats. Then of course we got the hurricane remnants. We are sitting on just over 3.5 additional inches from the storm, which is significant for sure, but we kept power and don’t have any flooding so no complaints here. We follow some farms on instagram that are in Tennessee and western NC and experienced catastrophic flooding. Thinking about all the work that went into growing crops that they should be harvesting now is heartbreaking. Not to mention damage done to infrastructure which can take years to build.

Oats are up! Seeing the see of green all across the farm is such a welcome sight! See last week’s post about our efforts to get the farm cover cropped

We will keeping our eye on all of our crops as 3 plus inches is enough to cause issues. For one, our tomatoes, which had been enjoying the drought very much, are most likely toast after this week. Our next broccoli planting has lodged (fallen over) but the the flowering stalks should be able to still grow in through it. Some of our crops, it turns out, were so delicate from never experiencing any rain or wind, because there is bruising on the leaves. You may notice this on the spigerallo and salad mix this week. I am hoping it is just superficial but it might make the greens not last as long so you might want to consider using them up soon. During the drought we didn’t have to worry about disease or aphid pressure – both of which increase during wet periods- so hopefully our brassica field remains healthy! We were slated to start digging sweet potatoes this week but we will have to wait for it to dry out. Hopefully this rain will just help them size up and not introduce diseases like black rot. All in all we are a-okay and don’t have a shortage of crops for you all!

When cabbage is ready to harvest and gets too much water it bursts open! We are slated to harvest these for storage tomorrow morning! I don’t think too many have split but the minutes that pass by before we have a chance to harvest them really stress me out!
Soggy brassica field but nothing too alarming happening from the heavy rain
Billions of weed seeds have sprouted! As soon as it dries out Ben’s priority will be cultivating these beds

Recipes

Sausage and Kale Stuffed Delicata

Escarole and Bean Soup

Loaded Cauliflower and Potato Soup

Grilled Shishito Peppers with sesame and soy

Coming Up Next Week (our best guess…) Bok Choi, Salad Mix, Potatoes, Kale, Basil, Dill, Hakurei Salad Turnips, Honeynut Squash, Sweet Peppers, Japanese Eggplant