It has been cool for this time of year at the farm, with morning temperatures reaching as low as 50 degrees F. This has been fantastic for working, but not as good for some of the summer crops. However, we are not complaining, given how hot is was a few weeks back. Now that it has cooled down a little, rain would actually be nice to wash off the dust and soak down the soil.
Animals and Eggs
All of the creatures on the farm are doing well with the current weather. There are chickens in the share this week. The pigs are happy we now have tomatoes and squash in the shares. When we are harvesting, usually about 10% or more of the crop is damaged. The pigs and layer chickens share in this bounty, and summer is their favorite time of year.
Fruit
Blackberries will be in the share in the next two weeks depending on if we get rain later on in the week which can damage the fruits. We had to take a pause on strawberries with very few to harvest after the cooler temperatures set in. However, there should be enough next week to make a go of it.
Greens
We expected a good harvest of greens this week, but the heat wave made the entire crop bitter. Normally we would go ahead and harvest the greens and use them in a bitter greens mix dish, but we have new lettuce coming up in just a week or so. So, the pigs got the lettuce and we will have a fresh batch in a couple of weeks for the share.
Herbs
We are letting the basil rest and instead decided to harvest rosemary and bay. Both of these are perfect with chicken and tomato dishes. We expect basil to return to the share next week.
Vegetables
We have three types of tomato in the share this week. The red Stupice tomatoes came in well, but they are very ripe. Please use or process them soon so they don’t turn to mush (try our tomato soup recipe). We also have yellow cherry tomatoes in the share which we eat like grapes and they never make it to the plate. Finally, we have tomatillos. The tomatillo harvest is still lagging a bit, but we love these cooked with a little onion to make a simple tomatillo sauce.
Cucumbers are in the share this week also. These are great sliced with a little oil and vinegar dressing and a chopped tomato as well. Remember the onions are getting stronger as they were harvested a couple of weeks ago and are now beginning to cure. This is likely our last carrot harvest until the fall as we are nearing the end of the beds. Finally, those super good patty pan squash continue to produce. We should have them the remainder of the summer.
Take care,
Arika and Michael
Braeside Farms
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