Farm updates and CSA week 4

With school out for the summer, and farm bags being taken on vacation, it seems like a good time to remind everyone that the farm stand will be closed for the July 4th holiday on Wednesday next week. We'll still be open Tuesday, July 3rd, so that would be a great day to gather some veggies for holiday salads and grilling! Also, we wanted to remind everyone that if you are a CSA member going on vacation this summer, you are welcome to send a friend to pick up veggies in your stead!

It's hard to believe we are almost into July when the memories of the constant harvesting during the first week of the CSA are still fresh in our minds! After that first week in June, we were able to breath a little and begin to catch up on greenhouse seeding and transplanting, and we've also begun to slowly chip away at our long weeding and cultivating to-do list. Thankfully, we've had a couple of solid rains each week, which has saved us from having to sink too much of our precious time into irrigation.

There is always something urgent in farming, though, to drag you away from the weeding projects you would like to focus on. This time of year always brings us the Colorado potato beetle, which will completely defoliate eggplant and potatoes if left unchecked. The organic spray used for many years unfortunately no longer works, as the beetles have developed resistance to it. Our potato patch is too large to pick bugs by hand, so we have resorted to other creative control methods. This year we were able to rotate the potatoes to the field across the street, which helped push off the potato beetle pressure by a few days. We've tried out growing a small section of a variety called King Harry, which is supposed to withstand potato beetle pressure better than other varieties. We covered a few beds of eggplant and potatoes with row cover to try to keep the adult beetles out (it seems to have worked on the eggplant, but it was less effective on the potatoes). We also have been using the method of knocking bugs off the plants and burning them with our flame weeder. Nothing is 100% effective, and we know that soon we will lose this battle in our potatoes, but our hope is to eek out a few more weeks of growth in the potatoes before they succumb to pest pressure. The plants were quite big and healthy before the potato beetle pressure spiked, with some plants up to our waists! We're hoping that the early potato plant health will mean larger potatoes this year!

This week in the CSA:

• Garlic scapes - These are the flower buds of the garlic plants. We snap off the scapes in mid June so that the plant focuses its energy on producing a larger bulb. The scapes can be used just like garlic - one diced scape is about the equivalent of one clove in terms of garlicky flavor.
• Carrots - we'll have both orange carrots and purple carrots. The purple carrots are a variety called Purple Haze and they have a beautiful purple skin with an orange interior.
• Beets
• Kohlrabi
• Scallions - these are grown in our field across the street, which is "transitional" this year. That means that although we are using organic practices, the land was farmed conventionally prior to our use of the field, and therefore cannot be certified organic until the fields have been managed organically for 3 full seasons. Produce grown across the street should be certified organic in 2019!
• Curly kale
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Lettuce - romaine, red leaf, panise (oakleaf), and more.
• Arugula
• Baby Bok choi
• Yukina Savoy - This mild green is great raw in salads or lightly cooked. Now that spinach is out of season until the fall, Yukina savoy can make a good substitute in recipes that call for cooked spinach.

CSA pick-your-own:

• Strawberries - We are definitely past peak and the picking will get harder as the week goes on, but our goal is to keep them open for the remainder of this week.
• Sugar Snap, Snow, and Shelling Peas - To pick, gently hold the plant in place while you snap the stem just above the pea pod. Remove the top before eating (For shelling peas remove the entire pod).
• Herbs - Cilantro, basil, sage, thyme, and garlic chives. Mint will be closed this week to allow it to regrow.

CSA pick-up hours

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm

Saturday 9am - 3pm

This week in the Farm Store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available in the farm store. Sadly, our strawberry patch is well past peak, so there won't be any strawberries in the store, but we do have many other summer crops to look forward to! In addition to the items listed above, we will have green garlic, radishes, salad turnips, Happy Rich broccolini, mini daikon, basil plants and the first summer squash and zucchini of the season! We will also continue to sell Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds eggs, and mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm.

Farm Store Hours

Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm

Saturday 9am - 3pm

Glazed Grilled Carrots

by Jeff Gordinier in NYT Cooking

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• ½ clove garlic, cut into paper-thin slices (or use scapes!)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the carrots
• 10 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise
• Salt
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

1. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, rosemary, garlic and ginger until combined. Whisk in 2 tablespoons oil so dressing emulsifies; set aside.
2. Heat grill to low. Coat carrots with oil and season with salt. Grill carrots, covered, turning as needed to prevent burning, until nicely charred and fork tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. When carrots come off the grill, toss them immediately in the prepared dressing. Once they're coated, use tongs to transfer the carrots to a serving platter and garnish with green onion. Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the remaining dressing over the top. 

Vegetable Potstickers

adapted from the Uncommon Gourmet

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• pepper to taste
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped bok choi or napa cabbage
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 medium sized carrot, grated
• ¼ cup shiitake mushrooms
• 1 ½ tsp finely grated ginger
• 1 package wonton wrappers

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, pepper, sugar and sesame oil. Mix and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over high heat in a wok or large skillet. Add bok choi/napa, scallions, carrots, shiitakes and ginger and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture and stir fry for 1 minute more. Remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 400F and grease a large baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of a wonton skin. Fold over to form a triangle. Slightly dampen the outer edges with water and press the edges with a fork to seal. Place the potsticker on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining wonton skins. Brush the tops of the potstickers with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until browned and crisp around edges. Serve immediately with soy sauce on the side for dipping.