We hope everyone is holding up okay in this oppressive heat! It’s not easy farming in this weather, especially while masked, but we try to plan our days so that we do harder tasks in the morning and have less strenuous ones later in the day. There isn’t a lot of work that takes place in the shade in farming (what with plants loving sunshine!) so bin washing and seeding greenhouse trays are coveted activities on hot days. Fresh onion harvesting is also a great hot weather activity (see photo above), as you can periodically sit down while bunching (and you can sit on straw mulch rather than hot sandy soil!). Regardless of what we’re doing, we also try to have crew popsicle breaks on really hot afternoons to keep everyone energized!
This week we will enjoy the first potatoes of the year. Potatoes are one of those staples that seem like they should be easy to grow based on their price point in the grocery store, but are actually quite challenging on an a small organic diversified vegetable farm. They are particularly susceptible to moisture and nutrient deficiencies, as well as to several pests. With our sandy, well-drained soils, moisture and nutrient deficiencies are perennial problems. We have also in the past struggled with Colorado potato beetles. They evolve so quickly that they rapidly develop resistance to organic pesticides, which means we have resort to some more “hands-on” control methods. Proper control requires going through the fields once a week and picking bugs off and crushing egg clusters by hand, which can take a crew of 8 or 9 people 3-4 hours in our fields. This year we also tried out planting strips of cover crop in the potatoes to create beneficial insect habitats (lady beetle larvae love eating potato beetle larvae).
Once the plants get bigger, it is too time consuming to hunt for beetles and larvae under every leaf, so we break out our flame weeder and have two crew members knock bugs off the plant while another person follows behind and burns the bugs that have dropped to the ground (this is a crew favorite activity!). This year we finally had enough crew members to properly manage the annual Colorado potato beetle invasion - all of our efforts paid off, and we had the least amount of pest pressure we’ve seen since we moved onto the farm! However, it seems that the drought earlier this summer combined with more recent potato leafhopper pressure have led to us ending up with only marginally better potato yields than previous seasons. We are encouraged by our potato beetle control success, though, and we hope that maybe in another season or two we will have dialed in our potato growing techniques enough to justify purchasing a mechanical harvester to save us many hours of time forking and digging potatoes by hand. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the potatoes during the weeks that we have them - they were grown with a lot of effort and love!
In the CSA this week:
Potatoes - We are harvesting Dark Red Norlands right now (red skin with white flesh).
Fresh onions - Ailsa Craig (white) and Red Long of Tropea (red). Store in the fridge.
Peppers - green and purple.
Eggplant - we are now harvesting 3 types of eggplant: Asian eggplant, Italian eggplant and Beatrice (a bright violet colored Italian eggplant)
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Carrots
Beets
Mini cabbage -Green “Farao,” green cone shaped “Caraflex,” and some red “Omero” heads
Kale
Lettuce - We will have a mix of summer crisp varieties.
Yukina Savoy
Mustard greens
CSA PYO:
We hope to begin picking cherry tomatoes next week but for this week we will enjoy two new pick your own items this week- green beans and hot peppers! Basil is still particularly nice, great for a small batch of pesto! Please bring scissors from home for your herb picking. We do have some you may borrow but quantities are limited each day due to necessary sanitizing measures.
Herbs: basil, cilantro and parsley, thyme, sage and mint
Green beans - Pick the biggest ones! We have 6 rows open so be sure to check them all!
Hot peppers - jalapeño and Hungarian hot wax
Pick-your-own Flower CSA
Starting this week the flower field will be open not only to Flower CSA members, but also to the general public. For the safety of everyone, there are capacity limits in the flower field and everyone over the age of 2 must wear a mask in the PYO fields. Flowers available for picking this week include: zinnias, bachelor’s buttons, cosmos, snapdragons, rudbeckia, dill flowers, decorative basil, strawflower, gomphrena and verbena. Don’t forget your pruners and scissors from home and water for your jar! Check in at the farm stand before picking.
In the Farm Store:
In addition to most of the items listed in the CSA we will also have the first tomatoes from the high tunnels and cherry tomatoes from the field. We’ll also have blueberries a few days this week (we will try to have them for Wednesday and Friday, and there will be customer limits). There will also be sweet corn from Verrill Farm, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds available this week. Online pre-orders continue to be available for quick pick-up at the farm store, and walk-up sales are open for all Tuesday-Saturday. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 2pm the day before pick-up.
Farm Store Hours
Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 9am-3pm
Please wear a snug fitting mask with multiple layers when approaching the farm stand. If you cannot wear a mask, simply order online and include a note in your order letting us know what car you will be driving (as well as roughly what time you will arrive) and we will bring your bag out to your car when you arrive. Thank you for your understanding!
Summer Greens with Mustardy Potatoes and Six-Minute Egg
by Alex Lau from Bon Appetit, May 2016
4 large eggs
2 ounces sliced or slab bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch strips
¾ pound tiny potatoes, halved if larger than a ping pong ball
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 small shallot (or half of a fresh Red Long of Tropea onion would work great!), finely chopped
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon (or more) white wine vinegar
4 cups (lightly packed) summer greens, such as arugula, baby romaine, and/or mustard greens
2 cups mixed herb leaves, such as parsley, chives, and/or chervil
Recipe Preparation
Carefully lower eggs into a medium saucepan of boiling water and cook 6 minutes. Drain and transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water; set aside.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is starting to render but bacon is not yet crisp, about 4 minutes. Add potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until potatoes are tender and cooked through, 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat and add shallot, mustard, and vinegar; toss to coat.
Toss greens and herbs in a large bowl, add warm potatoes and toss again to coat; season with salt, pepper, and more vinegar, if desired. Peel and halve eggs; arrange over potatoes and greens.
Marinated Zucchini Salad
by Martha Rose Shulman , NYTimes Cooking
1 pound medium or small zucchini, preferably a mix of green and yellow
Salt to taste
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, mint, chives, dill or a combination
Preparation
Slice the squash as thinly as you can. Sprinkle with salt, preferably kosher salt, and let sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Rinse and drain on paper towels.
Mix together the lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Toss with the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for four to six hours.
Remove from the refrigerator, and remove the garlic clove. Add the fresh herbs, and toss together. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.
Grilled Zucchini Ribbons with Pesto and White Beans
from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds zucchini, thinner longer ones are ideal here
Olive oil
Coarse or kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
1 3/4 cups (from 1 15-ounce can) small-to-medium-sized white beans, drained (I used – Goya’s Great Northern beans)
1 garlic clove, peeled
A 2-ounce bundle of basil (this is the small clamshell size at most groceries)
1 to 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Coarsely grated parmesan, to taste
Prepare the zucchini: Trim ends and cut zucchini the long way into 1/4-inch strips. I use a mandoline for this (I have this one but will soon replace it with this) but a knife works too. Spread out strips on a large tray and brush lightly with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
On a grill (I use the full heat, but have a dinky, small grill; you might find a more moderate heat better here) or a grill pan, grill zucchini in a single layer until grill marks appear underneath, then flip over and repeat the same on the other side. Transfer zucchini back to platter and squeeze lemon juice over it.
Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine basil and garlic with a few good pinches of salt and a few grinds of black pepper until chopped. Drizzle in olive oil until it blends smoothly; you’ll want about 4, sometimes 5, tablespoons. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar and blend until well-mixed; taste and add more vinegar, up to 1 more tablespoon, to taste. Season to taste.
Combine beans with about 2/3 of the dressing in a small bowl. In a larger bowl or serving platter, pour half of dressed beans in the bottom. Arrange grilled zucchini on top, twisting and turning it so that it looks extra ribbony. Spoon remaining beans in the spaces. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the platter, to taste.
Finish with a light blanket of parmesan and eat whenever you’re ready. As assembled, it keeps well at room temperature for an hour, giving you time to do everything else.