We harvested most of our garlic this week. Perhaps a week behind schedule, but considering the rest of this season, that’s practically 3 weeks ahead of schedule. It looked good — healthy — and there’s a lot of it. We also found out that our potatoes — not the plants, but the actual spuds — will be fine. If you remove (cut, bag and trash or just burn w/ a propane torch) the plants early enough, the tubers will be unaffected by the blight and will store fine. So, we’ll have plenty of potatoes. Perhaps not big potatoes, but potatoes none the less. That’s good news.
And good news is important, because it helps to buffer the bad news, like: late blight in the tomatoes. The only good thing about this is that we’re one of the few organic growers who’s actually been able to harvest some tomatoes. We took some to market last week and — hooray — there are some in the share this week. We’ll probably be able to take some more to market this week, but the outlook is dim — very dim — for next week. So expect these to be the first and last tomatoes you’ll see from us and then you’ll be all tickled pink if we actually manage to squeeze another week out of them. A friend of mine wrote eloquently about this situation in a CSA newsletter for her farm in Massachusetts a few weeks ago. (In the “notes from the field” section, towards the bottom.)
Since I started farming, I’ve always wanted an old Red Sox hat that said “Wait ‘Till Next Year”. This year more than ever.
Honestly, though, I’m not this much of a downer. Let’s see: Basil is doing really well for us. These Rainbow Carrots are pretty cool. Garlic, like I said, did good. Hey, remember that cauliflower and broccoli? Man, that stuff was beautiful. Our popcorn is going gangbusters, too. Hot peppers are ripening and our sweet peppers are about to set a whole lot of fruit. And let’s not forget that the kale, collards and chard are really rockin’ the block. See? I’m not all down about how the most important and exciting crops are are all more-or-less failures this year…
Detailed share information, notes about the veggies, storage tips and recipe tips are all inside the full post.
All shares contain:
- Rainbow Carrots
- Fresh Onions
- Basil
- TOMATOES!
“Full” shares also contain:
- Garlic
- More Tomatoes
- Swiss Chard
Bread shares: one Multigrain and one Olive Levain
Veggie Notes
Fresh Onions – these are an heirloom variety from Tropea, in Italy. Somewhere between a scallion and a real onion. The tops are edible (as long as they’re not turning yellow), too. We had some on pizza, but you can use them anywhere you’d use onions or scallions. Expect a bunch of onions in the share from now on.
Tomatoes – a mixed lot of different colored tomatoes. The red ones are easy enough to know about; the orange and yellow ones are meant to be orange and yellow. Any green blush means they’re not quite ripe; just leave the on the counter for a day or so and they’ll be ready. As I mentioned above, you should probably not expect any more tomatoes in the share this year. Sadly. So sad. None of these are heirlooms, but they are tomatoes and in a season like this one, that’s worth something.
Storage Notes
Store carrots, onions, garlic and chard in a plastic bag in the fridge, basil w/ the stems in a jar of water on the counter, tomatoes are fine on the counter. Aficionados often say that putting tomatoes in the fridge ruins their flavor.
As always, we welcome your feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or problems. Also, please send along any recipes you’d like to share.
We hope you enjoy the share!