I guess I should feel glad that my early pessimism is coming back to bite me in the butt. Our tomatoes are still going (not groing strong, but at least going), our some of our onions might turn out decent, we might have a few winter squashes after all and — best of all — we’re in the middle of a good three weeks of sunny, beautiful weather that’s only been briefly interrupted to make way for a hurricane. Things could certainly be better, but I’m pretty happy with how they are. You know … all things considered.
The next month or so will see us finishing up the bulk of our planting and weeding, digging the rest of our potatoes, hopefully seeding some cover crops for the winter, taking some soil samples so that we know how to amend our soil with nutrients and perhaps beginning to harvest some of our tree fruits.
Detailed share information, notes about the veggies, storage tips and recipe tips are all inside the full post.
All shares contain:
- Broccoli
- Fresh Onions
- Celery
- Cucumbers
- head Lettuce
“Full” shares also contain:
- more Broccoli
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Tomatoes
Bread shares: Brooklin Sourdough and Cherry/Pecan Sourdough
Veggie Notes
Broccoli – It is worth noting that I pretty much gaurantee at least one cabbage worm per bag. If you cook the broccoli in water, the worms will float to the top, or you can soak the broccoli in water for 5-10 minutes to get a few of them. I’ve heard that some folks think soaking in a salt water is really effective. We tend to eat broccoli raw or grilled and generally take the “just don’t think about it” approach.
Cucumbers – Some of you will have received some “normal” cukes, but you all received some funny little round cucumbers. These are “Lemon” cukes, a nice heirloom variety that is lemony in appearance only. The skin is thin and never bitter.
Tomatoes – The pinkish/purplish tomatoes with green shoulders are heirloom tomatoes called “Cherokee Purple”. They’re our favorite heirloom tomato and the only “funky” heirloom we planted in our hoophouse — which is why we actually have some to put in the share. All of our outside heirlooms are a mess. Some of the cherokees weren’t perfectly ripe, which you can tell by the bottom of the fruit being a deep, dark red — tinted with that characteristic brownish/purplish hue. Don’t let the green shoulders put you off; they’ll never go away. These, my friends, are what summer is all about; savor them while you can.
Storage Notes
Store onions, broccoli, celery, cukes and lettuce in a plastic bag in the fridge, tomatoes are fine on the counter.
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!