THIS WEEK'S HARVEST
Rainbow Carrots, Fennel, Olympian Cucumbers, Lemon Cucumbers, Summer Squash and Zucchini, Slicing Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Gaurdsman Scallions, Creole Hardneck Garlic, Purple Daikon, Arugula, Bunched Mustard Greens, Farao Cabbage, Dino Kale, Siberian Kale, Green Magic Broccoli, Rainbow Chard, Speckled Amish Butter Lettuce, Red Butter, Little Gems & assorted head lettuces
U-PICK
English Shelling Peas: Winding down, see below for late pea harvest tips
Amethyst Green Beans: See last week’s newsletter for harvest tips
Cherry Tomatoes: See below for a cherry tomato primer
Frying Peppers: Shishito, Black Hungarian, Padrón / See Week 2's newsletter for harvest tips
Jalapeños: Located below the frying peppers
Strawberries
Pickling Cucumbers: 2 gallon season limit * See below for instructions
Herbs: Italian Basil, Tulsi Basil, Thai Basil, Purple Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Lemon balm, Lemon Verbena, Perennial Cilantro, Annual Cilantro, French Sorrel, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Shiso, Tarragon, Oregano, Thyme, Camomile, Mints, Dill
Flowers!
It’s going to be hot on Saturday! Highly recommend a morning visit to the garden!
Cherry Tomato Primer
We planted four cherry tomato varieties this year, each unique in their own way. They are starting to ripen en masse. Here’s who we’ve got out there:
Supersweet 100: A classic red cherry tomato for a shock of red sweet tang in your salad. Ripest and sweetest when deep scarlet red.
Copper Beauty: Our first time growing this one and we are falling in love. A gorgeous, oblong variety. Mellow, very low acid, sugar sweet. Ripe when auburn red, with copper gold streaks. Slower to ripen, lots of green fruit, stay tuned.
Pink Princess: Developed by an Oxen driving seed saving wizard in Massachusetts, this gem is becoming a GVCFarm favorite. Mellow, sweet, almost melon flavored, quirky sizes and egg shapes, in a firm, matte, soft pink skin. Ripe when pink.
Sungold: The sun... captured. An unbeatable classic. Ripe when deep orange. Candy sweet, super productive, it's not summer until you've had a handful of Sungolds.
2019’s cherry tomato lineup, from L to R: Supersweet 100, Pink Princess, Copper Beauty, and Sungold cherry tomatoes
PRESERVING THE HARVEST
A section of the newsletter listing bulk / preservable crops available this week to help you stock your larder!
Pickling Cucumbers: U-pick // 2 gallon season limit
PICKLING CUCUMBERS
If you're interested in pickling cucumbers this year, please sign up on the pickling cucumber interest list next to the sign-up sheet in the barn. We'll let you know via email when you're next on the pick list based on order of sign-up. The current season limit is 2 gallons per share.
Picking instructions: Bring something you can estimate 2 gallons with, or one of the white buckets below the sign-in table to pick into. Find the pickling cucumber bed out on the farm marked with yellow flags. They’re in the far left field. Comb through the plants gently, doing your best not to step on the vines or the adjacent bed. The ideal sized pickling cucumber is around 4 inches long and 1 inch thick. Bigger is great. Please don't pick them much smaller than this so they can size up for the next pickers. If you use the farm bucket, please transfer your cukes to another container and put the bucket back below the sign-in table.
Check out Kate Seely’s tried and true pickling cucumber recipe for pickling instructions.
ENGLISH SHELLING PEAS
Mature English Shelling Peas
Our patch of English Shelling Peas is still loaded but has now entered a new phase. The youngest greenest ones are great raw or cooked slightly. The oldest, plumpest, and firmest should now be cooked and seasoned, and can be treated somewhat similarly to a dried bean. These are dried peas now! Split pea soup anyone?
Open the peas by snapping the little “hat” formerly connected to the vine and pulling down the spine of the pea, opening the pod like a zipper. Check out this amazing Springtime Spaghetti Carbonara recipe from New York Times for the younger peas.
KATHY’S ELEGANT BROCCOLI
Kayta’s mom Kathy is a master in the kitchen. She cooked an elegant broccoli side last night that was as delicious as it was simple. This technique can be applied to many (any?) vegetables, not just broccoli.
Cut the broccoli up, leaves and stems, and all, into nice long bitesized florets. Boil water and salt the water like you would a soup. (The salt is important as it imbues into the broccoli). Throw in the broccoli and cook until done but still firm (not soggy!). Take the broccoli out of water and cool the broccoli off in cold water to stop the cooking process.
In a pan, heat up olive oil. Put chopped garlic and 1 or 2 anchovies (miso and soy sauce for vegans) in the oil. Cook garlic and anchovies on a low heat until the anchovies melt and the garlic is fragrant and soft.
Throw in the broccoli, turn up the heat a little, and sauté the broccoli in the yummy garlic anchovy garlic oil until it’s a little caramelized. Careful not to burn the garlic.
Add lemon juice and serve!
This recipe is a great way to cook the amethyst green beans and cabbage this week too.
VOLUNTEER WEDNESDAYS, 8:00-10:00 AM
Interested in some farm therapy? Come out on Wednesday mornings as help tend garden and farm together! Find us in the garden or out in the main fields on Wednesdays from 8:00am 'til 10:00 am. People of all abilities welcome, we’ll find something comfortable for you to do!
REMINDERS
2019 Harvest Pick-up, June 22nd - December 21st.
Saturdays from 9am - 1pm
Tuesdays from 1pm - 6pm
Please fill your bag before the end time so we can pack up on time and rest!
U-pick open 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset.
If you ever cannot u-pick something due to illness or injury, please let us know and we can pick for you.
FARMER’S LOG
This time of year it is hard to find time to write one’s thoughts down… the rhythm of the steady, bulky harvests drowns them out with an ever increasing tempo. The sun blares down. It’s hard to think about anything but the farm. To sneak in planting and seeding and other tasks in the margins, your only thoughts are farm thoughts, your only feelings are farm feelings. You must remain disciplined, focused… you can’t miss a beat.
This week we turned the farm another turn towards Fall, further preparing what is becoming our Fall field, the field down closest to Green Valley creek, for a half mile of Carrots, and a half mile of Beets, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Romanesco to be planted next week. We trellised tomatoes. We planted cucumbers, lettuce, and baby Napa cabbage. Kayta’s lovely parents came to town on Wednesday; we caught up in the Onion rows. The Kubota broke down. We fixed it.
Our internal lives — our emotions, dreams, and whimsies — can feel far away at this time or year; shoved aside by harvest and urgent needs in the field. But at the same time we never feel more full.
There is a strange fullness in being so busy as to be empty.
Then, the swelling corn stalks can lift you up to the eaves. The heat is your sorrow. The flowering potatoes are your whimsical thoughts. And the simple things — a good sip of coffee, a crew mate’s joke, an Osprey flying over the farm, a good harvest — can fill you up to the brim.
See you in the fields,
David and Kayta
Vebena, Coriopsis and Rudbeckia blooming in the West garden. Now that’s a whimsical thought.
