THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Bunched Rainbow Carrots, Fresh Cabernet Onions, Purple Daikon, Red Russian Kale, Celery, Summer Squash, Olympian Cucumbers, Persian or Lemon Cucumbers, Arugula, Salad Mix (Mustard Greens, Frisee and Radicchio), Mixed Little Gems, Romaine Lettuce, Greenhouse Tomatoes, Eggplant
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits
Albion Strawberries
Purple Snow Peas
Sugar Snap Peas
Frying Peppers (see below for harvest tips)
Jalapeños
Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Dill, Tulsi Basil, Italian Basil, Thai Basil, Purple Basil, Oregano, Marjoram, Parsley (last legs), Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, Shiso, Chamomile, Cilantro & Mints
HARVEST NOTES
Fresh Cabernet Onions: “Round roses of water.” Fresh, turgid, a summer treat. The innocent, uncured form of the onion.
Purple Snow Peas: These Beauregarde purple snow peas are an open-pollinated, recently-bred variety from Row 7 Seed Company. As they say, Beauregarde was "bred to bring more flavor (and more purple) to purple peas, these high-anthocyanin, wavy-podded snow peas hold their vibrant color when cooked. Wait for small peas to develop in the pod to reach full flavor potential." Snow peas are delicious raw, stir-fried, steamed or braised.
Nigella: The Nigella (aka Love-in-the-Mist") flowers are particularly special in the garden this week. Make sure to check them out above the snapdragons above the picnic table.
Green Coriander: Green Coriander is the green flowering seeds of cilantro. It is delicious and used often in Asian dishes. It can also be infused into vinegar.
Frying Peppers: Frying peppers are little peppers commonly eaten pan-fried. A little olive oil, a little salt, a little seared til black, and voila, an amazing hors d'oeuvre!
Shishitos: A wonderfully mild (no heat), green frying pepper. Popular in Japan where its thin walls make it particularly suitable for tempura. Also very good in stir fries or sautés, or just seared in oil and salt. Ideally harvest at 2 to 4 inches, but bigger is fine. Older peppers turn red but are 99% mild.
Padróns: The famous Spanish heirloom, named after their town of origin. Padróns are served sautéed in olive oil with a little sea salt, and eaten as tapas in Spain. Ideally harvest when they are 1" to 1 1/2" long. About 1 out of 10 fruits will be hot. All the fruits become hot if allowed to grow 2-3" long.
ADD-ONS
Revolution Bread: Our baker Eli is dealing with some (non-COVID) health challenges. Fresh bread and cookies are on hold for the time being. Get well soon, Eli!
Moonfruit Mushrooms: Cory and Ryath report that there will be no shiitakes this week but they see a flush coming for next week! Moonfruit Mushrooms, will now be sold self-serve from a fridge next to the bread freezer. Cash only.
Bramble Tail Homestead Creamery: Stocked with Bramble Tail frozen yogurt, 100% grass-fed beef, Green Star chicken, eggs, Oz Family Farm heritage rabbit and more. Become a member of the weekly dairy herdshare by emailing Aubrie at brambletailhomestead@gmail.com.
The Marketplace: New products this week include bone broth and gluten free breads! Also stocked art, soaps, honey, coffee, Moonfruit Mushroom dressing and seasoning, beverages, and much more. Across from the Bramble Tail Creamery.
VOLUNTEER WEDNESDAYS, 9:00 am
A biiiig thanks to everyone who came out this Wednesday to tackle the weeds in our storage onion patch! For anyone who’d like a little farm-work therapy, come one, come all to our weekly Volunteer Wednesday! Come find us in the garden or the fields anytime from 9:00am-11:00am. Depending on your interest and ability we can find a nice socially distant something for you to help keep this ship afloat and nice and tidy.
OUR MASK POLICY
There has been some confusion around our policy surrounding masks on the farm and as we are underway we wanted to refine it and flesh it out. Generally people are doing a great job! Thank you! And thank for for your patience as we navigate creating our policies.
MASKS ARE REQUIRED ON THE FARM WHEN…
You are inside any enclosed space on the farm: the CSA barn, the Marketplace and Creamery, the bathroom, etc.
U-picking any crop, including flowers
Near u-pick areas or other high-traffic areas (so that you don’t prevent others from entering safely)
Traversing high traffic outdoor spaces like the staircase or main pathways, where you will likely come close to other members.
YOU CAN REMOVE YOUR MASK WHEN….
You are in an outdoor area of the farm where it is easy to be socially distant from other members and you are away from u-pick areas and other high-traffic zones.
PINT BASKET SIZES
One more piece of housekeeping: I don’t think we ever explained what a pint actually looked like. The clear clamshell pictured below is 2 pints. The little green netted baskets are 1 pint. Thanks everyone for being so careful about u-pick limits each week. This makes sure everyone gets a share of the harvest!
FARMER’S LOG
This week on the farm, in between the harvests, we tackled some messes! We enjoyed spending time with a great volunteer crew Wednesday morning cleaning up our storage onion patch that had grown thick with emerging bindweed, purslane and some grasses. You all made quick work of it! Thanks everyone! We then transitioned to cleaning up the Purple Snow Pea patch and the cherry tomatoes.
We also got around to mowing the beds that hosted the first crops of the year, which had become overgrown with bolting lettuce and bolting bok-choi and bolting weeds (oh, my!). The heat of last weekend really made all the weeds that we thought were safely still in vegetation mode turn the corner into seed creation. Nothing like a few thousand packets of purslane seed to motivate you to clean house!
Today was a fun harvest. Lots of new things to share with you all.
It is always a happy day the day we harvest the first fully formed onion bulbs of the year, their bellies “grown round with dew”. So this week, in honor of our amazing onion weeding team and the year’s first Cabernet Onions, we'll leave you with the one-and-only, Pablo Neruda.
* * * * * * *
Ode to the Onion
by Pablo Neruda
Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.
You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone
and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.
* * * * * * *
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
