FARM WEEK # 9 - July 12, 2012 - MINI SHARE # 6

July 9, 2012

Hello, farm members!

FARM NEWS

I've been battling weeds day by day here.  There are now some sections of the garden that look beautiful, and more importantly, the vegetables have room to get bigger.  Lots more weeding to go, though, and plenty of planting too.  I look forward to getting some more seeds in the ground.

One nice thing about hot weather is that many seeds pop right up in just a few days.  I planted more New Zealand spinach the other day, just to fill out the row, and they came up more more quickly and fully than the earlier, planting.  That is especially nice since NZ spinach tastes so good and thrives in hot weather.  There will be at least a sample for the larger shares this week and in the future, there should be plenty for everyone.

There are several kinds of Basil growing in our garden this year, Genovese - the standard plain green leaf, Thai - narrow leaves, purple stems, great for Thai cooking, Lemon - faintly lemony, nice for fish or anything where lemon would taste good, Pistou - strong flavored, tiny leaves, and 3 kinds of purple-leaved.  Mostly I put the Genovese in the bins for the shares but I can take special requests, if you have a certain dish in mind.

Aggravations/challenges: Something is eating the snow peas and brussel sprouts and the raspberry leaves are turning yellow.  Stuff to learn about; things to do!  

Satisfactions:  The tomatoes are weeded and mulch and full of little tomatoes and tomato flowers.  There are tiny peppers and miniature beans.  Robin was here for most of this past week and a whole lot of stuff got done, most notably, fertilizing and tilling the field, weeding the garlic, cutting firewood, and planting potatoes.  Thank you, Robin!

Biggest wish:  RAIN, please!

There may be a gap in the lettuce/mesclun after this week.  I got behind on planting mesclun and something is nibbling the next batch of head lettuce.  I need to erect some protective fencing or something.

FARM PICNIC:  I am changing the date of the farm picnic.  I'll let you know the new date when I figure it out but it will be mid to late September.

Freshly pulled garlic.  (I choose a goofy looking picture for fun.)

MINI SHARES

Mini choices week #6 - Pick two or I will choose for you.

If possible, let me know your choice before Wednesday as I spread out the picking over Wednesday so I can pick at a relaxed pace and keep those vegies nice and cool for you.

kale
chard
basil
scallions

rhubarb

fresh garlic (uncured)
snap peas
Farmer's Choice (I give you 2 items from the garden, from this list or not, based on general preferences you have shared with me and based on the harvest.  Farmer's Choice may include items not on this list.)

PICK UP NOTES
Pick Up is 1:00 - 7:00 unless you arrange otherwise.  I'll send an email when the shares are ready.

Thanks for returning egg cartons and clean, dry bags, esp. the big freezer bags.  Keep up the good work.

THIS WEEK'S SHARE

rhubarb

basil

parsley

wild peppermint? great for summertime tabouli
mesclun?
head lettuce
chard
kale
snow peas?
snap peas

favas - the last
eggplant?  There are bunch of small ones.  They will be ready this week or next, depending on rain.

a taste of New Zealand spinach

a taste of purslane?  I see some, possibly enough for us all to try some.
flowers

COOKING:

NZ spinach ideas: and here:

Purslane pickle recipe:

Laura

Laura Timmerman
910 Greenfield Rd
Leyden, MA 01337
413-773-8325
laurat-at-crocker.com

Lots more farm news and pictures
(You do not need to be "on facebook" to view this page.  

If you use facebook, you can "like" the page for updates and pictures.)