The sampler share

This week there are a bunch of random small items which are in the share for a variety of reasons. You might have already noticed that we're not putting what we planned to into just about any share. I'm actually usually more surprised when we hit an item on the date we project but all the planning still helps us quite a bit. So, in this weeks share there is the usual lettuce - slightly smaller apportionment this week, a small fennel bulb, a few small to very small beets, a yellow carrot, a radish or two and for the lucky few who picked the golden ticket, a small summer squash. Let me tell you the story of how each of these items was decided on this morning...

From SHF CSA

I was out at the farm solo this morning. Danny had the day off to attend to some wedding duties so I was making all the choices. Unfortunately I get up too early to get donuts. Danny is much better than me about stopping by the donut shop in the morning to fuel our second breakfast.

From SHF CSA

So, no donuts for me, but I did end up having some much appreciated help from Rumy who rode her bike out to volunteer for the day. Here's the low down on what's in the share:

The lettuces, blushed icy oak and pirat: both of these were overdue for thinning and the blushed icy oak is almost over mature so it needed to be picked today and the pirat thinning was an attempt to let some of the remaining heads get a little bigger.

The fennel, perfection: we've had a lot of trouble germinating fennel in the field. We've switched to transplanting now, but these are the few plants that did germinate in the first three attempts at direct seeding in the field. If you haven't used fennel before it can be eaten raw - usually best thinly sliced across the "grain" and excellent with a citrus dressing - or cooked for an extended period which gives it a soft sweetness and greatly diminishes the anise flavor.

The beets, kestrel: the first two seedings of beets germinated well, but they haven't sized up well and so I decided to clear them out and hope that the next seedings that are seeing more favorable weather produce slightly larger roots.

The carrot, yellowstone: we'll have more carrots soon but there was a small section that didn't germinate well early on and I wanted to clear that to make way for new plantings. There weren't quite enough for everyone there so I also thinned another seeding to get one each.

The radish, french breakfast: These are the last from a late seeding we tossed in when we were feeling like we wanted a little more for the shares. They're a little spicier this time of year.

The summer squash, yellow scallopini or cocozelle: these only made it into about 11 shares and they are the very small first picks of the season. This first pick encourages more fruiting, and larger plants and signals the onset of summer squash season. We'll have more soon, they'll probably come in a variety of sizes as we're only picking once a week.

Hope you all enjoy the vegetables. Thanks for all the supportive comments we've been receiving and we hope to see you at the farm this Sunday afternoon.

The Mediteranian share

Favas and arugula are the highlight of this week's share. This is the only time we'll be giving out favas this year so enjoy them while they're here. If you haven't had them before I just pull the beans out of the pods and boil them in some salted water for about ten minutes. Then drain them and cool under cold water. You can toss them in salads, add to pasta, or just eat them plain. Some people pull the outer skin off before eating but I never bother. Also in the share this week is a single radish from a late planting that didn't do too well with the heat and lots of lettuce due to last week's hot spell as well.

Early Summer Update

From SHF CSA

A few photos to share of the farm. Summer crops are slowly maturing and we should have the first of the summer squash, beans, and tomatoes by the end of the month, I'm guessing. All that hot weather was good for the established summer crops which need some heat to get going, but we're still having trouble with germination of direct seeded crops so we've switched to seeding in flats and transplanting where possible. It's a little more work up front but it should save us time with weeding in the end. Fortunately we have good farming friends who have also provided us with some surplus transplants to fill a couple of gaps. Sauvie Island Organics and Meriwether's Skyline Farm have donated basil, parsley, fennel and celery starts to fill in gaps where those seedings failed.

From SHF CSA

Here's a photo of the patty pan squash that has been appreciating the heat. A couple more weeks and we might have some fruit to distribute. There are a few crops that I foresee being tricky for us to harvest on a one day a week schedule. In the peak of the season these will want to be picked at least two, if not three days a week. This might just mean that we give out a wide variety of sizes, we'll see what happens.

From SHF CSA

Above is Danny dividing up the kale shares last week. You might notice that our "packing area" is quite crude, just a patch of grass under some fruit trees. For now it's actually quite nice, as long as we can avoid smacking our heads on the low branches. We'll probably upgrade some of these spaces in the long run but I'm enjoying the simplicity of what we're doing for now.

One last note of interest, we're hoping to have an open house soon perhaps even a little pot luck picnic as an opportunity for CSA members and friends to visit the farm and to meet each other. More details will follow but the afternoon of July 19 looks like the first possible date, and if that works out there will be more to follow.

More peas, the last of the peas

We picked the last of the peas today and were happy to find that there were slightly more than last week. Rumy, who came out to volunteer, pulled the plants out for us to make way for new crops. We also cleared the shoulders of the leek beds, that's where the red iceberg lettuce came from. To round out the share we picked a small bunch of rainbow lacinato kale. The kale will likely suffer from this heat wave and may not recover until it cools off in the fall.

Week 6

Well, the peas actually made it and we pulled off the first harvest today. These are shelling peas so while the pods are sweet they're too tough to eat. You can use the pods in stock for a really nice pea flavor. The peas themselves are super sweet right now so eat them as soon as possible before the sugars turn to starch. We've also put in a couple of lettuces and a few more carrot thinnings. I'll post more soon on where we are with plantings and perhaps a few photos of the late summer crops that are maturing right now.

Week5!

From SHF CSA

Here's a photo of today's share. We're a bit lettuce heavy as of late. I've lost track of all the varieties in the share but I believe there's some pirat, blush icy oak, and emerald oak in the share this week. Some of the varieties we're clearing out the beds making space for more plantings, and some we're thinning to let the rest get bigger. We also thinned carrots and kale today. The carrots are yellowstone and napoli, both very tasty little treats that you'll be seeing more of through the year. The kale is another Frank Morton variety, rainbow lacinato.

From SHF CSA

I've realized that you're getting some sizes, shapes and varieties that you wouldn't be seeing if you were buying at a farmers market, or in the store. These thinnings are what you'd get if you had your own garden, and that's kind of what this is, your own garden that we just happen to work for you.

Today we planted some of the fall crops and a few that you might see this summer. A reseed of pole beans for dry beans went in - hopefully not too late but certainly at least a month later than I'd like. We also transplanted some celery and fennel to replace seedings of those that failed earlier this spring. Parsley, scorzonera, and salsify were all seeded as well. I'm hoping to get a few more peppers in tomorrow as well as some root parsley.

Tools of the Trade

From SHF CSA

I'm a big fan of tools. I love tools that are well made and work well and I've found that doing things by hand means I really need my tools to work well, or I end up working much harder. The photo above is a sampling of the tools that we're using on the farm. A lot of the tools are variations on themes for specific conditions and tasks. For example, there are four different versions of forks that I use (three pictured): a spading fork, a compost fork, a potato fork, and a monster sized four tine fork (pictured in previous posts). I just bought a trio of rakes as well and I'm really enjoying the DeWitt seed rake - tines not too close to clog and heavy enough to break clods. In preparing a bed for planting I'll usually use at least five separate tools in succession, each for a slightly different part of the process.

From SHF CSA

One of the other really useful items we just started using is this sprinkler set up for soaking individual beds. The proper soil moisture is as critical for getting a well prepared bed as it is for germinating seeds. We've been using the sprinklers to evenly presoak beds for digging and also for germinating seeds. Once the seeds have germinated and are established we switch to drip lines which are more efficient and don't encourage as many weeds.