“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
~Mother Teresa
Week 7 crop list
➢ Cucumbers
➢ Green beans
➢ Summer Squash
➢ Potatoes
➢ Thyme
➢ Zucchini
➢ Romaine lettuce
➢ Kohlrabi
➢ Hungarian Wax peppers
➢ Cabbage – full/half
➢ Eggplant – full/single
➢ Tomatoes – full/single
➢ Red/green kale – full
Farmer notes
• We have an internship opening for August 1 through October 15, full time or part time. Please contact us if you know of anyone who would enjoy working hard outside growing things with a team of fun young people!
• This is the last of the brassicas until late fall (cabbage, kohlrabi, etc.)
• Tomatoes and peppers are just kicking off their season – most of you will receive a tease in your box today
• Roast potatoes with the thyme with olive oil, s+p
• Cucumbers and kohlrabi can both be sliced and put into some salt water into the fridge – perfect snack on these hot summer days
• The wax peppers are 3 out of 5 on the heat scale. You can just pop them into the freezer in a baggie to use in a winter soup/casserole
• Has anyone made Zucchini bread/muffins yet?
• Small orange sungold tomatoes are not the best shipping tomatoes so eat pronto
• August is a big vacation month. Please make sure to have someone grab your produce so it does not sit and rot someplace
• Please return all boxes and ice packs to us
• Wash all of your produce before you eat it
Garlic is the topic of this week’s farm article. I have never written about it specifically, but I find it a fascinating crop and I use it in about anything that I am making on the stovetop or oven. Today we will be harvesting this year’s crop.
I purchased organic seed garlic from Gardens of Eagan last September. They are an expensive crop to grow since the seed is pricey and one bulb broken into cloves will yield 3-4 new bulbs. This was large, cured German winter hardy variety of hard necked garlic. It comes in a bulb and needs to be separated into individual cloves shortly before putting into the ground. We dug a trench in early October and placed each clove, pointed side up about 4 inches below the surface and about 8-12 inches apart. The rows were then covered with soil and mulched with slabs of straw from the stems of our small grain we grow for our chicken grain. The deer and strong wind do a bit of damage to the mulch, but for the most part the straw prevents the frost from heaving and killing the garlic cloves throughout the winter. In the spring the garlic grows straight through the mulch that then serves as a weed barrier and moisture container. The garlic grows a seed head on a long shoot in late spring that is called a scape. We harvest these scapes and eat them as we want the plant’s energy to go into making a large bulb beneath the soil and not into a flower/seed above. And now we are digging the crop with garden forks and hanging in bunches above fans to dry for the next several weeks. You will see them in your box come late August.
And now you know!
Recipes
“Quickled” Summer Squash and Zucchini
– Summer Squash and/or Zucchini
– 3 cups water
– ½ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
– ¼ cup sugar
Cut squash and zucchini as preferred (slicing makes a great snack, dicing works great for salad) and combine all ingredients in a pot, adding water as necessary to cover the squash/zucchini. Boil 5-10 minutes or until your desired texture is achieved, then scoop out the quick-pickles and enjoy with salad or as a quick snack! The liquid mixture can be reused for another batch. Store in the fridge.
Garlic Thyme Potatoes
– Potatoes
– 1 thyme bunch
– 1 head of garlic, minced
– Olive oil
– Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Dice potatoes and toss them in a bowl with your thyme leaves, garlic, salt and pepper; coat with olive oil and mix all ingredients together. Spread on a baking sheet and bake until potatoes are soft in the middle (approximately 35-45 minutes), mixing once after 20 minutes. Enjoy!
