In late August we prepare for transitions. We have been enjoying all of the wonderful Summer crops that have been in season lately and it has been sweet and juicy and SO lovely to taste summer in all of it’s full flavor.
Next week, on Week 14, we will offer our final giving of melons and sweet corn. The tomatoes are in peak season. This week we harvested over a ton and a half of tomatoes on the farm. We’re pretty sure it was closer to 3500lbs, maybe even more! The tomato production should continue to be strong for a couple more weeks. It’s very exciting to see all of the beautiful and colorful heirlooms mixed with all of the romas, and red slicers. We hope you’re making fresh Pico-de-Gallo (fresh salsa with fresh tomatoes), home-made tomato sauce, or tomato tarts! Some families even can or freeze their extra tomatoes if you can’t eat them all up in a week!
We’re very excited about peppers coming into season now as well. We’re picking almost every vibrant color of pepper that nature can provide to us. I always feel to lucky and rich to get to be around all of this bounty. Peppers should continue going strong all the way up to frost.
We have one final round of lettuce to plant this week and then we will be done transplanting for the rest of this season. We are also watching our fall spinach germinate now. This was our second attempt at seeding fall Spinach. The first time we planted it, the rain never came that was forecasted and then a week later it dumped over 1.5 inches of rain and the stale seeds were compacted down. So after a re-plant, it’s looking like our fall Spinach is going to make a good stand after all.
This week we will begin harvesting our Winter Squash. We begin with the Spaghetti squash, then acorn squash and then move into pie pumpkins and butternuts. We were experiencing some significant deer damage earlier in the season, but now that we put a deer fence up, the squash is looking much better. The squash needs to cure in our dry-storage room for a couple weeks before we start shipping it out. We will be experimenting with some new methods for curing our squash that we’re excited about that will allow for better air flow around the fruits as they cure.
Summer isn’t quite over yet, but Labor Day and the cross-over into September is a transitional and pivitol point, not only for students and teachers, but for the farm and the summer crops as well. We hope you’re enjoying eating your way through a Midwestern growing season as much as we are!
What’s in the Box?
Tomatoes– 7.5 lb bags of tomatoes this week! I’ll continue to remind you that we pick all tomatoes with a ‘blush’ in case there are people who don’t read every newsletter. This means any greenish tomato that is just starting to show signs of pink or red or orange or whatever color they ripen. We do it this way because we would have no way to get your tomatoes to you without them being crushed in the already very full CSA boxes. We already struggle with too many of them ripening. They are still considered ‘vine ripened’ tomatoes this way. If you receive a tomato that is still not quite ripe, just leave it on your countertop or windowsill for a few days until it ripens soft to the touch. Never put tomatoes in the refrigerator unless they are so ripe they are going to spoil and you need to buy yourself more time. Refrigerators suck the flavor out of tomatoes. Jalapenos- Jalapenos ripen red, so yours could have been red! Most of them were green this week though. They do pack a little heat, so be careful touching the seeds and membrane! Melons- 2 Melons. The melons shipped out this week varied widely. You may have received any combination of a red watermelon, canary or cantaloupe or just two cantaloupes. A reminder that the canary melons have the yellow rind with the green, crispy flesh similar to a cucumber. Green Beans– 2 lbs Green Beans. Again, the whole crew picked green beans for an entire day this week to make sure you get a huge bag of green beans! Holy Moley! Peppers- 1-3 Peppers depending on what would fit in the box. Peppers went in the box last and they were getting very full this week! Cucumbers- 3-4 cucumbers per box. We’re onto our final succession of cucumbers for the season. They’re looking like they’ll continue for a bit yet. Cherry Tomatoes- About one pound of cherry tomatoes per member this week in brown paper bags. Mint- Cute little bunches of mint this week to make mint lemonade or mojitos or whatever else you can dream up! Next Week’s Best Guess- Melons, sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, peppers, cucumbers, brussels sprouts tops, carrots
