Catching Up!

Have been extremely busy keeping up on the weeding, fertilizing and consecutive seeding of later season crops that take 30-60 days to yield. The spring lettuce is long gone and the summer is coming this way for harvest as baby leaf stage. Usually if it gets too hot too soon the lettuce does not like the warm soil temperatures but this year we are using shade cloth and extra watering to coax it in to the summer growing season. Last year the kale varieties had been a staple of shares and to my surprise, our shareholders wished for more chard instead so that is what we have planted extra of and the timing of it I must say has been wonderful. If you plant the chard too early it bolts with the change of temps which some did do but the majority of it is doing fine and well so far. We are in to thinning the second and third planting of carrots. The wallas are bulbing up fine and you will see a few more as the tops fall over, after that the onions of a smaller diameter are sweet yellow and white but they will not be as large as what you have been getting.
The beets have been touch and go so we are doing another planting of them for later in the season.
Spinach just wasn't a happy camper for spring so we are going to reseed for luck with it in the late summer.
We have pak choy and bok choy second leaf stage ready to go in to the ground in next week or two as well as dill, rutabaga, more lettuce, basil starts (now that the tomatoes are flowering and the basil eaters are hiding under the dry soil), and the second planting of kohlrabi is responding greatly to having gained their ground after they were transplanted and the weeds were having their way with them??!!
The summer squash varieties are flowering away alongside the winter squash which for winter varieties they are grown in the warm season and then harvested for storage to be eaten in the winter season. It takes about 4 weeks to cure the winter squash, at least once they are harvested so the sugar content of the veggie shifts to a delectable taste. Some may be harvested as baby squash which goes great on the BBQ cause they are firmer and do taste like summer squash.
Green beans in the shades of green, purple and yellow are developing as we speak we should begin the harvest of these by end of this week. We did grow extra of these for pickling and for farmers markets if you need a bulk order of these let us know so we can put some extra aside for you.
The Fresh Shell beans are a bit later maybe say in another month. Towards the end of September we should be harvesting the dried beans as well for fall and winter soups.
Cucumbers are showing babies, but not quite the amounts we need for all shareholders in the beginning. I promise you will not have to be burdened with the multitudes of pickling cucumbers like last year as we did not over plant those this time around.
Based on last year's spring it has been a challenge replanting and reseeding basic veggies as the slugs were enjoying the fruits of our labor and as a result everything has been ready to yield alot later than last season. If any of you have seen the movie Ground Hog Day, I can relate that movie to what has been going on at the farm especially for this year's growing season more so than before! It is because of this type of replanting over and over again that we have had to end up cancelling any spring open house. With any luck of catching up, looking at a late summer open house date TBA.
As the warm season veggies come along you will be getting less of a greens assortment to make the weekly harvest more diverse.
We want to take this time to remind you that if you cannot pick up your share to please call us at least by the morning and let us know if you want us to donate it. Because the farm is located 5 miles from my house and another 3 miles from the drop spots it would save the Farmerette some petro expenses and if it is not picked up we have to take it home and find a place in the fridge for it to yet again either have it moved back to the farm for a second chance to pick it up or we have to fit in a special trip to donate it after that point if it is not picked up at the farm. We can plan accordingly and use less time and fuel if we ended up having to donate your share at a more convenient time for us. Our phone number is 241-1278.
I am placing a bag holder for extra bags at the farm pick up, and are in need of more. Plant pots are also greatly appreciated as I have needed to rebuild the pot inventory. Thank you so much for the empty pots, boxes, etc.
Here are some Swiss Chard Recipes-Remember that the less you cook it the better it is for you and of course the more palatable it is if you have picky eaters!

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swiss_chard

http://allrecipes.com//Recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/vegetables-a-m/greens/chard/Main.aspx

Bon Apetit,

The Farmerette