Farm Happenings

There’s been lots to harvest these days as I am sure you have seen the bounty in the washstand. We keep on a schedule, restocking the fridge and table items three times a week, and as needed. You’ve seen the abundance in the cabbage, summer squash, onion and cucumber crop. Now we add tomatoes to that list. As long as the weather is amenable and we aren’t hit with a disease such as late blight, it’s looking like we’ll have abundant tomatoes for the coming weeks. The planting of yellow beans is all done. The next succession with green beans is flowering now and will be available for you pick in early September.

The forecast this week is hot. You might find it easier to enjoy the fields and wander for the harvest by visiting early or late in the day, when the sun isn’t as insistent.

The Free Choice, Summer share ends on August 31st. If you originally signed up for summer only but want to extend your share to the end of October, email littlegrasse@gmail.com.

Stop by to enjoy some field time with the crew Saturday anytime 8:30am-12:30pm.

Farewell apprentice Lindsey! We had fun this summer and appreciated her attention to detail and joy of storytelling. She returned to the Boston area and will soon be back in the classroom with her students she so loves.

There’s a new bed of arugula ready for harvest.

Tomatoes continue to ripen off the vine. Pictured here are three varieties we have this season with the ripe version on top, and it’s unripe version below. A fully ripe tomato has deeper color, higher sugar and lower acid than it’s unripe counterpart, and is generally more tender. If you want to eat tomatoes over the course of several days, select a range of ripeness and let them finish maturing on your countertop at home. Refrigerating tomatoes is not required unless you are trying to slow down the ripening process to make them last even longer.

Tips for Success

• Have your tried the yellow cucumbers yet? We find them to be excellent, juicy snacks with thin skins that are not bitter. We eat them in everything from salsa to pickles to salads. Shareholder April enjoys this cucumber gazpacho recipe, and tops it with nuts: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/cucumber-gazpacho
• Just a reminder about how to harvest the cutting greens, such as mixed greens, arugula and lettuce greens. They are considered a “cut and come again” crop. We noticed that some people are cutting too low to the soil in the lettuce greens and so the plant is not able to resprout. These crops are written in blue on the share board, so remember to harvest at least 3 inches up from the surface of the soil, so that the growing crown is intact and the plants can grown new young leaves. 
• Once an item with an orange flag has been harvested, remember to move the flag to the point where your harvest ended.

Let us know what you think of this new butterhead type lettuce. It’s called Red Cross and besides it’s striking leaves, it’s said to be very tender yet heat tolerant.

Crops Available

• Arugula*
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery stalks
• Cucumbers
• Cutting flowers
• Fennel bulb
• Head lettuce, 2 varieties*
• Hot peppers
• Kale, curly or dinosaur
• Mixed lettuce greens
• Mixed salad greens
• Onions
• Rainbow chard
• Scallions
• Spinach*
• Summer squash
• Tomatoes, multiple varieties
• Tomatillos*
• Zucchini

• Basil
• Borage (edible flowers)
• Calendula
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Fennel seeds
• Lavender
• Lemon balm
• Lemon verbena
• Lime basil
• Mint
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme
• Tulsi holy basil
• Winter savory
• Yarrow

Fresh to you,
-Bob & Flip