Farm Happenings

The Free Choice, Fall only share starts this week. If you see any new faces around the farm, give them a warm hello!

On Friday it was noticeable when there was finally a break in the heat. We started to dig the potatoes, and there’s fresh ones in the washstand.

We had 7 weeks of abundant zucchini, summer squash and cucumbers. These plantings are winding down. There is another succession planting of all three crops in the field which may mature before the frost in September, If so, we will make them available next month.

Sorry that the spinach crop was so short lived. It got a disease we have not had before and we are diagnosing it now. The crop was only marked for a few days and then it started to go quickly downhill. We have another planting maturing for next month. There’s great lettuce greens and head lettuce right now, as well as a new bed of mixed salad greens.

There will be a super duper crop of edamame green soybeans this year. The plants mature all at once, so fair warning- you have about a week to find some tasty ways to use use this amazing vegetable.

Here’s the first of the potato harvest, Dottie and GH are grubbing for Red Norland and Adirondack Red tubers.

Tips for Success

• Remember to check the harvest whiteboard at the start of each visit. It’s got every crop that is available listed but there’s also important notes such as how to harvest and if there is a limit on that crop.
• There’s a large Rubbermaid tote with a lid on the outside on the chicken fence, shareholders are welcome to deposit kitchen scraps there.

A great sauce for a weeknight can be made by combining the paste type tomatoes. Pictured here are Sunrise Sauce (the orange ones) and Roma. These fruits have been briefly put in boiling water to slip off the blistered skin. You can skip that step if you like and roughly shop the tomatoes into a pan with onions, garlic, peppers and your favorite seasoning to cook down to desired consistency.

Crops Available

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

• Basil
• Calendula
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Fennel seeds
• Lavender
• Lemon balm
• Lemon verbena
• Lime basil
• Mint
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme
• Tulsi holy basil
• Winter savory

The Homestead shareholders are in peak tomato preservation mode- the LaMarche family had a great session!

In community,
-Flip & Bob