“We really appreciate how your farm provides a space not just for adults to get organic food and educate me about my relationship with the earth, but also provide a space for kids to learn where they are coming from, and where they are going. ” -Helen, shareholder
Farm Happenings
Tomato season has just begin and will pick up momentum in the coming weeks. We grow over a dozen varieties, small to large, many shapes and colors, heirlooms and hybrids both. Some varieties taste amazing, but are fragile and easily bruised or split in wet weather. Others are more firm, reliable in their hybrid vigor and sturdiness. We hope there’s something for every tomato lover and know you can always cut out an imperfection and enjoy the rest of the fruit. We will harvest this crop, though we may open the cherry tomatoes for you pick later in season. NOTE: You are welcome to look at the plants and their diversity, but never enter the patch when the plants are wet, that’s an easy way to spread a foliar disease from one plant to the next.
Here’s why we harvest some crops for the “You Pick” share.
- Increase overall yield for planting: Many vegetables produce for a longer period of time when the mature fruit is immediately removed it allows the plant to direct its energy to the young fruit, rather than putting energy towards the already mature fruit which then grows oversized. Ex. summer squash and tomatoes.
- You pick is challenging for some crops. ex. potatoes. While potatoes are fun to dig, it’s easy to miss tubers if not harvested correctly. For that reason, once potatoes are mature, we’ll harvest a batch and make available in the share room.
- All that said, we realize some crops technically fall into #1, but are still offered as you pick, ex. beans and peas. The plants would fare best if the farmers harvested them every other day, but that would significantly drive up our labor costs. The compromise is continuing to offer these popular crops as a you pick (with somewhat reduced yield), rather than eliminating them as a share offering altogether due to labor of us harvesting.
Pickles!
Flip taught a virtual preservation last week in her position as Local Food Program Leader at Cornell Cooperative Extension. It was a blast to teach fermentation to the 20+ in attendance. Stay tuned for additional class opportunities celebrating skill building around seasonal ingredients.
Tips for Success
- Double up, if you have two shares! When looking at the share board and there is a limit listed for a crop, ex. 1 quart of green beans per share, if your household has two shares, you are eligible for up to 2 quarts.
- How the flowers are labeled: On the share board, every crop that is available has a wooden
sign in the field. The cutting flowers are considered a collective crop, thus every variety is not individually labeled. The flower varieties that ARE labeled in the field (ex. calendula, yarrow) have culinary and/or medicinal uses beyond their value as cutting flowers. Long story short, you are welcome to harvest anything that is blooming! - Do you every capture good photos from farm-to-table? If yes, and you are posting about it, link, @littlegrassefoodworks on FB. Here’s a sweet example this week from shareholder Zoe. If posting online isn’t your style that’s understandable, we enjoy seeing the pics in texts or emails too! Hearing about your farm experience helps keep us truckin’!
Crops Available
If you are unsure about how to harvest: ask us! In person, via text or email. This list is subject to change, check the share whiteboard at the start of every visit.
* New items this week
- Hot peppers, Hungarian hot wax and Jalepeno* (to harvest peppers, cut the stem, rather than pulling off the plant)
- Tomatoes* (The crop is starting to trickle in. We will harvest and put on share table)
- The cutting flowers! (Varieties will come and go over the next 3 months. Currently blooming: bee balm, calendula, celosia, cosmos, drumstick flower, echinacea, false sunflower, feverfew, gomphrena, hyssop, millet, rudbeckia, snapdragons, statice, strawflower, sunflowers, yarrow, zinnias).
- Beans (the first planting is slowing down, but there’s another crop nearly ready and the sign will be moved soon)
- Carrots (This early planting did mediocre, there are two later, more vigorous plantings.)
- Chard
- Mixed lettuce greens
- Summer squash and zucchini (In fridge)
- Spicy mixed greens
- Kale (3 varieties)
Culinary and Medicinal Herbs
- Anise hyssop
- Bee Balm
- Calendula
- Chamomile
- Cilantro
- Dill
- Green or purple basil
- Lemon Balm
- Mint
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Sage
- Tulsi or Holy basil
- Yarrow
Summer sunset in the asparagus patch
End of drought?!
-Flip & Bob