In the share this week:
1 head napa cabbage
2 kohlrabi bulbs
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bunch french breakfast radishes
1 bag spicy salad mix
1 bunch green onions
2 asian eggplant
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
This week's newsletter will be short and sweet. I've got a few extra things on my plate this week, including our organic inspection tomorrow morning. These inspections are typically fun and not so stressful, since I get to walk around the farm and talk crops with someone who knows about these things intimately. However, I do want to make sure I had all of my paperwork ducks in a row, so I'm spending a little time today to ensure everything is at the ready to make the inspection go smoothly.
Our big event on the farm this week is the sweet potato harvest! We brought in almost 2/3 of what we planted yesterday and it looks we already have about 400 lbs of good potatoes. I'm always worried about how much vole damage we'll have when we start to dig these up. Voles are very similar to field mice, except that they burrow underground. Unfortunately, our sweet potato beds are perfect little homes for these guys and they appreciate the ready food source, so we often have many roots with chew marks. I've avoided doing much in the way of trying to control the vole population on the farm because we also have many snakes and a sweet farm cat that's been following us around. However, their damage does seem to be getting a little out of control, so I may need to think about trying to trap them next season.
Since you have another whole napa cabbage in your share this week, full shares may want to think about trying to make some kimchi in order to keep some space in your fridge! Here's a simple recipe (note: you can substitute your salad turnips and/or radishes this week for the daikon radish):
We are harvesting the last of the eggplant this week, before we remove that planting and make way for cover crops. I had a really sweet Filipino couple come to market several weeks ago and tell me about an eggplant omelette recipe that they love to make with the asian eggplant. It keeps the stem of the eggplant intact while you pour the egg mixture over it. I haven't tried it yet, but this may be the week to do it!
Hope you all have a great week!