Share 9 - week of July 22nd
In the share this week:
1.75 lb mixed tomatoes
2 lbs eggplant
1 lb red onions
1 bunch green onions
1 pepper mix
1 summer squash mix/green beans/cherry toms
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
My mood was getting a little dark and stormy along with the weather this weekend. We have had an incredible amount of rain on the farm this July. I actually still haven't installed our rain gauge, but based on how much water was in some crates we had left out after Saturday market, I think we may have gotten close to 3 inches of rain! The internet tells me that the average amount of rain we get around here during the month of July is 4 inches. I bet we have gotten nearly double that in these last few weeks. The storms have certainly been widely scattered, so I know that not everyone around has gotten quite that much. I'm doing my best to look on the bright side of this wet situation - no irrigation! summer cover crop germination is great! transplants are taking well! There are certainly some downsides too - it's been tough to find the dry-ish windows of time for weeding and bed prep, and too much water will is causing some crops to succumb to fungal disease a little earlier than usual. Thankfully we have a few dry days in a row this week to get some of the weeding and bed prep done. We are busy turning over some of our spring beds into crops for the fall. This afternoon, I got in a planting of green beans and rutabaga. I'm waiting to seed the fall carrots until later this week or early next week as the temps look a little more favorable for germination. It has been a really tough year for carrots. Typically we'd be deep into some nice plantings in mid-July. We do have a few nice beds coming on soon and I'm looking forward to being able to give those in shares.
The tomatoes are really hitting their stride this week and we have a nice amount to give everyone. You'll get at least one heritage tomato (yellow and red striped, or dark purplish) or orange tomato, along with some really nice red tomatoes. These would be great sandwich or salad tomatoes this week!
The eggplant is continuing to produce like crazy so we are giving a lot again this week. This would be a great opportunity to make some baba ganoush! If you haven't tried it before, this is a Mediterranean dip much like hummus, but with roasted/grilled eggplant instead of chickpeas. If you happen to be firing up the grill this week, you should definitely throw some eggplant halves/slices on to roast. Baba ganoush is extra delicious with the grill smokiness. Also, note that you can easily freeze eggplant that has been roasted or grilled. Just scoop the flesh into a zip top bag and freeze flat for later use. Here is a basic recipe if you'd like to give it a try:
We are also happy to see the peppers coming on nicely! This week we are giving a mix of bell, banana and jalapeno peppers. Some of the sweet peppers are just starting to show some color, so hopefully we'll have some colored bell and Italian peppers for you soon!
Hope you all have a great week! Here's a picture of a box turtle we found in the field on Monday. We were so happy to find him, since we we're getting ready to mow that area today. He was very spirited and trying to get away as soon as I picked him up!
