Share 12 newsletter
In the share this week:
1.5 lbs mixed tomatoes
1 lb green and purple beans
Mixed summer squash
1 bunch carrots
2 lbs red beets
2 sweet peppers
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
Lots of potential severe weather in the forecast this week. I'm currently sitting in the basement waiting out a tornado warning and getting to the newsletter a little earlier than I have been :) We hurried up to get a few beds prepped and ready so we could seed some fall and winter radishes (watermelon and daikon) and so that we'd have beds available to plant lettuces and napa cabbage later this week. The greenhouse is slowly emptying out - just 2 or 3 more weeks of planting and all we'll have left will be the overwintering onions that we'll seed in early Sept.
The open space in the greenhouse is perfect timing to start bringing in the first of our winter squashes from the field. We did our usual rockstars - pie pumpkins and butternuts - again this year, and like so many of the crops this year, it looks like we have a lot of nice squash ripening up! The plants have been starting to die back over the last few weeks and we are letting the fruits get all the goodness they can from those vines before we fully harvest. Once we bring them into the greenhouse to cure, it will be just a couple of weeks before they are ready to start giving in shares!
The fun and exciting crop this week are the green (and purple!) beans. We decided to plant a purple variety this year to see how they would do and we've been pleasantly surprised with just how beautiful and tasty these beans are. One caveat is that the purple color does diminish if you cook them. If you want to preserve the color, you can make some pickled beans and use them in salads later in the year. Here's a recipe for ideas:
We have beets back in the share this week! These are loose beets without greens and they will keep for a month or more in your crisper if you don't get to them right away. Beets and carrots pair very nicely together and are great roasted as a side dish. I do love having some roasted beets chopped and ready in the fridge to add to grain bowls or salads. If you want to try something a little fancier, here's a very yummy sounding side dish (that you could probably make a main if you pair it with a solid grain or quinoa).
Well our power went out at the farm while I was in the middle of this newsletter. We got some pretty serious winds here and there are a lot of downed trees. Fingers crossed crews can get out and get power restored ASAP!