August - CSA Box #6
It’s hard not to look around a garden and see the weeds or things that could have been better. If you look at the big picture though, a space has been completely transformed by your hands and your vision. It has become a lush landscape that is home countless organisms and has nourished so many living things, and that is nothing short of amazing.
Onions - This year we went onion heavy and then lost the battle to weeds. We maintained a few rows but had to let a few go feral, and were forced to see if our onions could prevail. Fortunately, many persisted and managed to stay upright amongst the waist-high weeds. We came through just in the nick of time to save these from too much moisture and turning to mush. Now they are in the process of curing in our barn and we are hoping that the majority of them will be able to be cleaned up to go out in subsequent boxes. This week we shared some smaller cipollinis and a Cabernet red. A few also received some ‘Walla Walla’.
Corn - Our ears this week are ‘Enchanted’ sweet corn and many look fantastic. A few turned into huitlacoche or “corn smut”, which is a gnarly, yet surprisingly delicious, delicacy. This fungus feeds off corn before its ears fully develop. It is a blue-grey in color and is edible. Some of our corn tops were gnawed on by ground squirrels. We plan to salvage those by chopping, stripping the good kernels, and storing it in our freeze for later this winter/spring once the fresh stuff is long gone. More is planted and we hope they will finish before the end of the season but to be honest we have never planted it out this late.
Potatoes - ‘Russian Banana’ fingerling and ‘Adirondack Red’ potatoes made it into this week’s box. Really excited for the purple ‘Magic Molly’ variety we will be pulling soon. A few of you may have received 1 or 2 but they are a fantastically dark inky-purple. We also discovered an interesting condition that caused blemishes on the skin of the Adirondacks. Although entirely harmless and only on the surface, it did manage to the mar the beauty of the larger spuds.
Kale - We weren’t particularly proud of of our kale plants early on. Last year they grew like palm trees in a far row of Old World and thrived. We had kale nonstop. After a slow start, animals could smell their weakness and dined on the greens whenever they passed through. Over the past few weeks though, the tides have turned, and we are thrilled to see how happy our curly kale patch is looking. “Low key, one of the most satisfying things to harvest,” says Emily.
Cucumbers - Our Suyo vines are slowing down so these may be the last mondo cukes we send your way. Hoping some of the other kinds we planted pull through so we can offer those in their place.
Garlic - The saddest tale of this growing season is that we will not have enough to carry us through the end of the year. Normally we have a crate to dispose of come spring from all the leftover cloves we harvest. This year we experimented with several softneck varieties and did not have as high of a success rate. Unfortunately, we buried them under a thick mat of leaves in the fall that may have been a little too heavy for the soft neck boys to push through. Due to a mild winter and warmer than normal spring, many sprouted early and subsequently experienced several more frosts and temperature fluctuations that certainly did not help. The spacing was a little farther apart than desired, and we managed to pierce a good number of bulbs while lifting. Then, we didn’t have our usual space prepped once we had them pulled. We set them to cure in another barn, and then experienced some seriously balmy days that did not set things on the best foot for drying out fast. This box we sent out some of the softneck garlic that is noticeably smaller than our ‘Music” but we hope you enjoy. Needless to say, we will never make the same mistakes with garlic again and will be overdoing it until the day we die.
Leeks - We forgot we planted these and were bushwhacking through weeds in search of onions when we stumbled upon them. The stems, deprived of light due to so much surrounding vegetation, remained primarily white or pale green. They also grew incredibly tall in search of the sun so we chopped much of the darker green tops off in order to fit them in your crates. We plan on making a tomato tart with some of ours to start but are in search of some new recipes to use up the rest.
Peppers - Finally pulling some good sized peppers off the many plants we have growing in our hoop house and far field that borders the prairie. Most of you received some ‘Purple Beauty’ bell peppers that - yes - we bought because they are freaking PURPLE! Saw them in a seed catalogue and could not resist. Expect peppers for the remainder of the boxes, barring unforeseen circumstances.
Tomatoes - The other superstar producer right now in the garden. We are swimming in them and have a huge variety to offer over the rest of the weeks of the CSA. Going to share some tomato related products but if you are ever feeling overwhelmed start churning out salsas, sauces, or soups like gazpacho!
Carrots - ‘Danvers’ again! We hear these are a crowd favorite and will definitely be growing these again in the future. One of our bigger regrets was not planting a wider variety and seeding another round to directly follow this batch. We have some more in the ground but we won’t be harvesting them until the fall.
Beets - Nothing new here but these may be the last for the season!
Zucchini - Oddly the golden/yellow are out-pacing the green varieties we have by a longshot. We highly recommend storing these on the counter at room temp! We have noticed they get soft and brown much faster when kept in the fridge.
Extras
Lettuce - Looking forward to cooler temps ahead? So is our lettuce. We are excited to offer more tender leafy bags of our gourmet lettuce blend over the next few weeks.
Shishito peppers - Last year we heard that our shishitos packed some heat so sample yours before assuming these are ready for grilling. We kept a few that were changing to an orangey-red to sample and compare to the greener youths.
Herbs: Thyme, Dill, Thai Basil, Parsley, Mint
This week’s bouquets featured…
Dahlias, Celosia, Gladiolus, Brown-eyed Susans, Pincushion Flower, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, Zinnias, and Mint
