Summer 2024
Hey all!
Hoping you all had a lovely summer week. How about all that rain on Sunday? We got almost 3 inches over the course of the day out here on the farm!
For those who pickup on the farm, the new gate code is: 4984#. please write that down somewhere you will remember!
This week is not an add-on week. I will also be taking a week off of flowers! We were so busy harvesting today, we haven’t actually packed the 75 CSA boxes yet….. so unfortunately instead of harvesting flowers, I’ll be packing CSAs in the morning before deliveries tomorrow! We’ll back on the flower train next week.
These weeks on the farm are all about keeping up with harvesting! We’ve finally exhausted out first succession of beans. Our 200ft bed of beans produced almost 200lbs of beans in just under three weeks. All that rain helped them thrive. The crew and I are happy to be done harvesting beans for a little while, until our second succession starts producing! We’re also harvesting cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes twice a week. Today alone, we harvested 97lbs of heirloom tomatoes. They are thriving in the greenhouses!
I will say that we’re having some major bounty from some crops, but other crops have totally failed me this season. Usually I’d be harvesting 100s of lbs of summer squash and zucchinis each week, but this season, pests, disease, and weed pressure took over our first succession, and our second succession is following a similar pattern. I have found that cucurbits (cucumbers, zucchini, winter squash, melons, etc.) have the highest amount of pest pressure on our farm. Cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and the squash vine borer really know how to eat the flowers of those plants and multiply rapidly so I can’t always keep up with them. I choose not to spray any chemicals to deter pests on our farm, and with everything that I’m juggling, sometimes things fall to the wayside of pest pressure. So, I apologize for not including some of those summer favs (cucumbers and zucchini) in our boxes each week, but I was actually unable to grow them! What a wild season… But, that’s the beauty of a CSA, we honor in the abundance of what the farm can produce for us, and try hard not to miss the things it can’t. Thank you for riding the wave with me.
This week, in your CSA, you will find a beautiful little box of radish microgreens, grown by the one and only Henry Ricker! Henry is one of the employees of StrongHeart this season, and he has been curating his own microgreens business in addition to working for us. The radish microgreens in your CSA are spicy and succulent, a perfect addition to any salad, sandwich, wrap, you name it! Someone once told me microgreens are “food confetti” and I will forever hold onto that. Microgreens are also incredibly nutrient dense and packed with so many benefits.
I have a feeling we will include more of Henry’s microgreens in future CSAs, but if you’re looking for microgreens for your own culinary endeavors, or if you’re hosting an event where you want to add microgreens to a dish, please contact Henry by email to order flats of microgreens or follow up with questions!
His email is: rickerhw@gmail.com
In your box….
Here are photos of what you’ll find in your box this week!
Large CSA
Small CSA
Some Inspiration…
Carrots and beets in this weeks box! Hoping you’ll have fun preparing some of these fan favorites. Everyone received a random type of beet this week. We harvested chiogga (red and white striped), gold, and red beets so it will be a surprise in your box tomorrow!
The Large CSAs recieved something called a shishito pepper. (don’t worry smalls, you’re next!). They are a mild grilling pepper. Here is a recipe for blistered shishito peppers with a garlic aioli sauce:
Tonight for dinner (while I was harvesting in the field!) my mother-in-law made an incredible kale and sweet potato salad topped with feta, cherries, and pumpkin seeds. (you could totally toss the radish microgreens on top too!) It was the best, fresh meal to come home from a long day of field work to. Hope you can give it a try!
Hoping you have a lovely week!
Soil and sunshine,
Eleanor