Edgewood Farm Organics CSA
7/14/15 Newsletter
Happy Summer Everyone!
Last week the veggie box was full of color and summer delight. We hope new food discoveries were experienced and enjoyed; the adventures are truly underway! Email us know any stand- out recipes and we will put them into circulation. Thank you to those that have emailed amazing, mouthwatering ideas, I will post them to the website as they come in so we can all be in this adventure together.
The rain has been less consistent but when it comes it still blows with mighty force and keeps us crossing our fingers for the crops. Last week with our break from the rain came cool, fall weather. What a wild ride it has been. The cool mornings in the low 50’s reminded me of the Montana days, always wearing a warm sweatshirt to greet the, crisp cool early mornings…..I could go on and on about that sweet mountain air….but I live in Illinois! It’s July and we need hot summer weather! At least that’s what my hot loving plants need, and their needs are my needs. The summer weather and sunshine returned late last week, and then more rain this weekend with bursts of sunshine and heat and now after “one last” powerful storm the summer sun is sure to stick around….right?
In the field there is an array of activity, enough to make us dizzy at times but with our two feet planted we keep trucking forward. We continue to trellis the tomato rows each week to keep them growing upward, this also allows us to keep an eye on the health of the plants. With the overwhelming moisture this year the tomatoes are facing enhanced insect pressure and a few other issues that are not as common. Don’t worry your little tomato hearts though; we are putting up the good fight for them as well as the other “hot” lovers, the summer sun is finally coming to our rescue. We are now harvesting cukes and zukes every day, if we don’t do this the zukes may explode to alarming size (my brother was gifted with a 7.5 pound zucchini last week)….. Lock your car doors everyone…..you could be the next lucky soul to have a zucchini for a baseball bat. The onion greens are continuing to fall over which signifies they are ready to be pulled and cured. Many of the potato plants are turning yellow, telling us that potatoes are ready for harvest. Time to become one with the shovel!
In the greenhouse the first round of fall brassicas is nearly ready for the field and the other two rounds are doing very well. It’s crazy to think that we will be transplanting fall broccoli into the field already. The circular energy of the farm life never seizes to amaze me. We also seeded head lettuce and endives to spice things up and hope to get everyone back on the head lettuce train for the second part of the season.
As for the Russians, Joe is still waiting for us to get a tractor in the field. (I am actually really looking forward to this too). By Thursday he hopes to be tilling in the field. Timmy doesn’t know that there are tomatoes almost ready…we are trying to keep our eye on him so that we can have tomatoes for you! Mom and the boys helped me at the Farmers Market on Saturday and they make the market fun. Joe was definitely slinging some silver slicer cukes to the town of Princeton, how could anyone ever resist him anyways?!
In Goatlandia, Joe gets a huge a shout out for his natural, goat farmer ways. He learned how to milk this weekend so that I could go away for an afternoon. He showed the goats who is boss, and they listened to him! He herded them into the milk room, fed them grain, milked them all and attended to the little goats as well. Most adults are not comfortable doing what he did and I am so proud of my brother. Emily and I are happy about the potential of having some days off from milking.
That’s the news on the farm front, the season is really starting to transition and broaden with further variety. Get the grills out when you can this week. Grilled fresh vegetables are a real treat. Keep the meals simple so you can relish in each individual flavor!
What to expect in the box on July 14, 2015:
Kale
Broccoli
Zucchini
Summer Squash -Patty Pans
Cucumbers- Silver Slicer and Platinum (White Cukes), Marketmore 76 (green)
Beets
Fennel (small variety)
Onions
Garlic
Spicy Salad Mix (can mix with kale to mellow the spice or use as a braising mix)
*Note –We have a booming crop of silver slicer and platinum cucumbers this season. Email me if you are interested in pickling these cucumbers, I will sell some in bulk. Let me know how many pounds you are interested in and I can deliver them next week on CSA delivery day.
*Thanks for the plastic bags and rubber bands. Keep em’ coming.
Delivery to Garden Avenue will be at 2:30pm and Clarke Campus by 3pm. Enjoy the seasonal tastes.
“Grow, inspire, repeat.”
With kindness,
Edgewood Farm Organics CSA Crew