Greetings All,
I have the best news, ever.
We started picking tomatoes!!!! As you all know, everything is later than normal this season and the tomatoes are no exception. We're starting to see some color in the tomato patch!
We picked quite a few the other day and we started sorting them. First we sort them by color and then we sort them by grade. If the tomato has a blemish of some kind we put it into a canner basket and then sell those to folks who make salsa or sauces, etc.
We're still a week or two away from selling canners, but we're encouraged by what we're seeing out in the tomato patch. The inch of rain from yesterday was VERY welcomed as well! Irrigating can help with moisture, but rain carries nutrients in microscopic doses that can't be duplicated by anything we can do with a hose.
The grape tomatoes look great! They're so tall that you can't even see the stakes that are holding them up, haha! The regular slicing tomatoes and romas are to the right, and the plants are much shorter (but they're loaded)! It's hard to see how many flowers are on the grape tomatoes here, but it looks like there will be a large yield! Assuming the bees and pollinators come to visit :)
This is just the tip of the iceberg for tomatoes! Coming up soon we'll be able to start selling canners too. I've started getting questions so I want to address this- yes, we will have plenty of tomatoes (and likely everything else you need) for making salsa or sauces, etc. We sell canners by the half bushel basket. I'll touch more on this next week and explain prices and sizes of all the different options too. All of the additional produce you'd order would come alongside your normal CSA delivery!
Another thing that's been keeping us busy is the pigs. I started building a new run for them next to the existing runs in front of our house. They're all connected by a loading shoot that we designed, so when we want to move them from one area to the other it's very easy because it's just a few gates and they're always curious so as soon as you open a gate they're already through it, haha!
Next will be building a new shelter in there for them. I frame it with t-posts & a bunch of pallets (7 to be exact), and then some wood to frame off the top before adding a tin roof. This will be the 4th pig run & shelter that we've built in the past 2 years. I'm proud to say that in true farmer fashion, we've managed to repurpose materials and use older hardware to put together these pens :) We've spent money too of course, but it really feels good to put some of the old treasures left on the farm to work!
Yesterday morning I spent over an hour bringing hay to all of the pens. I went out to feed and water everyone and saw that they needed a little rainy day pick-me-up. Everyone was just lethargic and mopey (kind of like the weather yesterday morning!!). So I went and got a hay bale for every one of the runs! I got into each of the pens with them to break it up and help spread it around in their shelters and favorite lounging areas.
There isn't much in this world that compares to the happiness of a pig with a fresh bale of hay. They're running and squealing, sliding in the mud, literally bouncing and hopping. My favorite is when they spin in circles because it looks like they're trying to catch their own tails!! The hay was their pick-me-up, and mine too! It's so much fun to watch them have such a good time! Just like kids with a cardboard box... nothing to it really, but it's so much fun!
Ben lost his phone yesterday somewhere between the zucchini, potatoes, grape tomatoes, etc... I feel so bad for him! We were out really late the one night with my spotlight, thinking if we would be close enough, we'd see it reflect light. No luck on finding it... I'm sure by the time we recover his phone it'll be a fossil and we'll all be driving flying cars ;P
What you can expect in your CSA this week: Jumbos & Families: Cauliflower, Leeks, Sweet Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, and Basil. Singles: Spaghetti Squash, Leeks, Gypsy Peppers (sweet!), Jalapenos and Basil.
**We are going to start sneaking tomatoes into your CSAs! As I mentioned above, they're just starting to ripen. As with every variety in the field there is always a gearing up period and a gearing down period. Because they're just gearing up right now, we'll start by adding them into your CSAs when we can for the first week or two maybe (though I'm hoping by next week we'll have enough for all CSAs). I didn't add it to the CSA list above because we're simply adding them where we can. Please remember, I document everything so it's not like one day of the week or another will get more or less. By documenting this, towards the end of the season as they're gearing down we will be able to offer it the same way, with selective placement for tomatoes.
Cauliflower is Ben's favorite! Cauliflower grows in color variations from the bright white to yellowed and even sometimes has purple hues (because of the heirloom variety genetics). When you get it home you'll see that you need to trim it up. We do trim them but we don't want to completely expose the heads if we don't have to. Traveling in a box is much safer with a bit of extra foliage, than stripped down to the heads you'd see in the grocery store wrapped in plastic. Notice how they wrap it in plastic to protect the head... but the greens do the same thing! :)
Cauliflower does not keep particularly well. Wrap dry, unwashed cauliflower loosely in plastic and store it in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to a week but will taste sweetest if used within a few days.
Fun fact because I can't help myself... cauliflower is actually a mass of unopened flower buds (just like it's cousin broccoli!) that will burst into edible yellow flowers if allowed to mature.
Spaghetti Squash is coming in the Single Shares this week! To store: Store in a cool, dry, dark place at around 50 degrees, but make sure they do not freeze. If you're planning on using them in the next week or so I'd just keep it on your counter. Once cut, you can wrap them in plastic and store them in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days.
To use: They are often baked or boiled and then the mildly sweet flesh is
combed out and topped with spaghetti sauce. To bake, slice in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and place facedown on cookie sheet. Add a 1/2 inch water to the pan to avoid drying out. Bake at 400 degrees. Squash will need about an hour—90 minutes to cook,
depending on size. Cook until tender (can be punctured with a fork with little effort). Comb the flesh out with a fork, and serve hot with butter and parmesan cheese or your favorite tomato sauce on top.
Leeks! These are something that we've tried growing for a few years now. Last year we had some but they were pretty small, and the year before we planted them in a spot that was too low. This season, they look awesome!! I can't wait to send these home with you!!
I'm sorry but I'm just noticing that these aren't in our Farm to Table Storage Guide. Leeks look like overgrown green onions but they have a more mild flavor than a traditional onion. Please keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks in a loose plastic bag or tupperware container. The only reason I do sometimes prefer using plastic for storage is because you can gently squeeze the air out. Exposing your veggies to air will cause them to deteriorate much faster. The fridge naturally dehydrates things a little bit (that's why there is a separate drawer for veggies, right?!). So keeping them 'protected' from the fridge is important. The more air flow around your veggies, the faster they'll go down hill.
Pictured- Gypsys.
Gypsy & Banana peppers- our sweet varieties for this week. These can be sliced and added to a veggie tray, into your fajitas, diced and added to your salads, or my recent favorite, adding them to my chilled pasta salad (which would be awesome with the fresh basil you're getting this week too)!
If you're not able to use them this week, or you still have some left from last week that you want to use up, don't worry about wasting them. There are ways to preserve the produce you're getting this summer if you can't use it right away. Personally, I like to pickle my peppers because I found a recipe I really like. I actually sell these peppers at the farm stand too, they're a big hit!! You could make as little or as many as you'd like, just mix together 1 cup of water, 3 cups vinegar and 1 cup of sugar. Bring it to a boil and pour it into a container over your sliced peppers. You don't have to process them or water bath them, you could simply put it into a container in the fridge. Now the hard part, don't eat them for 3 weeks, lol!!! Just like refrigerator pickles, they need a bit to take on the brine.
Peppers are the easiest thing to freeze on the farm. We cut them into multiple sizes, sometimes they're diced, cut in half, or even just quartered (think shishkabobs). When you take them out of the freezer mid-winter, they won't have a big crunch like they do when they're fresh but they're perfect to use in cooked dishes! I add them to my fried potatoes and we actually use a lot in our fajitas too because the texture of a frozen pepper is going to be the same as a cooked pepper basically anyways.
Remember when I said I don't like wasting stuff in my last post? These peppers below are 'seconds' meaning they had some kind of blemish. A field spot, a soft tip (where they touch the ground sometimes), weather checking, anything really. They're not number ones, which is what went into your CSAs last week. So I took all these seconds, cut off the bad parts and canned them! To be clear, these are 100% perfect peppers now that I cut off the bad spot.
That's literally what canning is all about, preserving something for a long time that you can't use right away!
BASIL!
One of the herbs is finally doing well, eeek!! We've had some problems with some herbs this spring and we've had to reseed a lot of it. We've finally got basil!!
If you only remember one thing about basil- DON'T REFRIGERATE IT! It'll turn black in a hurry because it's very sensitive to the cold. The basil in the stores is kept in the plastic little containers usually at the top of the veggie cooler so it's farthest away from the cooling elements, but it will still turn brown/black if it's there for long. If you buy it on a regular basis you know exactly what I'm talking about!
To store, place stems in a water glass on the counter. If there aren't big enough stems to use a water glass, wrap the leaves in a dry paper towel and place in a tupperware that's kept on the counter. I don't recommend freezing basil.
If you're new to using fresh herbs I have some ideas for you!! Try chopping it and adding to butter, cream cheese, or your favorite pasta sauce. Make a batch of pesto or simply puree extra basil with a bit of olive oil to top cheese and crackers. It pairs well with tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, green beans and summer squash. Because it is so fragile, it is best to add basil near the end of a dish’s cooking time.
Last little tidbit- we have a new momma on the farm! We let her sit on her eggs for a few weeks. We've done this before and never had any chickens successfully hatch out a brood, until now!! The babies she's sitting on are a farm yard mix because other hens were crawling in (on top of her basically) to lay eggs in that nesting box. There are a TON of nesting boxes but if no one else is in a box, why use it? Lol My kids take the same logic to where they sit on the couch... there is a favorite spot haha!
I'm excited to see what they look like when they grow up a bit and get their feathers! For now they're a bunch of poofs <3
I've got pigs to take care of this morning and a birthday party in Nisswa to get to for my nephew who is turning the big 0-3! haha He's a "worker dude" so we got him a toddler sized wheelbarrow and shovel & rake, in true farmer fashion ;)
Can you believe it, when I asked my sister if I could bring her son baby chickens for his birthday she actually said no?!!! Who turns down chickens?!
Totally kidding. I know normal people don't just do those types of things. Though I can say I did try pretty hard to convince her, haha!! Have a great rest of your weekend! Stay well Friends,
~The Farmer's Wife