In your box:
- Arugula
- Cilantro
- Cucumber or zucchini
- Kale, red Russian
- Salad mix
- Scallions (green onions)
- Raspberries or cauliflower or kohlrabi
- Turnips (white)
As we watch the temperature skyrocket this weekend and the following week, coupled with a corresponding rise in our urge to nap and consequential fall of puddles of sweat from our brow, we look to be turning the corner on our harvests, as well. After a nice relaxing week of comfortable temperatures and soothing rain, we look to be leaving our lousy spring far behind us.
One of the remarkable aspects of this spring is that we still planted everything we wanted to. Some of our crops were delayed a week or two, others even a month or two after we wanted to plant them. But still, mud and all, we seeded and transplanted everything we would have if a meteorologist had asked us to design our own weather for the spring. The difference is simply in the time it takes crops to ripen or achieve their desired size. That said, with the warmth of this summer we should be about to catch up to an “average” year. While the boxes have been light thus far into the season, we seem well-poised to explode into a bounteous harvest within the next week or two.
This week should be the last week that demonstrates how difficult a spring we had. While the boxes remain light, we are excited to be bringing in our first cucumbers and zucchini. Raspberries are also a welcome treat—we hadn’t expected a givable harvest until 2012. We still won’t have enough to give to every member every week, but we’ll keep track of who gets raspberries and try to keep things even throughout the season. We are still watching a bounty of crops that are nearly ready for harvest, but just out of reach. Basil, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, green beans, and carrots should light up (and weigh down) your CSA box shortly.
We have been well-aided with bountiful and timely rains for the last four weeks. After a thorough drying-out for a couple weeks, we received 2.0″ of rain on Saturday the 9th, 0.2″ the next evening, and 0.9″ on the morning of Thursday the 14th. That adds up to a great moisture base as we go into this heatwave, with no ill-effects of flooding. For once, even this farmer is happy.
New this week:
Cilantro is a welcome addition this week. Like parsley and dill, it is of the Umbelliferae family whose most famous child is the carrot. Cilantro is planted from coriander seeds, a mainstay in most kitchens and a common ingredient in Indian cooking, especially. The cilantro leaves of the plant are used in the cuisines of many cultures, including the popular “Chipotle/Qdoba” culture of North America, consisting of delicious dishes masquerading as Mexican cooking. It is believed that the genetic makeup of the eater determines how one will respond to cilantro. This herb contains a good deal of Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), a sulfur-based compound that tastes like rancid soap to some and nothing at all to others, depending on one’s genes. So if you love cilantro and your partner prefers licking out a dirty soap dish, the difference is all in the genes. Provided you don’t taste a stink bug when you eat it, try cilantro as a friendly addition to salsa, potato salad, a lettuce-based salad, or pasta.
Special thanks to Bob and Jeannie Ward of our Minnetonka site for visiting the farm on Tuesday the 12th. After touring the farm, they stuffed all of that day’s boxes in their car and delivered them for us to Fresh Seasons Market. Thanks a lot!
Fox & Fawn Farm 