2023 CSA Newsletter #8
We did it, folks. We survived last week's heat wave! It was a scorcher, but we pushed through. We went from hot (just working outside) to hotter (working in the hoophouses) to "oh my god, it's an inferno" (working in the greenhouse). Needless to say, we are looking forward to the temperatures this week.
The big job accomplished last week was harvesting the garlic for the fall. Garlic is usually harvested towards the end of July after being in the ground for nearly 9 months. Once it is harvested, we sort it based on size. The biggest most uniform heads are saved for seed for next year's crop and the remaining heads are sorted into "firsts" and "seconds". The "firsts" are uniform heads that are decent size but didn't make the seed garlic cut. The "seconds" are heads that are smaller, maybe a little misshapen or have damage from harvesting. I usually use the seconds for making garlic powder. You may have noticed a heavier garlic smell in the barn last week. That is because the sorted garlic is bunched and hanging upstairs in the barn above the CSA tables. Additionally, we were able to get some plantings done for the fall. A bed of napa cabbage and kale were each planted, as well as prepping more beds for planting this week. Our weekly work continued with the tomatoes. Moving forward, a bulk of the cherry tomatoes will need to be trellised from a step ladder because they have surpassed our reach. Come mid-September, we will be harvesting from ladders. It's kind of crazy. We have also been trying to manage a pest that has been doing some fatal damage to our hoophouse peppers. I have never experienced this before, but we seem to have a major pill bug, aka rolly poly, infestation. I'm not 100% sure that they are the cause but a good chunk of our less established plants are dying. All the plants that have perished have damage on their stems at the base and when we inspect them there are always pill bugs crawling in the roots and around the base. I have to do some more research about this, but we are doing our best to manage them with an organic control of iron phosphate pellets. Fingers crossed that the plants could grow through the damage.
Okay, on to this week's CSA share. The choice this week, is going to be a transition week for us. We are transitioning into tomato heaven. In addition to cherry and green tomatoes, the first heirloom, beefsteak and sauce tomatoes will be in the share. In subsequent weeks, they will all be their own item but this week, the 3 types of tomatoes will be grouped together. There will also be the first bell peppers of the season. I usually like to have the peppers turn whatever color that they may be but some of the plants were loaded and I'm afraid they are going to snap branches. Jalapeno peppers will be joined by 2 new mild hot peppers this week, Hungarian Hot Wax and Anaheim peppers. There will still be rainbow chard, potatoes, hot pepper salt, garlic and black currants this week. There will be a small amount of jostaberries joining the black currants choice. Basil will be a morning time decision, but I think that we may give it a week off. Finally, there will be cucumbers part of this week's share. There will be mostly slicers with a small number of picklers. The picklers are perfect for fresh eating too! What makes a pickler a pickler is that they hold their firmness much better when pickled. We are collaborating with our friends over at Rocky Acres Community Farm in Freeville this season. Rafa and his crew were gracious enough to offer some space for some of our plants this season and we have been supplying them with extra seedlings and produce once the Bodega is up and running in a few weeks. Our collaboration is another great example of building resiliency and strengthening a local food system.
Have a great week!
-Farmer Todd