Full Shares: Salad mix, parsley, basil, carrots, beets, eggplant, summer squash, cucumbers, purple sweet peppers, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli, and tomatoes (for some)
Half Shares: Salad mix, parsley, basil, carrots, eggplant ,summer squash, cucumbers, sweet pepper, and cauliflower
Hello Everyone!
Another beautiful week of weather, and I can hear the corn kernels growing by the day! Or is that the sound of all the caterpillars eating vegetables? Yes, indeed, it is high summer. The time where the warm weather vegetables are finally ready for harvest, and also the time when pest populations seem to reach their peak.
Speaking of peaks, this past weekend was Rebecca and my wedding anniversary, so we took a day away from the farm to go on a hiking date. We joked that Bad Marriage Mountain in Glacier would be a fun choice, but bushwhacking and date did not seem to sound good together. So, we settled on the Pitamakin Pass to Dawson Pass loop in Two Medicine.
Old Man Lake with Flinch Mtn in the background..the hike goes around the back of Flinch.
Proof that Rebecca and I can be in the same place at the same time.
Just what the doctor ordered. Beautiful weather, great high altitude views, and good company. On our way home we swung by one of our favorite customers, the Belton Chalet, to see what Chef Melissa was serving up. What an amazingly diverse and original menu, chock full of local food!
So, this week’s share really shifts gears into summer. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, basil and summer squash….ratatouille anyone? Actually, just a slight disclaimer…. I haven’t picked the tomatoes yet, so I’m not sure if there will be enough to go out to everyone. So you may or may not see them in your share. But, we will be keeping notes, and if you don’t get any this week, you will certainly get some next week, and hopefully every week from here on out. Also, it’s the first carrot harvest of the year! It’s always nice to have that first carrot of the year, although the flavor actually will improve as the weather gets colder, ending with those super sweet fall carrots we all love.
After we planted our summer squash this spring, we planted the spaces in between with a cover crop of hairy vetch and oats. The cover crop grew to about 18″ tall, and we recently mowed them down to help keep the weeds in check. It looks real nice next to that corn.
This time of year tends to mark the end of salad mix and head lettuce, as the heat and bugs get to be too much. However, back in the spring, when the drainage was really affecting our crops and I was worried about what would make it, I planted a boat load of salad mix. As in, two 180 foot beds every week for 5 weeks in a row. So, needless to say, we have a lot of salad mix at the moment. And yes, it is suffering a bit from the intense heat, sun, and insects, but it’s sheer volume is winning the fight. So, hopefully we’ll continue to provide salad mix well into the future.
Well, it’s dark, so that must mean it’s past my bedtime…and I haven’t even gotten to the recipes yet! I will say, over the past 7 years, the quality of the recipes on the internet really seems to improve. If you have a moment, google a couple of vegetables looking for recipes, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Like how I just got out of that? We’ll see you at CSA distribution!
