From the farmers….
Extreme farming! Bagging potatoes, sorting cukes and zukes and harvesting cabbage as winds blew, rain fell in torrents and finally, ran for the house as tornado sirens went off in North Branch. Everyone got dried off – a huge pile of soaking wet clothes piled in the shower – and almost everyone dressed in our
t-shirts and jeans and sweats. We all warmed up with hot chocolate and tea and zucchini bread provided by Sue. This evening as we celebrated Jacq’s last week here at Nitty Gritty down at our local Sunrise Bar, we heard stories of how serious the storm we had harvested through really was - tornado? damage in North Branch with the roof collapsed? on one of the schools.
In spite of the downpour all day, we got most of the harvest accomplished. Soaked to the skin even through raincoats, muddy and feeling just a bit invincible, we harvested and prepared most of the vegetables for your weekly share. Pulling carrots through mud with rain water filling the holes as fast as we removed carrots was a challenge. We were not able to harvest the green beans in the rain and will try to get them picked tomorrow –hopefully it will be dry long enough for that – or we’ll have to figure out how to get beans to you because the plants are loaded.
We picked our first ripe tomatoes last week – and peppers – and eggplant – and melons. Some of you will find a melon in your box this week. And depending on the weather, we may pick some tomatoes if it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Otherwise, you can count on fresh tomatoes for sure next week.
On the livestock front: our baby bunnies are getting ready to hop out of their next box soon. After the rain, all of the critters have new swimming holes in their pens. The only ones who seem to really enjoy it are the pigs who seem to be having a pool party. We’ll be taking our first group of seven lambs to the meat locker on Monday morning with the other two groups going later. Some critter got at our ducks a couple of nights ago. All we found was one less duck and a lot of feathers outside their pen. From the paw print, it looks as though it was probably a coyote. There are a lot of coyotes that live in the state part just east of our farm. We hear them often in early evening through the night. And so far, we haven’t had much predation from them. But perhaps because the steers are gone from the far back part of the farm, the coyotes are feeling braver about getting at the ducks. So we’ve moved the ducks closer to the other livestock and we’ll move them even closer in later this week.
As I said, earlier, this week is Jacq’s last week. On Monday, she begins classes as she continues her education. Sara finished two weeks ago. It is sad to see interns who have become part of our farm family go – and yet – the farm goes on.
Until next week………
In your share this week
Potatoes – Norland Red
Onions – Red Candy Apple, Walla Walla, Candy
Cucumber – Raider, Sweet Slice, Lucky Strike
Zucchini – Cavelli, Slick Pick, Zephyr, Sunburst Pattypan, Bennings Green Tint Pattypan, Lita, Raven, Elite, Horn of Plenty
Honeydew melons (maybe) Diplomat, Passport
Cantaloupe (maybe) Goddess
Carrots – Chantenay (short stumpy) and/or Nantes (longer)
Kohlrabi – Winner
Swiss Chard – Northern Lights
Basil – Lime, Amethyst Improved, Genovese
Dill – Dukat, Bouquet
Green Beans – Landmark
REFRIGERATOR PICKLES
From Cyndie Leary at Community UCC in St. Paul Park
6 cups sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup green pepper (optional)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 to 2 cups sugar depending on taste
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
Combine all ingredients; mix well. Place in jar. Refrigerate. The pickles will be ready in 24 hours and will keep up to 1 year.
