From the farmers………
It has been a HOT week here at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm. And in spite of rain on Sunday, we had a wonderful Mid-Summer Abundance Festival. Thank you to everyone who braved the weather to eat, drink, converse with us, wander around the farm and take hayrides in the rain. Your presence reminds us all over again why we do this and why we love doing it – even with the HOT weather.
Usually by August the constant need for weeding is over - but not this year with all the rain. And I think that the weeds are even worse than usual – certainly some weed seeds that have lain dormant for several drought years seem to have sprouted and grown – some amazing grasses towering over the (mulched) dry beans. So even though it is now August, we’ve been pulling and pruning weeds where none should be by now and in this HOT weather it is certainly a sticky job.
The Auracana chicks have finally been moved to their new living quarters. The same age as the 16 big, fat broilers they have been living with, they are small, agile and have gotten exrtremely good at flying out of their pen and wandering farther and farther from where they should be. On Sunday morning as Kristen was doing last minute preparation for the festival, she had Birch, our husky cross dog out with her and the temptation was too great - Birch nabbed an escaped Auracana chick. Luckily he has a very soft mouth and didn’t hurt it, but it did increase my desire to have those little pullets moved to a more secure pen. Their new quarters created by our interns are spacious with tall outdoor fence walls and a renovated door thanks to Dale, and so far the ten future laying hens seem content and disinterested in trying to escape.
Reba has not had her calf yet though she is getting closer. I’m guessing a couple more weeks. We’ll keep you posted.
The veggie fields are amazingly abundant this year – and early. We began picking melons this week – the Honeydews are first – but the cantaloupes and watermelons will be very soon. I don’t think we have ever had melons ripe the first of August here in Harris, it is usually closer to the end of the month. The melon crop is tremendous – but with all the rain – there are a lot of cracked and damaged melons. We’ve begun feeding wheelbarrow loads of them to the pigs and chickens. And just today, we mixed up a 5 gallon batch of Honeydew Melon wine.
I am disappointed by the tomatoes which started out with such promise. Though they are loaded with green tomatoes – there is a lot of blight from the rain and hot weather. But I do think we will still have a lot of good tomatoes – so not to worry yet. We’ve just begun picking the first few yellow Taxi’s, the cherry Sungold’s, and Orange Blossoms. You’ll probably begin seeing them in your boxes in the next couple of weeks.
While the interns and I were harvesting melons today, we were talking about how to keep some of the various vegetables for a few days since it is so much to use immediately. They suggested that I also share my advice about how to keep (for a short time) some of the veggies you get in your share – if you can’t use them right away. You should also know that as much as possible, we do not wash most of the mid-summer veggies. Tomatoes, peppers, squash and melons have a natural protection on them that helps them keep longer. And of course there are no poisons that you need to wash off.
Zucchini and other Summer Squash – use the small ones right away. Bigger ones can just sit on the counter at room temperature and will keep for a week or so. Never refrigerate them.
Peppers – keep at room temperature. Will keep for several days.
Potatoes – keep at room temperature in the dark. Use small potatoes quickly. Larger ones will keep longer and once cured will keep for months.
Tomatoes – sit upside down on the stem end (stem removed) Never refrigerate tomatoes. They will usually keep for several days. Taxi’s don’t hold well so use up first.
Cabbage – store in crisper of fridge. Uncut cabbage can sit at room temp several days. Just peel outer leaves when using.
Bok Choi – store in crisper in fridge- will wilt but is still good to use.
Brocolli – use soon. Can hold for a short time in a small amount of COLD water. Change the water often.
Herbs – can hold by placing bottoms in cold water for a short time. Dry or chop and freeze in ice cube trays with water if you can’t use them up.
Onions – store at room temp – will keep up to a week or more.
Carrots – rinse and store in plastic bag with holes for breathing. Store in crisper or bottom of fridge.
Beets – tops won’t keep well. Cut off tops and store tops for short time in water. Longer in fridge but they will get very limp. Store roots like carrots.
Melons – store in fridge – but beware that with cantaloupes or honeydews your whole fridge will smell like melon. We cut up the melon and store in covered bowl.
We store most of the veggies we pick to use at the farm at room temperature for short periods of time – one to two days. We monitor the veggies we are holding and use up first the ones that seem not to be keeping as well.
This is the abundant season. We hope that you are enjoying creating memorable meals with your farm-fresh veggies.
Until next week …………Robin
What’s In Your Share this Week
Carrots Scarlet Nantes
Summer Squash Zephyr, Slick Pic, Raven, Elite, Bennings Green Tint, Lita,
Horn of Plenty
Sweet Corn Sugar Buns
Eggplant Dancer (pink), Galine and Dusky (purple),
Orient Express (skinny purple)
Beets Merlin
Peppers Hot: Jalapeno/ Serranno / Numex Joe Parker
Sweet: Gypsy (yellow), Islander (purple), Wizard (bell)
Onion Sierra Blanca
Honeydew Melon Diplomat and Passport
Asian Melon Sun Jewel
Bok Choi Joi Choi
Cucumbers Sweet Slice, Raider, Homemade Pickles
Herbs Ararat purple Basil, Genovese green Basil
