The field for 2016’s vegetables, prep work already in progress.
As an almost year-round CSA farm, we find ourselves pretty much always planning mode. We have to think well in advance around here so that we have veggies ready for winter and next spring. And, then in winter and spring, we’re deep in summer planning. And, so the cycle goes round and round.
Already we have many crops in the ground that we will be eating late next spring. This week’s new potatoes are the first of what will likely be a large potato harvest, culminating in a many tons for winter storage. But there are other things growing now too: celery root, leeks, and parsnips. We’ve begun the garlic harvest, and soon we will be sowing and planting the last of our over-wintering crops.
Casey also worked up the east field on our home farm this week, beginning the prep work for next year’s vegetables. It has spent several recent years in pasture, so he first chisel plowed it deeply and is now irrigating it to speed the pasture grasses breakdown. Much more work will happen out there in this season — more ground prep, soil amendment, and cover cropping. Then we’ll work it up again in the spring for the actual work of planting.
When we’re in the midst of these summer heat waves and long intense days of work, it’s a bit strange to also be thinking ahead to totally different seasons. Planning ahead like this also requires us to make decisions about future seasons while still very much smack in the midst of this one! That important decision making work can feel daunting and bewildering this time of year, but we try our best.
Over the years, our decision making process has led to many farm adventures. While the core of our farm has remained our organic vegetable CSA, we’ve done many other things too. We’ve sold at a farmers market, planted orchards, grown organic vegetable seed for catalogs, milked cows, and made hay for our own animals. We’ve farmed on one acre; we’ve farmed on 100 acres. We love seeing which pieces of the different adventures become part of our farm’s core enterprises and which ones slide into the background. I imagine we’ll revisit many of our past experiences again in the future, as we continue to evolve as a farm (someday the kids will even have more of a say, and then who knows what we’ll be up to out here!). The journey continues …
At risk of sounding repetitive again, this year in particular continues to feel accelerated in so many ways. We may in fact be doing some of our late summer reflecting and planning a bit early, because — well — everything is ahead of schedule. Guess what we have in this week’s share? Apples. Yes, really! They are an early variety, but still … apples! In early July!
Everything out here feels like August. We even ate our first ripe blackberries yesterday. And we’re finishing up weeding the last of our big summer plantings. We’re turning the corner in our work from planting/tending to tending/harvesting. Leaf growth season is turning to maturation and fruiting season. And we are turning from planning for this season to pondering the next.
But even as we’ve become practiced at the art of imagining what’s coming next, I’ll tell you what I can’t imagine right now. September. With all this early everything (including low river levels, drought, and fire risks), I truly don’t understand what our landscape will look and feel like at late summer. What comes after this that we are experiencing now? Generally, this moment of dryness is followed soon after by fall rains. But to have this particular feel in the air in early July leaves brings many unknowns. I suppose in a few months, we’ll know what this year’s late summer reality will feel like — what we’ll be harvesting and doing. For now, we’ll keep on with the work that presents itself, including those early steps of preparing for next year.
May you enjoy the respite in heat that the second half of this week is bringing us. And, enjoy this week’s plethora of vegetable options! Oh, my summer!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Want any beef? We have two beef quarters (or one half!) available for purchase soon. Is anyone interested in buying beef for your freezer? Buying a quarter of an animal will provide you with a diverse range of cuts: roasts, steaks, and grind. The price is $5.50/lb hanging weight (that includes processing costs, which we pay). Let us know!
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Upcoming dates: Here are a few important dates for you all to keep track of in coming weeks/months …
- July 30 — Your next CSA payment is due. I will send you email statements soon!
- August 15 — Dinner here at the farm! Potluck + farm tours! More details in coming newsletters!
- October 1 — The final CSA payment is due.
- October 25 — Our pumpkin patch open house!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Apples! — Sorry to sound like a broken record, but seriously — apples?!?!?! So early! And, yes, these are an early apple. The variety is called Lodi, and it’s somewhat similar to a Yellow Transparent or Gravenstein type. It’s not super sweet, but it makes great sauce or other apple dishes in general. You can also just eat them of course too. Apples! In early July!
- Plums — We’ve have both the purple (Methley) and yellow (“Shiro” type) plums again this week. They will both be even sweeter than last week. Please check the sign at pick-up.
- Salad mix
- Cucumbers! — One thing I love about cooking in the summer is that I can so easily stretch a meal through dribs and drabs. If I’m cooking a big pot of stew, I can quickly tack on a simple green salad and/or a raw vegetable for dipping in a dressing. Cucumbers are a favorite “tack on” type of veggie — Rusty enjoys peeling and chopping them, and we all love munching on them with our meal!
- Beans, green & yellow — How are you eating your beans? We’ve been roasting ours a lot, because — well — I love roasting vegetables! Roasted beans are a summer favorite. With a good amount of butter and salt, they can get so deliciously crispy.
- Cabbage — We made a big batch of cole slaw this weekend and ate it over several days. It holds up so well in the fridge and makes mealtime easy.
- Beets
- Carrots
- Chard
- New potatoes — We’re upping the volume of new potatoes per item now! I’ve been making the kids “home fries” a lot lately, and it’s a dish that elicits great excitement for them. I peel the potatoes and chop them into thin slices, which I pan fry in butter in our cast iron pan. I try to only have enough potatoes for one layer in the pan, and I put the lid on while they cook so that they will cook through. I stir occasionally and serve them when they are soft on the inside and crispy outside.
- Zucchini & summer squash
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen ~ Eggs and back in a major way. Egg salad is a great way to stretch a salad dinner (and it’s not too hot either!). Want to have easy-to-peel fresh hardboiled eggs? Here’s how we do it: boil water. Carefully add eggs into the boiling water and boil them gently for 12 minutes. Then empty the eggs immediately into very cold water to “shock” them. We usually do this in the small basin of our sink and we add more cold water as necessary to cool them off as fast as possible.
- Pickled beans — Last week’s beans got rave reviews, so we made more! These are fermented crock-style “pickles.” $3 half pint; $5 pint.
- Walnuts — $5/lb
- Pork — Ground pork ($8/lb) and a few other cuts too!
- Lamb — Cuts and prices vary! Roasts, chops, and grind!
- Goat — Cuts and prices vary! Roasts, chops, and grind!
- Ground beef — I’m still making our favorite chard meatloaf almost weekly around here. What are you doing with your ground beef? $7 for 1/lb packages
