Join us for a summer evening walk!
Hey y’all! It’s hot out there, have you noticed? Our outdoor thermometer broke a few months ago, but the internet tells me that right now (at 8:30 pm) it is 93° at the McMinnville airport. And it got up to 98° there earlier. Which isn’t over 100°, but it’s plenty hot for most of us.
The kids spent most of the day in and out of the water, swimming at the river and in our little wading pool at home. Casey made it through the day by getting very sweaty in his clothes and wearing a big hat — effective heat strategies for the farmer.
But beauty abounds amidst the heat. Thrives, in fact. So, for this week’s newsletter, I invite you to come with us on the summer evening walk we took earlier today. We’ll see some of the fields here at the home farm:
First we’ll stop by our short rows of sweet peas, which we planted because we love flowers ever so much even if we don’t always get around to picking them for any commercial purpose. I think all of us in the fields enjoy the color they bring, and they invite plenty of diverse insects (usually beneficial ones) to come visit too. For that purpose, we especially love both phacelia and calendula in the fields.
But, come closer, because sweet peas are especially prized for their amazing fragrance. Oh, you can’t smell it? Perhaps we’ll have to bring some to CSA pick-up tomorrow then.
And, just next to the sweet peas we’ll find the new high tunnel Casey built last fall. This house has served us well already this year, growing all kinds of great kale and other yummies. But it was time to prepare for another round of vegetables, so this week it got harrowed and now it’s a clean slate again. What shall we plant here next? Perhaps some strawberries for early picking next year!
Another big project for the week — hoeing a very large summer planting containing (among other things) tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, and lots and lots of winter squash (oh, how we love winter squash!). It took us one and a half full days of work to get it done, with everyone on the farm chipping in (and I mean EVERYONE!). But we got it done!
And it’s a good thing we hoed out those weeds when we did, because these squash plants are starting to “run” now, sending their vines in every direction. Very soon all the (now bare) soil around the squash plants will disappear under a vigorous cover of green. Have I mentioned how much we love growing squash?
And, turn around again and you find our early summer brassica plantings, featuring the beautiful cabbage heads we’re providing as an option in this week’s CSA share. While we ate a ton of cabbage last winter, we’ve been without for a few months now and out household is so happy to welcome it back! Summer cabbage is such a treat!
“Mama! Mama! What are you doing? … What are you taking pictures of? … Mama! Mama! Take a picture of me! … Make a video of me! … Can I see the picture? … Mama! Mama! Carry me! … The grass is too tall! Carry me!”
While we were out there, Casey moved pipe, to keep the fields being watered through all this heat. Grow plants, grow!
Just past all those recently weeded crops are some of our potatoes, now in full bloom and quite bushy. Another satisfying crop to grow.
One last destination: the tomatoes in the field. Green rows of future sauce and so much deliciousness. Now time for the boy and farmer Papa to walk to the plums while I carry the girl back up through the tall grass for some quiet reading time on the couch …
Thanks for coming on our walk with us! Hope you are keeping cool in your own ways. Enjoying all the local swimming holes perhaps? Or escaping to the beach? Have a safe and fun Fourth of July this weekend! And, enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Raspberries — How much have you loved these raspberries? Sooooo much? We sure have. Our favorite simple summer treat right now is raspberries in cream. The kids like their cream whipped, but I like just plain liquid cream poured into a bowl with my raspberries. That flavor of brilliant raspberry goodness with cream will always be the taste of high summer to me.
- Plums — The first of this year’s plums! We’ve got two kinds this week: Methleys, which are a red early “Asian” type, and an unnamed yellow Asian plum from my parents’ yard (a giant tree!). Both are cling-stone, and both are loaded with sweet delicious juice that will drip down your chin and onto your shirt (if you’re not careful!). Summer is on! (Also, at the risk of sounding so repetitive this summer, these are very, very, very early for us. In our memory, we usually eat the first of the Methleys when a friend is in town for IPNC — typically the end of July!)
- Salad — Too hot to cook? Eat a salad instead.
- Carrots — We ate some of these as carrot sticks with dinner. Man, oh man, farm carrots are the best. Every year, I am continually blown away by how good our carrots are! They never fail to amaze me!
- Green beans — The first of the summer beans! A chef taught us many years ago that a fresh bean will stick to your shirt. We like to “test” our beans every year, just for the fun of it, even though we know of course how very fresh they are. But, hey, it’s cool to stick a bean to your shirt sometimes.
- Cabbage — Hoorah for summer cabbage! It’s a tradition for us to offer cabbage and potatoes at the Fourth of July so that folks can make some good classic American picnic food: cole slaw and potato salad. Get your mayonnaise out, folks, because it is time! (Buy some fresh farm eggs today, and you can make a mayo-salad trifecta of cole slaw, potato salad, and egg salad!)
- Beets — Also, BEETS! With greens attached! Oh hoorah for summer foods! We’ve been enjoying the earliest of these in our own house the last two weeks. We’ve been roasting them, and they get gobbled up quickly.
- Kale — Hey, cooked greens lovers! Don’t you worry — summer doesn’t mean the end of these staples. We’ve got your back.
- Chard
- Zucchini
- New potatoes — For your potato salad, of course!
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — They’re on for sure now! And so delicious! $6/dozen
- Pickled beans & basil — A special summer ferment for you to try. $3/half pint and $5/pint. Bring your own jar! Or, $1 if you use one of our jars!
- Walnuts — $5/lb
- Pork — Ground pork, pork ribs, and porkchops! Porkchops are on sale for $6/lb!
- Lamb — Cuts and prices vary! Roasts, chops, and grind!
- Goat — Cuts and prices vary! Roasts, chops, and grind!
- Pork fat & skin — $3 lb
- Ground beef — For your BBQ on these hot days! Burgers to go with your cole slaw, potato salad, and egg salad! $7 for 1/lb packages
