Meet this week’s vegetables
If one were to think of seasons in terms of Cartesian graphs (as we are sometimes prone to doing here in the fields), the year would be a complete sine wave: the bottom curve being winter, the transition points fall and spring, and of course the top summer.
Well, here at Oakhill Organics we feel like we just reached the apex of that summer high curve and are now slowly beginning our way back down. Or, if the seasons are a roller coaster, we’re just over the top of a big hill, putting our arms in the air, waiting for gravity to pull us down, and getting ready to scream.
Summer is still here, of course. This week’s melons, tomatoes, and peppers are testaments to that (as well as the temperature). But we’ve started seeing signs of fall’s approach. Our work has turned from being half planting / half harvesting to more and more harvesting, including some of the longer-term storage items. This weekend we harvested the first of our onions and potatoes. And, we recently saw the first small flock of geese flying south. Yes, we are still enjoying summer’s delights, but this is the time to can, harvest, and stuff ourselves with sweet fruits in preparation for the actual arrival of a new season (still a few weeks off).
Until then, we’re going to keep eating the momentary pleasures of August: ripe tomatoes, juicy blackberries, spicy peppers …
And because so many of this week’s share box are familiar, repeat, or favorite items, we’re going to also take a short respite from the longer newsletter with recipes and such. We trust that everyone will find delicious ways to eat their melons, tomatoes, and corn. (We know it’s tough, but you all are up to the challenge.) If you need more ideas for things like fennel, refer back to previous newsletters (or check out the recipes on the blog) for some of our prior suggestions.
We hope that you take time to savor the rest of this brief burst of rich flavors. Enjoy the vegetables!
Your farmers,
Katie & Casey Kulla
Oakhill Organics
— William Carlos Williams
Those of us farming in grass country who think in the Cartesian vein have a different set of production graphs through the season. The production line starts low in late winter, pulses up to a peak in May-June, drops to a local minimum in July-Aug due to heat and drought, rises to a secondary high in Sept-Oct with the arrival of fall rains, then descends to the winter low in Nov. If we only had more water, we could smooth out that summer dip, but the good news is it’s a great time to lay in the hammock.
Congrats on getting over the hump for the season :)