Hot, hot heat: summer is on!

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Oakhill

(CSA Newsletter: Week 25)

Meet this week’s vegetables:

  • Tomato — The very first tomatoes of 2009! It’s not much — just the beginning. It will get your taste buds set for the oncoming tomato abundance, but this share is certainly not lacking in other summer fruits.
  • Green beans — These are the most beautiful, sweet, tender green beans we’ve ever grown. We’ve been picking them every few days to keep up with their growth during this heat. They’re good raw (if you like the squeaky sensation) or lightly cooked. Try blanching or sautéing and tossing with chilled pasta for a delicious summer pasta salad.
  • Cucumbers — Speaking of abundant fruits: five cucumbers in this week’s share! As they say, “Cool as a cucumber.” Hopefully these will help you fight the heat.
  • Summer squash & zucchini — More abundance: lots of summer squash and zucchini. Too hot to make bread? Try grilling squash with your hamburgers and keep the house cool.
  • Cauliflower — Two heads this week.
  • Beets — Casey invented a yummy new summer salad this weekend: roast beets, cauliflower and whole heads of garlic (if on hand). Toss with a light amount of mayonaisse and chopped leftover chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill, and just before serving, stir in homemade croutons. The flavor combination is sweet and savory; and the texture is a delightful blend of soft (beets) and crunchy (croutons). We love it! Don’t want to cook your beets? Try grating them raw onto salads.
  • Carrots — Hard to go wrong with fresh carrot sticks on a hot summer afternoon!
  • Lettuce — Big Green Salad for dinner keeps the kitchen cool!
  • Basil — Tired of making pesto? Puree your basil and pop into the freezer for use later!

    • Wow. It is really summer. Just in case you haven’t noticed yet. So far, the year’s weather has been relatively mild — we’ve certainly had some warm weather, but this is the first truly significant heat wave: 90s this past weekend, 103° today (Monday) and predicted low 100s for the next couple days. Yikes! We’re doing our best to ‘weather’ the weather here on the farm, which involves working early in the day and then escaping to the river for the afternoon.

    We’ve also had to closely watch our summer fruits, which are seriously pumping out the volume right now. Even though we only technically harvest once per week for the CSA, we’ve been harvesting some crops multiple times per week just to keep fruit from ‘blowing out’ (i.e. getting way too big, tough, and generally not yummy). So far, in spite of the intense heat, we’re keeping up. The green beans in this week’s share are especially beautiful, tender and sweet — definitely the best we’ve ever grown.

    Even with the discomfort of it all, we’re generally doing really well with this heat. Let me tell you one thing that is 100% true: having a good functioning well makes an enormous difference in our ability to face the heat without added stress. Casey has been doing a great job keeping up on irrigating. For the first time ever, we can walk through our fields on a very hot mid-afternoon and not witness any visible wilting in our larger plants like potatoes and winter squash. What an enormous victory! And what an enormous stress reducer! (Of course, we still wilt, but that is easier to deal with than watching important fall crops suffer.)

    So, this week’s daily work schedule will continue to be as follows: start early, work hard, drink lots of water, finish early, swim in the river, sit in the shade, drink lots of water, sleep.

    I hope that you all are finding good ways to beat the heat. All the veggies in this week’s share can be enjoyed raw and in salads, so hopefully you can avoid heating up your house too much. Enjoy the summer vegetables!

    Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

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