This week, the garden got tall.

You know how kids do that?  You turn your back on them and they shoot up several feet and you realize that in one more quick turn about the things are gonna be taller than you are? Yeah, that.

(Robby! Viktor!))

I was away from the Farm for a few days, between last week’s CSA harvest and Friday afternoon, and blammo! Suddenly I can hardly see into the field. It happens every year, but still takes me by surprise – our okra is a gang of gangly teenagers, the sunflowers are rising (like, the Sun), the corn is beasting, and the high tunnel tomatoes are agitating to smash the glass (ok, plastic) ceiling.

The wheel of life spins around as the summertime field births baby peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, and the salad greens, cilantro, remnant radishes, and peas march onward into oblivion.

This week, we shockingly weeded, mulched, watered, and hunted bugs! We went from zero to an arsenal of a half-dozen functioning weedwhippers (thanks Jim & Neighbor Dave!), and boy howdy did we whip some weeds this week, in the rows, around the fenceline and the greenhouses.

Tonight, we’ll have a storm on the farm (hopefully – we need rain!) – we won’t be there to batten down the hatches ourselves, but are lucky to have backup not only from our lovely neighbors, but, today  from a motley crew of amazing WWOOFers and friends from The Cities (beyond The River).

They’ll be making and pressure canning a broth with the remnants from today’s harvest – I’m excited to see what such a magical concoction will taste like – if they don’t blow away before we return!

Box #5

• Peas (sugar snap & snow varieties) – you know the drill by now! Enjoy them while they’re around – it won’t be long until the vines call it quits for the summer!
• Onions

• Garlic – Another year of vile voles tunneling around under the hay mulch and munching the garlic all winter long left us with far less garlic than we’d planted … we’re looking at buried wire mesh, remote plots (ie @ The Neighbors), etc for next year’s crop. The garlic is fresh and not cured, so rather than papery skin between cloves, you’ll find a softer, wetter membrane. Use it soon and enjoy the mouth-beauty of fresh garlic – or cure it if you want by storing in a dark, dry place until dry.

• Rutabagas – No, those aren’t more turnips in the box! OK kind of – rutabagas are a cross between turnips and cabbages! We recommend cooking these – they’ll be mellower than the turnips, but would pair fine with the turnips from last week if you still have some. Roasted is great, but you can also oil and mash them, fry or sautee them.
  
• Kohlrabi -(cut off the leaves ASAP to keep your kohlrabi crunchy! We love eating these freaky alien things raw! You have to slice off the tougher exterior to get to the crunchy, sweet, cabbage-y goodness – but the whole thing is edible, from the exterior to the leaves. Yours might be purple or white. Check out some recipes that grandpa would love!

• Broccoli – a smaller harvest this week, in the bag with:
  
• Pea Tips – which are great to add to a salad or sandwich. Kristin says she’d slice up her kohlrabi, dress it light with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and tamari, lay the slices out on a plate, and then top it with pea tendrils … and maybe sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. I’d take it!  
  
• Summer Leaves Mix – kale (dino/red Russian/curly blue) collard greens, and a bit of mustard greens – You could braise it or enjoy it raw, or sautee it … go hog wild, people! Hog wild.
  
• Swiss Chard (large shares only) – didn’t go into the Summer Leaves Mix because the stems were too long to fit in and too beautiful and tasty to cut off. We usually eat the stems diced up, celery-stalk-style.
  
• Baby Zucchinis – Aren’t they cute when they’re so small? I can’t even. Slice em up and chow em down. (After you cook em somehow, probably. )