IT RAINED.
A lot, and then later some more, and then again, and some drizzle too.
At first it was a cause for great joy and then eventually turned to mild alarm … too much rain at this time of year splits tomatoes & cabbages, encourages crop blights, and waters down the flavor of melons. When it rains, it pours, yeah yeah yeah. A farmer’s fret is never done.
However the more recent thunderstorms returned to our regular program of skimming just barely past us, so all is good in the hood.
In other news, there are rabbits in the field. They eat things and Widget chases them. A new WWOOFer family arrived – and they have a kid Otis’s age! Will be a good three weeks working and living alongside them. The high tunnel plants are doing .. a little too well? I feel like a jungle explorer just trying to get from one side to the other. The tomato plants are a dozen feet tall, some of em. The wild blackberries are slowing down, lobster mushrooms are coming up – as are other fungi thanks to the recent rainfalls.
Inside Box 10
Summer is here; we had to upgrade to bigger boxes this week just to fit all the bounty inside.
- Melon or Ground Cherries – if you got a melon last week, you’re getting ground cherries. Otherwise, you’ll discover that the heaviest item in your box is either a watermelon or a cantaloupe. IF CANTALOUPE EAT ASAP, they are ready!
- Sweet Corn – speaking of ASAP eatting … sweet corn is BEST RIGHT NOW and you should enjoy it soon, before any more of the sugar gets converted into starch There is all kinds of stale “sweet” corn available later in the year for pennies, but this is as fresh as a non-farmer can get it.
PS if you never have eaten it raw, humor me and try at least one unheated, unbuttered, and unsalted. It’s the best damn grass you’ll ever eat.) - Cherry Tomatoes – Fun fact: these are really hard to find within the massive plants. Enjoy the ripest ones first, let the ones that are still a bit on the firm/greenish side ripen up on your counter.
- Tomato Tomatoes – they’re mostly still teasing us … SO MANY beautiful but green tomatoes, lurking. Taunting. But slowly starting to ripen …
- A green pepper and some jalapenos – for some reason many of the sweet pepper plants just aren’t producing fruit. Hmm.
- Pickling and/or Slicer Cucumbers – this week I was reminded that not everyone knows that you can simply eat “pickler” cukes just like you do “slicers.” The only reason for the name is that you cannot pickle Slicers (their skin is too tough and their innards too mushy).
- Zucchinis
- Microgreens – two people are getting sunflower shoots, everyone else gets zingy radish.
- Onions and/or Shallots
Yum! This weeks box was delicious. I mean every week is. But man the corn and the watermelon was so good! Love being part of this CSA :)