It was another one of those weeks where it was hot and it was rainy, it was smokey and we were busy being farmers and parents and family and friends. The usual. 

The weeds continue to celebrate the frequent rainfall; we have been pulling and burying and mowing them but it feels increasingly like a zombie video game where there are always more coming than going and, inevitably, inexorably, inescapably they shall overwhelm and consume the human holdouts. 

Well, maybe not exactly like that. Really, I was just feeling dramatic for a moment there and really, we are staying ahead of the horde better than ever, I dare say. Sure there are a few rows that will take heavy artillery to beat back, and I may not make it through another week without losing another mower belt. But it seems pretty decent. And with the rain, plus the deer fence keeping 100% of the deer and 95% of the rabbits out, we have some unexpectedly vigorous production. Liiiike the peas, which I hope you enjoy because guess what.

And the rutabagas …. yeah, the rutabagas. That’s a weed thing, too. See, these are normally a fall crop, and they’re a lot larger – but due to an unfortunate series of events they were planted in a bed with a lot of early season crops that finished up for the year, and the weeds snuck up en masse and we decided we would have to call in a huge piece of landscape fabric and/or a riding lawnmower, to get the row under some semblance of control.

Aaanyway, first we had to salvage the rutabagas early, today, and so here we all are, with early season, tender rutabagas on the menu.

When we weren’t weeding, we were often trellising and transplanting. For the moment, there are no plants in the Little Greenhouse, for the first time since March! But soon more fall crops will be getting seeded, so that won’t last for long

In the meantime, there’s

Box 6

Cucumbers (Slicers & Pickling)

Zucchini & Summer Squash – it’s officially summer everybody; get your zucchini game on line and on point.

Kale (Curly Blue & Scarlet)

Sugar Snap Peas – people enjoy these, scientists say

a small amount of either Snow Peas or Broccoli. Or maybe this one weird-looking cauliflower.

the aforementioned Rutabagas

Onions

This week many weeds gave up their lives so that crop plants might flourish. The giant western weed wall fell, but not without a valiant fight, taking one of our riding lawnmowers down with it in its death throes (with a melted belt). The corn rows got their final weeding of the season, which took two people a whole day – from here on out the corn will be tall enough to shade out any competition that emerges. The peppers, eggplants, and melons all got weeded, and an entire knee-high row of lush weeds were rolled flat and buried beneath landscape fabric. So much weeding … it’s been awhile since we’ve had so much repeated rain, and therefore so much vigorous weed explosion.

Potato plants were mulched, potato beetles were picked, and old seed potatoes were discovered – the root cellar potatoes have gone feral in there. (The boys and I partied with them when we beat the heat by transforming the cellar into the Art Cave.)

WWOOFer Rog made two kinds of delicious ice cream with ingredients we procured – strawberry with a foraged juneberry swirl, and a mint leaf chocolate stracciatella. Where has Rog been for the past decade?!

inside Box Five

• Zucchini – the first of the season!
• bit o’ brassica bag – some broccoli, cauliflower, and/or kohlrabi
• Rutabagas – they’re almost always eaten cooked. Boil em, mash em, put them in a stew. Or roast em and use them like potatoes.
• Sugar Snap Peas – toss into stir fries for crunch, blanch into a chilled salad with vinaigrette, or saute with garlic and butter as a quick side … if you’re bored with eating them raw like an animal.
• Green Onions
• Napa Cabbage – Asian cabbage – usually has more of a head, but we picked it early because it’s hot and we feared they were going to bolt. Great raw in a salad with seasame dressing, or the crunchy stems make for delicious stir fry.
• Oregano – season your zucchini with some of it, add to pizza, or dry it to use at your later leisure.

It was hot there for awhile. We hydro-cooled with hoses, rivers, showers & sinks, and ran several fans overnights. Today’s 80 felt deliciously almost-chilly. Next time I want to try to make the root cellar feel habitable perhaps – there’s room for some furniture this time of year, right?

The annual garden abundance has begun in earnest now, well beyond a do-si-do, though still well shy of a mosh pit. (that’s August or so.) Things are remarkably lush and orderly, in spite of the farm being all ours, without any of the usual WWOOFers to help. The kids are older, and we are, perhaps, wiser.

inside Box 3

• Strawberries – don’t sleep on these for long. Ripe and ready!
• Peas – Edible pod varieties, sugar snap and snow peas. Good for fresh eating and stir frying or sautéing. 
• Garlic scapes – Garlic scapes are a fun part of growing garlic. They are the flower stalk of the plant and they are removed so that the plants energy goes to forming larger cloves. Chop them up and use like garlic. 
• Green onions – annual soundtrack plays on
• Bok Choi – Last one until fall! The recipe in last week’s newsletter has been well received. We added some spiciness to ours, which paired great with the sweetness.
• Salad – various lettuces, a smattering of rugula, and some pea shoots.
• Broccoli – the heat wave startled it a bit. but it’s all good.
• Kohlrabi – Peel the outer skin and enjoy this crunchy mildly broccoli flavored vegetable. Good raw or cooked. 
• Radishes
• Salad Turnips
• Micro mix – broccoli, red cabbage, kale, amaranth, radish, pea shoots