Welcome to your first share of the year!
In your share this week:
1 lb baby turnips
1 bunch radish
1 pint sugar snap peas
1 pint snow peas
green garlic
1 bag mixed leaf lettuce
1 bunch each cilantro, thyme, mint
This week we have four types of lettuce: the deepest and most curly red is a Lollo Rosso, the lightest green is Black Seeded Simpson, and a Romaine type and a red/green hybrid.
A few notes on your lettuce, and produce in general: everything from the farm has been field-washed, and despite my best efforts, you may find an occasional insect or bits of sediment in your produce. Please be sure to give everything a good wash/rinse before you plate it up!
Down in the field, the garden is moving right along. Leave it to two days of ninety-degree heat, plus ample irrigation to get things pumping along. Above, we've got winter rye acting as a windbreak and as habitat for beneficial insects. Hay cutting is imminent, and as has happened the past several years, we go from Edenic, lush green microclimate to green garden in the middle of a parched, sere field. This year, I hope the rye will help mitigate that situation, and we'll see if I can save the ordering in Winter Rye seed for the fall. I've also noticed the ladybugs seem to love it, and I've yet to see anyone bad lurking on the stalks.
Letting the cover crop grow and mature also provides grain/seed for eating (rye berries, anyone?) and a nice stalks for mulching. The root systems are impressively compact and shallow growing, which makes for easy removal when the time comes, and good winter weed smothering.
Interestingly, rye can act as host to the ergot fungus, which causes "ergotism" in humans and animals. Some symptoms include hallucinatory visions (comparable to the effects of the drug LSD) and manias-- and it has been suspected that ergotism may have been a factor in the Salem witch trials. Hmm. Don't worry, the infection is easily detectable, and we'll keep it calm in the cereal grains department this summer.
Plus, Burt's on ergot patrol, tough guy that he is.
We've got shallots, a new type of Italian red onion, and good old Copras coming in strong. Winter rye in the background
Summertime = joy. And, the sugar snaps are taller than I am = double joy!
There's just something about pea flowers and their tendrils twining away that gets me and my shutterfinger every time. Add the golden, backlit rye swaying on impossibly slender stalks in the background, layered on top of the Taconic ridge (that's Equinox and the saddle to Mother Myrick in the deepest background) and I'm sunk.
2 types of mustard greens and arugula are in the wings
Thyme flowering away. I've been following Koala's lead and making lots of hummus-- simple, quick, inexpensive, filling, great for breakfast, lunch and dinner-- and dumping in the fresh herbs, which changes the character completely. Thyme has become my "desert island" herb. It can blend and augment other flavors, or carry its own tune with a kick, plus you've got the compound thymol to keep your respiratory system happy! Fresh beans, olive oil, thyme = done. Canned beans, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, a tiny touch of maple syrup and sage, and as much mint/thyme as possible + cuisinart = hummus among us!
A cuke's eye view from under the reemay floating row cover
view south, Equinox on the right. Notice the the visible row of peas, sugar snap and snow-- the snows come in a week earlier than the sugar snaps, despite their compact plant size. They are less than half the height of the sugar snaps, as you can see above.
Gotta love the soft, dry, silty-clay soil in Vermont's valley. Today saw direct seeding of pac choi, mustard greens, yarrow, nasturtiums, cilantro, chives, scallions, gypsophilia, and more...
Hoophouse! This year's hoophouse is up as of Tuesday afternoon, much sturdier, straighter, and with better clearance than before. Purlands, ridgeline, better support, check, check, and check. Thank you, Gus, for your masterful, cheerful help!
A happy dinner concoction of turnips, snap peas, green garlic, the last of the garlic scapes, thyme, and some shredded sundried tomatoes in white wine/butter sauce over tortellini. Yum!
I'm pleased as ever to help you enjoy a summer full of fresh, locally grown produce. Thanks for providing me with this opportunity!
No comments:
Post a Comment