Thursday, August 2, 2007

Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter
Week 7, 2007

From the farm:

This week the farm is really booming - everything seems to be growing an inch a day. This includes the weeds - the infamous 'red root' or 'pigweed' has grown from 6 inches to 2 feet in the last two weeks! We are finally getting to play catch up with weeding, irrigation and other field projects.

What's coming out of the field?
New crops this week include Potatoes - red, purple, yellow and White - these are new potatoes, we dug up a bit of the beds to check the plants, but we will leave most of the crop for the end of the season. Also new: Cauliflower, a limited crop, watch for white, then purple and orange cauliflower later in the season. Beans are starting to come in - look for a bag of purple beans in your box this week, then yellow and green beans next week. Sweet corn this week is from a neighboring natural farm - our corn will be ready in 2-3 weeks. The Cantaloupe coming out of the hoop house this week are a special treat - the field melons are just beginning to set fruit! I managed to pick enough ripe melons so everyone gets one - we hope to have more from the field later in the season (unless an early freeze cuts the season short).

A word on tomatoes - the field tomatoes look fantastic and are loaded with (green) fruit, but not much is ripening yet. It could be a few more weeks before we really have tomatoes. I'll keep my feelers open for other local growers with warmer climates and organic tomatoes. Garlic is in short supply this year, so i won't be able to get any more and our own crop was a failure. i recommend stocking up a local farmers market or health food store.

Important Pickup Notes, Questions answered:

  • Whats in this week's box? The list you see below you is often created several days before we harvest the produce for your box and is my best guess as to what will be available this week.
  • Substitutions - sometimes, especially if a crop is just beginning to come in, we just don't have enough to give everyone a reasonable amount of a crop. In this case, half the members may get the item (say cucumbers) one week, and the other half get carrots. The following week, the pattern is reversed.
  • Not enough - sometimes a crop is in limited supply, but we thing you might enjoy even a bit - a little squash, potatoes or broccoli in your stir fry might be better than none at all. As the crop begins to come in watch out for...
  • Too much - we know you don't all love chard and kale as much as we do (and we are taking a two week break from these crops - but watch the extra bin if you really love them). And 5 lb. a week of summer squash can be too much for anyone - so consider freezing your extra for winter use, or leave the chard you don't want in the extra's box for another member to grab.

This week's probable box:

Here is what you can expect in the this week's box...

Salad Mix - tender as ever - yum
Potatoes - Yellow, White, Purple & Red (new)
Cantaloupe - from the hoop house (new)
Basil - lime basil - try on fish! - call to special order pesto quantities ($12/lb) - 970-872-4413.
Beans - Purple "Green" Beans - cook up green, or try fresh or lightly steamed to maintain the color. Yellow and green beans coming next week.
Broccoli - lots coming in now, more to come later in the season. Summer broccoli is a bit stronger than the fall crop.
Cabbage - Napa or Green
Carrots, full size (new)
Cauliflower (new)
Squash - varieties include yellow pear, yellow straight neck, eight ball, sunburst, crooked next and more. look for squash in a separate box - take what the label says - squash don't like being stored in the same temperature cooler as the rest of the veggies.
Sweet Corn (new) - from Austin Family Farms - our corn is still 3 weeks off
Parsley
Potatoes (new) - a little bit to try - many many more coming later in the season (or cucumbers if we run out of potatoes - cucumbers are just starting in the field, watch for more in 1-2 weeks)

Fruit - Peaches! First Fruits Organics from Paonia, CO
#2 peaches by the box available, call to order - 970-872-4413.

Flowers - More gladioli in amazing colors. Snapdragons and statice and a few other flowers are starting and we'll soon have bouquets - choose a bouquet or a bundle of gladioli.

Coming soon (in the next 1-3 weeks):
Cucumbers
Pearl Onions
Eggplant
Peppers
Beans - Green, Yellow - lot of these coming in next week.
Flowers!

Fruit - Peaches from First Fruits, Paonia


No comments: