Full share
Medium share
Small share
Hello members!
Welcome to summer! What? Well, welcome to the bounty of summer. Now that it’s August, and we’ve had a good 90 days of growing under our belts, some of the hotly anticipated summer produce is beginning to make its appearance! That means peppers, eggplant, hot peppers, corn, new potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and more! And of course, the most anticipated of the summer crops, tomatoes, should start showing up by next week.It’s a very exciting time for us, to be putting these solanaceous crops in the boxes. They take their sweet time to mature, and they want lots of sun and warm weather, and it’s finally here. Hooray! We’re excited for all the new things to cook, too.
What’s happening on the farm?
We had a nice visit with family and got a lot of help cleaning up the downed trees on the farm. Our good friends also came by and cut lots of firewood from the trees, so it’s nice to feel like they will keep serving a purpose. There’s been another 2″ of rain in the past week, unbelievably, and we’ve got some parts of the field that are really starting to get waterlogged. The weeds are getting nearly out of control in some places, but that’s what the brush hog is for, right?
We are happy to say there will be corn in the boxes for everyone this week, the second succession of sweet corn has been mostly spared by the critters. We’ve now trapped a total of one giant racoon and two skunks. Moving the skunks was pretty exciting, and only mildly stinky–nobody got sprayed too badly!
Mike Lenz and Maybelle harvesting potatoes at the Lenz’s farm. Potatoes are the only crop that we bring in from a different farm so that we don’t have to invest in the equipment. The Lenz’s farm organically, too!
Expert potato picker about to make her contribution to the bin
A note on potatoes: most everyone will be getting potatoes that have not been washed. Potato skins toughen up after the potato plant has died back. Since these are “new potatoes” (aka dug up early enough in the season for the plants to still be alive and not meant for long term storage) the skins ended up being too thin to be washed. After washing a few batches we decided to stop so that they would store better in your home. If you are one of the few who got the washed ones with less skin, just make sure they stay in their bag or a dark space before use so they do not turn green from sun exposure. If yours are not washed, simply wash when you are ready to use (still keep them in the bag or in the dark). Raw potatoes should not be stored in the fridge as it causes their starch to convert to sugars (and not in a good way).
What’s in the box?
Head lettuce-1 for small shares, 2 for medium, 3 for full shares
Sweet Corn-4 for small shares, 6 for medium, 8 for full shares
New Potatoes-2# for small shares, 2 1/2# for medium shares, 3# for full shares
Zucchini-1 each for small shares, 1 zucchini (or cucumber) for medium shares
Hot Peppers-1 each for all shares
Carrots-1 1/2# for medium shares and 2# for full shares
Cucumbers-1 cucumber (or zucchini) for medium shares, 1 each for full shares
Bell Peppers-1 each for medium and full shares
Eggplant-about 1 pound each for full shares
Hungarian Hotwax Hot Pepper
Recipes
Head lettuce-one of our members shared that they started making lettuce wraps to keep up with their spring supply. We think that’s a great idea! Here’s a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, and here is the recipe that Mike and Kathy used. We’ve been missing the head lettuce, so we plan on making some big fat chopped salads with Brandon’s Famous Tahini dressing.
Potatoes-One of the joys of true, new, potatoes is eating them steamed or boiled with the best quality butter you can manage, and a sprinkle of salt. If, however, you want to go further with them, I found this great collection of potato salad recipes while perusing the magazines at my other work, the Amery Public Library. It’s a sweet little place to check out if you’re ever in the area!
Sneak Peek for Next Week:
Peppers
Carrots
Tomatoes!
Sweet Corn
Head Lettuce
Basil
Eggplant
Thanks so much for giving us a great reason to be outdoors and dig in the dirt!
All the best from all of us,
Heather, Brandon, Maybelle and the crew
sleepy root farm 