July 12th 2010 Newsletter:

Hello everyone,

We are now in our seventh week of distribution. So far, the weather has been incredibly cooperative and the crops have been growing beautifully and abundantly. The hot dry spell over the last two weeks made everyone a little wilty but we were able to stave off any major casualties with regular irrigation for the plants and trips to the river for us. For the most part, we are able to irrigate the crops that really need it and for many of them, like the tomatoes, life doesn't get much better than a sunny 99 degree day with a cool drink to take the edge off. Still there has been some slowing down and difficulty germinating certain crops and we expect a resulting lull in greens production over the next several weeks. Impeccable timing as many of the summer crops are beginning to bear fruit.

Although not everyone has loved the weather, dry conditions are ideal for harvesting and curing garlic. We had an epic garlic harvest last Friday in our rush to get the entire crop in before Saturday's storm. In addition to the typical feats accomplished by our incredible farm crew, several new records were broken in the categories of speed, agility, and good humor.  We spent the afternoon digging, bunching, banding, and hanging, complete with crew tightrope walking across the barn beams to fit all the garlic into the barn to dry. Next time you come in to the barn, look up and to the right and you will see our lovely new decorations. For the next several weeks, while the garlic is curing in the rafters, we'll have to take pleasure in the sight and smell alone as there will not be any available in the shareroom. Another exciting allium will be available however; we will begin harvesting some really big beautiful fresh onions today.

Also in the share this week: summer squash, zucchini, carrots, beets, cucumbers, radishes, onions, kale, chard, summer-crisp head lettuce, and mixed salad greens. We have two new greens this week... amaranth and dandelion greens.

This red leaf amaranth is a variety grown for its greens, and one of approximately 60 varieties used in different ways (a variety grown for its protein rich grain is popular in many parts of the world, we have a couple varieties growing for their gorgeous flowers in the U-Pick area, and yet another variety is a prevalent weed on the farm commonly called pigweed). The amaranth green can be eaten raw in salads or cooked anyway that you would use spinach.

 


The dandelion greens can also be enjoyed raw or cooked. They are bitter which may take some getting used to for some, but well worth it in their nutritional value. They are full of vitamins and minerals, a digestive, and liver tonic and rejuvenator. Eating a few with your meal helps the digestive process and allows better absorption of vitamins and minerals.

Speaking of salad greens, some of you may have noticed the rocky road the arugula has been on the last couple of weeks. It was really struggling for a while, both because of the flea beetles (who love all of our baby greens but especially the arugula) and the dampness that happened back before the heat spell. Today is the first day it seems to be on the mend – though you will still see some flea beetle damage. So thank you for your patience - all of you who are quite attached to arugula – and the flea beetles thank you for sharing.

U-Pick Crops: Although the sugar snap peas are winding down, there are tons of green beans right now. Please pick as many green beans as your hearts desire, now may even be a good time to consider freezing them or making dilly-beans to tuck away for winter. Please also pick as many bunches of flowers as you can light up a room in your house or friends face with, they are particularly beautiful and abundant right now. Herbs should continue to be steadily available throughout the warm months. Hot peppers and cherry tomatoes are on their way. We’ll keep you posted on the U-Pick board in the share barn.

Our latest gathering... We had a wonderful evening at the barn on July 1st. DeBlois Milledge and Danny Campbell played their sweet music against the backdrop of the u-pick flowers and we relaxed on hay bales with homemade pesto and the setting sun. For those of you who were out of town we are sorry you missed it but we are hoping to make barnyard music more of a regular event.

Some background info about another local good available in the shareroom... yogurt from the grazing cows at Sidehill Farm in Ashfield. You may have noticed when U-Pick flowers first started that all the containers we put out for flowers were old yogurt containers from Sidehill – evidence of how irresistible we find this stuff. To make matters better, we have visited Sidehill farm and if we were living the lives of cows we would absolutely want to live with Paul and Amy on their peaceful grassy hills. They treat their animals with much respect. They manage their pastures organically, use organic ingredients, and their sweetened yogurts are made with local maple syrup. See their website at www.sidehillfarm.net. I just noticed they have a farm tour on July 17th if you’re interested in meeting them and their cows.

Speaking of flower containers... please bring in any extra clean plastic containers, jars, etc that you have in your recycle bin and that you think should try a second career as a temporary vase. There is a box next to the sign in table to leave/take these containers and a bucket of water next to it so your flowers don’t get too thirsty on the ride home.

Stay tuned... we are working on an alternative to all the plastic bags we go through in the shareroom. It makes us cringe, really. Thank you to the many who bring your own bags, and we will be in touch shortly with a system that gets away from using the plastic.

Look forward to seeing you!
-Ray and Tory, on behalf of the NBO crew