Well, we finally got it... rain!
It was not quite a quarter inch, but we'll take it. Crops need about an inch of rain per week, so this wasn't nearly enough to catch us up or keep us sustained, but if it were to continue, would add up nicely.
If you follow us on social media, you would have seen that we were completely passed over during the local storms on Tuesday. Customers who live just a couple of streets over were reporting heavy rain in their area. Jones actually got an inch. Someone made a funny joke that it's like the farm is located in the Bermuda triangle for rainfall. The clouds looked promising for rain, but we were shocked to have gotten nothing.
This little patch of land at Waverly (pictured below) has no irrigation. We grew basil there earlier in the season, but pictured front and center are the hot peppers. To the right of those is a new fall crop, burdock root, and then parsley is all the way to the right. In past years, it's been way too wet and swampy for us to be able to grow anything successfully. This year, we're relying 100% on rainfall.
The ironic thing is that the hot peppers are currently thriving. They're turning red a lot sooner than they would normally, which is indicative of being stressed by lack of rainfall. But the peppers coming off of the plants are absolutely stunning and perfect. We're sure all of those crops were at least a little happier after Friday's rain.
It's kind of exhausting to keep talking about rain, and most of our conversations at home are about rain, wells, or weather. Admittedly, it's a little exhausting here, too. But I completely understand the obsession now that I'm married to a farmer.
In other news, Emily, Felicia, and Carly weeded the rutabaga this week.
It actually occurs to me as I write this that we are exactly in the middle of our farming season. When we talk about rutabaga, they're still such little plants, and we don't harvest them until November around Thanksgiving.
Each little weed was pulled by hand in order to allow the rutabaga plant to thrive without weed pressure near it. These little babies have a long way to go.
More weeding took place in the raspberry field. We're harvesting a little bit now, which you might be able to find in the store in dribs and drabs. What a view at the top of Booth Hill!
Some great news! We've been hoarding colored peppers all week in order to share some with you! Which means... we're making googly eye faces with them this week!
Member Terry P. shared this idea with me last fall, and I instantly purchased googly eyes for everyone to make these faces this season. How much do these make you smile? This is a sample photo that I found on Google.
So this week, you'll be getting a little bag with 2 googly eyes inside. All you have to do is snap a photo like this and share it with us. We can't wait to flood social media with these photos! Submit it by Tuesday, September 6th for a chance to win a pepper prize!
Plus, coming soon, our annual fall cook-off... we're looking for our 2022 LGF Spud Specialist. And the custom prize has already been purchased. This will happen in mid-September. More details to come!
In case you missed out on plum tomatoes this season, sign up on our waiting list to order a 25 lb. box of tomato "seconds."
Fill out the form below to be added to our tomato seconds list! We'll email you as soon as we have enough availability to fill your order and give you a few days' notice to get your supplies ready.
Look out for our email! If we don't hear from you within 24 hours, we will move down our list. We'll circle back to you one time before you forfeit your spot.
Payment for bulk boxes ($25 for 25 lbs.) is due at the time of pickup.
We are inviting all of our members to come to the farm on Saturday, September 3rd from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. to pick a free bag of grape tomatoes. Read on to find out how this will work.
One bag will be given out per family, and this is open to members only. This is a pick at your own risk event. Sorry, but there will be no alternate times to come and we can not pick a bag for you in your absence - this event is being held to allow members to experience the farm! Please do not send a non-member in your absence. No need to arrive at 9:30 a.m. sharp - you can come and leave at any time during that time frame. Simply send us an RSVP to let us know that you will be in attendance. Just park in our lot or barnyard and check in at the store. We'll tell you from there where to meet us. Wear appropriate shoes! If we need to cancel for any reason, we'll let you know on Friday.
Saturday members, we are closing early on Monday, September 5th, Labor Day. We are open from 10:30 to 1:00 to allow our staff to hopefully go home early. This means that you must pick up your Saturday, September 3rd share on Saturday or in that pickup window on Monday. Otherwise, we strongly encourage you to change your pickup day following our normal process of giving 48 hours notice. We will not hold your share beyond those time frames. Thank you!
To close out this week's newsletter, please enjoy some more beautiful shots.
Holy moly! Look at that eggplant.
In Your Share (Listed approximately from shortest shelf life to longest)
Large:
1 lb. of tomatoes
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 lb. of assorted colored peppers
1 pint of lunchbox peppers (not in the Library of Resources - these are a sweet snacking pepper)
1 bunch of carrots
2 lbs. of potatoes
Garlic
Small:
1 lb. of tomatoes
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 lb. of assorted colored peppers
1 bunch of carrots
1 lb. of potatoes
Caring For Your Share (All of this information, plus long-term storage info, can also be found in our Vegetable Library of Resources)
Store peppers in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Set the crisper drawer to low humidity to allow some of the ethylene gas that results from decomposition to escape. Ethylene gas will cause the peppers to rot sooner.
Keep tomatoes out on the counter and out of direct sunlight, where they will get plenty of air flow. Do not put them in the fridge; it will dry out the tomatoes and change their consistency. Tomatoes continue to ripen after harvested, so use within a few days. To ripen a tomato quickly, put it in a paper bag in a dark place, like a cabinet.
Store eggplant at room temperature, like out on your counter, but keep it away from other fruits and vegetables that will emit ethylene gas, as this will cause it to rot faster (tomatoes, melons, bananas, etc.)
Remove the greens from the carrots and store them in plastic bags in the vegetable crisper. Use greens within the week, but the carrots may last for weeks when stored properly.
Store potatoes in a mesh bag in a cool, dark place such as a cabinet or pantry, and ensure that they get plenty of air flow. Do not wash until ready to use, but wipe away dense soil, if any. Keep away from onions.
Store zucchini in the crisper drawer of the fridge for approximately a week. Wash when ready to use.
Store garlic in a cool, dark place out of the refrigerator, like a cabinet or pantry. Ensure that it has air flow. We leave the neck on the garlic to prevent it from rotting at the base of the bulb.
The LGF Cooking Club
30 Minutes or Less:
Large Share Additional Ingredients:
Biweekly Catch-Up (A copy of last week's updates)
Hi members!
In case you missed it, we have some good news we wanted to share...
This is certainly the brightest spot for us in the toughest year. Unfortunately it's come with some physical restrictions for me - like no lifting - which has changed my job role significantly over the past month. I'm still packing shares, but the crew has been super helpful in moving around tons of crates, boxes, and trays for me. Thank you for all of the well wishes!
The crew also helped Randy catch up on most of the essential tasks that we fell behind on last week. This is 1,200 cabbages for the fall. The two rows of kale that we planted late last week all got fried because - surprise, surprise - the irrigation broke and we needed to wait for a delivery of a new piece. Luckily we had enough extra kale to replace it.
Here's Randy fixing more irrigation in the greenhouse.
Other tasks that we caught up on: tipping the canes of the blackberries and black raspberries, which means that the branches that are going to bear fruit next year will be bigger and stronger (the same concept as snipping off garlic scapes); weeding the berry field; harvesting more onions, especially the red ones which weren't previously ready; overhauling the greenhouse by weeding the beds and prepping for more fall planting; seeding cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi for the fall; and redoing the irrigation on the fruit field to be more compatible with the changes we made to the well pressure last week. Phew! Randy feels significantly better about his to-do list this week.
These are raspberries and golden raspberries that we should harvest in the coming years around this time in the season. They're looking good!
Here's a quick peek on the butternut squash. It's fully grown but not yet the golden color that signifies ripeness. Since our Main Season was shifted back 2 weeks this season, this means there will be some fall squash for everyone in the final weeks of the program.
Here's a peek on the tomatoes. You can't tell from this photo, but the plants are loaded with ripe fruit now, so much so that we can barely keep up with the harvest.
Can you guess what these are?
Brussels sprouts! They'll still grow taller and then the little sprouts at the base of each of those leaves will form. Brussels sprouts are usually ready in November here.
Here's a shot of the farm - nothing really in particular to talk about, except that summer squash is to the left, kale is to the right. In the distance, those two rows of plastic mulch are ready for spinach to be planted this coming week.
Eggplant is fruiting but not as quickly as we'd like, so we're going to give it another week in the hopes that there is enough for shares.
We also polled you all in the Facebook group about whether or not you wanted green/wax beans this week. The result was that about 90% of you wanted beans. The bad news is that, as it turns out, there unfortunately won't be enough this week. The good news is that we will have more in the future (hopefully!) though they didn't germinate well due to the drought. The silver lining is that we've got a new item for you instead... potatoes!
This week you get to "Pick a Pint" - choose from grape tomatoes, husk cherries, or shishitos!
This is Emily, modeling our prized cabbage, Big Bertha. We decided to harvest her and let her live out her true purpose of being eaten. What should we make with her? How much do you think she weighs?
The correct answer is...
10.56 lbs!
I previously noted Sunday, October 2nd as the date to save for 2023 subscription enrollment, but I forgot that we shifted it to Sunday, October 16th this year. There will be much more information to share in September, but we want to make sure you remember the correct date.
Do you have a clean out the fridge night? This was my go-to on Friday night when I had a bunch of miscellaneous veggies to take home: stir fry with broccoli, peppers, Asian eggplant, a red pepper, green beans, garlic, and zucchini noodles. It's amazing how just a little bit of each goes a long way. What are some of your favorite clean out the fridge meals? We'd love to see some of your clean out the fridge meals in our Facebook group!
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