2021 CSA Farm Update: Week 4
Welcome everyone to week 4 of the Katchkie Farm CSA. I hope you have made some delicious meals with last week’s share. Don’t let those beets intimidate you! A little heat and time bring out their true sweetness.
The past week has been quite a week of extremes here on the farm. Early last week temperatures were in the 90’s with lots of humidity, and then the rains came. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we had rain. Not that gentle spring rain, not “purple rain,” but that powerful rain that comes only in the summer. The one with thunder, winds and lighting. As we were planting the fall kale on Tuesday afternoon, the sky in the North suddenly looked very dark. Sometimes this means rain is on the way, sometimes not. So we loaded up the plants, got out to the field and started planting. Then the dark clouds started moving closer, but we still had 9 more beds of kale to get. This is one of those moments of patience that is needed while farming. What one wants to do, is hurry to try and get the plants in before the rain, but there is a speed at which 10 beds of kale goes in the ground. That speed is .35mph! A bird’s eye view would show the impending storm in the distance and four people, a tractor, transplanter, and lots of kale plants slowly heading down and filling up the rows. That is not quite the image of channeling Captain Ahab. All in all we got 7 beds of kale in then got before getting soaked and the soil became to wet to work with. Earlier in the day those October carrots and mid September beets were seeded. Getting transplants and seeds well-watered is not a bad thing. It is something I would have to do anyway with our irrigation.
This week is more summer produce, with the addition of cherry tomatoes. A favorite of many and the bane of some. A nice sweet treat for those summer salads or to really bring the sugars out in roasted vegetables. One of my favorites is simply to quarter them, a splash of a nice vinegar, a pinch of sea salt, a couple glugs of olive oil and freshly torn basil. Maybe even a little grated hard cheese, then mix it all together and you have yourself an essence of summer.
Until next time,
Farmer Jon