2021 CSA Farm Update: Week 6

Welcome everyone to week 6 of the Katchkie Farm CSA!  We hope you have enjoyed last week’s share and are ready for another round a sampling from our garden.  Maybe we should call the weekly veggie flight instead?

I often get asked what do farmers do when it rains?  Well, the answer will vary from farm to farm, but here at Katchkie we get rained on.  Vegetables need to be picked to make their way off the farm and this is one of the primary jobs of the vegetable farmer.  We have to carry a motto similar to the one engraved on the James A Farley building, but maybe a little more like “neither rain, nor mud, nor heat, nor blowing winds keeps these deft pickers from their task at hand.”  Yes, this past week carried all of those the weather conditions.  We did manage most of the tasks that needed to be done.  Some of the planting and cultivations that were scheduled in fields with heavier soil are still on hold. 

The most pressing task however was performed in unrivaled fashion.  This year’s garlic harvest went off without a hitch.  Garlic, like most tasks in farming is all about timing.  Too early and we miss its potential for size, to late and it is near impossible to get out the ground as well as store properly.  We harvested it just in time.  The garlic had arrived at maturity while still covered in a strong wrapper, so we could pull it out of the ground.  All in all about 12,000 heads were pulled, stacked and set to cure in our greenhouse.  These marvels will be ready for fall bags. 

Another allium will show up CSA bags this week, the Rossa Lunga onion.  There is not a way to go wrong with this sweet red long onion.  Raw, roasted, sauteed, all of them will bring out the flavor of this heirloom variety.  Please enjoy them while they are here, because they are only around for 2 weeks until they are back again next year.

Until next time,

Farmer Jon