2023 CSA Farm Update: Week 6
Sea of Garlic
Hello Everyone, and welcome to week 6 of the Katchkie Farm CSA. The weather continues its trend of sogginess here in the Northeast with over 5” of accumulated precipitation. We had a slight break in the rain last week. One break gave us a bright sunny day for the Sylvia Center Farm to Table Event, an annual fundraiser at the farm, which brought a multitude of life to the farm. The other break allowed us to harvest our garlic.Amazingly we were able to harvest our garlic crop in between our weekly harvests and plantings.
On Wednesday morning, we started our harvest at 6am and took the last crate of garlic under cover at 7pm. At 7:15pm it started raining! It was certainly one of those days where one sees the challenge in front of them and knows it will take every bit doing by the whole team to get it done. All in all, it was about 2 and 1/3 miles of linear feet which is about 25,000 heads of garlic. I am not sure of the total weight yet, but it looks like a marvelous crop. It is a huge relief that we were able to harvest this crop in prime condition. If the garlic is left in the ground too long, its outer wrapping will degrade, exposing the cloves, bringing in all kinds of disease and mold, which will render a crop unsaleable.
All of the rain does lead me to ask the question of how to mitigate extremes on the farm. Last year we experienced searing heat and drought; in 2021, July brought us 20” of rain. I am not sure if all farmers feel this way, but the land and crops seem to be such a part of me that seeing a heavy deluge wash away soil from the fields or seeing weeds overtake a once pristine section of crops because the soil is too saturated to support us while we work or looking at the plants slowly wither away as they struggle with waterlogged soil is felt like a personal affront. Not so much in the sense that I feel the weather is out to make life miserable, but more like one has the objective realization of all one’s faults but can do nothing about them until some other time.
There is no cut and dry path that someone has already taken and can be replicated on one’s own farm. An old farmer mentor of mine once told me we all have to have our own recipe and bake our own cake. That seems to ring ever truer today than it did back then. Each farm has to look at its resources, what it is selling, and to whom to figure this puzzle out. For Katchkie Farm, this could mean adding more high tunnels to buffer extreme rains and extend our growing season. It could mean making sure the soil is covered with either a living or straw mulch which would buffer both heavy rains and droughts as well as support abundant soil life. It could be a mixture of all of the above. Regardless, we have to have the hope and courage to work into the unknown. There will be failures, but there will also be successes that can be built upon. What we offer the next generation is in our hands.
Until next time,
Farmer Jon
WEEKLY HARVEST INCLUDES*
*We try our best to provide the most accurate CSA list in the newsletter! However, there’s always a chance of last minute substitutions in some bags if we don’t harvest enough of a vegetable.
chef andrew’s recipe corner
Classico Basil and Summer Squash Pesto
Ingredients
1 cup basil (blanched and shocked)
1 cup raw zucchini grated on large side of box grater.
¼ cup sunflower seeds toasted
1 tsp lemon zest
½ cup olive oil
Salt to taste
Preparation
Pick basil from stem till you have three cups loosely pack. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and while water is coming up to a bil, get a large bowl and fill it with ice and water to create an ice bath. Place basil into boing water for 45 seconds then plunge directly into ice bath and stir till thoroughly cooled. Remove basil from ice bath and squeeze excess liquid out. Place all ingredients into food processor except olive oil. Turn on machine then drizzle the olive oil till thoroughly incorporated and pesto is a cohesive sauce. Season to taste.
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