As soon as you think it's about to slow down it just starts going faster! That's my lesson for this week as just when I was starting to get into the groove of harvesting and watering it was time to transplant all of our fall brassicas. But we did it, and even though the flea beetles are exploding and the heat is starting to crank up again we got all of our fall cabbage, collards, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and romanesco in the ground right before that much needed summer rain. We received about a half inch of rain on the farm and although I wish we'd gotten more I'll take what we can get with the sort of hot and dry summer we've been having. In order to protect our young plantings from the crazy pest pressure we've been experiencing this summer we took a threefold approach; we sprayed a product called Surround which is made from very finely powdered kaolin clay and coats the leaves of the plant literally disguising it from pests, we then covered all of our plantings with floating row cover also known as remay to act as a second barrier, and lastly we dusted diatomaceous earth over all of our transplants covering the plants and the surrounding soil. This might seem extreme but without these measures I'm pretty certain we would not be able to pull off a healthy fall harvest of these crops. We can't afford that amount of crop loss so we are trying our best to use the tools we have to keep the pest pressure down. The heat is a harder force to reckon with and I hope all of our newly planted babies don't cook over the next couple of days when the weather is supposed to stay in the high 90s!
We are also receiving our yearly supply of hay for our goats this week. It's perfect timing as we just used up our last bale of alfalfa and are down to a couple bales of grass which the goats seem to like to pull out of the feeder and walk on more then they like eating. We will be putting 6 tons up in the barn tomorrow to keep our goats well fed for the season. As part of our commitment to sustainable farming practices we always try to source organic and non GMO alfalfa for our animals. Our goats go through a lot of hay to produce all the delicious fresh milk that we sell from the farm and I know that the quality of their feed is reflected in the high quality of the milk they produce.
In other farm news we are having difficulty with our heirloom tomatoes again this season. We are seeing A LOT of sun burn, cracking, and not the quantities of fruit production that I had been hoping for! I guess there's always more to learn and I'm hoping to look at other trellising and pruning systems to see if there is something that would work better for heirlooms specifically as our greenhouse hybrids are producing like crazy! This year we are trialing some new varieties and went in a whole new direction for our cherry tomatoes. So far the cherries have looked and tasted beautiful with my favorites being blush from Johnny's Seeds and Galina from Adaptive Seeds.
You might notice some holes in your pac choi this week, those holes are caused by flea beetles and while unattractive do not effect edibility! This weeks share has the perfect ingredients for making a fresh or roasted tomatillo salsa, two of my favorite recipes are this recipe for a Raw Tomatillo Salsa with cilantro or this recipe for a Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with Green Chilies.
In your share this week:
1 pound tomatillos
2 pounds tomatoes
1/2 pound anaheim peppers
2 pounds summer squash
2 pounds cucumbers
2 pounds carrots
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch pac choi
1 head radicchio
1 onion
1/3 pound salad mix
'Til next week...