What a rain we had this morning. The garden was a little damp and squishy for picking, but we mucked our way through and found several surprises for you. I mentioned one other week that the rain makes everything very dirty, so pay careful attention for dirt on your items this week. But here is proof that we do actually clean your produce first.
It gets soaked, then rinsed, then soaked again.
It then goes in this beast!
That is my mom's leg/foot. She is a not a hobbit, so imagine an average height woman, and that green machine is about two feet high.
The inside looks like a regular salad spinner.
From there, we dump the clean produce into another bin (or basket) and then bag it.
Beautiful! Only full shares got a bag of these greens this week while we wait another week (hopefully only that long) for our next crop to be ready to pick.
Everyone did get a head of romaine lettuce this week though. There may be a wait before you see that again, as the next crop was just seeded.
The hoophouse is about 10-15 degrees hotter than outdoors, so the cherry and regular tomatoes are growing, and soon we should have some of those. The cukes are doing well, and everyone gets one of those again this week. They are a little bigger than last week, as it was a warm week. The heat really makes things jump ahead. The sugar snap peas were only in blossom last week, but the heat turned them into beautiful delicious peas. If you have never had sugar snaps, know that the whole pea is edible (well except the stem). They don't have stringy shells but snappy crunchy ones, sometimes very sweet. I use them on salads a lot, or just eat them plain.
Full shares got heads of broccoli. That is an item that is known to have bugs. Of course if we sprayed with chemicals and pesticides, it wouldn't, but you don't want that, do you ;-) It may be necessary to presoak broccoli in salt water for about fifteen minutes to rid any bugs that may be hiding in its tightly packed florets.
Something in the same family but quite different made it's way into half shares bags. It is called broccoli rabe (rapini is it's real name). It has many spiked leaves that surround a green bud which looks very similar to a small head of broccoli. There may be small yellow flowers blooming from the buds, which are edible. The flavor of rapini has been described as nutty, bitter, pungent, and quite delicious. It is a source of vitamins A, C, and K, as well as potassium, calcium, and iron. A common preparation involves sauteing it with garlic over low heat for 10 - 15 minutes.
Everyone got beet greens and chard this week. They are two interesting plants, in that you cut the greens from them, yet they grow more. They do not "bolt" (send up a shoot and go to flower) like other lettuces/greens, so you can keep picking them over and over again and there is always more. Each week we have picked them I have been amazed at that and think I've picked them all, but the next week, the row is full. All the chard comes from about 10 plants. Eventually, when the beets are big enough, we will pull those with the greens attached, but by then we will have a new crop coming ready for picking the greens but not the beets. This succession thing is working out :-)
The curly leafy purple and green plants are chard. This week only the half size share got them. This is another one of the plants that keeps producing more like the two just mentioned. It will go right into fall, and sometimes even through a frost or two.
Full share bags got a white turnip.
Greens are still attatched as they help keep them fresh, but also they are edible, even a delicacy down south. If you don't feel like tossing them, look up a recipe!
Full size shares additionally got spinach and radishes.
Everyone got a bag of mixed basil.
Looking forward to next week. Hopefully this muggy weather will have cleared by then :-)
After:
Have a good week!
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