Dear Friends –
After returning from our summer break for the last week, we see new changes are afoot in the farm. Many new plants are ready to be harvested and others have completed their cycle. We say hello to the spicy torpedo radishes, aromatic basil, oregano, sage, parsley, and colorful flowers, and goodbye to the crunch of the fresh snow peas (for now – there will be more to come). Today we have some fresh lettuce, herbs, spring onions, kale, radishes, parsley, sage, oregano and more in the farm stand. Get ’em while gettin’s good! The new baby lettuce is ready for harvesting this week, so keep your eyes out for that – the sweetest you can get.
Mullen gone to seed beside tree collards
This month, we have had about a 50/50 split of warm and cool weather. This schism has been a boon to the lettuce, peas, and the kale, but the other crops that like more seasonally normal weather have been a little confused. Some aphids have taken advantage of this weak link and exploited the yummiest new leaves. This is the way it goes when the crops are not getting just one of the 6 core elements they need, in the right quantity (sunlight, water, soil, heat, space, or nutrients). But as a whole, we’ve had a great amount of snow peas and sugar snaps, baby lettuce, spring onions, and kale. The flowers have begun their summer push towards the sun and the diversity of insects, predators and “pests” have increased as well. This is all a beautiful balancing act to watch and be part of. Also, this last week has seen the starting harvests of fresh herbs like basil, oregano, sage, dill and parsley.
We look forward to the warm weather to come, as do the tomatoes, who have large green tomatoes on their plants currently. Hopefully these will change to beautiful, red tomatoes soon. The varieties we’ve chosen: glacier, beaverlodge, and sungold, are known around the cool Oregon coasts to do well in our cooler summer climate. There are about 8 other varieties waiting in the greenhouse to go into the ground soon. As we remove the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, in will go the tomatoes. These combined with basil and some fresh mozzarella cheese will make a delicious Summer Caprese salad.
Soon, the beets, cucumbers and zucchini will be ready. So keep your eyes peeled! We also have just started our first potato harvest. Look forward to seeing a continuing supply of potatoes in the farm stand.
