Week 5: Garlic Harvest and Carrot Club

Our annual Garlic Harvest is coming up this Saturday, July 13th from 9am to noon. Meet us at the CSA barn and help us to harvest, bunch and hang garlic. This event is rain or shine - if it is rainy we will work inside the barn hanging garlic. Refreshments will be provided.

Also, Carrot Club starts up again this week! Carrot Club will meet Tuesdays and Fridays, July 8th - August 16th from 2pm - 3pm. Activities are geared towards children ages 3-7. Meet at the Carrot Club sign outside the CSA barn. Parents are welcome to stay with the group, but it is not required. Read a story, play games and learn about the delicious vegetables we grow at Appleton Farms during this one hour program. Questions? Please email afeducator@ttor.org.

It was a hot week out in the fields, but I think most of the crew was happy for a break from the rain. We'll be seeing the effects of June and early July's intense rainstorms reflected in the harvest soon, with reduced or delayed yields for certain crops. In the more immediate future, a couple of greens plantings were either flooded or seeded in less desirable places due to the lack of available dry space. As a result, we'll see reduced yields and some holey greens that suffered from flea beetle damage. The first fall carrot seeding (planted in the end of June) was almost completely washed out when we got 2 inches(!) of rain overnight, so we tilled it in and reseeded this past Friday. As a result, we'll likely have a longer than usual gap between the spring and fall carrots. Two sunflower plantings also succumbed to the wet, which is unfortunate because sunflower seed is quite expensive! The winter squash field spent much of June partially underwater, and we were therefore unable to plant into part of it. While we found space in another field for most of the squash (all except the Red Kuri and gourds, which are still waiting for a home), it pushed out some of our later plantings of summer squash and cucumbers, which could mean gaps in the the summer squash and cucumber harvests. Part of the potato field also flooded, which weakened the plants in the wet areas and made them more susceptible to Colorado Potato Beetle damage. If the wet didn't already cause those potatoes to rot in the ground, then the potato beetles certainly finished them off (the plants on that edge of the field are almost completely defoliated). 

While many of our vegetables suffered from the rain, the weeds are thriving. Though I'm generally not a fan of heat well up into the 90s, this week I was thankful for it because it meant that the weeds we uprooted with the tractors, hoes and by hand had no chance of re-rooting. Now it's just a matter of tackling 24 acres of weeds that have been quickly taking over our fields!

In spite of the weather-related challenges of the past month, I think overall the farm is looking pretty darn good. Summer crops like squash and green beans are just beginning to come on, and the pepper, tomato, cucumber, and watermelon plants look really healthy. The eggplant got hit pretty hard by Colorado Potato Beetle, but I'm confident that with the TLC the crew has been giving those plants, they'll bounce back just fine. If we can just avoid anymore serious deluges washing out our newly seeded crops, we'll be in really good shape for the rest of the season!

What's in the share: Lettuce, Greens, Kale, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choi, Kohlrabi, Radishes, Fennel, Scallions, Carrots, Garlic Scapes, and PYO herbs (including dill, cilantro and basil).
New this week: Chioggia Beets, Summer Squash/Zucchini, Cabbage, PYO Flowers and PYO Green Beans.

*If you like making sauerkraut or kimchi, this is the week to do it! If you've never made either before, check out Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz for a good intro to the art of fermenting foods.