Week 3

Lineage Farm is at:

Hudson at Sutty’s on Warren Street: Fridays 4-6pm
Brooklyn at the Greenpoint Reformed Church: Mondays 4-8pm
Poughkeepsie at the JCC on Grand Avenue: Thursdays 4-7pm

Your Share:
Beets, Salad Turnips, Carrots, Kale, Lettuce Heads, Spinach, Arugula, Scallions, Shelling peas, Thyme
Coming in July:
Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Carrots, Dill, Cilantro, Parsley, and more!
From the Farmers:
The past few days have been hot.  Super hot.  Fry your brains hot.  It is a bit like paradise for tomato, cucumber, and pepper plants, who flourish in hotter weather.  And, as it turns out, it’s not so horrible for your farmers, either.  Taking Buckminster Fuller’s advice to heart, we decided not to fight the forces arrayed before us, but to work with them.  We adapt, and so, survive.
Arriving at the vegetable fields around 5 or 5:30am, the cool of the evening prior and the morning’s dew freshens our steps.   Harvesting and washing take place in the shade of an elm tree, sinking fresh lettuce heads in the cool water also cools our arms and hands.  A walk down to the creek to turn on the irrigation pump necessarily involves a walk in to the creek as well.  As the day progresses and the heat rises beyond healthy bear-ability, we retreat to the cool shade of the house for lunch, a bit of office work, and an afternoon nap.  And as the sun begins her descent, the shadows lengthen, the air again cools to a decent temperature, we return to the fields with hoes in hand, hoeing quickly through the most recently seeded carrot bed and saving it from future weedy calamaties.  The fireflies dancing, lead us back home where we fall (gracefully) in to bed in preparation for the day to come.
With the heat wave, and its culminating tornado, behind us, we look forward to the weeks ahead.  Baby summer squash have appeared on the vines, and green peppers hint at their future red-ness.  Shelling peas are podding up, Jon’s pet project of wheat and emmer are starting their golden waves of amber phase.  Soon, we’ll scythe down the oats to mulch the tomato beds, and approach the neighboring farmer to use his combine for the wheat and emmer.
In the meantime, Hudson is without electricity, trees are down, and neighborhood reports of quarter-sized hailstones abound.  We are headed back out to the field this evening, after the Hudson vegetable pick-up, to transplant more chard, basil, sage and other herbs, and to assess potential hail-begotten damage in our dear vegetable garden.  We will keep you posted, but in the meantime, enjoy a grated beet and scallion salad on a bed of arugula, with a side of braised beet greens.  I sure did.
Through fevers and twisters,
Your Farmers,
Jen and Jon

PS – the power was out, so I’m sending this Sunday evening…all hailstones avoided the garden, disaster avoided!

From soil to salad bowl:

Beet and Scallion Salad
Beets
Scallions
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Ume Plum Vinegar (optional)
Sea Salt

Grate beets.  Chop scallions, including green and white parts.  Place grated beets in a salad bowl, sprinkle scallions over top in high vegetable fashion, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with a bare dash of Ume Plum Vinegar (start small), and a pinch of salt to taste.  Let marinate at least a half hour.  Eat!

Wise words and wit:

Love the earth and sun and the animals,