June 16

This week's share (subject to change):
Chard, a selection of lettuce heads, Toraziroh, Red Giant Mustard, Green Wave Mustard, Salad Turnips, Salad Radishes, Kale, perhaps some Arugula, and Last Call for Garlic Scapes!

Coming soon:
Beets, Chinese/Napa Cabbage, Carrots, Kohlrabi

Dear Friends, Neighbors, and CSA Members

It seems so odd to read of a national drought, here in the northeast so soggy and muddy.  Images, photos of a severe dust storm, a wall of desert sand stirred into being by the downward force of a thunderstorm.  Contrast, cascades of water running through our garden, constant need for rain pants, boots, jackets.  I can hardly imagine, never having been (let alone lived) in the southwest, such weather.  These past couple weeks, it seems we hardly have a chance to dry our socks before it's raining again.  Perhaps now we have a break ahead of us – still predicting thunderstorms, but lowered chances, in the next week.  I do look forward to riding our cultivating tractor through several beds that are starting to show a bit too much of an unwelcome green.  Grasses and annual weeds, as much as our vegetable crops and (below) buckwheat cover crop, are thriving under this intense alternation between sun and rain.

Our garden soil does drain exceedingly well, so I did a bit of hoeing this afternoon while Jon started shaping beds with our loaned Spader.  It seems the new field has a bit of a shale vein running through it, and the shear bolt (somewhat like a safety latch, meant to break or "shear" before something else on the implement does) for some reason did not shear when it should have, leaving us on the hunt for a replacement piece for the Spader's shaft.  He did get a few beds made beforehand, so we'll be able to get in the last succession of cucumbers, summer squash, and zucchini before they've outgrown their greenhouse trays.  The seeds we've put in the ground in between downpours are growing in leaps and bounds.  Green beans (and purple and striped beans)  will be ready for pick your own sometime in July, as well as a bed of edamame.  We're growing three varieties for seed this year, for the Hudson Valley Seed Library – Oxheart Tomatoes, Panther Edamame, and Prizehead Lettuce.  Now if only I can get in there to cultivate!  It's amazing how a slight, shallow stirring of the soil around vegetable plants promotes growth spurts and well-being.  Inevitably, plants look and behave healthier than without.  Especially after so much rain!

If you like strawberries, I'd highly recommend you make it over to Thompson Finch Farm, growers extraordinaire of organic pick your own strawberries.  We haven't gotten there as of yet, but I certainly plan to.  These are seriously tasty berries.  There's likely a couple weeks left of picking (until beginning of July), so plan your trip soon!

And yes, our cooler is complete!  (or at least complete enough, as these things go)  It readily kept Friday's harvest at around 40 degrees until delivery Saturday morning, which I do hope helped keep those greens from wilting.  If you're experiencing some wilt once you get your greens home, here's a tip.  Undo the rubber band (if it's a bunch), dunk them in cold water, place in a sealed plastic bag (or reusable produce bags) with a damp paper towel or dish cloth, and then in the fridge.  The dry cold air in the fridge will wilt greens like nobody's business unless they're protected!

Many Good Wishes to all on this Father's Day!

Thankful for the food Jon's cooking us for dinner right this very moment,
Your Farmers,
Jen and Jon

From soil to salad bowl (and other bowls, besides)

Pickled Garlic Scapes, from the Garden of Eating Blog, adapted from the Food in Jars cookbook

*She also has a recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto, for those with a less vinegar-y bend.

 

 

Makes one pint jar

(Skipping most of the canning spices, and just using peppercorns, bay leaf and dill or coriander seeds is also quite acceptable)

 

Ingredients

 

* 1/2 pound garlic scapes (1 decent-sized bunch)

* 1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds

* 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

* a few whole cloves

* a bay leaf

* 1/4 teaspoon dill seed

* an allspice berry

* a juniper berry

* a pinch of hot pepper flakes

* 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

* 3/4 cups apple cider vinegar

* 3/4 cups water

* 1 tablespoon pickling salt

 

Directions

 

1. Trim the ends of the scapes, both the blossom end and the hard bit that formed at the original cut, and cut them into lengths that will fit in your jar. Prepare a small boiling water bath and sterilize a single pint jar, lid and band.

 

2. Combine the vinegar, water and pickling salt in a pot and bring to a boil.

 

3. Remove the jar from the boiling water bath, empty and set on a kitchen towel. Place the spices in the sterilized pint jar along with a pinch of salt.

 

4. Pack the trimmed scapes into the jar. Note: since you'll be dealing with both straight and curved pieces, Marisa suggests packing the curved pieces along the sides of the jar and the straighter pieces inside standing straight up – kind of a like a curly log cabin look (or vice versa) – I ended up just putting mine all in there in no order which is also fine.

 

5. Slowly pour the hot brine over the garlic scapes, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Once the jar is full, tap the jar lightly to dislodge any air bubbles. Check the headspace again and add more brine if necessary.

 

6. Wipe the rim, apply the lid and ring, and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Let these pickles cure for at least a week before eating. Pickles will last for several weeks in refrigerator after initial seal is broken.

The Peace of Wild Things
 

by Wendell Berry
 

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.