What a roller coaster of temperatures we just went through! Thankfully that’s behind us now, and the weather forecast ahead looks very nice with mid 70’s to low 80 degree days with some sunshine. On top of that, there is nice moisture in the ground now and that should make for some nice growing conditions. Despite the cooler temperatures all weekend, the strawberries look to be really ripening up now and I do think we will have enough to put them into this week’s CSA shares.
We’ll wait until Tuesday morning to pick them and divide them up. The strawberry season is just starting and from the looks of their current condition, as long as the weather cooperates, we should have plenty and everyone will get their fill! Once we start picking, we usually pick the patch out every 2 days. If anyone wants to purchase extra this week, Thursday and/or Saturday we should have plenty available for sale.
And since we’ll have strawberries, we will include rhubarb into the CSA shares as well. Combining the two is an age-old tradition! The sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb are exceptional together in pies, crisps, crumbles, etc. If you’re looking for a more savory pairing they also can make a great addition as a glaze for meats like pork.
Also new for the shares this week will be Kohlrabi. This crisp and crunchy vegetable is related to cabbage and broccoli with a mild, slightly sweet flavor. You’re going to want to peel the thick green skin, then slice the bulb up for salads, slaws or a stir-fry.
We’ll also swap out the green garlic this week for some baby scallions! We try to alternate between either the garlic or some type of onions going into the CSA shares as much as we can. Week 3 we will most likely be going back to the garlic side of things as we begin to harvest the garlic scapes.
Back this week will be Spinach, Lettuce, Radishes, and you’re choice between Kale, Chard, or Yokatta Na.
We will no longer have enough asparagus to make it into the CSA shares but we will have some on hand for sale if you’re interested.
On the farming side of things, we have been able to stay right on track with getting things planted. The tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, etc all look great. As soon as the ground dries back up a little bit this week we will be planting our watermelon transplants, hilling up the potatoes, and getting our sweet potato slips planted. And this moisture will also lead to a lot of weeds growing so in between all of the harvesting and planting maybe we’ll pull some weeds too!