This year we are really happy with the progression of crops in the early season- we feel like we are able to offer a really exciting range of vegetables to kick the season off. We love the festive red and white scallions, deep ruby and rainbow chards, snowy white baby fennel bulbs, hefty Napa cabbages, and lush purple kohlrabi…yum!!! Its really nice to see a range of textures and colors in the shares since most of what thrives this time of year is green and leafy.
As always this early in the season, all of the crops in the share will be the happiest if stored in your refrigerator inside of a plastic bag. The Napa cabbage is quite bulky, but will also last for weeks in a bag. Just cut off a portion and re-wrap the rest for later.
In Your Share This Week:
- Cabbage, Napa
- Chard
- Fennel
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- Scallions
Crop Highlights
Fennel: This is one of the crops that grows really well for us at SIO. We love growing fennel, and I for one LOVE eating fennel- cooked, raw, or just like an apple. We like to feature a young, tender bulb of ‘Preludio’ at the beginning of the season- which is an Italian variety intended for the earlier parts of the season. We are loading you up with 4 bulbs for full shares and 2 for half shares since they are still petite at this point in time…but why wait??? These bulbs are tender and perfect now…with plenty of stem and frond to enjoy cooking with as well.
Kohlrabi: The skin on this variety has the most eye-catching hue of purple! Kohlrabi is related to cabbage, broccoli, kale, radishes, and turnips- and has a flavor that resembles broccoli stem…which is essentially what a Kohlrabi is. Over time, the plant has been selected to feature a swollen stem, which is the round bulb that we eat. We left the leaves attached since they taste pretty good too! Slaws are probably my favorite way to enjoy kohlrabi- I really like the crisp, refreshing texture, and sometimes slice it up into chips and have it with hummus.
Scallions: I am super excited to have picked up a purple scallion variety this season. We have combined the deep purple scallions with our favorite variety of white scallion to make some fun multi-color bunches.
In The Fields
All of this heat provides excellent conditions for weeding- so we have been busy hoeing the fields in the hot afternoons in order to keep the weeds at bay. It is also hard to believe that just as summer feels around the corner, the winter squash fields are well under way, and we are about to transplant our fall/winter celeriac and leeks into the fields! Such is the life of June on the farm- we are kicking off the harvest season with plenty of tender leafy greens that require cool morning temperatures for harvest, seeding fall crops in the greenhouse, transplanting in full force, weeding during any spare moment, watching the plants gain momentum, irrigating all day long, tilling, mowing, and tractor-weeding around the clock, shuffling row cover on and off of crops, and of course…washing, packing, and getting all of our CSA and restaurant deliveries out the door on time and in style! June is the most action-packed month of the farming season simply because you have all of those activities happening at the same time…but our crew is amazing and we are blazing through the to-do lists every day as a team that is strengthening constantly…and we’re just getting warmed up! We have lots of folks who have returned for several seasons, a core of seasoned veterans, and are excited to be adding fantastic new members to our lineup this season.
During the daytime the farm is bustling with trucks, tractors, deliveries, pack-out, walkie-talkies, radios, emails, good conversation, etc., but at sundown a whole new soundscape comes to life as the birds all chirp and sing- in the hedgerows, around the ponds, and in all the little nooks and crannies throughout the farm. The golden hour is stunning on the farm- the gentle rolling hills catch the light just so through the native Oaks and Maples and you can enjoy the order and linear geometry of the farm mixed with the wildness of the hedgerows, insectary beds, and wildlife refuge nestled alongside the farm. We regularly get to see Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed hawks, Killdeers, and playful little Barn Swallows nesting in the barn rafters. Its a great reminder how deeply embedded we are within the local ecology and what wonderful flora and fauna also call this place home.