Farm News June 27, 2023
Our Farmstand is in full swing:
Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday: 2 - 6:30 PM
Saturday: 8 am - 12:30 pm
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NOTE NEXT WEEK’S FOURTH OF JULY SCHEDULE!
WE WILL BE CLOSED TUESDAY JULY 4TH.
STOCK UP FOR THE 4TH THIS WEEK!
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After seeing little rain in May and most of June, we’ve entered a wet period that is working hard to make up for the deficit. The upside to a rainy weather pattern is that we can drop the irrigation pipes and concentrate more on harvesting. The downside is that cultivating our crops gets tricky. Tractor-drawn cultivators are a mainstay on farms our size. We run them through the top inch or so of soil to root up small weeds, and we need some sunshine to dry those weeds out. A straight week of cloudy, showery days can really put a dent in our weeding plans. In late June and July weeds can grow at phenomenal rate, so we are hoping for a bit of dry weather in the forecast to run the cultivators through the sweet corn, winter squash, strawberry, and sweet potato crops. While we wait to get tractors into the fields, we’ve been hand weeding the carrots, beets, herbs and flowers.
Mozammel, Bryce, CJ (and Paul) have their work cut out themselves in the carrots.
One way to decrease our dependance on cultivation is mulching. We mulch our flowers, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and garlic with leaves we stockpile in the fall from local landscapers. Mulching weatherproofs us a bit, since it works regardless of the weather forecast, and it also allows us to front load some of the weeding work into less busy times: early spring and late fall. Last week we made our first major foray into no till planting. We rolled down a thick cover crop of hairy vetch and rye, and planted our pumpkins straight into the mulch we grew right in the field. Like all trials on a farm, there were some hiccups. The mulch was so thick we ended up planting by hand, which is much more time consuming than planting on our tractor-drawn transplanter. But we are hoping the weed suppressing and soil building mulch will pay off later in the season with some tasty pie pumpkins for Thanksgiving.
Bryce digs through the “living” mulch with hopes for a successful no till experiment.
Checking the harvest board, the snap peas are the stars this week. We have a bumper crop this year, but they are even more ephemeral than strawberries and are at peak this week. The plump pods are crisp and sweet, and great raw for snacking or quickly sauteed. Strawberries are hanging in for gleanings, we saved the late variety from last year’s patch, which has some tasty fruit. The rains are not kind to ripe strawberries, so best picking will be early in the week. Summer squash is ramping up, we’ve got zucchini, yellow squash, and patty pans with cukes coming soon. Carrots are back on the menu, and basil from the high tunnel is booming; pair that with some garlic scapes for a pesto that will knock your socks off. Speaking of garlic, we should be able to start pulling fresh bulbs in a couple weeks; until then, the scapes work great for all your garlic needs.
We hope you enjoy the farm and the harvest,
Paul, for Rebecca and the Fort Hill Farm crew
Featured veg:
Basil: This is a delightful crop of basil from our high tunnel. Use with the garlic scapes for a great pesto, or pair with the first heirlooms. Basil stores best like a bunch of flowers—put in a vase in indirect light, or wrap in a damp cloth on a shady countertop. DO NOT put in the fridge. Before a devastating new disease came along (downy mildew), basil used to be one of our most reliable crops. Now advancements in breeding have infused new life into the crop, at least for some of the summer, before its resistance to DM breaks down. In short, enjoy it while we have it!
Rainbow Swiss Chard: familiarity breeds contempt ... maybe that's why chard is one of the most underrated yet versatile cooking greens? It has a uniquely deep flavor when paired with beans, cheese, or sausage, sautéed with garlic and onions, or added to stews, and it can sub for its sister, spinach, in any recipe (see recipe below). It is really one of the workhorses of the farm from spring to fall. I consider chard to be an MVP green!
Also available:
Strawberries, Sugar snap peas, Head lettuce, salad mix, arugula, pea shoots, red and French Breakfast radishes (limited), spinach, curly and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, baby bok choy, escarole, fennel, scallions, cilantro, parsley, basil, dill, perennial herbs, garlic scapes, red, gold, and Chioggia beets, beefsteak and heirlooms, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini and Zephyr squash
Pick Your Own:
Strawberries:
Our last strawberry variety is holding up, despite the wet weather, but get them while you still can!
Sugar Snap Peas:
DONT MISS OUT … on this beautiful and fleeting pick of snap peas. You will be picking from the tall, staked rows … and trust us – picking doesn’t get any easier than this!
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
For more recipes, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database
Swiss Chard Salad with Lemon, Parmesan & Bread Crumbs
Adapted from Food52 by Alexandra Stafford
Yield: 2 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch Swiss chard, about 12 ounces
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
1½ cups (2.5 ounces) fresh breadcrumbs, see notes above
1 clove garlic, minced [or sub 2 garlic scapes, minced]
sea salt to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, optional
1 lemon
¾ cups (1.5 – 2 ounces) grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
INSTRUCTIONS
Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use.) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in ¼ cup of the olive oil.
Add the Parmesan and about ⅔ of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted breadcrumbs and serve immediately.