Farm News July 11, 2023
Our Farmstand is in full swing:
Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday: 2 - 6:30 PM
Saturday: 8 am - 12:30 pm
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The torrential rain over the weekend was too much, too fast to be called a “good” rain, but it did mean yet another week that we won’t have to do any large-scale irrigation, which is a blessing. Our flat, drought-prone, sandy soils on the terrace above the now raging Housatonic River soaked up the rain in style, helped by the large amounts of cover crop residue, compost, and mulch we’ve applied over two decades, helping to create a “sponge” effect to help soak up excess rain. We are getting reports of other growers on river flood plain soils who are not so fortunate; some have lost entire fields to flood waters. It’s scary to think that unnamed, rather routine thunderstorm fronts can afflict such damage. We need to accelerate our transition to a green economy fast; storms like those this weekend are just the warmup act for what we could be heading for.
July continued with the hot and wet theme last week. The zucchini and cucumber crops are coming in strong, and the heat and rain pushed them along even more. We got a chance to catch up a bit on our weeding, which gets neglected during strawberry picking season. Weeds also respond to the high temps and moist soil with some phenomenal growth rates this time of year. We will often drive by a crop with some small weeds in it and say to ourselves “we should get to that soon” but then find ourselves distracted by other tasks; a week later the weeds are ten times bigger and the clean up ends up taking us a lot longer. Most summer annual weeds are very vulnerable to drying out prior to or just at emergence, and that’s when we try to get them.
Guess what needs weeding already (again, really) … next year’s strawberries!
We’ve also got a lot of crops that need help standing up. We trellis the cucumbers, tomatoes, and peas to keep these lanky crops from flopping over. Elliott and Dana lead the charge on these tasks and have become experts at getting the crew trained in and pointed in the right direction. As we get deeper into July, we are still getting the last big plantings of corn, broccoli, cabbage, and kale into the ground.
Tomato season has officially arrived! Our greenhouses are pumping out great soil-grown fruit, and the main crop from our big high tunnel is just starting. We’ve got red, purple, orange, and yellow slicers, and the very popular Sungold cherries, along with some very tasty cocktail (large cherry) tomatoes from a Japanese variety called “Sakura.” The first field carrots are in, along with some impressive summer crops of basil. Basil can sometimes get chomped by a host of emerging beetles this time of year, so we took the extra precaution of covering them in insect netting which has really paid off. It’s pesto time! And we’ve even managed to pull off what we consider our first successful celery crop, which is a hard crop to grow in New England. It’s less tender but much more flavorful than what you find in the grocery store.
The carrots and beets that we weeded in earnest 2 weeks ago are looking lovely for now.
On the pick your own front, the cut flower patch at the farm is looking pretty with a wide variety of flowers (zinnias, cosmos, snap dragons and many more; dahlias on the way in a month). We’re opening the perennial herbs too. We’ve also got a high-quality pick of green and wax beans for pick your own at the farm, so things are humming right along in PYO land.
And lastly this week we begin the first big bulk harvest project of the season. It’s been about three weeks since we snapped the flowers, or “scapes” off the garlic (also great for pesto!), and the bulbs have sized up nicely and the bottom leaves have begun to dry down. Time to get that crop out of the ground! We’ve got just a few days gap between the weekends near-record rain deluge, and another storm system predicted at the end of the week, so it will be all hands on deck to get the crop lifted, pulled, bunched, and hung to dry in a safe greenhouse.
It is starting to happen in the flowers!
Thanks again to all of you who brave the high temperatures, rainy days, or occasional mosquito to make it to the farm or a farmers’ market! We get that there are great days and not so great days for outdoor shopping, but please keep in mind that nearly everything we grow this time of year is highly perishable. We are counting on you and thank you for your support!
We hope you enjoy the farm and the harvest,
Paul, for Rebecca and the Fort Hill Farm crew
Featured veg:
Heirloom and Beefsteak Tomatoes: these tomatoes come from our greenhouses. They were started in a cooler in the barn in January, carefully grafted to a disease-resistant rootstock in February and planted into soil inside the greenhouses in March. The crew spent many hours trellising them up strings, and we burned some oil to heat up the house to get them through the cold snaps in May that would have killed them had they been outside. Lots of work, which is why they are so precious this time of year! While we are not at “peak tomato” yet, the greenhouses are really pumping out now, way ahead of field plantings. Look for the price to drop even more once the high tunnel comes online.
Red and French Breakfast Radishes: After many troubles this spring, we have a beautiful summer crop, and we put them are on SALE this week in recognition of this. Let’s face it – radishes take a big back seat to the summer heavy hitters, like tomatoes and cukes, but they always working hard in the background! Slice, chop, or shred into your salads. Radishes are wonderful in Asian slaws. They are also quite tasty and surprisingly mild when cooked (full disclosure, I sautéed them in butter last night). The greens can be sautéed just like any mustard green, which it seems more and more folks are taking advantage of these days.
Also available:
Head lettuce, salad mix, arugula, pea shoots, red and French Breakfast radishes, curly and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, baby bok choy, escarole, fennel, scallions, cilantro, parsley, basil, dill, chives, oregano, sage, thyme, garlic scapes and fresh garlic, red, gold, and Chioggia beets, beefsteak and heirlooms, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, Zephyr, and Patty Pan summer squash, cucumbers, limited sprouting and head broccoli
Pick Your Own:
FLOWERS:
The field is really lighting up with vivid colors now!
PERENNIAL HERBS:
chives, oregano, sage, and thyme
BEANS:
Green beans are open!
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
For more recipes, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database
Sesame Tomato Salad
By Kay Chun via the New York Times
This simple yet stunning salad celebrates the beauty of summer tomatoes and highlights their sweetness with a rich, tangy sesame vinaigrette. A mild, buttery California-style olive oil will meld well with soy sauce and sesame oil, so avoid using a spicier olive oil that may be bitter. The dressing and tomatoes can both be prepared separately a few hours ahead and kept refrigerated. The tomatoes will release juices as they sit, which can dilute the dressing, so serve the salad with extra dressing on the side for a fresh hit of umami. Leftover dressing can be refrigerated for up to one week and is delicious drizzled over rice, roasted chicken and green salads. Yield: 6 to 8 servings
INGREDIENTS
½cup extra-virgin olive oil
6tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1teaspoon minced garlic
1teaspoon granulated sugar, plus more to taste
3pounds mixed tomatoes, large tomatoes chopped or sliced and small tomatoes halved
Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
¼cup chopped basil
PREPARATION
Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and sugar; whisk to combine.
Step 2
Arrange the tomatoes on a serving platter and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with half of the dressing and top with basil. Serve the remaining dressing on the side.