THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• “Caribe” New Potatoes
• Sweet Onions
• Fava Beans
• Salad Mix
• Fresh Dill
• Fresh Cilantro
Click on the links above for information and recipes about these crops.
COMING SOON:
Carrots
Broccoli
Cabbage
Green Beans
I will write more and add photos later. I thought it best to get the list of items and fava bean recipes linked up right away.
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Della and Mike bond while cleaning onions for Tuesday pickup.
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Sweet Onions
• Lettuce
• Swiss Chard
• Mizuna (tender, mild flavored green for salad or gentle cooking)
Click on the links above for information and recipes about these crops.
COMING SOON:
Potatoes
Dill
Fava Beans
Carrots
Broccoli
Cabbage
It is mid-July. We are working hard at staying optimistic. The weather has been so cold, that everything has been growing very slowly. I believe that we will catch up with where we were last year. We did have summer squash and cucumbers, and tomatoes. It was late, but we had them. We had broccoli and cauliflower, and basil. But it was later than we like. We didn’t have them for as long. I can’t believe that the peas took so long, but we have them. The beans are starting to bloom, and we will have them.
We are happy that we have tons of onions this year. They are healthier than last year, so they should last longer. We have amazing potatoes growing. We will start picking them next week. This weather has been great for greens and potatoes. Usually we don’t have enough water for everything, but that isn’t a problem this year, is it?
We are working hard. This week we are getting a lot of crops planted in the ground and out of the greenhouse. All of the basil, the parsley, a huge crop of broccoli and cauliflower. I am nearly finished seeding fall crops in the greenhouse, and that is ahead of where I usually am.
We are grateful that the farmworker fairy brought us Teodoro. He is young and energetic, and happy to work here. He does a great job at everything so far and is a quick learner and intuitive. More than I had hoped for.
Mike has been talking about a big snake he saw in the greenhouse. I haven’t seen the snake, and I spend a lot of time in there. But, the other morning I found this snake skin. It’s 24 inches long. I guess it is a big one. Did you know that Garter Snakes don’t lay eggs, they give birth to live young? A smaller snake like this one might only have a litter of 5, but a 52-inch snake might have 80 young! My dad saw one give birth as a kid. I have a feeling it was a big snake because he said there were hundreds. If you translate that to grownup reality, it was probably 70 or 80.
The greenhouse snake is growing.
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Sugar Snap Peas. The fatter they are, the sweeter they are!
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• Pea Shoots
• Baby Beets
• Lettuce
• Garlic
• Sugar Snap Peas
Click on the links above for information and recipes about these crops.
COMING SOON:
Peas
Sweet Onions
Fava Beans
Carrots
Broccoli
We haven’t had a vacation. Ever. Well, Mike and I went to Las Vegas to get married, but that was eleven years ago. That was the last time we spent a night away from the farm. Several things transpired last month that nagged at me to go to visit my best friend Patty Milligan. It’s been about 14 years since I saw her last. We have both had kids since then, and have formed farming businesses. She is a beekeeper with the alter ego Lola Canola. She is also a wonderful writer and teacher.
So, since all the crops were so late, I decided to take the kids on a road trip to Bon Accord, Alberta, about an hour north of Edmonton. We rented a car and took two days to get there, driving through Jasper, which was amazing. We had a great time catching up, watching our kids play together, and then we drove back along the Crowsnest Highway and through Eastern Washington.
Edmonton is in prairie country. They measure things in quarter-sections there, which is a mile square, or 160 acres. It’s still acres and sections even though they use the metric system. Her home is surrounded by quarter sections of Canola, wheat, barley, alfalfa. And some oil wells.
Patty's Backyard
When we got back last Saturday, we found that the peas were ready to pick! Everything had turned into a jungle of weeds. My roses were buried by Bindweed.
But, so much is nearly ready to harvest! The broccoli and cabbage we planted months ago are nearly ready, the carrots are nearly ready. The dill, cilantro, and purslane will be ready next week, and probably so will the fava beans. The summer squash and cucumbers are coming along soon. Summer food is here!
Ready to plant. Plowed and disced.
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Whistling Train Farm 