CSA Week 5
Tis the season of weeds, garlic harvest, & emerging fruit. This morning, Ken & I cheersed two standout, bright orange cherry tomatoes in one of the hoophouses - woohoo! We then proceeded to pull up assorted grasses & lay weed barrier as walkways so that there is optimal airflow in the hoophouses. Tomato plants are precious. Between the months of March & October we spend many hours tending to over 600 plants. Our hoophouse tomatoes are trellised up a single piece of twine with clips that secure the plants. Around this time, pruning is easeful as the plants are at a nice height, not too tall. In the field, we take a different approach. Plants are not pruned, but their wild growth is contained with lines of twine that we layer horizontally. These are mostly heirlooms, but this year we sprinkled in some cherry tomatoes as well. A ripened fruit certainly had me sitting in the emotion of ….. wow it is luckkkky to experience, to admire the growth of a tomato.
Since July has begun, this also calls for the harvest of the garlic field. Both our softneck & hardneck garlic bulbs will be pulled from the soil for curing. This essentially calls for an environment that will encourage drying. To do that. we cover the greenhouse in shade cloth, set up a collection of fans, & lay bulbs out on breathable tables. After a few weeks, they are organized into seed garlic (what we replant in the fall) or storage (what is shared with y’all). To complete the task, we will clean up the beds that the garlic grew in & sow a restorative cover crop.
While neither tomatoes or garlic will be in the shares this week, we are looking forward to sharing them with you soon <3
CSA Week 5
This is our best guess of what will be in your share! Harvest list subject to changes :)
~ Spring mix
~ Cucumber
~ Zucchini
~ Beets
~ Fennel
Additions for full shares…
~ Herb choice
~ Baby carrots
~ Fresh garlic
Recipes to pair
Cucumber and beet salad - Personally planning to make a variation this week! I loooovveee the cuke & beet combo… so refreshing!