Collards, Yukon Gold potatoes, summer squash, French Gray shallots, green beans, carrots, two heads of lettuce. A share full of great hot-weather-meal making items. The shallots are the most unusual item in this week’s share. They’re a true shallot, unlike the shallots we normally give out a little later in the summer or fall. They have unusually hard skins so instead of peeling them I recommend slicing them in half lengthwise and popping the shallot out of its shell of hard skin. They’re somewhere between garlic and onion in how I think about using them, more intensely flavored than onions, but also with a nice sweetness that goes really well in salad dressings when they’re minced. My favorite thing to do with them is to fry them crispy and then crumble them over things – like salads!
Today was a hot one on the farm but not so much that we couldn’t get work done. We all alternated harvesting in the sunny field with cleaning and packing the veggies in the shade of the packing area. I was hoping for cucumbers today and so I finally got around to tying up all of the plants in my search. They’re not ready yet, but definitely soon. In the afternoon I was able to do a bunch of hoeing and this is perfect weather for getting weeds to die from hoeing – they wilt really quickly in the heat when they’re undercut, unlike in the spring where they basically just replant themselves.
It looks like it’ll be cooler again on Thursday, back to just being hot, not super hot. Until then we’re shortening up the irrigation schedule to get the plants more water and to keep them cool.
We still have a couple of summer shares available, pro-rated. Golden Age Kombucha has shares too, and they’re selling samples at the farm stand. It’s been a treat to have their Kombucha at the end of these hot farm days. Cloud Cap Mushrooms also has shares and I’ll have more info on a new egg supplier very soon!
Cully Neighborhood Farm 