Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

We'll have zucchini squash, kohlrabi, kale, fantastic cabbage, chard, broccoli, and onions this week.  There will also be the last of the Chinese cabbage, at least for the Monday people.  We had a few green beans for Thursday of last week, and the next bunch of beans on those plants might be ready by this Thursday (lucky Thursday people), but for sure by next Monday.  I think we can have lettuce one more time, at least for Monday.  Maybe more beets, maybe cucumbers by the end of the week.  We are hoping to dig some new potatoes for you, but it's so muddy that we likely won't have them in time for Monday, and if it rains again like they are predicting, maybe not for Thursday either.  But one day soon, like next week, will be the beginning of some really nice potatoes. 

The onions and potatoes at the beginning will be fresh, meaning that they are not cured.  Fresh potatoes and onions should be kept in the refrigerator.  As the summer progresses, we will "cure" the potatoes and onions so you can store them in a dark place at room temperature.  I think the first onions we pull will be rather sweet white or yellow ones.  Early onions are usually sweeter than the later storage onions.  Don't try to store them; they won't keep.  Just enjoy them.

There might be some small green worms in the broccoli.  We've been treating with an organic insecticide called "Bt" that is only toxic to members of the butterfly and moth families (the green worms are the larvae of the little white butterflies), but the rain keeps washing it off, so it might not be working perfectly yet.  To get rid of any worms, you can soak the broccoli in a bowl of salt water for a few minutes and they should climb right out of the head so you can rinse them off. 

Eat lots of cabbage. It's absolutely fabulous.  Cooked, raw, fried, in slaw, on tacos, in rolls, steamed, pickled, with rice - any way you can think of, I'll bet it will be great.

We had to postpone movie night last week because it was too cold, too windy, and too muddy Wednesday evening.  Really weird for the middle of July.  We'll show "Babe" instead on Wednesday, July 22.  Garden tours start at 7:30, movie begins about 8:30.  Please invite your friends.  Bring a lawn chair.  We'll make the popcorn.

My friend Kathy Walter has lots of blueberries for you to pick on her farm near Cedar Bluff.  Call her soon if you want to get some.  Her phone is 563-886-1227.  She says they are really nice right now.

Here's a link to the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition.  http://www.macsac.org/  If you go to the section called "Find a Farm", you can see what CSA's in southwest Wisconsin are like.  It's pretty interesting to see all the different forms and shapes of CSA in a climate zone much like ours.

Life on the farm this last week has been completely shaped by rain.  We were in need of rain when we got 1.2" on Tuesday, which was pretty perfect.  But the 2.5" Friday and Saturday was too much, and again caused lots of damage.   My buddy Schnackenberg is predicting more rain for Tuesday, but then several dry days later in the week.  We're looking forward to some dry time to get caught up again on our work, including killing the latest round of weeds, digging potatoes, and planting more summer and fall crops.

See you this week,

Laura