Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Hello shareholders,

This week, we'll have sweet corn, green beans, cabbage, broccoli, zucchinis and summer squash, cucumbers, beets,  chard, onions, potatoes, herbs, and maybe bell peppers. 

The sweet corn on Thursday will be the variety called "Incredible"; Monday people will get whichever one is better when we pick in the morning, either "Incredible" or "Bodacious".  I'm pretty sure I'll again have extra sweet corn to sell on Saturday morning, August 15th.  I'll put out a sign-up sheet at the check-in table.  The price will be $4 per dozen.

Well, I didn't see my hoophouse flying down Abbe Hills Road this evening, so I guess we survived the storm OK.  We had a very nice and badly needed rain on Friday, about 1 1/2 inches.  I think we've had about .4" so far today, Sunday.  The mud and heat has made it pretty difficult to harvest over the weekend and I expect that Monday will be tough for my workers.  We'll try to get some fresh green beans on Monday (if they are out there to get), but the Monday people might get some beans we picked last week if we can't get it all done in time tomorrow.  They've been in the cooler and will be fine, but you shouldn't plan on storing them long (don't store anything!  go on a vegetable eating frenzy!  there will be more next week!).  By the time it's time to get beans for Thursday, we should be able to get back in the garden.

The cucumbers and squash really needed the moisture on Friday.  I expect they are as big as baseball bats since we haven't looked at them since Wednesday afternoon.  Big cucumbers usually taste fine, but you might want to scrape the seeds out if they are tough.  Big zucchinis are good on the grill or in baking.  Really big zucchinis go to the chickens. 

I think we can find enough big bell peppers to give everybody at least 1 this week.  They should take off with the moisture and the heat.  Finally, the heat we've been waiting for got here.  YEAH.  Tough on the workers; good for the garden.  I'm spoiled and only like to eat bell peppers when they are ripe and have changed color, so I'm going to harvest the green ones conservatively so that we can have as many ripe peppers as possible later in the summer.

In preparation for the rain on Friday, we planted 16 rows of fall crops, including more beets, cabbage, kale, beans, turnips, and carrots.  This is the 4th or 5th time I've planted carrots this summer.  Maybe this time they will take.  It is about impossible to get carrots to emerge out of the ground, but I'm hoping the warm soil and rainy weekend will give them the boost they need to get going.  Fall carrots are fabulous.  We'll be planting fall lettuce this week, and will be planting in the hoophouse within the next two weeks to get ready for the November/December shares that I hope to offer.

Here is a link to any article in today's New York Times about some of the difficulties in our food system.  Farmers in the NE have been hit very hard with a tomato disease called "late blight", and the associated problems have gotten lots of press. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html?_r=1  So many people have mentioned to me that their tomatoes are sicker than normal this year.  We may not have late blight in Iowa, but we have lots of other diseases that strike tomatoes and their relatives (potatoes, eggplant, peppers, chilies).  For a real horror show, check out this publication on tomato diseases from Iowa State.  http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1266.pdf

My entry in the biggest cabbage competition at the 100th anniversary of Sauerkraut Days in Lisbon was totally humiliated by the winner.  My biggest cabbage weighed 7 1/2 lbs, much too big for most of you, but was nothing compared to the winner, an 18 1/2 lb monster.  It certainly was the biggest cabbage I've ever seen.  Lucky for you, most of the cabbages we grow for you are bred to weigh between 2 and 4 pounds when we harvest them.

I've got more sweet corn than we can use, and will have to start mowing it down as it gets over-mature.  I'd like to donate some to the food pantries and soup kitchens in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and/or Lisbon, but don't have the workforce to make it happen.  If any of you could mobilize a small group of people who could pick corn, husk it, and then get it to town, it would be a real treat for hungry people who don't often get fresh sweet corn (which is a pity, in my opinion, when we have it in such abundance).  We harvest corn on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, starting about 8:00.  A half dozen retired Presbyterians could pick 20 dozen ears in way less than an hour.  It would need to be husked, and we would need boxes to put it in for transport.  I can keep it in my cooler for a while, but would need somebody to deliver it to its destination later that day.  If you've got a group, maybe from a church, who you think could handle a harvest and delivery, zap me a note.  We will have excess corn this week for sure, and hopefully, for a few more weeks in the future. 

See you this week,

Laura