Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

This week, we'll have more small white onions (getting bigger every week), field grown lettuce, the end of the radishes, the last garlic scapes, another stir fry kit, kale and collards, kohlrabi, arugula, and a little bit of broccoli.

Most years, the spring vegetables would be finished up by now.  They generally don't do well in heat because they tend to bolt, become tough, or develop more hot flavors.  All that was delayed this spring because it was so cold for so long, but it's happening now.  Expect the lettuce, radishes, stir fry vegetables, arugula, and maybe even the lettuce to be more mature.   I haven't tried the radishes we'll pull this week, but I'll bet they are pretty hot.  Cooking generally reduces the hot taste, so try sauteing the radishes, or using them for a little zip in a mixed salad.  The stir fry vegetables will be different than the ones we had last week (they've already passed their prime), mostly leaves again, excellent when stir fried with a little meat or tofu and dressed with soy sauce.  The arugula is hot enough to pop your eyes out.  Small bits of it can be good in a salad, or you arugula crazies can eat it straight.  We'll have all the spring vegetables again in the fall.  They'll be completely different then - sweet and mild.  Since the days are getting cooler in the fall, these kinds of vegetables just keep getting better and better until they finally freeze beyond recovery. 

I noticed that some people slipped out without their kohlrabi last week.  Shame!  It's a GREAT vegetable, and absolutely at the perfect stage of growth right now.  And all ready at the same time.   The thousands of kohlrabies that we planted over a 4-week period in the hoophouse so we could have them for 4 weeks from the garden - they're all ready to harvest now - so enjoy them.  Peel them and eat them raw, dipped in something like hummus, lightly sauteed with the stir fry vegetables, grated into a lettuce salad, or dressed with a little sugar and vinegar to make a fresh, crunchy salad.  They taste a little like mild cabbage.

Next week, I'll bet we'll have the first cabbages, plus broccoli, I think.

You'll notice holes in the leaves of some leafy vegetables, especially the kale, collards, and cabbages.  Those are the evidence of hail storms earlier in the spring.  Look terrible, taste fine.

We had some wonderful help last week from a group from Iowa City called "Summer of Solutions".  Ten people came on Friday and helped us with weeding lots of things that got away from us last week, and also with setting out a few hundred zucchini plants that weren't going to survive the hoophouse another minute.  They were great workers, very interesting and thoughtful young people, and really did us a HUGE favor.  Thanks.

Yesterday was another perfect summer day in Iowa, wonderfully bright and cool and not too humid.   We were able to get most of the winter squash planted over the weekend (finally!!!) and to get some fields nearly completely prepared so we can plant some watermelons and the last 150 tomato plants this week when it dries out a little.  It's very late to be doing these crops, but we just couldn't get fields ready most of the month of June because they never really dried out enough to handle the tillage equipment.  One of the worst things you can do to soil is to work it or drive on it or walk on it when it is full of water.  It squishes all the air out of the soil and compacts it so that it may not recover for the whole growing season, sometimes for several years.  Planting crops in a wet season is a balancing act between getting the seeds out there and treating the soil with respect and care.  We're looking forward to a dry week when we can get the rest of the planting and a big chunk of weeding accomplished.

I've posted a photo at the website of me at the Temple Hill church in rural Jones County so you can see a beautiful old country church.  I went there yesterday evening for a church picnic and fair.   When I got there, they had 10 roasters going!  They roasted 92 fresh hams and must have served hundreds of people.  It was great fun, a good way to enjoy a lovely summer afternoon. 

Monday people, we will have regular veggie pickup on July 4th,  regular times (4:30 until 7:00).  Everybody, remember the garden walk-around and movie night on Wed, July 6.  More details later.

See you this week,

Laura