Boulder Belt Eco-Farm

Welcome to week 11 of the farm share initiative. Like pretty much every week for the past month it's been a wet one and this is not good. While I don't think we will lose enough crops to impact the FSI know that at this point our soils are way too wet and many things are not longer thriving like the melons we planted 3 weeks ago. They were planted direct from seed (which usually works so much better than starting seedlings indoors and transplanting those into the garden) but either the seeds have gotten waterlogged and rotted or the seeds germinate and the seedling gets too wet and starts to die. The garlic we are getting out 2 to 3 weeks early and it is rotting in the soil because it is so waterlogged. We are losing around 10% at this point but every day it stays in the soil means more loss. The good news is we increased what we planted last fall by 33% so we should end up, even in the worse case scenario, with at least 1500 garlic coms to sell, eat and replant (1/3 of our total harvest is replanted in October/November). the shallots seem to be a complete loss. The carrots are not in great shape. We have not yet investigated the potatoes but I do not expect great news.  Wet weather and root crops do not go together at all. This is all very worrying and stressful for us farmers and there is nothing we can do about this. There is no way to divert or stop up to to 2" of rain a day (Ideally we get 1" per WEEK). We keep telling ourselves it could be a lot worse. I have virtual farm friends in the Midwest who are dealing with even more rain plus 70 mph winds daily and baseball sized hail. They are not just losing crops but barns, hoop houses and the houses they live in. And we have not had any tornado activity. So, yeah, it could be far, far worse but this is when farming is not fun at all.

Not everything is bummed about the wet conditions. The tomatoes are growing like weeds, the raspberries (red and black) and strawberries love this weather are producing large, high quality berries. The onions, unlike the garlic seem to be doing okay (at least the beds that have had the weeds whacked backed), Basil loves lots of water as does eggplant (which is already flowering!). The early melons, cucumbers and zucchini are very very happy (I suspect because they were already big by the time the rainy season started). So we take the bad with the good. It looks like there will be plenty to harvest and eat for the rest of the season but it won't be exactly as planned (but than again it never is).

We have a farm tour planned for Tuesday July 13th with the Preble Green Citizens (or something like that) You are invited to join us as we tour the market garden (which has changed dramatically since anyone in the FSI has  last looked at it. The market garden tends to transform itself about every 2 to 3 weeks this time of year) and talk about how we grow food for the locavores in the area. I especially encourage our Eaton members to join us as you will meet other like minded and local souls (and believe me we greenies are few and far between in PC, though that seems to be changing). This will  not include a pot luck dinner as this is not one of our occasional FSI members farm tour/pot luck dinners.

Hey, I know some of you are Facebook members and are Fans/Friends of Boulder Belt Eco-Farm. Please take a look, if you have not already, at the FSI share pictures I post each and every week. There are a couple of reason;1) I tag all the items so if you are unsure as to what is in your share this will guide you and two I think it is becoming a great progression. It was week 2 that I committed to getting a shot a week of the shares and now I am getting into the art of posing produce, getting good angles and putting out as high quality pictures as I can muster. I have to say I am improving drastically as we go through the season-food is very hard to photograph BTW. I am glad I came up with this creative project and I am doing this for you FSI members. here is the URL http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=174404&id=368403976315

Your shares will be ready after 4pm. Please return any and all packaging you get from us-bags, rubber bands, plastic sheets covering berry boxes, etc.. We do not want other people's packaging just ours. We also will take clean used plastic and paper grocery bags. The more of this stuff we reuse the less petroleum that needs to be drilled to make more virgin plastic.

This Week's Recipe

Squash Lyonnaise

2 or 3 medium zucchini sliced into 1/2" slices
1 medium onion sliced
Salt
Oil or butter

In a large saute pan over medium heat add the fat than everything else and cook covered for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the squash is soft and fragrant the dish is done. This is one of my all time favorite dishes, I could eat it daily. I learned to cook it when I worked for DiPaolo's restaurant in Oxford back in the early 1990's

What's in the Share

Red Raspberries-I had hoped to include these last week but by  last Wednesday we did not have enough for everyone (6 shares to fill and 4 boxes harvested). What a difference a week makes. You get 2 1/2 pint boxes in your share this week.
Wild Black Raspberries-I don't believe we have ever had enough of these to include in a FSI share but this is one of those things that really likes the weather conditions and so you get a 1/2 pint in your share
Zucchini-2 pounds of zephyr and sunburst patty pan squashes
Snow peas-1 pound. These are ugly but very sweet. I find the uglier and fatter they are the better they are.
Sugar snap peas-1/2 pound
Kale-1/2 pound of rainbow kale
Onions-2 red onions
Garlic-2 corms of Persian Star
Basil-more than last week, probably around 1/4 pound. More than enough to make a nice pesto
Tarragon
Cucumbers-3 tasty cukes
Broccoli- 2 pounds. I discovered 2 beds of broccoli ready to harvest and so I cut about 35 to 40 pounds of heads and put 'em in the fridge last night. This will likely be the last broccoli you will see so enjoy

Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
Eaton, OH
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com

It's week 10 of the FSI (in case you wonder why we are an FSI and NOT a CSA. This is because around here CSA stands for Confederate States of America, not Community Supported Agriculture).

It's been wet, too wet. Yes farms can and do get too much rain. We are getting, on average, 1/2 inch a day is way too much, ideally we get 1 inch a week. So what is too much rain doing to the farm? We have are beds with standing water, weeds that are growing huge and cannot be hoed out because the ground is way too wet. Nor can they be easily pulled without taking too much soil with them and they don't die after being pulled, even if we remove them and put them in a compost pile. We have crops dying because the water will not drain and the roots are rotting. It's not good. The good news is not all is lost, by any means. Despite the wet conditions, we still have a lot of food growing that is still growing well. Things like squashes and melons love all this water, it causes them to grow quickly. The onions also seem to love these conditions. As do eggplant. I know tomatoes and peppers do not like such wetness but so far they seem to be doing well and if it dries up as is predicted, they will do okay.

And being so wet means there are a lot of things we cannot do like mow the tall grass around the beds, work the soil, do anything other than plant seed by hand (not an issue if you are planting say, 10 seeds. but a big issue when you are planting hundreds or thousands of  seeds.) The good news here is we were able to get everything we wanted in the ground by now except the popcorn and we still have another couple of weeks before it gets too late for that. And, as I mentioned, even hand pulling of weeds is an issue (but won't be if we can get just 36 hours with no rain and a bit of sun). So we have been getting frustrated at not being able to do much more than harvest what is ready to come in and tie tomato plants. But that is farming, you are at the mercy of the weather and there is not much you can do about it except wait for it to change.

Now for some better farm news. the raspberries are beginning to come in. I doubt I will have enough for this week but by next week you certainly will be getting some in your share. the tiller was fixed for under $5. The problem was either a very old and dirty air filter or bad gas in the engine (or both). Eugene dealt with both and now the machine works again.

It is mid month and there are several of you who are not full season members from whom I need to know by this week if you will be continuing into July.

The shares will be ready after 4pm this afternoon

Recipe

Salad Nicoise with cucumber
I made this for lunch using up leftover green beans

1/2 pound cook green beans, chilled
1 cucumber sliced
1 small to medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
feta cheese crumbled
basil and parsley leaves
A nice vinaigrette

In a salad bowl mix everything together, add the dressing and toss. this is best if it can sit an hour or two in the fridge but is also very very good eaten ASAP. takes about 4 minutes to prepare

What's in the Share

Zucchini-around 3 pounds of a mix of zephyr (long yellow and green), sunburst patty pan (round and yellow) and a Costata Romanesque (long green striped). this zucchini has been sublime, the best we have grown in years
Cucumbers-you will get at least 2 armenian cucumbers.
Black Valentine beans-around a pound of beans.
Sugar Snap peas-you will get a pound. These are better than last week
Shelling Peas-you will get around 1/2 pound. The classic peas that you take out of the pod. lots of work but well worth it.
Snow peas-the first of the snow peas for the year. You will get 1/2 pound
Basil-the basil is finally doing well and thus you will get a fairly big bag. it is dirty and it does not do well in storage if washed (it tends to turn black and slimy) so I leave the washing to you. Wash and dry well right before using.
Parsley-a nice big bunch of Italian parsley. like the basil this will need to be washed before use
Beets-a bunch of  beautiful red beets with greens (which are edible and tasty, prepare like spinach)
Kale-you get 1/2 pound of either White Russian or rainbow kale
Garlic scapes-1/2 pound bag of scapes
Garlic-2 cloves of freshly dug garlic. This is used the same as cured garlic but it will appear that there are not skins on the cloves. There are but they are white not the purple or tan they will become later on if allowed to dry. If you leave a corm on the counter for 5+ days the skins will begin to get color. Fresh garlic is the best garlic of all and something you will never find at a store and it's around for just a few short weeks at farmers markets and CSA's