Week 9: Waiting for the Sun to Do Its Good Work
/
This will be the last week for shelling peas so get them while they are still here!
Good Morning Foggy Morning!
I trust you all had a good holiday weekend and your sun burns are recovering in this strange break from the the heat. Rumor has it that July 10th is the day that monsoon season hits Colorado and this year is supposed to be even more wet than most. Judging from the current weather we have been having, I would wager that the season came a little bit early this year. Ahh, the best laid plans in farming can really be derailed by the weather and of late we have found the need to change our work plans rapidly. This week's blue prints for the garlic harvesting and fall field prepping have been tossed out the window, replaced with bulk beet harvesting for wholesale accounts, greenhouse rearranging, and schlepping through the mud for just about all tasks.
Depending on the spring that we get, July can be full of food or a bit of a vegetable purgatory at the market stand. With the late, wet spring this year it looks like it will be one of those waiting years for us on the Front Range, with spring treats gone and summer fruits to come, we will have to be patient for the sun to do its good work.
Photo by Claire Burnett
This will be the last week for shelling peas so get them while they are here. They can easily be shelled and placed on a cookie sheet in your freezer in order to preserve them for a sweet winter treat. Just be sure to transfer them to a plastic bag for long term freezer storage. We have one last chicory for you all to try before this lovely vegetable leaves us until late fall. Fiero is an upright radicchio that is a bit sweeter than its round cousins. Give it a try grilled or sauteed, you will shiver with happiness. GREEN garlic! Take some home with you and pretend that each head is one big clove of garlic. Use it like you would regular garlic as it will still be a while before our curred garlic arrives at the stand. Basil! And lots of it. If you are going to make pesto this year, start to think about it in the next few weeks. Garlic scapes or green garlic make great pesto and we will have some bulk basil at markets startingSaturday. We may or may not have bulk basil this fall, so start planning your freezer for the fall now!
See ya real soon,
Katie
This Week's Harvest
VEGGIES:
Kale
Collards
Chard
Head lettuce
Beets
Carrots
Cucumbers
Grilling Onions
Green Garlic
Salad Turnips
Kohlrabi
Shelling Peas
Basil
Radicchio
Zucchini
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Farmer's Tips:
Storage
Ah fresh basil. Adding it to just about anything makes life better but it is quite perishable and does not like to be below 40 degrees. I like to keep mine in the plastic bag, wrapped in a towel and placed in the door of my fridge. Making pesto is one great way to preserve this summer treat. It freezes extremely well and you can really get creative in the kitchen with what you have on hand. Don't have pine nuts? Use almonds or walnuts. Too much basil? try some kale or chard. Run out of Parmesan? We made some asiago pesto last year that was just as yummy as the traditional stuff. Frugal gourmet can sometimes yield the most surprising results!
