- Green onions
- Fresh onions
- Kohlrabi or rainbow carrots
- Lettuce
- Parsley or Basil
- Chard, kale or collards
- Broccoli (see recipes below)
- Cabbage (tons of delicious recipes below)
- Zucchini
- Cucumbers (finally they are here, slow trickle but get ready!)
- Potatoes
- Sugar snap peas – the last of the season
Some of you will be happy to know that this is the very last of our sugar snap peas. We had a bumper crop this year and now the vines are browning and it is time to pull them out and replace those beds with fall crops like radicchio. The major planting is done but we turn over bed by bed, cabbages come back out, rutabagas go in and so on. The cycle of a year round farmer never ends but the emphasis on seeding and transplanting shifts to weeding and harvesting.
The flowers continue to burst onto the scene with all of the carefully planted sunflowers blooming right around the same time. Fortunately I have so many varieties that some take longer to mature than others so there is always something new in the garden. I am in a battle to harvest the wheat before the white crowned sparrows eat the kernels from above and the ground squirrels get the kernels from below. Although we have four working dogs on the farm none of them are good enough to control the ground squirrel population.
We are happy to report that the tomato vines are full of beautiful green tomatoes. We anticipate having tomatoes for all by the end of the month. That being said, those of you who know our farm will understand that in order to harvest the quantity of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and zucchini and cucumbers that we will have in the upcoming weeks we need your help. Please continue to sign up to help bring in the harvest, Luna, Juvencio and I cannot do it all by ourselves.
Janet Gil is offering her lavender wand making session again this year. We are anticipating this event anxiously and it will take place next Sunday, July 17 in the orchard. There will be two sessions, one at 3 o’clock and one at 3:45. Please come prepared to have some fun and go home with at least one lavender wand too.. We will be socially distanced outdoors please do bring a mask in case you need to get close. The newest variant of Covid is extremely contagious being vaccinated and being outdoors decreases your chances of getting it and yet we want to keep everyone safe. There will be no sign up just show up.
There has been a request for alternative activities to do together around the farm. Harvesting is the easiest activity to get people involved. We anticipate a bumper crop of alliums this year. Those are onions and shallots. I will send out an email when the grand harvest will take place and you can join in if you want. Onion harvesting is usually quite fun and easy and there are several different tasks from pulling the onions from the ground to bunching them to hauling them out of the field and hanging them in the barn. We anticipate this massive effort sometime in August..
We are planning for an amazing winter season and sign ups will go out at the beginning of August. We have only 50 slots for the winter harvest which will include 12 harvests over the course of five months. It tends to be three harvests in November and then 2 harvests during the months of December, January and February and three harvests in March. We can’t wait to share the winter bounty with you so make sure you let your intentions be known if you want to participate in the winter season. We harvest only once a week during the winter on Sundays. There is a Portland drop site available.
Juvencio spent over $1000 on chicken feed last week. Despite feeding them garden scraps, scraps from “Higher Taste” Vegan prepared food waste and a healthy dose of weeds they eat grain. We are raising the price of eggs to $7 for the remainder of the season. We have tons of eggs this week and so many flowers. It is always great to order ahead so we can set aside for you. You can add on delicious local mushrooms as well by going to our partner’s website Cloud cap mushrooms. You deal with them directly (payment and email connection) and they drop the mushrooms here for you to pick up with your veggie share.Here is the link for our farm: https://cloudcapmushrooms.com/la-finquita-del-buho
As our country continues to spiral, please remember to stay engaged in what you care about and make your voices heard.
Some recipes to enjoy this week:
Kolokithopita—Zucchini Pie
Serves 8-12
Ingredients:
1/2 c EVOO
2 lbs large zucchini, trimmed and shredded
2 large onions, finely chopped
2/3 c crumbled feta
1/2 c short grained rice or bulgur
1 c fresh mint, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt, pepper
14 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed
1/2 c melted butter (or EVOO)
In large skillet, heat 2 Tbs EVOO and add zucchini (in small batches if necessary). Cook over medium heat until soft and until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove and plae in large bowl. In the same skillet, heat 2 Tbs EVOO and saute onions until translucent. Add to bowl with the zucchini. Add feta, rice, herbs, eggs, remaining oil, salt and pepper to taste. Toss well to combine.
Layer fillo in buttered large rectangular baking pan. Brush sheet with butter and layer on another; repeat for 8 sheets. Spread filling over and top with remaining phyllo and butter in the same fashion. Score the pie with a sharp knife into square or diamond shapes, and bake for 45-50 minutes in an oven preheated to 350. Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving.
Broccoli Salad with Garlic and Sesame
1 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
2 heads broccoli, 1 lb each, cut into pie-sized pieces
4 large garlic cloves, minced
3/4 c. EVOO
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
large pinch red pepper flakes
In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar and salt, add the broccoli and toss to mix well. Set aside
In a large skillet, heat EVOO until hot, but not smoking. Add garlic and cumin and cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Stir in sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Pour mixture
over broccoli and toss well. Let sit for at least an hour at room temp, then keep in the fridge. Keeps well—we can eat it all week! Toss in chunks of tofu or some shredded chicken if you want to make it into a meal.
Eat your cabbage and broccoli
https://www.eatwell.com/thisweeksbox/2018/12/6/fried-broccoli-and-kale-with-garlic-cumin-and-lime
This is one of our favorite cabbage recipes and can be eaten every week!:
Cabbage recipe
Zucchini Souffle – uses zucchini and our delicious eggs:
http://nycsliceofrice.blogspot.com/2011/03/zucchini-souffle.html
Zucchini butter spaghetti: https://smittenkitchen.com/2021/06/zucchini-butter-spaghetti/
Zucchini quesadillas:
If you still have beets and beet greens or try it with chard: Sue says the beet green pesto was to die for!