EverGreen Farm

CSA Newsletter, Week #15

In your share this week:

• Cucumbers
• Zucchini and/or Squash variety
• Carrots
• Scallions
• Dill
• Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
• Tomatoes
• 1 lb. bag of "ugly" German Garlic
• Snow Peas for Etna

Garlic continued...  Last week Shain and I decided to start clean next year by purchasing and planting new garlic seed to plant this fall.  It cost us a small fortune to buy 100 lbs. of German garlic from a certified grower in New York (his price was actually the most affordable we could find) but we felt it was the best choice for us.  That means all the garlic we salvaged from this year's harvest will be distributed to the CSA.  I will also be sorting out some of it to sell in an attempt to offset the purchase we just made.  We cleaned up the German garlic a few days ago and there was just enough to give all the CSA members a pound each.  I told you it didn't look good (I call it "ugly") but the taste is still there.  We'll start working on the Spanish Roja next.  There's quite a bit more of it and it doesn't look as bad.  I'm hopeful it will give better yields.

Temperatures have been below freezing on several occassions for us.  We are doing everything we can with heaters and row covers to get sensitive crops through these nights.  Things look good so far.

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies.

Tara

 

CSA Newsletter, Week #14

In your share this week:

• Cucumber
• Crooked Neck Summer Squash
• Scallions
• Carrots
• Italian Parsley
• Salad Mix
• Tomatoes
• Snow Peas (Sorry, still only getting a little off the vines.  These went to Smoot members this week.  Etna you are next.)

Tomatoes are here!  Yeah!  Here's to a great harvest of tomatoes this year!  Shain's doing his best to keep them warm during this cold streak we are having, again.  Doesn't it seem way to early to be already experiencing freezing temperatures? 

Garlic update:  our garlic has a virus- probably Yellow Dwarf Virus.  We've been experiencing some "bad garlic" years for maybe two or three years now and just figured it was due to the weather.  But it turns out what we have been calling our "bad/ugly garlic" is really the garlic cloves that are showing the virus symptoms.  While its reassuring for us to know the garlic hasn't grown poorly due to something we've been doing wrong, it's not good news to have a virus.  Shain is still researching our options.  None of them are easy or simple.  The easiest solution is to start over with new seed stock, but it is also the most expensive option.  It may be our only option.

It's interesting to know that researchers have determined all garlic carry a virus to some degree.  Some garlic show very few signs and will grow very well for years with no problems.  Stress from severe temperatures (heat or cold) and pests (like aphids) will weaken the plants to where the virus takes a stronger hold on the plants.  That's apparently where we are right now.  So called "infected" garlic is completely safe to eat and sell.  If planted, it will carry the virus on to the next crop and spread the disease to other areas of the farm.

On a personal note, this time of year is when things get crazy around the farm.  Farmer Shain has headed back to school, back to his role as Mr. Saberon, favorite English teacher at Star Valley Middle School.  Then to top it off, our oldest daughter Megan left this past weekend for college.  Yes!  College!  School starts next week too for our son.  That leaves me home to run the farm.  Me and the Workshares.  And a list of things I'm supposed to do every day so I won't forget.  Heaven help me!

Have a great week and ENJOY your tomatoes!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week #13

In your share this week:

• Romaine Salad Mix
• Shell Peas
• Freshly dug Garlic
• Shunkyo Radishes
• Dill
• Carrots
• Basil
• Cucumber
• Scallions

This is the kind of CSA share we are proud to provide you with.  So glad to be back to bountiful harvests!

Like many of you, we had a few cold nights here on the farm this past week.   With temperatures threatening to drop to freezing, we pulled out extra row covers to put over the sensitive crops.  Shain also had heaters going in the tomato greenhouses.  There were three consecutive nights of frost last week but we pulled through just fine.  By my calculations, we went 27 days frost-free this year (July 15th to August 11th).  Now that is an extreme growing season!

 

Let's talk Garlic.  We have two of our three garlic varieties dug up and will get the third finished this week.  There will be garlic to give to the CSA this year, but there will be very little extra for us to sell.  And it won't look as good as in years past either.  What happened?  Shain hasn't had a chance to thoroughly research the problem yet, but basically the plants never grew to their full potential (the greens up top or the bulbs underground) and the bulbs appear to have just rotted in the dirt.  Perhaps too much water?  We are trying not to be too disappointed.  Out of the many great garlic growing years this will be our first bad experience. 

Polish Jenn fared the wost with about a 90% overall loss.  This has only been an average garlic variety for us and we've considered not growing it several times.  Now there aren't enough good bulbs remaining to even bother replanting.  We will be looking for another hardy variety to replace it with.

German Extra Hardy was about 50% good, 50% bad.  This has always been our best garlic so it is a surprise to us that it did so poorly.  There is enough good German garlic left for us to plant this Fall and hope for better results next year.

Spanish Roja has yet to be harvested.  Shain says it looks the best overall and we are hopeful it gives good yields.  In years past, Roja has not done well so we are again surprised it out grew the German. 

On a happier subject, the tomatoes are close to ripening.  Last week we got about 2 pounds of ripe tomatoes out of greenhouse #4.  There are oodles of green tomatoes on the vine.  The smell in there is divine.  I am personally looking forward to making myself sick from eating too many tomatoes.

Have a great week and enjoy your veggies!

Tara

Locally Raised Beef Cattle for Sale

Our neighbors have 3 "organically raised" Coriente Cattle for sale. 

Details:

Contact:  Gary Davis (307) 886-1127

Grass Fed!

NO shots, hormones, growth concentrate, etc.

About 600 lbs. each

Ready in late September.

Cost is $400 per live head.

Buyer must make own arrangements to pick up animal from the Davis' ranch in Smoot. 

Buyer is also responsible for all slaughter and butchering costs.

CSA Newsletter, Week #12

In your share this week:

• Cucumber
• Shunkyo Radishes - they have quite a *kick* now!
• Shell Peas (the kind you pop open and eat the inner round peas)
• Dill
• Cilantro
• Swiss Chard
• Salad Mix
• Freshly dug Garlic
• Snow Peas (these peas are supposed to be picked long and flat and the entire pod is eaten raw or added to a salad or stir fry) (Sorry!  There was only enough for about half of the CSA this week, the rest of you will get some next time.)

The cucumber plants are really putting out their fruit this year.  They are thriving in greenhouse #4 where we planted them with all the tomatoes.  So, that's the trick and we will definitely keep this in mind for the future.  With this extra heat, they are growing a little too well, too fast, and getting too big for our farm's "picky" standards.  However, this is a variety that tastes sweet and delicious even when they get too big. 

One of the positive outcomes of this year's crazy weather is that the salad mix is still holding strong into August.  There are bugs (mostly caterpillars) in with the growing salad greens, but they aren't too bad yet.  I have to especially thank our diligent and attentive workers who wash salad with me every Monday morning.  Salad Mix is one of our most popular items so we will try very hard to have it for you as long as possible.

We started digging up the garlic this week.  As I stated before, it's not looking too good.  Shain says it's still too early to make any decisions, but I'm wondering how CSA members would feel about getting some "ugly" garlic this year.  It looks like we'll have a lot of garlic with bulbs that are off color or where a clove or two are "bad" but the rest of the bulb is good. 

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week #11

  This is Mama Duck and her ducklings, which are a few weeks old now.

They are living safely in the "Buck Barn" until they can survive on their own in the big outdoors.

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Kale
• Carrots, just a few
• Cucumbers
• Basil
• Dill
• Italian Parsley
• SHELL Peas  (the ones you open up and eat the peas inside, the outer shell is not usually eaten)

These are the last of our "inside" carrots which Shain planted several months ago in greenhouse #2.  (We plant one greenhouse each year with carrots and beets to sell at the farmers market which has proven a great strategy to make our farm stand very popular.)  It's gotten so hot that they are bolting and needed to be harvested ASAP.  There aren't many, but it will give you something to look forward to for when the "outside" carrots are ready to start harvesting, hopefully in 2 weeks.

Veggie ETA's: 

• Tomatoes, Zucchini, Carrots, Beets - 2 to 3 weeks
• Scallions - 1 week
• More Peas - 1 week
• Salad - still holding strong
• Greens - still good too
• Cucumbers - steady supply for a few weeks

The herbs are all growing very well, maybe even too well.  There are lots of herbs that need to be harvested for you over the next few weeks.  If this is more herbs than you know what to do with, remember they freeze very well (read about here) or can be dehydrated.  I am amazed at how fresh herbs can taste when frozen correctly.  We also like to use our herbs to make different pesto recipes.

Shain is trying a few different things for fall crops this year.  He already has parsnips planted (a first for us).  He will also be growing fall greens inside our greenhouses:  Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Romaine lettuce heads, and maybe Arugula.  There is just enough room to plant a little of all these in our greenhouses for a fall harvest.  It will be interesting to see how they grow with our crazy weather.

Have a great week and enjoy your veggies!

Tara

Names

Since I know you are all dieing to know what we ended up naming all our baby critters this year.

Please allow me to introduce you.

Here are our two new kittens.  They are doing very well and I've got the perfect place to house them (inside a chicken tractor, don't laugh, it's the perfect kitten condo) until they grow up a little and learn this farm is their home.

Left:  Jacob (darker fur than his brother, with a faux mohock stripe on his head)

Right:  Edward (lighter fur with brilliant blue eyes)

Yep.  My teenage, obsessed with "Twilight", daughter named them.

Shain and Eli refuse to call them by these names.  So they will also be know as Ed (or Eddie) and Jake.

The goat kids are also doing very well.  They have grown nice and big from drinking milk from both their mother and my second doe (which was not necessarily my plan).  They are now in the process of being weened. 

 

Left, red collar, female:  Pearl

She will stay here on the farm and eventually be our third milking doe.

Right, black collar, male:  David

He has been castrated (we don't need another buck around here) and will be a companion wether for our breeding buck.

Since I let Megan name the kittens, Eli gets to name the boy goat; and he keeps changing his name.  But for now I guess he's David.

So everyone who needs a name around here now has a name. 

Some animals don't get names because there are too many of them (chickens), can't tell them apart anyways (ducks), or are destined for the freezer (pigs and meat chickens).

Parts

Last Wednesday, July 28th, we received a 3000 lb. delivery of metal and plastic.

These are the parts to our newest and biggest greenhouse yet - 154 feet long x 28 feet wide!  It will be the size of greenhouse #1 & #2 put together end to end, plus a little more.

Shain and I had firmly decided we would not put up another greenhouse this year.  (It is so much work!)  But after experiencing so many frustrations due to the colder temperatures and weeks of rain this Spring, Shain decided it is the best way to go.

It can't be built yet, as there are rows and rows of carrots growing where it needs to go.  But the plan is to have the frame up by the end of Fall and the plastic in place as soon as the snow melts enough in 2011.

Now here's the crazy part, Shain wants to put up another one just like it first thing this coming Spring.  (Heaven help me.)

Here's to a better 2011 growing season!

CSA Newsletter, Week #10

In your share this week:

• Garlic Scapes, last of the season
• 1 bulb of freshly dug garlic
• Shunkyo Radishes
• Salad Mix
• Swiss Chard
• Cilantro
• Italian Parsley

Recipe Ideas:

The talk at the farmers market this past Saturday was using the garlic scapes to make a a pesto and use it for seasoning meat, similar to a meat rub or glaze.  The pesto can be made in large batches and frozen in small "servings" (ice cube trays work well).  We have several recipes on our blog here.

Also, garlic scapes will keep well in a loose (not sealed) plastic bag in your refrigerator crisper drawer.

With the cilantro and parsley this week, I highly suggest making cilantro pesto which our family makes in bulk and freezes to eat all winter.  It is great on meat or with tortilla chips.  We like this recipe.

Please take some time to search around the recipe section of this blog.  We've collected recipes over the years and hope it helps give you some ideas for using your share of produce.  We also welcome any recipes you would like to share.

 

Photo:  Greenhouse #5 and a 300 foot row of shell peas.

(The pieces of black plastic are covering one area on the farm where the thistle was beyond other control methods. The plastic is left in place for at least 3 weeks to kill this very stubborn and aggressive weed.)

News:

Two of our farm helpers weeded a row of squash and zucchini today.  Their report is that the plants are loaded with 100's of tiny baby fruit.  Well, we all know how fast squash and zucchini can grow, so it shouldn't be too long before they are ready to harvest.

Shain dug up some fresh garlic for you this week.  As you can see, it's still a little small so we will let it grow a little longer.  But the flavor is all there!  The garlic plants aren't looking as healthy as in years past (they've been frozen, hailed on, water logged, and overcrowded with weeds).  We just aren't sure how the harvest will be this year.  Shain is concerned and paying close attention to it nearly every day to determine just the right timing to stop watering the plants and begin the curing process. 

The peas are finally taking off.  I hope to have peas for you next week!

Shain thinks it won't be too long before the CSA carrots are ready to dig.

One good thing to come of the cool spring is a delay in some of the bug problems we experience on the farm.   This past week, however, we have noticed an increase in the bugs, especially caterpillars, grass hoppers and ear wigs.  When the salad mix gets infested with caterpillars, it takes longer to cut, sort and wash.  This week, it took one full day just to do the salad for the CSA and a few of our accounts.  Soon, we will have too much other produce that is ready to harvest to justify spending a one full harvest day processing the salad mix.  Then when the bugs aren't as bad, we will go back to harvesting salad.

Have a great week and Enjoy your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week #9

Shain borrowed my camera this past Sunday evening and took a few pictures of the farm. 

Greenhouse #4: several varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers (center row), and peppers (right of center).

Field #4:  rows and rows of Yukon Gold and Red Norland potatoes.

In your share this week:

• Garlic Scapes
• Yellow Carrots*, just a few
• Cilantro
• Salad Mix
• Kale

Your share is still a little on the small side this week.  We share your disappointment with the delay of our summer crops.  You can expect to see a gradual increase in produce over the next few weeks.  Several more crops are on the verge of being ready to harvest:  Italian parsley, Swiss chard, garlic, and snap peas.  Many more are planted and are also growing well.  We still have a few areas of the farm that are in desperate need of weeding so the plants will grow, but we are diligently working on this as well. 

For those of you who are not familiar with garlic scapes, they have a mild garlic flavor and are a fun gourmet treat that is only available a few weeks of the year.  I've written about them several times before on this blog, but basically they are the center of the hard neck garlic plant.  The scape (or stalk) stays tender and curly for just a short time (1 week usually) and then gradually "hardens off" (becomes more fibrous while straightening out) and developing a seed pod on the end.  Because we want all the plant's energy going towards developing the garlic bulb underground and not diverted towards "going to seed", the scapes are snapped off.  Enjoy the garlic scapes this one more week.  If we are lucky, there may be another batch next week. 

There are several garlic scape recipes on this website.  As a quick summary, garlic scapes can be chopped up into smaller pieces (similar to how you'd use scallions or green onions) and added to so many recipes:  eggrolls, omlets, hamburgers, stir fry, etc.  They can also be cut into larger 1 to 2 inch pieces and either sauteed or roasted until tender and enjoyed with a little salt and pepper as a side dish.  I've read about people roasting them whole on the grill, basting frequently with olive oil and seasonings.  Garlic scapes can also be made into a pesto or paste, which can be used on pasta, meat, crackers, or bread.  A small spoonful of garlic scape pesto could be added to nearly any recipe to add the nice garlic "umph".  Last, I've seen recipes for pickled garlic scapes which I really want to try someday.

*Shain did a trial planting (one row, in greenhouse #2) of a new variety of yellow carrots this spring.  Their description in the seed catalogs looked promising, but we probably won't grow them again.  One entire row (60+ feet) of carrots, and about 50 to 75% have already bolted before even our first harvest.  So we tore out the entire row, salvaged what we could for the CSA (everyone got about 5.5 oz of carrots) and will see if they do any better growing outside.  (FYI:  There are LOTS of our famous sweet orange carrots planted outside which are growing very well now that they are weeded.)

Have a great week and enjoy your veggies!

Tara