Category Archives: hail

In the Share – Week 7

cabbage, hail, potatoes, rain, sweet potatoes

NEW POTATOES F/P  They are tender and young and should be consumed promptly.  Refrigerate to keep them longer.

SUMMER SQUASH F  Just one for each share, mostly zucchini with some Lebanese (light green) and a very few yellow squash.

LETTUCE F/P  May be it for lettuce for awhile.  It has some hail damage yet again.

GREEN RED ONIONS  F/P  They are beginning to make bulbs but still have their green tops.

CHARD OR KALE F  Our hardy greens are growing some nice leaves.
 
CARROTS F/P  The first carrots, small and tender with tops.  To keep them longer, remove the tops.

CABBAGE F  They got knocked around by the hailstorm, but they are still tasty.  See below for more on the Spring 2015 cabbage crop.
 
NEXT WEEK:  Carrots, beets, squash and garlic. 

FARM REPORT:
A beautiful two days of sunshine and heat made us hope that the dreary weather was in retreat.  The rain thought differently and on Sunday we got another 3.6 inches and some more hail.

 
rainfall totals with the farm the star.

This dramatically wet season is taking it’s toll.  A good example would be our Spring cabbage patch.  This winter we decided to grow more cabbage for our fledgling business in kraut and kimchi-making:  a thousand in addition to the several hundred that we grow every Spring for the CSA.  In April and early May they couldn’t have looked better, but the last month of their life was very soggy.  Here’s a psychedelic view of our “supposed to be green” cabbages.

None of these were harvestable, but on the higher ground the plants were green and we got about half of what we planted.  Lucky for us, in a way, we planted way more cabbages than we could have possibly dealt with and so despite the loss, the farm is still flush with cabbage.  I know you all are longing for the sexy vegetables of Summer, but until we get some sunshine and drier weather, cabbage it is.

 Most of our crops do not look like those scary pink cabbages, but they face serious challenges of anaerobic soil – no air equals suffocation of the plants’ roots, lack of sunlight, and competition from weeds.  When it is too wet to use the tractor or even hoes to control weeds, we are left with pulling them by hand.  With all the other work to do on the farm, there just plain isn’t time to get them all. 

sweet potato hills on the highest ground on the farm.

While I could grouse about the weather all day long, I must also mention that we have been cheered by the words of support and encouragement we have received from many of you. 

CSA members removing the pea fences.

Thank you for joining us on this rollercoaster of local eating.  We hope to come out the other end of the season with new strategies for adapting to extreme weather and to the changing climate.

In the Share – Week 5

hail, peas, rain
hail-pummeled peas

PEAS F/P  Beaten by hail and flooded, the pea harvest is pretty dismal. 

NAPA CABBAGE F/P  aka Chinese cabbage.  Let the fermenting begin!

BROCCOLI F/P  Another week of these tasty guys.

KOHLRABI F  The rain has made them especially juicy.

BEETS OR TURNIPS F/P  We will have more of both next week. 

GAI  LAN OR BROCCOLI SIDESHOOTS F

PARSLEY OR GARLIC SCAPES F

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, beets or turnips, kohlrabi, and cabbage.

FARM REPORT:
Last Thursday morning I decided to visit my brother Shawn and his family who live in Kearney.  It was raining so it seemed like a good time to get off of the farm and run some errands.  While I was gone we had a doozie of a hailstorm and a massive amount of rain.  For ten minutes Tom watched as the farm was pelted with balls of ice of varying sizes. 

So much rain fell in so short a period of time that I had to re-route around two impassable roadways to reach the farm.  When it finally stopped raining Friday morning 10.85 inches of rain had fallen in 48 hours.  Add that to the rain that has been non-stop for the last month and we have had 23 inches of rain in the last 30 days. 

water streaming through the barnyard

Needless to say, the plants on the farm have been affected by the soggy conditions and by the hailstorm.  The strawberry patch that was ready to fill pints for the shares this week is done for the season.  The berries looked like they had been beaten up by a small-fisted fairy.  This week’s lettuces were shredded.  The kale and chard leaves were full of holes, so on Saturday the CSA workers and the farm crew stripped the plants down to the younger good leaves.  The young tomato plants lost limbs, flowers and fruit to the hail.  The peppers and eggplant were almost washed away.  We spent part of the last two afternoons covering them in a thick layer of compost and hay mulch with the hopes that they will recover. 

Please expect lighter shares for the next few weeks at least.  The spring crops are coming to an abrupt end and the summer crops are not nearly ready for harvest.  We appreciate everyone’s understanding of our situation and feel so fortunate to have a community supporting us through the good and the bad weather.  There is still time to plant more summer crops which we have been doing any chance we get.  There is also the fall season still to go.  We are optimistic that we can provide a bounty of crops to you, our dear supporters.  Just let the sun shine! 

In the Share – Week 2

hail, radish, spinach, wash area

RADISHES F/P  Red and crisp.  My favorite way to eat radishes is lightly cooked in a stir-fry.

HAKUREI TURNIPS F/P  The “eat ’em like an apple” turnips are especially big and juicy now.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F/P  Lovely and delicious

STRAWBERRIES F/P  We are hoping we can pick enough berries tomorrow AM (rain permitting!) to get all the Wednesday folks a pint or thereabouts.  By Saturday and next week we should have plenty!

FORELLENSCHLUSS ROMAINE F  They are supposed to be charmingly splotchy.

GREEN GARLIC F/P  Use like green onions.  See Tom for some thoughts.

ASIAN GREENS F/P  Bok choy and tat soi

KALE OR CHARD F  See Tom’s post for a kale salad recipe.

BROCCOLI & GAI LAN P  Gai lan is broccoli’s smaller, but tender cousin.  There is a bit of both in each bunch this week.  We hope to have enough for all by next week. 

HERBS F tarragon, garlic chives or arugula

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuces, greens, turnips, broccoli and strawberries.

FARM REPORT:

The farm received 4 inches of rain Saturday night along with lots of wind and some small hail.  Water from our rolling hills flows into Clear Creek and the Fishing River before making its way to the Missouri.  Both Clear Creek and Fishing River overflowed their banks sending out first reponders in boats to rescue some folks.  Here on higher ground we saw some damage from the hail.  You may notice that the tender greens have been roughed up a bit.  The spinach suffered the worst of it.

It has rained every Saturday morning of the CSA season so far and it looks like this Saturday will be no exception.  We share our muck boots with whoever shows up and we keep busy bringing in the harvest.  Greens coming in from the fields need a good rinse before being packed and its a good job for the whole family.  

tat soi rinse