Category Archives: peas

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 Extended Season

butterhead lettuce, peas, rain, sugar snap peas, workshop
BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE  the first of hopefully many more.

RED LEAF OR ROMAINE LETTUCE ditto

RADISHES AND TURNIPS  the first round of pulling these, next week they’ll be bigger.

CARROTS  From our patch that we overwintered growing in the high tunnel.

PEA SHOOTS  Its the first time we have ever grown these.  There is just a small bundle for each share.  Let us know what you think.  See Tom’s post for more info.

BOK CHOY  See Tom’s post for tips on stir-fry

ASPARAGUS OR SPINACH  Sorry to say, the asparagus patch is still not giving us much to work with.  We are hoping for an improvement soon, but in the meantime there is some luscious spinach from the fields and high tunnel.

ARUGULA, KALE OR SWISS CHARD  Eat your greens!

HERBS  Cilantro & dill

GREEN GARLIC  Like a green onion, a green garlic is the whole plant pulled when young. 

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, greens, radishes and turnips, green onions, herbs and asparagus.

FARM REPORT:
All of the Spring crops are in the ground and are off to a good start.  Tending to them is our focus this week before we things get busy with the planting of the summer crops. 

The onions we started in the greenhouse back in January have been in the ground for over a month now. 

You can see the organic matter leftover from last summer’s cover crop of sorghum sudan grass and sunhemp still visible on the surface.  Farmers like to call this residue “trash”, as in “the trash gummed up the equipment”.  I can be known to complain about it when I plant the first carrots of the season, however, the plants that feed us do very well thanks to the nutrients that our cover crops provide.  This year’s soil test shows a dramatic increase in the organic matter in our soil which is now between 4 and 5 %, up from 2-3 a few years back.  Doesn’t sound like a lot, but a doubling of organic matter is significant.  Some prairie soils are up around 7%.

The first CSA workers came out last week and joined us in our work.  The harvest goes quick with just 20-30 shares per morning, and we had lots of time for other tasks.  The sugarsnap peas got mulched and fenced in between rain showers on Saturday.

Others made row cover pins in the new workshop. 

 
Tom and I feel incredibly fortunate to have the support from our community.  Our family farm benefits from everyone’s participation in our work.  We hope that our members look forward to their farm shifts as much as we do.  Thank you!


In the Share – Week Four

broccoli, peas, strawberries
Broccoli side-shoots

SUGARSNAP PEAS (F/P) These are edible-podded peas. Just snap the top, pull any strings that may come with it and pop it in your mouth.

KOHLRABI (F/P) Introducing the kohlrabi – We have enough for everyone to get one. More are on their way.   Peel it well and eat raw or cook lightly.

LETTUCE (F2/P1) Too much lettuce in your fridge? Check Tom’s recipe for wilted lettuce salad. 

STRAWBERRIES (F/P) A quart for all. What a great crop this year! We are glad so many of you came out for u-pick and ordered bulk. Who can say n”No” to a fresh, local, no-spray strawberry? Non-organic berries, as a picker on Saturday said, are “chemical sponges”.

GARLIC SCAPES (F/P) The hardneck garlic’s flower stalk. Very edible and tasty. Great with the creamy garlic dressing we make at the farm with our fresh eggs. A different version than last week’s yogurt-based recipe, Tom’s got a link this week.

BROCCOLI (P) We are happy to get the partial shares their “fair share” of broccoli. It has been a disappointing harvest and this is the last of it.  Luckily the plants made one last dash and made lots of side-shoots after the main head was picked.

HERB CHOICE (F) Rosemary, taragon, garlic chives or a dried herb

SPRING ONIONS (F)  A bit of a bulb on these, but still with fresh tops.

KALE OR CHARD (F) The greens love all of this moisture. Expect more in the weeks to come.

NEXT WEEK: More peas, lettuce, strawberries and kohlrabi. Cabbage and spring turnips.

FARM REPORT: The fields were filled this past weekend thanks to an amazing strawberry harvest. The weather was perfectly pleasant and lots of you came out with family and friends in tow.

u-pickers

As the berry harvest winds down, our CSA harvest mornings will be given over to the pea patch, which is looking great. Peas have a short season here in the southern Midwest, but our healthy plants this year remind me of our beginnings back at Peacework Organic Farm in Newark, New York. Tom and I met in the spring on the farm.  Western New York has beautiful farmland, well-drained soil and good people.  Congrats to all the farmers there and the Genessee Valley CSA – 25 years and still going strong: www.gvocsa.org  .

pea patch

In the Share – Week 4

peas

sugar snap peas

LETTUCE (F2/P1)  The green Romaines have grown big and beautiful this week.  Everyone gets one plus another type for the full shares.  Time for some Caesar salad!
BROCCOLI (F/P) We have big bunches of broccoli this week.  Inspect the heads for any green caterpillars we might have missed by either soaking in salt water or just keeping an eye peeled as you chop them up.
SUGAR SNAP PEAS (F/P)  Enjoy the peas while they last because they won’t last long!  We think we hit a record harvest on Saturday with 140 lbs. of peas picked.
SNOW PEAS (F)  We grow a bigger variety than what you see in the store.  We like them because they get sweeter as the peas fill out the pods.
SCALLIONS (F/P)  Green onions go in every springtime dish and we have started to grow more of these little guys. 
KOHLRABI (F/P)  Like an alien spaceship that has landed on the earth, these bulbs grow right above the ground. See Tom’s post for more on this spring treat.
GREENS CHOICE (F/P) We have an assortment of greens in the field to pick.  We plan to include baby bok choy, kale, and/or tat soi.
HERB CHOICE (F)  Cilantro, dill, parsley or mint
ALSO THIS WEEK:  Parker Farms shares
NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, peas, broccoli and kohlrabi.  More Hakurei turnips and the first of the summer squash and baby beets.
FARM REPORT
Our dear friend, Bill McKelvey, made his annual springtime visit to the farm last weekend.  We met Bill while we were selling our produce at what is now the Westport Farmers Market.  Bill is a talented home gardener, a professional working to expand access to fresh produce in underserved communities and a skilled photographer.  His visit coincided with a marathon of pea picking on Saturday morning.  In this post all photos are his.  Here’s just a few of his great shots….
I love the tunnel of peas with high tunnel in background.
Bill caught great portraits of some of my favorite people.
FSF apprentice and newlywed, Dani Hurst and …

FSF apprentice, Ryan Stubby, and …

 my favorite farmer, Tom Ruggieri.

In the Share – Week 3

onions, peas, weeding
peas ready for picking

LETTUCE (F2/P1) This week we are picking some lovely romaine lettuces along with more beautiful butterheads, from the French this time, Pirat.

STRAWBERRIES (F/P) The berries are a lot smaller and less plentiful this week so everyone is getting pints instead of quarts.

GARLIC SCAPES (F/P) If you are new to garlic scapes, they are the most tender part of the garlic plant. Chop up and add to any dish, cooked or raw, for a delicate garlic flavor.

NAPA CABBAGE (F) The farm crew was super excited to harvest this big babies today as we haven’t had much luck with the Napa cabbage (alias Chinese cabbage) for a few years. Read Tom’s post for a killer salad that uses almost everything from your share this week.

PEAS (F/P) Tomorrow morning we will pick the patch for the first time. Looks like there’s a lot of peas out there, both sugarsnap and snow varieties.

BROCCOLI (F) The broccoli is small this spring due to the hot, dry weather but we have enough that we should have some for a few weeks. Partial shares get broccoli next week. 

HAKUREI TURNIPS (F/P) More juicy turnip goodness this week.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) Cilantro, dill or radishes (radishes really aren’t an herb but they do add spice!)

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, peas, turnips and radishes.  Onions, kohlrabi and broccoli.

FARM REPORT

Oh my, it is dry. We haven’t had rain since the beginning of the month when we had the hail storm. Since then unseasonably hot, dry weather has wicked away the moisture. The farm’s soil is dusty and cracked, a typical sight in July, not May. We spend whatever time we can spare putting out irrigation lines on crops that we hardly ever irrigate. Usually the spring rains give the onions, potatoes, peas and lettuces all the drink they need. Not this year. So, out we walk our miles of drip line. Luckily the pond is full and the sun shines powering our pump for free. The problem is that all this extra time spent on irrigation is less time spent on other tasks. So far we seem to be not too far off schedule, but the list is long of crops to still be planted, weeded, mulched, etc.

onion weeding mob

On Saturday morning after the harvest was complete we found ourselves with an extra hour with the membership. Not to let an opportunity like that to pass us by we gathered at the onion patch and proceeded to pull weeds. Thanks to the nimble fingers of many the onions are in tip-top shape. After filling vehicles with produce destined for the Liberty distribution and wishing everyone a fond farewell, Tom, Ryan and I managed to get the first line of trellising on all of the tomatoes. Just in the nick of time too what with the strong winds threatening to topple the quick-growing plants. Afterwards, we cleaned ourselves up as best we could and headed to Lawrence, KS, where we attended the wedding of farm apprentice, Dani Hurst and her groom, Derek Brown. It was a heartfelt ceremony with beautiful weather, good food and lots of DIY decorations gleaned from the farm. We were honored to be invited to share in their happy day and wish them all the best in their future together.