Category Archives: walla walla onions

In the Share: Week 13

onions, walla walla onions

SALSA PACK F  Summertime means salsa.

WALLA WALLA SWEET ONIONS F/P  Enjoy these sweet ladies sooner than later.  The sweet ones don’t store as the ones with more pungency.

TOMATOES F/P  Expect some less-than-perfect ones this week.  Good varieties of tomatoes have thinner skins than their grocery store counterparts.  Ours taste like tomatoes should, but the trade-off is they crack after a rain and gets spots in the humidity.

CARROTS F/P  Orange snackers we plan to pull first thing tomorrow morning.

PASTE TOMATOES F/P  These are the perfect tomatoes for a fresh pasta sauce.  See Tom’s post for more ideas.

HERB CHOICE F/P  Basil, summer savory or hot peppers.  We grow jalapenos, hot wax, and Anaheim types of hot peppers.

SUMMER SQUASH OR CUCUMBERS F  The new plantings are just starting to produce so there are more to come.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, salsa packs, potatoes and garlic.

FARM REPORT:
 The farm received two inches of rain on Monday after a three-week dry spell. It was a nice break from the heat.  We have a lot of plants and seeds in the ground for the fall shares and the rain was the perfect amount to water them in.  It doesn’t always happen in the summertime, but when it does it bodes well for the fall.

Before the rain got here we managed to pull all of the onions from the field.  We’ve been working on this task for several weeks as the Walla Wallas mature and then on to the reds and yellows.

But the harvest was speeded up to get them in before they got wet.  The old tobacco barn is full of onions and garlic hanging from the rafters and stacked high in every available crate on the farm.

Thanks to all the sweaty folks who helped us bring in the harvest!

In the Share: Week 10

peppers, SARE, walla walla onions

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  We love our Italian frying peppers.  When green they are sweet, never bitter.  Another few weeks of hot weather and they should start to ripen.

TOMATOES F/P  Everyone is getting around a pound this week of colorful heirlooms and red and gold hybrid varieties.

CUCUMBERS F/P  It is time for a cucumber salad!

WALLA WALLA ONIONS (F): These onions got as big as the ones from Washington State this year. A benchmark and sweet harvest.

SALSA PACK OR EGGPLANT F  If you are new to the CSA, the salsa pack is everything you need for fresh or roasted salsa.  See Tom’s post for the full recipe.

SUMMER SQUASH F  Zucchini or yellow squash.

PURPLE VIKING POTATOES F/P  The last of this purple variety

GARLIC F/P  more hardneck bulbs.

HERB CHOICE F/P  Basil, summer savory or cutting celery.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, eggplant and salsa packs.

FARM REPORT:

On Sunday, we had a great group of organic farmers visit us for our field day.

We always learn as much as we share at these types of events.  I’m showing off the electric tractor before I cultivate out some weeds.  If you want to learn more about our SARE project, check out our 2014 blog post:  2014 SARE post  In 2015 we were unable to complete the project due to the rainy weather.  We’ll post something once we have results for 2016.

Some liken what we do for a living to a marathon.  If so, then we have reached the half-way point of the race.  The summer harvest is underway, the weeds are growing, and the critical time for planting the fall crops has arrived.  Yesterday, after doing a double-take at the forecast, we realized a long list needed to be completed before the approaching rain.  The crew pulled the remainder of the Walla Walla onions out of the field and set them up in the barn for curing.  The crop looks great, with very few culls and lots of big bulbs.

In the afternoon and on into the evening, we seeded cover crops and carrots, beets, turnips and beans.  Sure enough, two inches of rain fell early this morning.  Seven inches of rain in the last two weeks is pretty rainy for mid-July.  So far it’s not been much of a problem and on the bright side, the irrigation pond is full of water for when it dries out!

What to Do With Your Share—Week 7

carrots, csa, sustainable agricuture, walla walla onions, zucchini fritters

Summer will be officially upon us during Wednesday distribution this week, and the crops in the field are backing that up. The first cucumbers, more summer squash and a few cherry tomatoes all say that the Spring of 2012 is over.

With this hot, dry weather the zukes have grown large between pickings. So we are sorry that this week’s squash is big, but offer a recipe for zucchini fritters as a tasty suggestion for using them. The aroma alone is worth cooking these, so enjoy some fried food this week.

The carrots and Walla Walla onions make their debut for this season too. We love our carrots here at the farm and hope to have them in the share every other week for most of the rest of the season. This first selection is a variety called Bolero. They grow well in our soil, and have a nice shape, texture and taste. We recommend eating them fresh and raw right now. One important note however is to cut the green tops off if you are going to store them in the fridge, and be sure to keep them in a plastic bag, as they will dry out otherwise.

Find the cucumbers in the picture.

The Walla Walla’s are a sweet onion, so don’t be afraid to eat them raw too. They are a great addition to a fresh summer salad. Cukes, onions, herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic makes a never fail simple, crisp and bright salad.

The dog days of Summer aren’t supposed to be until August, but this year they have arrived 2 months early. We are hoping that the temperatures do not continue to rise, as all living things on the farm are already feeling the effects of the abnormally hot Spring of 2012.  Rocky tries to keep cool in his polar bear coat of fur by laying on the cool concrete in the barn or on the gravel in the packing area.

Our boy Rocky staying cool.