ASPARAGUS OR BROCCOLI F/P The freeze slowed the asparagus harvest to a non-event, luckily the broccoli is starting to mature.
RED LEAF LETTUCE F/P We love these red ruffley lettuces. Half green & half red they make a beautiful salad all by themselves.
BUTTERHEAD OR ROMAINE HEIRLOOM LETTUCES Full shares get one of each. Partial shares get a choice. The heat is kicking in and we have a lot of lettuce in the field, so we are picking extra this week to keep ahead.
ARUGULA Full shares get both an herb choice and arugula, partial shares choose. Add to your salad for a nice kick.
HERB CHOICE Cilantro, dill, tarragon
BOK CHOY/TAT SOI Add to some fried rice with farm eggs and you have yourself a meal!
GREENS CHOICE Kale, Gail lan, Swiss Chard. Partial shares can also choose the bok choy
GREEN GARLIC the same concept as green onions, the young plants. Use it fresh in salads.
NEXT WEEK: More lettuce, broccoli, greens and herbs.
FARM REPORT: All hell broke loose after we last reported. Two nights of freezing temperatures threatened to stop the harvest when we had barely begun. In preparation, we covered the fields including the strawberries with their flowers and young fruit and the newly transplanted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cukes and tender herbs.
We thought we were prepared for the forecasted 36 degrees F Friday morning. Unfortunately, it was much colder than that. We registered 32 on our temperature gauge behind the greenhouse. Out in the far field it must have been even colder. Under the row cover the tomatoes were hit hard.
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Surprisingly, the plants without mulch fared better, including the peppers, eggplant, squash and cucumbers. The potatoes lost much of their foliage but were better by yesterday. After some time to evaluate, it looks like the damage is temporary and many of the plants will grow back with good health. We have replaced the worst of the tomatoes with extra plants from the greenhouse. We also send much appreciation to the fine folks at Gibbs Road Farm (KC,KS) for giving us extra plants.
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Meanwhile, the chickens were oblivious to all the plant drama this week. Instead they are happily exploring their new home in the spring-planted cover crop of oats and peas.
That's what my tomatoes look like too. Unfortunately, most of mine don't look like they're going to recover. Robbins and my friends at CCUA are giving me their extra plants b/c I had all of mine planted out (nearly 500)! Lost a few cucs but most of the ones were below the thick mulch layer and they're doing just fine. I didn't cover my strawberries and they weren't fazed at all by the frost. CRAZY spring!!!!
We had about 500 plants damaged too and have replaced about 300+ of them. Some are developing suckers and we plan on seeing how they do. They were buried deep.
We were lucky we are not more efficient and did not have all our tomatoes out.
Glad you have a helpful community there.