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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Arugula, Tomatoes, Summer Squash and Winter Savory Taking a break with the greens was the right call last week. They look big and plentiful this week. Monday was a record arugula harvest. Setting harvest records is always fun. It puts it in perspective when you think there is a lot of something as you are picking it, but when Jed looks at the records and can confirm it was "the most ever!", all that work feels a little extra special. I am grateful the harvest crew got to see how satisfying cutting greens can be. The summer squash is on. The plants will keep cranking out fruits almost as quickly as we can find and harvest them. We plan on having these beauties every week until it freezes, or the plants slow down. Sometimes they get stressed from smoke or cold and slow down a bit...but by then we are almost ready for a tiny break! And then they come back! Please note that all summer squash can be used interchangeably. Yes, you can use the round yellow patty pan for zucchini bread or the oblong green Magda for a recipe calling for patty pan. The flavors are so subtly different it is fine to trade them out in any recipe. Sometimes I just pick mine based on what color I feel like adding to a dish. Add two types of summer squash to a dish and perform a taste test! Winter Savory! Okay...it is new to me also. I don't have a recipe page for it yet. But my quick search and tastings of it let me know it is great for all bean dishes, it tastes a little bit like thyme and is quite peppery. It would be wonderful with chicken or in chicken soup. Like all herbs in this climate it will dry perfectly for winter use if you are not going through it quickly. (herb drying tips on the oregano page) Lunch this Week: Chili Mint stir fry with Tempeh or Round Steak. Over a bed of arugula and tomatoes.
Recipe Ideas: Summer Veggie Tian (sub savory for thyme, under the summer squash page), Summer Squash Boats (also sub savory for oregano), Italian Arugula Salad, Farmer Breakfast: Egg fried in lard/butter on a bed of arugula with diced fermented jalapenos and rice vinegar. Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets! The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected]
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Crop List: Sugar Snap Peas, Summer Squash, Head Lettuce, Kale, Basil, Bok Choy, Maybe Tomatoes or Shelling Peas Let's get the bad news out of the way. We have no Cosmic Mix this week. Our first 2 crops did not fare so well. The 3rd crop of it is looking good! We could have harvested it for this week, but then we would have had another mediocre harvest. We decided to hold off until next week and use our time more efficiently. We think next week it will be big and bountiful! Pea picking is on! The crew is spending so much time harvesting peas right now. Shell peas and sugar snaps. We know you love them. We love them too. We will never be able to harvest enough to satiate the CSA. They take a lot of time to get off the vines and are one of our more labor intensive crops. We know many peas don't even make it home and are enjoyed on the drive from the pick up. We even had a farm dog years ago who would find the ripe ones and eat them off the vines. How can that crunch be resisted! Speaking of crunch...have you noticed the shift in the shares. We are past just leafy greens. The veggies are starting to have more texture, snap and weight. Water. Everyone is asking us about water right now. We love your concern. As of now, we have water! A "call" was made by the folks out below who have older irrigation rights and get to take the water when they deem it time. The call was "futile" because the water in the creek is not flowing enough to make it to the main artery and then out of the valley. Some years we have to shut off to determine if it will make it out of the valley. But this year with such low levels we did not have to take that break. Our irrigation company, Trail Creek, has stated we may need to take turns using the water because the pressure in the pipes is so low, but we have yet to hear. While this is not ideal and will result in less water, we will manage. Water, Sun, Air and Soil. These are the elements we survive by. Each is so precious for growing food. I think about each of them in turn. Water is at the forefront right now. The water that comes to the farm is amazing. It is Teton snowmelt. We are so close to the source and the water is so pure because of it. We know it makes a difference in the flavor of the veggies. Often when I think of water my mind goes back to the film "What the Bleep" from 2004. It touches on Dr. Masaru Emoto's studies of how our emotions affect water. He has found that the structure of H2O molecules can change when certain intentions are directed at it. Love, compassion, hatred, anger all change the molecular structure in different ways. I find it fascinating, and completely empowering. Okay...I'm going to get out there. Quit reading now if you need to. I like to think about our collective Teton Mindset. If we are walking around saying things like..."It's so dry", "we need rain", "what a crappy snow year, there's no Pow", "I'm sick of snow, when is spring going to get here?" the water around us absorbs that energy. The water takes it on and moves through our space and out into the world. If the water is receiving the energy of "it's so dry" maybe it receives that message of dryness and keeps it dry. This is where the empowerment comes in. Our language affects the energy we put out. So in my far out Cosmic thinking, I believe if we change our thinking (energy) to "rain is welcome", "snow is welcome" "spring is welcome" it moves water through our space and sends it out into the world feeling loved by the People of the Tetons. I think the rest of the world could use that love too. If studies have proven that water absorbs our emotions, I believe we should be conscious enough to give it emotions we want to share with the world. I believe if we make an effort to choose emotions and thought patterns to make water feel welcome we can collectively change the weather patterns. And guess what...Even if I am completely wrong, the only thing that changes is you spent some moments thinking about how you address water in our ecosystem. Which seems to me like a win anyway. So call the water in. Welcome it. Picture rain falling. Smell it in the air. Feel it on your skin. Hear it dancing on the puddles. Take a moment to taste it in your veggies and send it some gratitude. Lunch this Week: Stir Fry! Starring Sugar Snap Peas, Summer Squash, Kale, Over rice.
Recipe Ideas: Simple, Perfect Peas with Butter and Salt, Creamy Zuchinni Cumin Dip for the Sugar Snaps, Grilled Summer Squash Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets! The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Collards, Cilantro, Sugar Snap Peas, Garlic and maybe Tomatoes We feel grateful right now. We keep hearing how everyone is perpetually short staffed this summer. We could use one more shift covered by a truck driver, but that's it. Jed has been filling in that spot on Tuesdays and enjoys seeing many of you at the Downtown drop off location! We realize how many positions need filled in both valleys and how many business owners are happy just to have a live body standing behind a counter. I don't want to make anyone jealous...but we have the best workers. I am typing and realizing I feel a wave of emotion thinking about them! The gratitude is overwhelming. Most of them are under 30. I love this generation of people. Their communication skills alone make work so much easier. They are able to directly clarify things in ways Jed and I could not do at that age. Their language is positive and concise. Each of the folks working with us could be making double to triple what we are paying them landscaping or washing dishes. They could be making the same in an airconditioned building stocking shelves, which is way easier then farming. But right now, they are committed to working in agriculture. They believe in it as a way to do something good for our world. They work hard. Jed is known as a boss who keeps people moving. He (and I) see the big picture of what needs to be done while the the clock ticks and the payroll rises. It can be hard to motivate a crew to go weed another bed on a hot day. BUT this crew does it. Without complaining. And my gosh...they are funny, and creative. I love the stories they tell and their views on the world, and the amazing ways they each express themselves. Their willingness to pitch in and do what needs to be done rocks. Our employees are now closer in age to our children then we are. Our kids love to hang with the employees and the kindness our kids are treated with is enough to warm anyone's heart. There is something special about the way a 20 something year old can give a teenager just enough of a ribbing to get a point across and the teen instantly "get it". And I will be forever grateful to our employees for the life lessons our kids pick up while interacting with these inspirational folks, because we all know, they are way cooler then Mom and Dad will ever be! We have had many great employees over the years. But collectively as a group, this is hands down the best group we have ever worked with. We know the energy every one of us brings to the farm affects the end result of your veggies. Having an incredible crew, who bring kindness, fun, joy and a good attitude to work each day radiates out and we know it is part of why your veggies taste so good. Each of our employees brings so much to the table, and seriously...the gratitude is overwhelming! Lunch this Week: Collards, Sugar Snap Peas, Garlic, Garlic Curls in coconut milk with a splash of soy sauce and grated ginger over rice noodles, topped with cilantro.
Recipe Ideas: Spicy Collards, Quinoa and Sugar Snap Salad. Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets! The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1 (starts July, 10th) Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Swiss Chard, Garlic Curls, Bok Choy, Turnips, Oregano maybe Tomatoes, Purple Basil, and/or Sugar Snap Peas I woke up on Monday morning to humidity! It rained during the early morning hours. We needed it. It had been 10 days since the last precipitation in Victor. It is raining now as I write and It smells SO GOOD! A bit of thunder and lightning are happening too...my favorite fireworks. The garden is taking a pause. It always does this between the spring crops and the summer crops. It is challenging for us. We want to harvest more...but we already picked all the early spring things and the summer goodies are not quite there yet. The squash plants are flowering. The peas are starting to fruit. And the tomatoes are about to be a regular item. As always, the garden is in charge, reminding us to be patient. The season of abundance is not quite upon us, we are still in the nurturing phase. Weeding, watering, planting, tending, watching and waiting. What are we waiting for? Here is the list of everything planted in the garden for 2021: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Shell Peas, Carrots, Radish, Turnips, Sunflowers, Dill, Cilantro, Arugula, Green Onions, Beets, Pea Shoots, Beans, Potatoes, Zucchini, Winter Squash, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Cabbage, Fennel, Broccoli, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Head Lettuce, Onions, Shallots, Leeks, Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard and Cauliflower Some veggie trivia came up at the farm last week! Swiss Chard...why Swiss? Chard is native to the Mediterranean Coast. It seems Chard was also prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It had many names so its history is hard to find and prove. The popular assumption is that a Swiss botanist first classified the plant and gave it the new name "Swiss Chard". (Disclaimer: I just did some quick internet looking...I know my scientific writing professor is furious right now...but I don't have time to write a thesis today, or spend hours citing sources. Maybe I'm starting viscous veggie rumors, correct me if you are a more proficient researcher!) Lunch this Week: Burritos with Dale's Burrito Sauce, I am using the sauce from "Bok Choy with Gingery Butter Sauce" and making a big stir fry adding garlic curls, turnips and steak.
Recipe Ideas: Grilled Steak with Chard, Tomato and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction, Chard Patties Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets! The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1 (starts July, 10th) Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] |
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Victor, ID 83455 |