Harvesting Tomatoes and the First Blackberries
May 20th, 2021
All of our tomatoes are coming into season and we’re now harvesting cherry, slicing, and paste varieties. Cherries are perfect for salads and snacking, slicers are great on sandwiches or burgers, and pastes are ideal for making sauces and tomato paste. If you’ve been wanting to jar some sauce, now’s the time to take advantage and come see us at the farm stand on Saturday! If you can’t make it on Saturday, we’ll be adding farm stand hours every Wednesday afternoon from 4-6pm beginning this Wednesday, May 26th. We have an abundance of tomatoes that will be available in addition to summer squashes, cucumbers, green beans, and basil.
We were pleasantly surprised to see our Ouachita blackberries in the orchard covered with ripe fruit this week! We’re happy to report that these berries are large and sweet and only just starting to ripen (which means they’ll be in season for a few weeks). Ouachita is a thornless blackberry that makes harvesting a breeze. We’ll have these delicious berries at the farm stand this Saturday in limited quantities so we highly recommend stopping by to snag some.
While cool season greens like chard are making their way out of season, summer greens are being planted in the high tunnel. We’re planting a mix of heat-loving purslane, amaranth, and tetragonia (also called New Zealand spinach). Purslane has succulent leaves with a slight lemony taste. Amaranth leaves have a taste similar to spinach and depending on the variety can be green, burgundy, or a combination of the two like you see in the photo below. Tetragonia also has succulent leaves but with a mild spinach taste.
If you’re out and about this weekend and what to support restaurants and Chefs using our beautiful produce, check out the following: Theodore Rex, Better Luck Tomorrow, Nancy’s Hustle, Bludorn, Squable, Ostia, UB Preserv, 93 ‘Til, Hidden Omakase, and Tobiuo Sushi.
