https://sunsetfarmjordanranch.com Fri, 21 May 2021 20:21:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://sunsetfarmjordanranch.com/2021/05/21/harvesting-tomatoes-and-the-first-blackberries/ https://sunsetfarmjordanranch.com/2021/05/21/harvesting-tomatoes-and-the-first-blackberries/#respond Fri, 21 May 2021 20:21:16 +0000 https://sunsetfarmjordanranch.com/?p=5973

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.

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March 31st, 2021

We are pleased to report that we will be making the first official sugar snap pea harvest this week which means these lovely spring veggies will make their debut at the farm stand on Saturday! Though our sugar snaps were set back a bit due to the freeze, they recovered beautifully and are now yielding plenty of sweet pods. The sugar snap pea produces an edible pod which means you can eat the entire thing rather than shelling them for the peas inside. Sugar snaps can be enjoyed raw in salads or as a vehicle for your favorite dip. They can also be cooked, just make sure to keep it brief so their vibrant green color and sweet flavor stays intact.

Remember the perennial beds we mentioned back in this post? We planted them this week with Mexican mint marigold, lavender, lemon thyme, sage, onion chives, rosemary, and bay laurel. We left four feet of space between each herb so that we have room for annual intercropping. For the current season, we’re intercropping our herbs with zinnias. Our goal with this bed is to eventually have a steady supply of fresh herbs throughout the year for our farm stand, to provide food for pollinators, and to attract predatory insects that will help to keep unwanted pest populations in check. The zinnias we’ll be growing this season will also give us a source of beautiful cut flowers.

Our blackberries put on quite a bit of growth over the past month so we took some time over the past week to ensure the canes have trellis support. Though blackberries can grow and sprawl on the ground, trellising ensures adequate air flow and makes it much easier to harvest when the time comes. The variety we have growing is “Ouachita”, a thornless variety that yields large, sweet berries. While trellising, we spotted quite a few blooms on our blackberries which is a sign that we’re not far from our first berry harvest.

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, we delivered a lettuce mix to Yelo and mixed greens to Squable.

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