May 5th, 2021

Since the farm received quite a bit of rain over the weekend we decided to go ahead and harvest our potatoes a little earlier than planned. Potatoes are quite sensitive to moisture so we wanted to make sure that we got them out of the ground as soon as possible. We’re happy to report that they’re incredibly delicious and we’ll have them this weekend and possibly next weekend at the farm stand! Both of the varieties we have are red-skinned and one of the varieties even has reddish flesh as you can see in the photo.

Our cucumbers are setting fruit and we are on track to have the first harvest available this weekend at the farm stand. The first cucumber to fruit is the Korean Eun Cheon variety. These striking cucumbers have a sort of ombre effect with green on the stem end fading to light green on the blossom end. Eun Cheon is a slicing cucumber that is sweet and crisp. We’re also growing Calypso cucumbers (a small pickling variety) in addition to a Turkish cucumber variety. We expect to begin harvesting these varieties in the next couple of weeks.

We transplanted a row of tomatillos this week and some of the plants are just beginning to set their first flowers. Tomatillos are members of the nightshade family along with potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Tomatillos are a unique crop in that they bear fruit surrounded by an inedible, papery husk. As the fruit matures and grows, it can eventually break through the husk right before it reaches the harvesting stage. Depending on when a tomatillo is picked dictates the flavor. If picked early when light green in color, the tomatillo is tart and ideal for making salsa verde. However, if left to mature on the plant longer, it develops a sweeter flavor similar to a tomato.

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, check out the following: Ostia, Squable, Theodore Rex, UB Preserv, Nancy’s Hustle, and Tongue Cut Sparrow.

April 7th, 2021

Our potatoes have put on a lot of above-ground growth and some are even beginning to flower which means it’s time to hill them up. Once the vegetation of the potatoes gets to about 6-8 inches above the soil surface, we “hill” or build up soil around the vegetation so that only the top leaves are left sticking out. Though this might seem odd, this process encourages the potato tubers to grow deep and wide and even allows more space for new potatoes to grow on top of more mature potatoes. The varieties we have growing are Red Norland which has a smooth red skin and white flesh, and Adirondack Red which has red skin and red flesh.

Remember all of the crops we interplanted with our tomatoes in order to maximize our growing space? Some of those crops are already reaching harvesting maturity! We’ll be harvesting the baby kale and baby mustard greens from our tomato row for the farm stand this weekend. Baby kale and mustards are harvested when in the young “baby” phase which means they are often more tender and suitable for enjoying raw than their mature counterparts. They can be enjoyed in salads, sandwiches, tacos, or a batch of pesto.

The first succession of summer squashes we planted are just beginning to set fruit. Summer squashes produce both male and female flowers. Pollen from the male flowers must pollinate the female flowers in order to yield a fruit. This process is helped along by pollinators like bees and wasps. You can easily tell male from female flowers because the females always have a tiny version of the squash attached to the base of their stem (like you see in this photo of a patty pan squash). We’re hoping to make the first summer squash harvest in the next couple of weeks!

If you’re out and about and want to support restaurants that are using our produce, we delivered spring onions, rainbow chard, green garlic, snap peas, spinach, and arugula to Ostia. We also delivered Hinona Kabu turnips, green garlic, and snap peas to UB Preserv.

As we near the end of summer and fall starts to tease that our temperatures may eventually dip out of the 90s, I begin to crave more substance in my meals. I rely more on cooked foods and less on raw foods and hardy herbs like sage and rosemary creep back onto my plate. Consider this hash a sort of transitional summer to fall dish. It takes advantage of beautiful sweet summer peppers but hints at fall with comforting potatoes and sage. Though this makes a great breakfast (or breakfast taco filling), you can enjoy it for any meal.