Tuesday, August 14, 2018

August 14th and 17th

The Picking is Good!

This week I will open the PYO cherry tomatoes and tomatillos!  The tomato patch is like a hanging garden; a forest of green with orange and red jewels hanging from the limbs.  So thick and lush, you may just have to crawl on your hands and knees : )

The tomatillos are always a tangle of leaves and branches.  And of course the ripest fruit are those nearest the ground and buried in the center of the plant.  But these treasures are worth it; create a lovely verde sauce tonight!  The photo shows how to pick a ripe fruit.  Top: the fruit must fill the papery wrapper.  Bottom: the yellow ones are riper and a bit sweeter than the green.



We are BUSY BUSY with harvest!  A break in the green beans, has given us a bit of time to catch up.  It's mid August and my mind is starting to shift to storage crops like onions, garlic and yes even winter squash!  We pulled the garlic crop in yesterday and it looks fabulous.  The summer shares will get a taste of these beauties soon! 

A reprieve in the heat is making this week much more bearable.  And with all we need to accomplish it is much appreciated.  The wonder of the little seeds we started 3-5 months ago makes me pause every year.  The bounty that comes from something so small is a blessing not to miss.  My workshares get a taste of how challenging it is to tend to and harvest something as common as a cucumber.  To many people food is something that just appears on the grocery store shelf or on your plate at a restaurant; fast and easy, accessible and constant.  There is a lot of food waste in our society, culling out the imperfect or tossing because it's marked past due.  Each vegetable you take here at Little Ridge Farm was hand grown with careful thought; a contentiousness of the environment, and the flavor it will bring to the consumer.  Many of you revel in the fact that near 100% of your meals are made with Little Ridge Farm produce and I love that.  A sense of closeness, a sense of real food.  We love growing it, we're glad you love eating it! 


This Week's bounty: kale, pac choi, leeks, zucchini, summer squash, cukes, eggplant, potato, tomato, herbs and melon!