Raspberries beginning to ripen

 

This is a busy and important time of year on the farm. Now that we have arrived at the end of May there is little chance of frosty nights. We are now free to put the rest of the frost sensitive transplants into the fields. Knowing that there was still a risk of frost until the end of May, we have only transplanted about half of the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. To give these early transplants as big of a jump as possible on the season, they were seeded earlier and grown in bigger pots. Though they took up a lot more space in the greenhouse and were a lot more work to transplant, their harvest will begin a week or more before those that we are just starting to transplanting out into the fields. This does not sound like much additional time but when the traditional harvest of these crops is a mere seven to eight weeks, one additional week makes an impact.

May's cool cloudy weather is definitely slowing the growth of a lot of the earliest crops. But Mother Nature will provide in her own time. Last year there was no peach crop due to the frigid temperatures in the winter. This year's crop, however, is looking beautiful. We have begun the time consuming task of thinning the peaches and nectarines. If we do not thin them we will end up with a lot of very small peaches. By thinning them to only one fruit per six inches of branch, there will be ample space, sun and energy to allow the remaining fruit to grow to a much bigger size. We began this task last week and will continue for the next two weeks. We will spend more than 200 hours thinning the season's stone fruit to give us a better quality. Then, if we have time, we might even thin a few of the apples too. In the orchard, June is thinning season. Luckily, by the middle of the month we are enjoying the sweet plump strawberries and are reminded of the results of our hard work.

Three years ago we planted some early raspberries in the high tunnel/ greenhouse. The warmer climate inside is pushing these plants to produce fruit a week or two earlier than the outside raspberries. After three years of growth, these raspberry plants are reaching full maturity and will provide a nice early mixture to the fruit shares.

Farmer Dave

The main season fruit and vegetable shares start in two short weeks! We hope that you'll be joining us. Register today!

 

The following items may make an appearance in your shares this week.  The actual contents of your share may differ based on harvest conditions.  As always Mother Nature ultimately dictates what is available.  

This week we're featuring Farmer Dave's Pickled Beets produced locally at CommonWealth Kitchen.

CommonWealth Kitchen is greater Boston's only non-profit food business incubator and food manufacturing social enterprise. CommonWealth Kitchen is a collaborative community, providing shared kitchens combined with business assistance to help aspiring entrepreneurs build great food companies, create jobs, improve healthy food access, and strengthen our regional food economy.

These delicious beets make a zippy addition to pasta and potato salads, they pair well with cheeses like a Blue or Gorgonzola, and they make an unexpected and delicious topping for burgers.

After you fall in love with these pickled beets you can always pick up more as an add-on to your CSA share. And try making your own with the pickle guide Vegisode featured below! 

Join Stacey and Denise for:

- What is the difference between refrigerator pickle and quickles
- How to make a quick pickle or quickle with radish and red onion
- How to make a brine
- Uses for pickled vegetable, serving suggestions
- Supplies you will need for refrigerator pickles
- How to cut your veggies for refrigerator pickles
- Types of vinegars
- Base recipe rundown for pickles
- How to pack your jars and add warm brine- additional ingredients, veggies
- Family time - get the family together to make their own jars of refrigerator pickles

  

Don't miss a single Vegisode! 

Subscribe to Farmer Dave's YouTube channel.

 

Thanks to generous donations by you (CSA members) to the Groundwork Share-A-Share™ fund, we were able to subsidize the cost of shares in 2016 for over thirty individuals and families, as well as shares for local food pantries.

Please consider helping us in our efforts to make the CSA accessible to more families by donating to Groundwork Share-A-Share.