Hello blog readers. Well, it’s been a couple months without a post from us here on the farm. It’s summer, and we are pretty busy. However, we do write a weekly newsletter for our CSA subscription program, and we will now be posting each week’s newsletter here on the blog. We’re just going to pick up in the middle of things…. I think you’ll be able to catch on:
After last week’s mini account of our farm’s history, I thought I’d write a bit about how our farm looks today. When we moved onto this property in the early part of 2011, it was just a big expanse of grass. Formerly, this farm was operated as a dairy, but it had been lying fallow for at least six years and cut for hay from time to time.
Converting what I like to call “old-growth pasture” to tilled soil is a major undertaking. We have a diverse mix of plants in our pasture fields, but the dominant species are various types of grass, and the dreaded buttercup. In order to create a soil medium that will successfully grow vegetables, it’s necessary to kill (or at least mortally wound) these perennial grasses. The first step is plowing. For our big initial field preparations, we hire a neighbor with a big tractor and a big two-bottom plow. The plow undercuts the soil at a depth of about 15”, and inverts it, flipping and burying the grass where it will theoretically perish for lack of sunlight. The plow leaves a sort of wavy pattern on the top of the soil. After a certain amount of time, we either decide the grass has been buried long enough to die, or we have to plant so we just forge ahead. Then it’s time to disk. The disk is actually a series of rolling disks, set on their edges, that we drag across the field, perpendicular to the plowed waves. It breaks up large clods of dirt and begins to level out the ridges. Disking is a very bumpy tractor job.
Once the field has been plowed and disked, we use different tools to break up and smooth out the soil, partly depending on the time of year and how wet the soil is, and partly depending on what we plan to plant in the field. After three years of continuing to break new ground on our farm, we now have about 25 acres that have been plowed and prepared for planting. This year, 15 acres will be used to grow vegetable crops over the course of the year, and the other 10 are either being rested after a year or two of vegetable production or are recently plowed fields that we are “bare fallowing” in an effort to bring the grass and other perennial weeds more under control. Despite our best efforts, the old-growth pasture grasses are amazingly tenacious. They have deep and complex networks of roots, and they propagate with underground runners that can pierce straight through a full-size potato and grow several feet long in a single season. Bare-fallowing helps clean up the patches of grass that survive plowing. We use tractor-mounted tools that undercut or drag out the grass roots without disturbing the soil structure or pulverizing soil aggregates. Finally, all of our fields get a sowing of cover crops before the winter rains set in. Cover crops protect soil against erosion during the winter, and when we turn them under in the spring, they build organic matter in our soil. More on that next time!
Box Contents for July 23rd
1 bunch red beets
1 small bunch carrots
1 bunch collards
1 bunch sweet onions
2 zucchini
1 bunch baby bok choi
1 head Samantha red oakleaf lettuce
4 ‘Miniature White’ salad cucumbers
1 bunch dill
Large Box Additions
First tomatoes!
Sage
Flashy Trout’s Back lettuce
Next week’s produce (we think): carrots – potatoes – scallions – fennel – chard – savoy cabbage – broccoli (maybe) – cukes & zukes!
Ideas and info for this week’s produce
Beets – Beets are making their first appearance in the CSA boxes this week. We grow three different varieties of beets, which you will probably see each of at some point this year, but today you are getting the classic red beet. The simplest way to make your beets is to boil them whole. No need to peel, just put them in a small pot with enough water to cover, and boil until the beets are easily pierced with a paring knife. Drain, and run under cold tap water. The beets’ skin will easily slip off. Then you may use the cooked, peeled beets however you like. I am pleased that our dill crop is ready to pick in time for this week’s box, because I think dill is a great accompaniment to both beets and cucumbers. Cubed chilled beets, cucumbers, and slices of sweet onion would make a lovely salad, either with a simple vinegar dressing or some kind of creamy addition (yogurt, sour cream), topped off with a sprinkle of minced dill.
Speaking of cucumbers:
Cucumber – I think cucumber is one of the most popular items we include in the CSA. Just about everyone enjoys cucumbers, and they are easy to eat, even if you feel overwhelmed by cooking some of your other vegetables. We have planted a LOT of cucumbers this year, and we expect to be able to give them in the box regularly from now through mid-September. Cukes should be stored in a sealed container the fridge, and will keep at least a week if un-cut. All of these cucumbers will work for the refrigerator pickle recipe. One large or two medium cucumbers will probably fill a quart jar.
Recipe – Refrigerator Pickles
Slice cucumbers into ¼” thick rounds. Slice half an onion and a sweet pepper into strips. Pack vegetables into a quart jar. Roughly chop dill and add to jar. In a saucepan, bring to a boil ¾ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup water, ½ cup sugar (or honey), 1 teaspoon peppercorns, 1 ½ teaspoons mustard seed and pour over cucumbers to fill jar. Leave uncovered and chill for 24 hours. Cover, and keep in fridge. Pickles will keep in the fridge for several weeks. (You can also make a half recipe.)
Beet Greens – What with all the roots this week, along with the zucchini and cucumber, your box is a bit light on cooking greens…. But don’t forget about your beet greens! Cook just like kale or chard (beet greens and chard are the same species!). More recipes in today’s email.