CSA Week #5: June 23-25

Even though we just passed the ‘official’ first day of summer and the longest day of the year, we are already sowing starts for overwintering and fall harvest. Fields that supplied us with a bounty of spring lettuces, radishes, and broccoli are already being tilled and prepared for sowings of cover crops that will grow into the fall and remain over the winter, to be tilled in again next spring. We are also busy with lots of weeding projects and plenty of irrigation around the farm. We are making preparations for a relentlessly hot forecast- putting fewer leafy greens in the share, getting difficult jobs taken care of early in the day when its cooler, and carefully organizing our harvest schedule to ensure the crops stay cool enough as we harvest them.

• Bok Choi
• Broccoli
• Cabbage (either red or green)
• Escarole
• Fava Beans
• Garlic

Crop Notes

Escarole: A member of the chicory family, escarole is related to endive and radicchio. I find that it has a much less bitter taste than its relatives, and like to cook with it and add it to salads. Its probably most famously paired with broth and meatballs in Italian Wedding Soup, and is great in a White Bean Soup as well.

Fava Beans: A fun summer treat! You can invest as much or as little effort into processing these as you wish; from grilling them whole in the pods with sea salt and olive oil, to fava hummus, to blanched and individually peeled. Store favas in a plastic bag in the fridge, and if they’re taking up too much space, pop the beans out of the pods and store in a sealed container (although I have noticed the skins will begin to brown when you do this). As a heads-up, favas will be in the share next week as well, so you can either savor them now and enjoy more later, or save them up and have a fava shelling party. Just add white wine and friends…perfect for summer! WARNING– There is a rare genetic deficiency that affects some people and can lead to health problems if they eat fava beans. This condition is relatively rare and usually detected by childhood, but if you have never eaten fava beans before we recommend you check out www.g6pd.org to learn more.

Beat the Heat

We’ve got some hot days in the forecast, and with that here are a few reminders for making sure your veggies do not get cooked early.

• Pick-up on the day of delivery. Picking up on the day of delivery is always your best option for optimal quality of your share, but this is even more true with summer heat.
• Don’t leave your share in the car.  Greens can go from happy and crisp to a sad and wilted in a matter of minutes in a hot car.
• Cool it off. Once home give your lettuce and bok choi a cool douse of water before they go into the fridge to keep them hydrated and perky.

Another ongoing project is tomato trellising and pruning- much higher yields can be achieved from every plant by some simple pruning tactics. It is very similar in concept to pruning an orchard- with mindfulness towards air circulation, sun exposure, structural integrity, number of fruiting branches, and so on. As the young transplants go out into the fields, the lowest hanging leaves are removed to avoid excess contact with the ground (in order to avoid rot and fungal problems later on). We also remove the very first flush of flowers to encourage the plants to put more effort into leaves and stems rather than focusing on making fruit just yet. As the plants grow, we attach them to vertical pieces of twine and remove all but two fruiting branches (this is known as the ‘two-leader’ pruning method and is very common in commercial production). Finally, once the plants are about as tall as we are and have a good heavy set of green tomatoes, we turn off all irrigation for the rest of the season. This stimulates the plants to hasten the ripening of the fruit due to drought stress in an attempt to propagate itself before the end of its life cycle…which amounts to sweet, juicy red tomatoes. Looking forward to it!

Hometown: Charlotte, Michigan

Joined SIO Crew: March 2013. In years past Max did a large share of restaurant deliveries, spending long days taking SIO produce all over Portland in a giant box truck. We get to keep Max on the farm more often these days, and along with being a jack-of-all-trades he has become a part of our irrigation team.

Favorite Fruit/Vegetable: Tomatoes

Favorite part of working on the farm: All of the new things that he gets to learn about.

What he does off the farm: Max enjoys camping, disc golf with his dog Doug, swimming in rivers (possibly his favorite thing to do in the whole world), and playing music. He is most well versed as a drummer but has enjoyed taking up the banjo more recently. He encourages anyone to grow their own food when they can and most appreciates food that is consciously grown and produced.