This season has been notable not only for the heavy rains, but also for the heavy wildlife pressure. The deer always love to graze on lettuce, beet tops, carrots tops, strawberry leaves, sweet potato vines, bean plants and edamame plants, but the pressure we’ve seen this season has been unlike any other year. Usually our electric fence does a good job deterring deer, but this summer it has been ineffective and we have had to put protective netting over all of our lettuce plantings for the first time (plantings that weren’t covered earlier this season ended up being almost a total loss). We’ve also seen the leaves of edamame plants completely stripped, and we are starting to see it happening on our newest bean planting too (fortunately the beans on those plants are looking beautiful!).
We’ve also seen a higher amount of coyote incursions in our fields, and while they don’t eat our crops aside from carrots and watermelons, they do love to play in our fields in ways that are very destructive. This season in particular they have loved to play fetch with the watermelon, roll around in freshly prepared seedbeds, dig up strawberry plants and drip irrigation line, bite through our deer fencing and rip up the (brand new!) coverings we put on all our lettuce plantings to protect them from deer!
We have already gone on and on about the Colorado potato beetles wreaking havoc on potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes in previous posts, so just suffice it to say we’re feeling a bit under attack! We’ve had to divert energy away from important tasks like weeding, trellising, mowing and seeding cover crops in order to pick bugs off plants, put up secondary fences around the strawberries and watermelon, chase off destructive geese, and shuffle around netting and the sand bags used to hold it down. We are looking forward to researching and brainstorming new wildlife deterring strategies this winter, as well as taking a little break from constantly worrying about who (other than our customers!) are eating our crops!
In the CSA this week:
Beets - From our fall planting!
Spaghetti squash or eggplant - Our spaghetti squash really struggled this season, likely in part because of too much rain, so we’ll have a choice between squash and eggplant this week. We’re hoping other winter squash varieties fared better!
Sweet colored peppers
Green and purple peppers
Tomatoes - Slicing and heirloom types.
Potatoes
Scallions
Uncured garlic
Carrots
Cucumbers
Kale
Lettuce or arugula or mustard greens - a combination of rain damage, flooding and deer pressure have made salad greens a challenge this week. Future plantings are looking better!
CSA Pick-Your-Own:
Cherry tomatoes
Green beans - They’re back!
Shishito peppers, tomatillos or husk cherries - Members will be able to select one of these to pick.
Hot peppers - One per membership to spice up your cooking this week.
Herbs - Sage, thyme, oregano, chives, mint, parsley, dill, dill flowers, cilantro and basil
In the farm store:
In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have the last of the summer squash and zucchini, as well as flower bouquets later in the week. We will also have sweet corn from Verrill Farm, honey from Double B (from hives on the property, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Pete and Jen’s.
We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday and Friday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering currently opens at 6pm on Tuesday for Wednesday pick-up and 6pm on Thursday for Friday pick-up.
PYO Flower CSA
The flower field is open to both Flower CSA members and the public this week for picking by the jar. The first of 4 varieties of sunflowers we seeded in the flower field are now blooming. Other varieties currently available for picking include zinnias, bachelor button, marigolds, gomphrena, strawflower, celosia, statice, ammi, rudbeckia, scabiosa, cosmos and amaranth. Please pick flowers above branching points. Picking hours are during any farm store hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. We recommend bringing your own pruners or scissors as well as water for transporting your flowers home.
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
from Taste of Home, July 12, 2023
Ingredients
2 cups cooked brown rice
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed (or use fresh corn!)
1 small sweet onion, chopped
3/4 cup cubed Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup chopped ripe olives
1/3 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup canned red beans, rinsed and drained
4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 large peppers
3/4 cup meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Directions
Place the first 12 ingredients in a large bowl; mix lightly to combine. Cut and discard tops from sweet peppers; remove seeds. Fill peppers with rice mixture.
In a small bowl, mix spaghetti sauce and water; pour half the mixture into an oval 5-qt. slow cooker. Add filled peppers. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.
Cook, covered, on low 3-1/2 to 4 hours or until heated through and peppers are tender. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.