Watermelons and tomatoes were the stars of the show last week, and we’ve got more to harvest and enjoy this week! Every year we set up a fence around our watermelon to keep out the coyotes, who love to play fetch with them before devouring them. We also usually hang up old CDs above the watermelons to scare off the crows, who like to peck holes in them (that is still on our to-do list for us this week). It’s not only humans who love this sweet fruit! The fence in particular adds a slight degree of difficulty to the watermelon harvest, but it’s still definitely one of the more fun harvests (along with winter squash). We pick the melons off the plants and line them up in windrows. Then we drive a tractor alongside the windrow with a bulk crate perched on the forks. One or two people pass the melons over the fence to someone outside the fence to gently set the melons inside our crate, which we then drive to the barn and transfer into the cooler. Protecting the watermelons is a bit extra work and it leads to a heavy harvest, but it’s all worth it for some sweet refreshment on hot July and August days!
In the CSA this week:
Uncured garlic - We’re hanging a lot of garlic to cure for distribution later, but we’ll have some uncured garlic available this week. Because it hasn’t dried out yet from the curing process, the flavor is less concentrated and a little milder.
Watermelon - This week we’ll have more of the Blacktail Mountain variety, and we’ll possibly have some seedless as well if enough ripen in time!
Slicing tomatoes - red and orange tomatoes from the high tunnels and field
Specialty/heirloom tomatoes - These are the funky looking tomatoes with extra rich, sweet flavor!
Green peppers
Carrots
Beets
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Kale
Lettuce
Arugula
CSA Pick-Your-Own:
Hot peppers: jalepenos and some cayenne are ready this week.
Cherry Tomatoes: varieties include Sungold, Jasper, Cherry Bomb, Yellow Mini, Chocolate Sprinkles, Pink Champagne, Citrine, Black Cherry and more!
Herbs: basil, dill, parsley, mint, oregano, chives and sage
In the farm store:
In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:
Sweet Corn from Verrill Farm. Not organic.
Celery
Fresh onions
Potatoes
Flowers
Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.
Baer’s Best Beans - Black Turtle variety is organic, the other varieties are not.
PYO Flower Field
The flower field is open to both PYO Flower CSA members and the general public. We still have a few PYO Flower CSA memberships available - visit http://www.barrettsmillfarm.com/online-store/pyo-flower-csa if you would like to sign up!
Flowers available for picking this week include: sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, gomphrena, ageratum, celosia, ammi, rudbeckia, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, decorative grasses, decorative basil and strawflower.