Weekly Abundance, Vol. 8-09

July 29 2009 Harvest

Weekly Harvest

Basil

Parsley

Summer Squash

Broccoli

Scallions

Garlic

Beats

Chard

Farm Life

It is hot!  We are expecting it to be over 100 at the farm every day this week.  We are compensating by beginning our work day earlier in the morning, drinking lots of fluids, and wearing wide brimmed hats.  Still, it is HOT!

This week, we said goodbye to my grand daughter, Amber.    She has gone back to Idaho to have some time to hang out with friends before school starts.  It has been wonderful to have her with me the past six weeks.  I miss her already.

The farm is clearly making the transition from cool season crops to warm ones.  This week, we harvested the last of the broccoli.  There will be no more until the fall.  On the same day, we harvested the first of our Dry Farmed tomatoes.  There were not enough of them to market so you will not see them at the stand or in your CSA shares.  However, it is a harbinger of things to come.

What are Dry Farmed tomatoes?  These are tomatoes that have been grown with out any irrigation beyond what they received the day they were transplanted.  Only a few varieties of tomatoes can be grown using this method, and then only under certain growing conditions.

There are two main benefits of dry farming.  The first is that it produces a much more flavorful tomato.  The second is that one uses much less water to do it.  The principle draw backs to dry farming are that it takes more space because the plants have to be further apart, and it significantly reduces yield.

Artisan Organics decided to trial dry farming tomatoes this year because of our concern about the amount of water we draw from Gordon Creek.   If this year’s trial goes well, we will expand our experiment next year to include additional tomato varieties and a variety or two of potatoes.

Red Chesnok Garlic

Veggie of the Week

Over the last few weeks, we have harvested all of our garlic.  Garlic is planted in the fall, traditionally on Halloween, and harvested the next summer.  (See the Calendar of Events for details about our Garlic Planting Event on Nov. 1)

There are three main types of garlic: elephant, hard neck, and soft neck.  Artisan Organics grew the latter two.  We used the soft neck garlic, California Early, to make our garlic braids earlier this month.  (See the blog entry for July 19 for photos.)

Hard neck and soft neck garlic’s differ in the amount of time they can be stored.  Hard necks are considered short keepers, soft necks are long ones.  Consequently, Artisan Organics will have our hard neck garlic available first.  When it is gone, wewill switch to our soft necks.

This week we are featuring Red Chesnok Garlic.  A fairly well adapted variety from the former USSR, this flavorful garlic is nice and full, but with a mellow aftertaste. While it does not store as well as some others (maximum holding time is about 6 months), the intense flavor that remains even when cooked more than makes up for it.