Remote Medical International teaches several Wilderness EMT courses at Tierra each summer. They left a month ago and after 5 weeks of weddings up at the retreat center, they are back. The first thing Courtney (their chef) said to me was 'Wow, the garden looks like a jungle! What a difference a month makes!' I personally couldn't agree more. The weeds (particularly the amaranth) are growing as quickly as the produce...what was a little tiny weed seedling is now a towering giant threatening to burst forth in a shower of a thousand seeds. It can be hard to keep up on the weeding in July...there is just too much harvesting and planting and not enough hours in the day. But, we all do what we can. And the only bed that got lost so far this season was a bed of parsnips...not too shabby. I love parsnips, don't get me wrong. I love them terribly. Fall nights are sweeter and warmer when they are around. However, if the worst event of the summer is the loss of a bed of parsnips, then we are going to consider ourselves fortunate. And, I should also mention, the only reason that we lost a full bed of parsnips is because they take about 18 days to germinate. They are incredibly slow to pop out of the ground. If they are planted in very early spring, they may make it out of the ground before the weeds take over. That was not the case this season. Laura and Willy gave it a good team effort, but there was no chance of resurrecting this bed from the weeds....the weeds won.
We are still way ahead of schedule. It was a crummy pea year but it is has been great for the beans. This week you are receiving at least a pound of them in your boxes. Last season, we were lucky to include the beans once. This is one of my personal 'least favorite' crops to harvest. It is back breaking work (like strawberries). I do love to have beans in the freezer for winter though and this year there may even be enough to try and make some pickled dilly beans. If you are looking to special order any additional beans for freezing or canning, please let me know and we can set some aside for you.
The first ripe tomato appeared in the high tunnel this week. It will still be a while before they appear in the boxes but it is always fun to see them start to redden on the vine. That is very positive news. The outside cucumbers have started to fruit as well. Cucumbers will be a part of the boxes from now until they freeze in the fall.....
Have a great week!
In Your Share This Week:
Cucumbers, Beans, Basil, Chard/Kale/Collards, Pak Choi, Garlic, Beets/Carrots, Eggplant, Arugula? and probably a surprise or two....
Recipes:
Easy Eggplant Recipes
Cucumber Recipes
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