In this week’s share:
- frisee
- pac choi
- cucumbers
- carrots
- summer squash
- green beans
- red cabbage
- eggplant
- scallions
- hot green peppers
- garlic
- sage
Farm News & Recipes
I’m excited to share our garlic crop with you this week. Garlic is a long term, multi-step project. It begins in the fall when we order seed garlic (we didn’t have any of our own saved this year) and break the heads into individual cloves. Each clove gets planted a few inches into the soil in mid-October. The beds are then mulched generously with straw to suppress weeds and to provide a winter blanket for protection during the coming cold months.
Then we wait until spring, when tiny green shoots begin to poke through the mulch after the ground begins to thaw out. By late March there are tall onion-like stalks standing straight up. Some of these are harvested as green garlic, but most are left to mature into full heads.
After several months of regular weeding and careful watering, the stalks begin to turn brown, indicating the garlic is ready to harvest. The soil is loosened with a pitchfork and, miraculously, entire heads of garlic emerge from the earth.
The dirt is gently brushed off and they enter the next stage – curing. We cured our garlic on mesh racks under shade cloth in the greenhouse where it is dry and the air is always circulating. Once the tops and roots are completely dry we snip them off and ship them out to you. We recommend you store your garlic in the refrigerator.
Cold soup can help combat a hot, sticky day. Use your cucumbers, garlic, and scallions to make cucumber-dill soup with scallions.
Stir fried pac choi with garlic makes a very easy side dish.
Zucchini and eggplant make great pizza toppers.
