First, the Good!  It's nice to see so many things coming up in the garden.  This picture shows the baby spinach that was harvested today and included in your share.  This morning was quite nice weather-wise and it was nice to be out in the garden.  The spinach is looking quite good and I hope everyone enjoys.

I really feel that baby spinach is best as a cold green.  Cooking should be reserved for full sized spinach.  Of course, it's up to you what you do with the spinach, but the tender, sweet nature of the young leaves seems to dictate raw usage.  There will be mature leaves later in the season, but for right now I hope everyone enjoys the first baby spinach of this year's planting.


We're also getting to that point in the summer when the full share begins to be distinguished from the half in amount of produce (and in some instances, in what is included).  This week, the full share includes the last of this season's rhubarb, pictured to the right.  Also, the last of the Waldmann's/Simpson Lettuce mix from the greenhouse.  Future lettuce will be from the garden.  Finally, the full share includes twice as much of the Tango/Lollo Lettuce mix.


The other things included in both the half and full shares this week are, Tango/Lollo Lettuce Mix, Radishes, the Baby spinach I've already mentioned, and cabbage leaves.  This week, Emily and I expiremented with the Cabbage Leaves and I'm pleased to report, they make an excellent homemade pizza topping.  I shredded the leaves into coarse sized shreds and sprinkled a pizza with them.  They gave a wonderful aroma coming out of the oven and an interesting flavor.

Finally, you'll also find sprigs of mint.  I didn't get a picture but they are the only thing in the bag that you may not recognize.  You will also be able to tell the mint by the smell.  It should be immediately noticeable simply by being around your share bag.  It's a wonderful smell.  The best way to preserve Mint is actually not in the refrigerator.  Rather, simply fill a glass with water and place the sprigs in the water like you would cut flowers.  Place the glass on the window sill in the kitchen and enjoy the aroma for as long as the leaves stay fresh (which should be at least a week).  This mint came from Sue's garden.  I hope everyone gets a chance to make it to the farm this season.  Along with the Parker Produce gardens, Sue (my mother-in-law) has absolutely beautiful gardens around the grounds of the Burgess Farm.  She cut this mint for you all this morning and it makes a wonderful addition to the share.  She tells me it is a great addition to iced tea and other cool summer drinks.  Just a few leaves in your iced tea is all it takes.  Also, here is a link to some other recipes I found on the Internet.  Some of them sound quite good!  http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Herbs-and-Spices/Herbs/Mint/Main.aspx



Sticking with the theme of things that are Good, there are several plants in the garden that I appreciate for their ability to be forgotten.  Once such plant is Dill.  I planted two rows of this wonderful herb a few weeks ago and simply left it alone.  I noticed today that it has come up and has been doing quite well.  You can just make out the Dill amongst the weeds in the center of this photo.  It's the light, feathery plant beneath the blades of grass.  Dill is good at surviving for a while amongst tough weeds without much attention (and around our gardens, that's a good thing).


Which brings me to 'The Bad'.

Weeds, weeds, everywhere.  Weeds are job security for the sustainable farmer.  As I get a chance I mulch as much as possible to keep from having to weed.  However, the job is never done and will continue throughout the entire harvest season.  To the right is a picture of what should be knee high corn.  Unfortunately, I tried a new seed company this year and I am not satisfied.  I will be reordering corn seeds from a local company and planting as soon as they arrive next week.  I hope to spend the next few days weeding like crazy in the garden to allow for more mulching.  I chose to categorize weeds as bad because they aren't actually ugly.  If you stand back and look at the garden from a distance, the pig-weed (which is the weed of choice at the Burgess Farm) actually looks like another crop and it makes the garden look filled out.  Also, it's edible and I'm told quite tasty, though I can't bring myself to try it because it's such a pain for the rest of the crops.  At any rate, weeds are certainly bad because they choke out the plants we are hoping will succeed.  Hopefully, I can give the crops I planted a fighting chance by cutting the weeds back a bit in the next week.

The Ugly,
Actually, the last entry in this week's blog is both ugly and bad.  The Colorado Potato Beetle.  I have a couple of pictures of them here.  They are a scourge, that's for sure.  Last year we didn't get nearly the potato harvest we should have because the beetles got ahead of me.  It literally only takes a day for that to happen.  They skeletonize any and all potato family plants.  That includes tomato and eggplant. 







This year, we're doing alright with them.  I have covered the potatoes with floating row cover and also applied an extra heavy straw mulch.  I will be applying another layer of mulch this weekend.  However, even with these precautions I am still removing beetles by hand and dunking them in a solution of eco-friendly soap, water and vinegar.  Hand removal is the most effective method of combating these little insects.




Finally, I'll include some photos of activies at the farm over the last week.  We've begun staking out the tomatoes that need support.  This was done on Tuesday, which had a wonderful sunset.  Luckily, I looked up in time to catch it. 
     

Here is one of our pigs, taking a break from the hard work of tilling and fertilizing one of next year's garden rows.  Pigs are great companions in the garden.  Once they know you are close, they will talk to you all day.  Also, they love to eat weeds and we have no shortage of those in the Parker Produce gardens.  I like anything that loves to dispose of weeds, especially when that disposal turns them into great fertilizer (and I don't even have to turn the compost pile).  This morning I went to see the pigs and one of them came over to say hello.  I hope everyone gets to meet the pigs this season.

I'm pleased to announce that we have our first beet greens of the season.  These are Bull's Blood Beets and I harvested the thinning today.  I'm not sure if we'll have another round off of this planting as I want them to develop roots.  However, this week I hope to order some more seed and plant another bunch outside in the garden.  Beet greens are a wonderful vegetable.  They are a great addition to salad, stems and all.  Also, they can be steamed though once they are cooked down there really is quite a bit less in volume.  One important thing to remember about beet greens is that they need to be washed well.  Because of the way they are harvested, they get very dirty.  The best way to wash them, as far as I know, is to float them in a sink of cold water
                                      
Also new this week, you'll find some chives in your share bag.  That reminds me...I encourage everyone to make sure all five senses are indulged with your share.  That includes your sense of smell.  I love the smell of chives.  The milk house was filled with it this morning.  Actually, the smell of beet-greens is quite lovely too.  However, once I opened up the chives that scent was buried.

Today's harvest was also the first time this season that I was able to pull from the garden itself.  I love the first outdoor harvest.  Here is a picture of the festivities.  This is a patch of Tango Lettuce.  This makes up part of the mix that is in your share this week.  You'll also find cabbage leaves and baby spinach.  I hope everyone enjoys and has a great weekend.  See you soon.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!
Hopefully, everyone made it through this Friday the 13th without any scrapes, bruises or general bad luck.  The weather was so nice today...days like today are just one reason why Maine is such a wonderful place to be in the summer.  The farm was a prime example of that fact for today's harvest.  Before we get to this week's goodies, I just wanted to take care of some house keeping things. 
First off, I've had some feedback that the photos on the blog are difficult to see.  I've been posting them as thumbnails because of the file size.  I agree that they are hard to see, however.  So I've given a larger size the green-light and I think it's much better (though you will have to get your scrolling finger in shape).  Hopefully, everyone can see these better.  That is exactly the kind of feedback I love to get.  The whole point of this blog is to help everyone and I love hearing ways to make it more accessible and easier to use. 
I also want to ask everyone to please be sure to pick-up each week's share as promptly as possible.  This week, we lost three shares in the Bangor pick-up location because the Groceria had a cooler malfunction and everything in it froze.  Also, in Winterport, I have to leave our coolers out on the lawn until all produce is retrieved.  Unfortunately, there has been some theft in our neighborhood recently and I would like to get them in off our picnic table as soon as possible each week to avoid the possibility of losing them.  If you are unable to pick-up your produce on Friday (Saturday morning at the latest), please let me know and we can certainly work out some other arrangements, redistribute the share to other members, or donate to the Shaw House.
Also, please remember that our produce is not washed or treated in anyway.  Therefore, it is important that you rinse everything as you prepare it.  This becomes especially true duing weeks like this.  This week's temperatures were such that I had to water everything more than I usually do.  Sometimes this causes extra soil to splatter up onto certain plants (such as lettuce and spinach).  Rinsing the produce will keep you from having the unpleasant experience of biting into a gritty piece of vegetable. 
On another preparation note, transporting the produce has a tendency to make certain varieties settle and compact.  This makes them less attractive, shortens their shelf life and may affect flavor.  I strongly encourage everyone to go through their produce upon getting it home and open the bags to fluff appropriate varieties.  This will allow the lettuce and other leafy varieties to breath and last longer.  Simply reach into the bag and mix up the lettuce a little to restore some of the volume that is lost when produce gets stuffed into a cooler.
Also, as I mentioned, I have some pictures of things that are coming up in the garden and some of the activities on the farm this week.  I hope everyone enjoys the produce, has a great weekend and please feel free to let me know how you are enjoying the produce, blog or if anything could be improved.  See you soon.

New this week:  Cabbage Leaves.  This can be looked upon as a bit of a novelty for some people.  I don't think it should be though.  Most people eat just the heart of cabbage when it's fully mature.  Below, I've included a picture of the cabbage we experimented with in the greenhouse this winter.  There are only three remaining through the harshness of the season, but they are doing well.  So well, in fact, that they need to be trimmed because they have grown so large they are crowding each other.  Most people would leave the leaves or discard them.  I think they should be consumed.  They taste great and they are just as good as the heart of the cabbage.  They provide another option for wrapping your favorite filling.  In fact, a great idea is to make cabbage sushi.  What I do it lay the large leaf out on a cutting board, spread a layer of your filling (I use a tofu salad made with vegan mayonnaise, shredded carrots, olives, salt, pepper, a dash of thyme and dried basil leaves).  Then roll the cabbage leaf over your line of spread once.  Repeat this to the end of the leaf.  Place the seam down on the board.  Meanwhile, you should be heating a pot of salt water to a boil.  Once it's reached a boil, place your cabbage roll into the water.  I suggest using a toothpick or two to secure the wrap.  Leave in the water until the cabbage resembles the boil seaweed you find wrapping sushi.  Remove from the water and slice into 1/2-1 inch rounds. 
I also found this site which has a plethera of good ideas for cabbage.  You can see, some are for the head itself but a few are actually calling for shredded or whole leaves.  http://www.cheriestihler.com/CC/recipes.html



Also this week, you'll find a new lettuce mix.  I mixed Waldmann's and Simpson, both of which we've had before so I didn't include photos.  It's the all green lettuce in your share.  Folks with the full share will find two bags of this in there.  I'm at that point in the summer when I need to get things wrapped up in the greenhouse because it's simply getting too warm in there and I need to shift to all of the things that are finally coming up in the gardens.  Mixing these lettuces allows me to clean up the lettuce bed before they go to seed. 
Along the same lines is a Tango/Red Lollo Mix.  This is very similar to WP Mix without the Waldmann's.  It's the red and green lettuce mix.  Full shares will also find radishes (there will be more for everyone in the weeks ahead as the next round of plants matures). 
Also in everyone's bag there is a bunch of carrots.  This is the last of the 2007 fall planted carrots.  We'll have plenty more this fall when carrots are actually in season.  The carrots you have been eating were a fall planting experiment that went really well. 

Finally, I've included some photos of the farm, along with some of the activity that's been going on this past week.  Below are some pictures of the things that are finally coming up in the garden.  It's always nice to see thing make their way up through the soil.  It took a little while for some things but now we're seeing some progress.

Here is a picture of the barn just behind the greenhouse.  In the foreground is the flat wagon we use to collect all of the grass clippings for mulching purposes.  Also, notice the new wind mill in the upper left corner.  It went up a couple of weeks ago and it's such a nice addition to the farm.  The Burgess Tree Farm rests up on Billings Hill in East Newport and there is a lot of wind up there.  The blades are almost always turning and atop a 100 foot tower, it's visible for miles.

Here are the Roma Tomatoes all snug in their newly mulched rows, waiting to climb their support poles.  I also have some more Roma seedlings in the greenhouse that will be interplanted with our carrots.  Companion planting is just one way we try to control pests without the use of chemicals.  I hope to get these tomatoes tied to the trellis this week.  After that we can start pruning!


Above are the early Red Cabbage I started this spring.  I transplanted them out to their rows two weeks ago and with the help I had this week we were able to get them mulched with cardboard and hay. 

We are finally seeing some potatoes sending their shoots up through the hay.  As you can see I need to weed the walking rows which are mulched with cedar and pine flats.  These are 'waste' pieces from the milling that goes on at the farm.  I think they make great walkways.  Underneath is weed free soil.  We already have some potato beetles but I just ordered some new row cover from Johnny's Seeds and once it arrives I hope to combat the beetles that way.


Pole beans are doing well though I need to get in some weeding and string them up to the tripods.  Hopefully this week.


Here is Jay, a CSA Member and good friend of the family, volunteering in the garden on a beautiful spring day.  As you can see, he's resetting our mulcher, a Parker Produce invention to allow for easy placement of our grass and hay mulch.  David, another helper who lives across the street from the farm, is coming in with some of the grass clippings we picked up.  They act as a great walkway, suppress the weeds and give our leafy greens and lettuces a nice shot of nitrogen as they decay into the soil.

Here, David places some more mulch between our newly germinated spinach rows.  The cardboard provides extra weed suppression and also encourages earthworms to move in and take up residence in our gardens.

Finally, a shot of the Washington Cherry Tomatoes we've planted from the greenhouse.  I need to get the stakes into the ground to trellis them but other than that they are doing well.  You can see all of the room between plants.  I have more seedlings just coming up in the greenhouse to get a later harvest just prior to the frost this fall.

Hi all, I hope everyone is enjoying the produce.  The rain we have had this week has been a big help in the field.  We're at that point in the summer when the greenhouse begins to be tapped out but the gardens haven't kicked in yet.  It's a transition period that is difficult every year but this rain helps the field crops reach maturity sooner.
Also, we've had quite a bit of excitement at the farm this week.  John and Sue board dairy cows in their pastures each summer for another farmer in the Newport area.  This summer we have twenty cows in the fields right alongside the gardens.  They arrived last Friday and we turned them out on Monday.  If you've never seen cows getting their first chance at pasture, you're missing a treat.  They run and jump and skip and just look like their in heaven.  It's quite entertaining and fun to turn them out.  However, they usually run through the fencing when they first get out, before they know their boundaries.  This year was no exception and in fact, one got across the road and went down into the woods.  It took us all day to find her and get her back to the field.  What an adventure!
                                
Unfortunately, the Kale has suffered a set-back in the greenhouse.  I found some insects on it this morning so I had to pull it and there will not be anymore until fall.  I pulled the Kale because I do not want the bugs to get onto the other crops in the greenhouse.
Anyway, onto this week's share.
New this week...Pink Beauty Radishes.
  I guess I say this about a lot of vegetables but...I love radishes.  They add such a wonderful kick to a salad.  Also, I found this interesting idea on-line.  http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=16273

Also this week, Lettuce mix, which we've had for a while now.  I hope everyone enjoys this mix as much as I do.  We also have Waldmann's Dark Green Lettuce, which is the darker of the two lettuce leaves in your share (it's also the frilliest of the two).  Finally, just as last week, you will also find Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce and Spinach.