That's really all there is to it.  I am sorry for the short blog this week but when time is crunched that's logically the first thing to suffer.  I have a lot to say but no time to write it.  The most important thing is that green beans are here.  One of many favorite times of year for me in the garden.  There are tons more but as anyone who has grown beans knows, you can't touch wet bean plants.  They get a fungus and die prematurely.  I couldn't resist though and tried to wait until they were dry after rain last night.  Hopefully you all enjoy.

Hi all:
I hope everyone has been enjoying the wonderful stretch of weather we've had.  It has rained nearly every day in the garden but only for a few minutes at a time and it alternates between sun and clouds.  If the whole summer had been like this it would have been the perfect growing season.  As it is, I'm happy to have it now.

This week's share is very exciting from my point of view.  Each year I get better and better at what I do (who doesn't?).  Part of the reason is that I pick one or two things and make them my 'projects' for the season.  Some are planned, others arise during the summer.  These projects are usually things that I have tried in the past but not had success.  I hate failure and simply don't accpet it.  A good example of this is the tatsoi you received in your share this spring.  Never had luck with it, did some research specific to that crop and put extra time and effort into growing properly.  Now, I won't have to work so hard in the future because I know the specifics.  This year's pre-planned projects were tatsoi, sweet corn and onions.  We had no onions last year because I didn't have the equipment necessary to make them successful in our cold norther climate.  This year, if the current onion greens crop in the gardens is any indication...we'll have a bunch.  Keep those fingers crossed.  I can already see that next year's projects will include celery (a dismal failure for me this year) and watermelon.  Both failed because I don't have the right equipment.  Hopefully next year that will change.
To make a long story short, I've never had good carrots because I never put in the time to weed them.  This year, I decided on a whim to force myself to weed our fresh carrot patch (the storage carrots now need to be weeded the same way) no matter what needed to be done.  This amounted to a combined 24 + person hours of weeding, mostly in the pouring rain, and now I'm going through as I harvest and touching up.  It was totally worth it.  Barring an unforeseen carrot fly attack we will have an awesome crop of carrots.  Those in your share today are just the beginnings of our thinning process.  I hope everyone enjoys them.  Carrots are one of those things I point to when people ask me the difference between what I grow and what is available in the grocery store.  There simply is no comparison and nothing like a sweet, crisp, perfect smelling carrot right from the earth.  Carrots provide another example of needless waste as well.  Most people don't know this anymore but almost all plants with one edible part are edible in their entirety.  Carrots are no exception and in fact, they stand out only in that the leafy, fern-like tops of carrots are incredibly good for you.  They contain an amazing amount of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin K which isn't in the actual carrot root.  I found a great little website that gave me the idea of carrot-top pesto.  I am having some right this minute.  See my entry on the recipe page for basil pesto and simply substitute the carrot tops for the basil.  Delicious.

You'll also find garlic scapes.  These are the beginnings of flowers (for all intents and purposes though that's not actually what they are) on the garlic greens.  They are not only edible but delicious.  Don't eat the little bulbil at the top (you can but it's not that palatable at this point based on the lateness of harvest).  The rest of the stem you can eat as you would garlic.  I used it in the carrot top pesto Emily and I just had for dinner.
Also this week is a fresh round of crisp summer spinach, a lettuce mix consisting of Black Seeded Simpson and Baby Tango, more edible peas pods and a beautiful head of Red Romaine.  Just to let you know, this red romaine is a winter lettuce.  That usually indicates that in hot weather it will grow and bolt (go to seed) very quickly.  I try to keep records of planting dates and harvest dates.  This romaine was planted in blocks on April 20th.  Lettuce is not normally a crop you can expect to take nearly 90 days to reach harvest size.  That indicates how wet and cold this spring and summer have been.  Hopefully, that's behind us and I can get some real work done in the gardens.  Until next week, enjoy.

Hi all:
Well, it's raining now but it seems like summer may be making an appearance at long last.  Three sunny days in a row at the farm and I hardly know what to do with myself.  We've had some issues related to rain and bugs in the gardens which have put us behind a bit.  I'll be replanting pumpkins today since the entire crop was lost.  The same goes for zucchini although those were pulled by one of the hundreds of groundhogs that live in our stone walls.  As an ethically motivated gardener I refuse to shoot or drown the groundhogs.  But they do make life more of a challenge.  They also like cabbage leaves so I'll have to replant those as well.  Such is the life...
On to happier things.  I want to thank those of you who have responded to our call for assistance in the garden.  We have even had one member come out to the farm to weed for a couple of hours.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  The offer is still (and perpetually) open to anyone who wants to come to the gardens and spend some time enjoying the great outdoors, helping us get our weeds under control and see a small bit of what goes into the production of the garden's bounty.
This week's share includes some new lettuce that has just become available.  Black Seeded Simpson lettuce is a nice, light, pale green leaf.  It is excellent in salads or on sandwiches, burgers, etc.  Full shares will also find Waldmann's Dark Green Lettuce in their lettuce bag.  I am trying to conserve plastic bags so I put all the lettuce in one.  Next year we hope to use something other than plastic but until then we'll do the best we can to cut down on the usage of this petroleum product.  Below is Black Seeded Simpson and Waldmann's Dark Green Lettuce, respectively.  Waldmann's is much more showy with such a frilly leaf.

Also this week, another round of this year's scallions.  The rest of the onions are coming along nicely though they, perhaps more than anything else, need the sunshine.  Onions are perhaps one of the pickiest crops we try to grow though they are fairly easy to take care of.  They need a certain number of hours of daylight at a certain time in their growth or they won't form large bulbs.  We're hoping that the month and a half of rain hasn't set us behind so much that they miss their window in August.  Otherwise we'll have lots and lots of beautiful onion tops and no bulbs.  Keep your fingers crossed.
Also available this week is another round of mint.  I hope everyone enjoys the scent of this wonderful herb as much as I do.  I always enjoy harvesting mint, especially when I've also dug some scallions or other onions.  It cuts the scent of the onions in the milk house (which can be quite overpowering in such a confined area.
Finally, I put in some more peas.  The bags were a little light this week, not because there isn't a lot available (which there really isn't yet) but mainly because I spent the better part of Friday morning harvesting peas.  2 1/2 hours in fact.  Peas are a great crop because they are easy to plant and require very little care.  However, they are a royal pain to harvest and take a long time.  I think next week I might try to harvest them on Thursday evening to save time on Friday.  Also, peas harvested in the evening will have a sweeter flavor because they have had all day to convert sunshine into sugar.  Enjoy everyone.

Hi there everyone.  We had one day of sun this week and it was glorious.  On Tuesday at about 11 am the sun came out and the clouds parted.  I could almost hear the entire farm:  garden, pasture, trees, chickens, pigs, cows, everything, collectively break into song (oh and me too along with a little Irish Gig).  We need the sun badly as the plants haven't been able to reach their full potential in photosynthesis and this has left them smaller, weaker, and otherwise behind their normal productivity.  But things go on...
This week's share is a special one.  It is always a treat to have the first peas of the season.  This week's bag of peas are just the first taste.  I conducted an experiment by planting peas in seed blocks and transplanting them into the greenhouse starting in late February.  I wanted to see how soon I could get them going in there.  I lost three crops until the one that bore today's peas took hold in late March.  Voila.  The peas in your share today are snap peas which means they are an edible pod.  You can just remove the stem and the small brown string that appears at the end of some of them and pop the whole thing in your mouth.  They are delicious raw which is how we eat them in the Parker household (mostly because we can't wait until they are cooked and Lizzie loves them).  They are also a great addition to salads and stir-fry ideas.  I hope everyone enjoys.  There are several more rows out in the garden that are about ready to start producing and when they do (assuming we get sun eventually) they will be even better than the ones you have today.
Other than that you also have the first of this year's scallions.  The scallions you've had in the share prior are from last year that overwintered.  Today's are first year, spring scallions and they look great.  Also in the share is lettuce, chard and full shares received spinach.  The spinach has really taken a hit with this weather.  Spinach is such a funny crop.  It hates the heat and bolts almost instantly when the heat comes.  But it also hates the cool when there is lots of rain.  It doesn't grow quickly and the slugs love it!  Oh well, we'll get summer eventually and I'll be complaining that it's too dry (I should just bite my tongue and take it as it comes).  Enjoy and happy holiday.