What’s in Upic?……
Thyme Chives Basil
Parsley Cilantro Beans
All Flowers
Summer has arrived with a vengeance this week…ah to be a ripening tomato in this weather. The heat has been a bit intense and the farm crew has wilted slightly. Like the crops that have shallow roots from the constant rain of the early season, we are not used to real summer weather. That being said it is nice to have things feel somewhat normal for the season. In between harvesting chores we’ve been spending a lot of time weeding. The weed family that seems to be thriving this year is grass, more specifically crab grass. I have been saying for the past two months that this is the year to have a lawn mowing business as the grass has been growing like never before. The sheep appreciate this growth in the pastures but the vegetables in the fields do not. Grasses are one of the hardest weeds to beat as they have great root systems and the get a hold fast. Most years we don’t have huge problems with the stuff as we can get in early with the tractor or the hoe and kill them young as they are just emerging. This year the constant rainfall caused us to miss many of those cultivating windows and early hoeing and hand weeding just moved the young plants around, allowing them to re-root in the wet conditions. Few things are as competitive with vegetable crops as grass. The plants make quick root systems that out compete almost anything for water and nutrients –think of your lawn. In areas where we have not been able to beat the grass back the vegetable plants are stunted and have poor color –mostly from lack of nutrients that have been washed out of our soils after so many soaking rains.
We hope to harvest a beautiful shallot crop this week. For those of you who are unfamiliar with shallots they are the close cousins of onions but they have a sweetness that likens towards garlic. Smaller than onions they are easy to do almost anything with we use them for salad dressings, soups and right in the pot when making rice. They store well and taste great raw, sautéed, and roasted. After harvesting they will need to cure in the greenhouse for a few weeks so that they will keep and then they’ll be ready to share with you.
Organic Blueberries will be available this week. There is still time to order for Friday’s delivery if you have missed out so far. Please let us know by this evening (Tuesday) at distribution or by email. These are certified organic, raked the day before berries from Stoneset Farm in Brooklin, Maine. The berry crop is plentiful this year and does not seem to be adversely affected by the poor weather at the beginning of the season. We will have a few quarts for sale in addition to the preordered deliveries and if there is enough interest we may do another order for next week. Let us know if you are interested in ordering for next week and we’ll start a list.
Berry prices are: quart (not pint) for $8.75, 5 lbs. for $25 and 10 lbs. for $48.