Mother Nature always has a way of reminding us who is in control. It is certainly not us.
The past few days we were busy accomplishing a lot of jobs, and we were beginning to feel pretty good about how things were looking in the garden.
This weekend, we put up the electric fence around the sweetcorn to protect it from curious creatures like raccoons. The fencing is powered by a solar panel.
We irrigated the tomatoes this week to provide for more even moisture throughout the growing season as the tomatoes grow.
Rain water captured from the roof of our shop is used to irrigate the crops. We use gravity flow to move the water to the plants.
Last night, Mother Nature moved in with a vengeance with straight winds over 70 mph. The skies were green which usually means hail. We were fortunate to not have the hail or tornadoes at our place. Others in the area were not as fortunate. Rain came with the winds, but difficult to measure with the force in which it was upon us.
When the skies had settled and it was safe to emerge from our house and our basement. We felt blessed to only have branches scattered throughout the yard, no trees were down. We still had all of the buildings. The crops were there, while they were a mangled mess.
I was thankful that we made a mad dash to harvest a few crops that grow above ground before the storm hit. They would have likely been damaged from the winds and blowing debris.
Sweet corn standing tall tasseling this weekend. The thoughts of sweet corn in the near future.
The sweet corn was flat after last night’s storm. We are not real hopeful of pollination occurring from the tassel to the silks on the ears of corn after last nights storm.
In the background you will see our neighbors field corn. What this photo does not show, is that it to was affected. While the genetics on the field corn plants have been selected to withstand high winds, only time will tell what the end harvests will look like for all of these crops. We are thankful that we did not have hail or tornadoes last night.
The popcorn was not yet pollinating so there is still hope for a crop. We need to inspect the corn plant more closely to see if the tops of the plant are still intact.
Garden Science
Have you ever taken the time to notice the differences between the plant stems and leaves. It is really fascinating the shapes and textures.
Take a look at the spikes on the stem and the cucumber itself.
The burble beans stems are purple. While green bean stems are green (check those out in the photo below).
Pumpkin stems feel hollow compared to other plants. While they are round, they are not perfectly symmetrical. They to also have little prickles on them.
Boxes of Produce
This list is prepared before we harvest your share. Some guesswork is involved! We do our best to predict which crops will be ready to harvest, but sometimes crops are on the list that are not in the share, and sometimes crops will be in the share even though they’re not on the list. Remember food safety in your kitchen when preparing, always wash your hands before working with your produce and always wash your produce before eating.
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce – With a lot of lettuce in your boxes, check out Martha Stewart’s lettuce salad recipes. Some of the crops are ran under cold well water to take the field heat off of them so they last longer in your refrigerators. They are not washed – just cooled. So remember to wash your vegetables before eating.
Prizeleaf and Red Oak Leaf Lettuce – I love these beautiful lettuces – Prizeleaf is green with reddish tips and Red Oak Leaf is a red lettuce leaf. They add such a wonderful color to salads and sandwiches.
Kale – Here are some recipes for this vegetable.
Kohlrabi – You either have a purple or green kohlrabi in your box. Look here for more information on how to use this vegetable.
Beet – Dark Detroit Red Beets – The University of Minnesota provides direction on how to pickle beets here.
Sugar Snap Peas – A healthy harvest for you – eat the pod and the peas. These are a shareholder favorite. Fact: Minnesota is the second largest state for growing green peas for processing (meaning the peas will be frozen or canned peas like we buy in the store).
Green Beans growing from the flowers of the plant.
Green Beans – Enjoy the first of the season. Here are some recipe ideas from America’s Heartland.
Radishes – French Breakfast radishes – radish recipes.
Summer Squash and zucchini – The zucchini took off this week. Here are some recipes to try from Taste of Home. Learn more about the golden egg hybrid.
Onions – Yellow onions this week.
Fresh cut arrangement – hosta leaves, lilies and sweet peas.
Recipe of the Week
Veggies on the Grill
Many of you have mentioned that you like to put your veggies on the grill. I simply combined a variety cut into 1/4 inch slices, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled some Kosher salt and arugula on them. The beets added a beautiful color to the dish.
