This list may change, but here's our best guess of what you'll be getting in your share this week. l

 

 

 

DIGGING RUSHTON FARM

 

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This heat has to be good for something.  

That is all you can say to yourself when you are in the fifth hour of harvesting on a day when the thermometer is hurtling towards 100 degrees.  It is what you are hoping as you watch the parched leaves of the crops curl up and the soil beneath them cake and crack.  It is a mantra you repeat over and over as you spend hours moving hoses from field to field trying to keep thirsty plants satiated.

After a long hot week we did find two things that the excessive heat is good for.  The first is rapid weight loss, although that tends to be tempered by the late night ice cream binges in an attempt to stay cool.  

The second thing this heat is good for is tomatoes.  These are truly the fruits of summer and heat.  Blistering days have helped green globes burn red and turned dense flesh tender, sweet and flavorful.   

The timing is perfect.  In two weeks we will be celebrating these wonderful orbs of goodness at the fourth annual Rushton Farm Tomato Celebration and Potluck Supper.  We welcome everyone to come out and sample the many varieties of tomatoes that we grow at the farm.  This year we are adding a potluck supper to the event to let everyone share in the fresh local foods of the summer.

The Tomato Celebration and Potluck Supper will be from 5 to 7 on Saturday, August 6th.  Samplings of tomato varieties, tomato appetizers and beverages will be supplied.  Simply bring a favorite dish to share, the simpler the better!  It is free for CSA members so come out and enjoy a summer evening on the farm with family and friends.

There will be a registration sheet at pick up for members to sign up, or you can send email to sam@wctrust.org.  The farm Staff can answer any questions you may have.  If you have a dish that may need a few ingredients from the farm ask us and we will see what is available.

Thanks, hope to see you there,  

-Fred, Ashley, Joanna and Lisa

   

I'd like to introduce a new and slightly unusual crop.  This season we are growing a variety of green beans called Royal Burgundy Beans.  They are almost identical to "normal" green beans except for the fact that they have a beautiful purple exterior that blanches to a dark green when cooked (giving you a built in blanching indicator).  We hope you enjoy this unusual bean during the two weeks that it will be in season.

The heat of summer has set in and the plants and workers at Rushton farm are feeling it.  In high temperatures, plants in the brassica family such as broccoli and kale become "spicy" and bitter in the heat.  Lettuce is affected similarly and acquires and unpleasant bitterness.  Water also becomes an issue because the plants are transpiring (their version of sweating) at a higher rate than normal and need lots and lots of water in order to keep from wilting.  As the brassicas and lettuce go out for the summer (look for them again in the fall), the tomatoes, summer squash, peppers and eggplant love the heat and are producing lots and lots of produce - look for increasing quantities of these in the coming weeks.  

With all this dry weather, we've been irrigating constantly to keep our seedlings and established plants happy.  Although the weeds have slowed down a bit with the intense dryness, there is still plenty of work to be done at the farm.  There never seems to be a dull moment when working with vegetables :)   

-Joanna