We’re harvesting the first of the garlic for the shares this week!  It’s baby fresh garlic—not cured at all—and the crunchy cloves barely need peeling before their flavor bursts through.  Use it like you would garlic in any recipe, but know that it might be a bit stronger than the cured garlic you’re used to. 

In just a couple weeks we’ll be putting out the call for help on our huge garlic harvest day.  That’s the day that we’ll be harvesting ALL the garlic (as in thousands and thousands of bulbs!).  It’ll get bunched and hoisted high into the second story of the barn to cure for the following month.  The harvest day will probably take place on a sunny day during the last week in July, so keep your calendar open if you want to be part of the fun and go home with an armload of fresh garlic!

Speaking of sunny days… what is with the rain?!  It’s a beautiful weekend now, but the intense downpours we got over the last two weeks have left our fields feeling like May all over again.  Ankle-deep mud, in July?!  The combination of that rain and the lingering effects of the cold and wet spring have left us in a bit of a lull between crops.   Some things seems to be jumping ahead (sweet corn and husk cherries are growing like crazy). But some things, like the lettuce for mesclun mix is sad and waterlogged in the sodden fields.   At least the tomatoes are in the greenhouse, protected from all this rain and growing great! 

One of the really fun things this week was getting to read the article published about HCF in Cultivated Days, an online magazine written and photographed by Prairie Stuart-Wolff.  It’s a gorgeous publication, and her photographs of the farm are amazing.  Read the article here. 

I’m emailing this newsletter from Canada where I am all weekend for a roller derby tournament (having never left the farm for three days in the middle of the summer before!), but I left the Saturday harvest and the Sunday delivery in very capable hands.  Thanks to Bill and the crew, the Sunday delivery should go ahead as smoothly as usual!  

Have a great week, let me know if you have any questions, and don’t worry—I haven’t forgotten about the blueberry orders!  The email for that will be coming to your inbox some day soon. 

Reba and the HCF crew  

CSA Week 6 of 18:  Kale, Fresh Garlic, Zucchini and/or Zephyr Squash, Cabbage (Savoy or Green), Cilantro, Bok Choy and/or Kohlrabi and/or Scallions  

This week’s recipes:  Easy Peanut Kale, Kohlrabi?!, Mushroom & Zucchini/Zephyr Quesadillas with Cilantro Pesto   

Week Six Cheese Notes from Appleton Creamery

Click here for a picture of Brandon Gordon heading out on an early morning squash harvest!