Super volunteer, Ray Steiner, leans into the job of weeding oregano. Photo by Elissa Planz
│ Announcements │ This Week’s Share │ U-Pick │ Recipe │ Coming Soon │
Announcements:
Ray keeping us entertained at wash time, 2008.
This past Saturday, our dear friend, Ray Steiner passed away. Ray volunteered with us for nearly 20 years, which gave us plenty of time to adore his terrific sense of humor and story-telling. He came to us after a career as an air traffic controller and then doing the same task for satellites, keeping them from colliding in space.
Ray found a thousand ways to be helpful. When a crop excited him, such as shiitake mushrooms and hot chilies, he would take charge of large jobs on his own. He patiently plugged mushroom spawn into hundreds of logs. He planned our chili varieties, harvested them every week, and gave a report at the end of the year of which varieties were most successful.
He frequently appeared with gifts when we needed them, such as markers, baskets, spray nozzles and his own homemade salsas. He knew how to be useful without being instructed, but was also happy to take instruction and do drudge work when it needed to be done.
Ray at a farm party, telling a great story. Photo by Lewis Tannenbaum.
We loved Ray for his zest of life. He threw himself joyfully into baseball, skiing, craft beer and friendships. His family and friends became volunteers and friends of ours, simply because they assumed if Ray loved the farm, it must be a blast. Thank you, Ann, for sharing your husband’s time with us. We are so grateful to have had him in our lives.
This Week’s Share:
Tomatoes
Bell pepper
Garlic
Potatoes
Onions (red for sure, possibly some yellow)
Cucumber
Squash
Basil for members who pick up at Dupont and Annapolis (if you’re picking up at the farm, the herbs will be fresher if you pick your own.)
Ray picking flowers. Photo by Lauren Schnabel.
U-Pick:
In the fields:
Kale and collards (last chance!)
In our herb and flower garden behind the washing station:
Anise hyssop (licorice flavor; makes a nice tea)
Basil (Genovese, Greek, Thai, Round Midnight, Lemon, and Tulsi)
Cilantro
Garlic chives
Onion chives
Lemon balm
Mint
Nasturtium (peppery, edible leaves and flowers)
Oregano
Sage
Shiso
Sorrel
Thyme
Lilies, Echinacea, Yarrow, Gladiolus and other flowers and ornamental greenery for your vase.
Blackberries (a few short rows to the right as you approach the CSA pickup)
In field G2, which is beside the parking area, next to the washing station:
Parsley
Cilantro
Lots of basil of various types (This is a great time to pick basil—freeze pesto for your winter pasta and dry Tulsi for tea.)
Sunflowers! Zinnias, Cosmos, Tithonia and Cleome flowers
Recipes:
Consider replacing pasta noodles with zucchini or yellow squash “zoodles”. This is easy with a spiralizer, but if you don’t have one, you can cut the squash into matchsticks for the same effect. This recipe for Veggie Noodles with Basil and Tomatoes can be made with any type of fresh tomato chunks.
Everyone loves a pretty Martha Stewart recipe, right? This one uses just the right amount of tomatoes, potatoes and onion. Super simple and easy.
Coming Soon:
Next week, our third succession of summer squash kicks in so they’ll be looking fresher and prettier.
Our main crop of tomatoes will increase in production over the next few weeks, and soon we’ll have cherry tomatoes and some other heirlooms in our U-Pick field.
Potatoes, onions and shallots will continue for several more weeks.
Bell peppers have started for the summer and after some delay, we’ll start seeing some of the sweet red and orange peppers, as well. We’ll pick our first hot chili peppers this week, and but only a few. It will probably take a week or two before we have enough for everyone.
We start picking okra next week! There won’t be much at first, but it will gradually increase. (Not nearly as much as last year, though, which is some relief to us. Last year was overwhelming!)
Eggplants are struggling. We’ll get a few within about two weeks, we think, but probably not much overall for this summer.
About 50,000 garlic bulbs are now stashed in the barn. We’ll save roughly half for next year’s seed so we can keep you safely in garlic for eternity.
Thank you for Supporting our Farm!
CLAGETT FARM
Wednesdays, 3:00-7:00 P.M.
Saturdays, 1:00-4:00 P.M.
DUPONT CIRCLE DC
Wednesdays, 5:00-7:00 P.M.
ANNAPOLIS
Thursdays, 4:00-6:00 P.M.