Michael Heller (first photo, smoking a hive to calm the bees), Alex Outten, and Jared Planz welcome six new hives, six new queens (never too much royalty around here), and lots of honey! Photos by Jared and Michael.
│ Announcements │ This Week’s Share │ U-Pick │ Recipe │ Coming Soon │
Announcements:
Thanks to a new sponsorship from Hannon Armstrong, we are able to start some new farm projects, such as this new enterprise of selling honey. Hannon Armstrong is an investment firm headquartered in Annapolis that focuses on solutions to climate change. Thanks for your help and your great work, Hannon Armstrong!
We’re not sure yet when we’ll have honey ready to sell from these hives, but you’ll be the first to know! In the meantime, the bees will be doing great work pollinating your crops and the wild plants all around the farm.
Worried about being stung? Don’t bee! These bees are located almost a quarter mile from the CSA pickup area and a safe distance from anywhere you’ll be walking around.
We haven’t had a significant rain since July 2! That’s a mighty long time when it’s this hot. We were able to get water this week onto the most desperate crops, thank goodness. But you’ll see a dip in production.
This Week’s Share:
Tomatoes
Bell pepper or sweet pepper
Garlic
Potatoes
Onions (red and yellow)
Cucumber
Squash
We have a small amount of several items. You will probably have a choice from a few of these: okra, eggplant, chilies, and tomatillos.
Elissa Planz sets out a gorgeous display. Photo by Diane Williams.
U-Pick:
One of the reasons you may not cook with more fresh herbs is that they are expensive. But now that you’re a CSA shareholder, you have an entire library of fresh herbs ready for you to pick in abundance, all week long. They’re ready to transform a meal from blah to spectacular!
And the FLOWERS! Don’t get me started…
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
Lots of basil of various types!
Sunflowers, Zinnias, Cosmos and Tithonia
Recipes:
This week’s share is begging for a potato salad, don’t you think? Here’s a way you can make it work with whatever is in your kitchen this week. I’m not going to give you quantities. Just look at what you’re cooking and imagine—how much of this do I want to eat tonight? And then multiply that by the number of people eating with you.
Cut your potatoes into bite-size chunks, put them into a pot of water with a tablespoon of salt. The water should be about an inch above the potatoes. Boil them until fork-tender (about 20 minutes, depending on size of pieces).
If you’re willing to heat up the oven or grill, roll your small onions whole in oil (olive oil works great). Also coat your squash pieces in some oil. Roast or grill until they are fork-tender and browned, or even a little charred, in order to get those sugars caramelized. (If you’d rather, you can do the potato pieces this way too, instead of boiling.)
That was it for the cooking. The rest of the ingredients are tossed in raw. Consider tomato chunks, handfuls of fresh herbs (such as parsley, chives, and lemon basil), and cucumber chunks. I love olives, so I would add them or capers. To each their own.
Mix up a dressing:
Minced garlic clove (or if any of you are smart enough to still have some scapes, this is a perfect time to use one or two)
If you didn’t add chives above, add a minced shallot here
Olive oil (about 1/3 cup is good for a pound of potatoes plus a few cups of other ingredients, so start there)
Lemon juice and zest (start with juice from half a lemon and add more to taste)
Salt and pepper (start with about a half teaspoon of each)
A spoonful of mustard
Stir it all together and voila!
If you’re looking for a fun, quick way to brighten up your meal, try pickled shallots. This recipe from Feasting at Home is nice, and it definitely gives a hamburger or taco an upgrade.
Photo by Diane Williams
Coming Soon:
Right now, you’re seeing a lot of large, red tomatoes. But that won’t last long. Pretty soon you’ll be seeing more variety of shapes and colors, and you’ll be asking us where the big red ones went.
Squash and cucumbers will continue through mid-August.
Potatoes will switch from yellow to red soon (probably next week).
Onions and shallots will continue for at least one more week and probably more.
We’ve just gotten irrigation on the peppers, which should help. Some of those very hot evenings diminished their flowering. And you can’t get the fruit without having flowers first. This was an even bigger issue with the eggplants, which are also glad to have a bit of irrigation right now.
Chili peppers look good and should increase in production very gradually through October. At the beginning, expect all the chilies to be relatively mild. They increase in heat as summer progresses.
The okra plants are only about a foot high, but they’re creating their first pods. As they get taller, they bush out more, and each plant generates more pods per day. Last year, they got to be 12 feet tall! That was a little crazy.
Of course, garlic. Need I say more?
The beans petered out for lack of rain. We’ve got a new round about to start producing and just got water to them. You’ll see those beans in a few weeks.
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.