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Greetings Everyone,
This past Saturday we were fortunate to be included on a Zoom call hosted by Dr. Stefan Gravenstein sharing information about the most resent COVID-19 research. We were pleased to learn that the farmers will no longer need to wear face masks for harvesting, processing and packing veggies! We also learned that it is best if we continue to follow the same rules for our self service pick-up. We’re reiterating the rules just in case you missed them in our previous newsletter:
- Pick-up Days: We’d like everyone to pick-up on either Wednesday between 1PM and 8PM or Friday 8AM to 8PM. That way those nights we can disinfect the cooler doors.
- Physical Distancing: Only one person at a time should pick up. If someone is picking up when you arrive, please wait in your vehicle until they leave.
- Hand Sanitizer: You must cleanse your hands before entering the cooler. This assures that our cooler door handle and produce boxes inside stay sanitary. We will provide hand sanitizer BUT we ENCOURAGE you to bring your own because we don’t have an unlimited supply.
- Masks: You must wear a mask when going inside our coolers. The reason we require this, is the cooler is a small space and the cold temperature will lengthen the time that the virus remains viable, unlike an outdoor area. If you don’t have access to a professional mask, a bandana is a great substitute!!!
Here is a link to the online store to place your order.
Your Farmers (and cleaning staff),
Carl and Julie
NOTE: Your’re receiving this eNewsletter because you’ve either been a subscriber to MHO in the past OR if you’ve registered for our newsletters from our website. Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter! All orders are due by 8 AM on Tuesday. Pick-ups in Spring Creek are either Wednesday from 1pm – 8pm OR Friday from 8am – 8pm.
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What is new or abundant this week!
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The first harvest of paste tomatoes…. These red paste tomatoes are a San Marzano type, which are known for their meaty flesh with less juice than slicers, making them a great choice for making into tomato sauce. These tomatoes are excellent for bruschetta using bread from Annie’s Bakery. Classic marinara sauce is quick, simple and delicious. During the season don’t even think about purchasing sauce! These tomatoes are perfect for tomato paste, and after making this recipe, you will no longer be wanting to purchase tomato paste. We also love using these tomatoes in salsa roja because they aren’t too juicy. These tomatoes are perfect for fresh picante sauce , that we love to keep a bowl in the frig, because it is perfect tossed in scrambled eggs, salads, guacamole sauce, quesadillas, burritos, etc. Some of our favorite summer salads include; cucumber tomato, tomatoes and sweet corn, marinated tomato salad, skillet BLT Panzanella.
Last week we decreased the portion sizes of our slicing tomatoes so everyone could enjoy a couple!
This week the portion sizes are at a pound, just like they’ve been in the past.
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Yellow Zephyr Summer Squash is JUST starting to mature! This crop has taken its good ol’ time ripening into deliciousness, but how appropriate it ripening for the Summer Solstice. Some have scarring because we think the squirrels are sharing the bounty with us. This is a summer squash, which is a soft skinned, and a very versatile vegetable and always included in our weekly meals while they are in season. One of our “go to†preparation for squash, is grilling it, as we enjoy cooking outdoors during the summer because our house is kept cooler when we aren’t heating up the kitchen. When cooking indoors, roasting squash in the oven, or simply sauteing it with other summer veggies is delicious. Summer squash (or winter squash) is excellent in enchiladas, in quesadillas, or in burritos because you can adapt these recipes to almost any vegetable that is in season. You can’t let a summer go by without making a squash casserole or ratatouille. Then of course, this veggie is great in a gratin or in a torte.
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Our first succession of our summer zucchini is also maturing! Since zucchini is considered a summer squash, how appropriate that it too is maturing with the arrival of summer! This crop has also taken its good ol’ time ripening. Zucchini is known to grow overnight while you are sleeping, but because of our cool weather, the fruit seems to have stayed the same size for a couple weeks now. We feel fortunate to have had an early crop in our greenhouse because it was certainly nice to have a taste of summer early in the season.
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This Weeks Farmer’s Choice!
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Above is Salsa made with paste tomatoes. We love making this and brucshetta, keeping a bowl in the refrigerator because it is a quick and healthy snack.
This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.)
We’re offer both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat Share. Items common in both shares are listed first, followed by items specific to the veggie share the finally the veggie/meat share. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie & Meat share normally has smaller portions of vegetables. )
The following are included only in the veggie share:
The following are included only in the meat share
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What’s happening on the farm!
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The barn guests had to cancel!
This past week we did a lot of cleaning and laundry expecting to have the Swallows Nest Barn Loft booked for a week. However, the guests canceled because their baby had high temperatures. The baby ended up testing positive for COVID-19 so they canceled and Airbnb refunded them their money. We’ve changed our cancellation policy to allow folks to cancel and receive a full refund.
While we have written in our booking instructions that folks cancel if they or anyone in their party has a fever and/or cough, has tested positive for COVID in the past 14 days, or has been around anyone who as tested positive, we’re extremely thankful our guests due diligence in assuring their health and well being before visiting the farm.
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Above Carl is seeding buckwheat in the portion of our field where we’ll be planting fall crops. It’s hard to believe just as summer arrives, we’re seeding greens for fall. Buckwheat is a quick maturing cover crop that will add a little biomass to the soil and it also can make available phosphorus that is in a form not available to plants. If we let some of it flower, it tends to be a favorite nectar source for the pollinators.
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Some bugs loving on the elderberry flowers!
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