Volume 22, Week 9

Full share & 🥬 green 🥬 half shares

218 Gates Avenue between Classon and Franklin
(IMPACCT Brooklyn at the Gibbs Mansion)
5:00 to 7:30 pm

Fort Greene Granola and Pleasant Valley Farm have their first deliveries today! Signups for granola are closed, but you can order extras from Pleasant Valley Farm anytime - they deliver on green weeks, and orders are due at midnight the Tuesday before delivery. Take a look at their wares and order something special for next time!

This week’s share

  • Cucumbers

  • Kale or Choy

  • Yellow wax beans

  • Yellow onions

  • Fennel

  • Lettuce

  • Tomatoes

  • Red onions

  • Fruit: Blueberrries from Yonder Farm

  • Extras: bread, eggs, granola, and Pleasant Valley Farm extras

From Ted: “Beans, peppers and eggplants are beginning to come in, tomatoes and squashes are yielding well, and sweet corn is just around the corner… it must be summer in the Upper Hudson Valley.”

News from Windflower Farm

Distribution #9, Week of July 24

Another inch and three quarters of rain fell since I last wrote, but most of that was early in the week, and a drying out has already begun. Sunshine is expected for the next few days. We took advantage of our first opportunity to get tractors in the fields to fling compost and shape beds on Thursday, and by Friday we had transplanted lettuce, kale, choy and chard and direct-seeded spinach, cilantro, and green beans. My outlook is a little brighter today.

A soil health tour came through here mid-week. My role was to describe our cover cropping and composting. Turnout was good, but the lack of complication in our cover cropping might have been a disappointment to some in attendance. In spring, we use oats and peas, and in fall, we use rye and hairy vetch. Both blends add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil, improve soil tilth, reduce erosion, and suppress weeds. That’s all there is to it, off to the next farm. In my experience, simple is best. Perhaps, in some future where we have more land than we need for vegetables, and more time to sort things through, we’ll add complexity. 

It’s steamy hot this morning. Hobbes the cat is playing dead again, legs splayed and undignified (Jan tells me he’s “splooting”). I slow down enough to confirm that he is still breathing and then head to our onion cleaning setup, where Jan, Nate and I will prepare some onions for shipping to our friends at Denison Farm. They represent our side of a trade that will provide carrots for you a little later in the season. In this weather, farmers have had unexpected successes and failures, and swaps make sense.

Have a great week, Ted

Recipes

After seeing last week’s swap box, I feel compelled to make the case for fennel - it’s GOOD (!), versatile, and loses the licorice-y flavor quite a bit when cooked! So, here are 68 fennel recipes from Bon Appetit, and 1 from Smitten Kitchen :).

Did you know? Our website has recipes, food storage tips, and information about the vegetables you might come across in your share!

 
Veronica