Dear CSA Member,
The first week is always very busy and full of activity! We have been busy cultivating the fields, transplanting new crops, planting the sweet potatoes, seeding fall crops, and getting the fields ready for the next set of plants that will be ready in the greenhouse. We are expecting some heavy rains to come through within the next couple days and need to get as much done as we can beforehand. Compared to last spring we have had a cool damp and very windy days. Last spring there was no rain and it was just about 80 degrees every day. The early spring greens are really enjoying the moist soil and are growing happily!
It is that time of year again, get your salad spinners out! Lettuce, Lettuce, Lettuce! Greens will fill the bulk of your share this week. It has been a long winter and, I don’t know about you but, I am ready for some fresh salad! This week you will be getting Mirlo Butter Head Lettuce. This is a new variety this season that we had a lot of requests for. We found this great red and very tender variety to try this year. You will also be getting a bunch of Red Cherriette Radishes along with, a few other varieties of lettuce to go in your salad. You can chop up the radish leaves nice and fine. They make a great addition to your salad.
Some of the spring greens such as the Box Choi and Chinese Cabbage will have small round holes in the leaves. This is caused by a tiny insect called the Flea Beetle. We have worked diligently to keep the number of beetles under control by using a very long cloth called row cover. We will walk the row cover out over these specific beetle loving crops and stake the row cover down every five feet. These beetles still manage to outnumber us. They only left cosmetic damage and will not in any way affect the flavor of the greens.
The Stoneledge Farm website has some great recipes if you aren’t sure what to do with an item you can refer to our website or, if you have a great recipe for an item you would like to share please email the farm and I will gladly add it to our recipe section. info@stoneledge.farm
We hope you all enjoy your first week’s harvest! Below are a couple notes for this week.
Enjoy the Harvest,
Candice for everyone at Stoneledge Farm