This Week's Vegetable Notes - by Diana Nolden, assistant growing manager

Across the road from our north fields is a parking lot full of service utility trucks. I have never been sure what business is being run from this lot, but everyday you can see trucks coming and going. The joke started my first season here when I wrote about leafminers for the newsletter. Bob told me this lot of trucks was actually the leafminer coalition looking for me, because I was out to eradicate them from our farm. I don’t know if I have let my guard down or the coalition has changed their tactics, because we are under attack.

Leaf miners are a small fly that emerges in early spring. They lay eggs on the underside of leaves on such plants as spinach, chard, beets, and lambsquarter. When the maggot hatches it tunnels into the leaves and feeds for a few weeks. When they are ready to pupate, the maggot drops into the ground and in approximately 4 weeks time a new adult fly will emerge and the cycle begins again. Since their life cycle is so short many generations can be completed during a season. They can also over winter in the soil. The damage from the leafminer is most prevalent during the cooler spring and fall weather, usually subsiding during the hot summer months.

There are different methods for combating leafminer flies. Some practices include crop rotation, using floating row covers, removing damaged leaves, and organic sprays. In recent weeks our method of attack has been spraying with crop guard (a garlic yucca mixture) and agroneem, (from the neem tree) both antifeedants. During our first harvest we removed the mined leaves from the field to be destroyed. Also, beneficial nematodes were applied in the spring with the intention to eat the soil dwelling maggots before they can pupate.

Just in the past week the chard looks amazing! Some might say I am biased (see newsletter week 1), but that is compared to what it looked like before. Even with our success we have to be diligent and keep fighting the good fight. I have seen the coalition and their utility trucks, but I am not scared. In the end I know who will be sharing the beautiful greens and who will be crying.

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What's In Your Box
Bob writes...via Shelly...

-list ordered according to vegetables I, Diana, find most exciting!

Please note: this box summary is written the week before you receive your box. Some guess work is involved: some things may be in your box that are not listed, and some listed things may not be in your box. As always, be sure to thoroughly wash all your vegetables.

The page numbers listed below refer to cooking tips and recipes in Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables as provided to shareholders.

ROOT CROPS

Beets-yummers! make them into beet burgers and use their greens, too; pp. 55-62

Kohlrabi-purple or white; crisp and delicious, pp.201-204

Young Turnips-scarlet queen red stems &/or white hakurei; bagged with spinach; use greens in a salad or tossed in a stir-fry, pp. 129-135

Radishes-bagged with lettuce; use greens just like the young turnips, pp. 129-135

COOKING GREENS-pp. 81-94

Spinach-the last until fall

Kale-look to the swap box for this

BRASSICAS

Broccoli-pp. 248-252

SALAD GREENS-pp. 136-141

Lettuce-heads of 2 star, new red fire, black seeded simpson, adriana, and/or magenta; if we set up a blog we can have pictures to help identify vareties. Sometime we will survey varieties.

Totsoi-mild mustard green; use in salads or stir-fry, pp. 76-80

ALLIUMS

Scallions-deep purple &/or white spear, pp. 121-128

Garlic Scapes-tasty in a salad or use intern William’s link, pp. 185-188

FRUITING CROPS

Zucchini & Summer Squash-great in a tomato sauce with cooking greens; I made this yesterday, pp. 145-150

HERBS-pp. 102-120

Basil-store properly, it doesn’t like water or the refrigerator

Possibly New Next Week

Cucumbers, Cabbage, Cauliflower

 

 

 

 

(Please be aware the point of view changes throughout this piece.)

Today, Tuesday, June 24th is an extra busy day as we pack vegetables and do many other things at the same time. So, I, Bob, am dictating the newsletter to Shelly while managing 6 different activities with varying numbers of crew members. 4 people are transplanting fall cooking greens, cabbage, and cauliflower; 9 people are bagging lettuce and other greens for the pack. The greenhouse is being watered by Stacey. Diana is direct seeding cilantro, dill and other crops. Primo finished mowing and subsoiling and is currently rotovating additional ground for transplanting. Soon he will irrigate our fall carrots to encourage even germination and then he will spray our potatoes with kaolin clay and mycotrol, organic products which discourage potato pests. Plus the office is managing all of the administrative activities for which this newsletter column must be provided.

“Where’s my transplanting clipboard? Oh, here it is in the truck attached to the water tank,” says Bob. “Keep up with me, Shelly. I need to take the wagon of transplants with the other truck to the fall transplanting crew. Push now, Shelly. You can write this down later. At least it’s downhill”, Bob says, while pushing the wagon with the broken tow. (I, Shelly, am writing now, Bob will pick me up to continue his dictation.)

Diana’s having trouble with the arugula remnants from the previous planting, as she direct seeds mizuna. The shoes on the transplanter are clogging up with arugula leaves. Bob says, “I wasn’t really thinking today would be quite so busy because there’s not a fruit pack.” However, transplanting and direct seeding before it rains are significant additions to any workday. “So, thanks for coming to help, Shelly”. Bob comments, “I’ve been thinking about doing a farm blog to supplement the newsletter, detailing all of the farm’s happening’s, including lots of photos, but I know I don’t have the time to write it. So let me take this opportunity to solicit a volunteer shareholder skilled at writing and taking pictures who is also willing to check in with me (Bob) for 15-30 minutes per week to compile such a blog.”

Now Bob is temporarily distracted because they are finished bagging the lettuce; Diana has finished her direct seeding (her tractor is smoking), the water tank is full… He’s now directing some more transplanting of the kale and collards. I hear Bob say, “Why is today so crazy, Diana?” “The things we haven’t been able to do the last couple of weeks because it was so wet, we’re trying to get them done today because we have such a big crew,” says Diana to me (Shelly). Primo solves another problem. “Is that Joanne driving in?”Bob asks me.

Back to the blog--final approval would be needed from Bob, and it would be published on the Farm webpage. A local person would be best, so that it’s easy for them to come out for taking photos. If you’re interested, send an email to Shelly at CSA@AngelicOrganics.com.

That’s a wrap; now back to the office to get this dictation typed up and into the newsletter!