Fox Creek Farm CSA Newsletter, week of July 16, 2018

In this newsletter:

Farm News: Garlic harvest upcoming!
Recipe: Kale, avocado and lemon pesto
Details about the garlic work party, Saturday July 21
Spread the word: still shares available ...
In this week's share, and U-pick update

Farm News

Over the last few days, we've been longingly looking at the cloudy skies ... according to the weather forecast, we should have had lots of rain and thunderstorms. Nothing at all passed over the farm, except for a 1/2 inch freak storm on Tuesday. Fortunately, we can fall back on our irrigation system, but the farm could benefit from some nice summer rains!

We are getting ready to bring in the 2018 garlic crop, and we hope you'll be able to give us a hand on Saturday, July 21. There's about 20,000 heads of garlic that need to come out of the ground, and with enough help we'll be able to get the job done in one day. More information further in this newsletter.

And while the rain remained very sparse this last week, the quality of the crops are still exceeding our expectations. The U-pick is looking beautiful. We're so lucky to be your farmers!

Enjoy this week's share.

Raymond and Sara

Recipe: Kale, Avocado, and Lemon Pesto

Carolyn Trombe brought us the idea of a kale and avocado pesto. Serve it with pasta, and maybe another finely chopped sauteed summer squash. Top with grated Parmesan.

Ingredients:

4-5 large kale leaves, ribs removed, leaves chopped and briefly steamed
1 ripe avocado
2 garlic cloves
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup walnuts
about 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Serve over pasta.

Garlic Harvest Party, Saturday, July 21

We'll be harvesting our 2018 garlic crop on Saturday, July 21. We'll start at 9:00 AM in the field, to get about 20,000 heads of garlic out of the ground, and will stop by 4:00 PM Lunch around 12:45.

Please park at the barn. You can leave your potluck dish in the barn (or in the cooler).
We're harvesting in our far field - directions are at the barn, and we'll put out some signage.
We may do some field cleaning of the garlic so we can experiment with curing in the greenhouse - weather depending.
This is a rain or shine event as the garlic needs to come out of the ground.

As always, we'll have an excellent potluck lunch (bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage). The farm will have coffee for the mid-morning break (and bagels).

Come for a the day, or for a couple of hours. This hands-on event is fun for everyone! And we'll barter garlic for your help.

Other farm events:

Saturday, September 1 or 8: Garlic work party (all day)
Friday, September 21: Farm Potluck Dinner (evening)
TBA: gleaning work parties

Still shares available ...

We still have CSA shares for sale for this season - tell a friend! We will pro-rate for the missed shares. This is a great opportunity to give Fox Creek Farm CSA a try!

Winter storage shares - make this CSA season go further by adding a winter storage share. There's about 15 boxes left to be sold right now - a great opportunity to bring local produce from your farm to your Thanksgiving dinner table! Just let us know by email if your would like to add this option.

In this week's share, U-pick update

In every CSA share this week: Lettuce, fresh garlic, summer squash, cucumbers, and kale or Swiss chard. We are rotating beets, arugula, parsley and basil, eggplant and peppers.

U-Pick update: Ready for harvest are Oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, basil, leaf fennel, summer savory, sage, marjoram, chamomile, cilantro, and dill. More and more flowers are ready for harvest, too. It's still a little bit too early for tomatoes, but we're getting closer!

As a reminder, we just ask you to 'cut to come again', i.e. to take a branch and not the whole plant (so it can regrow), and to harvest with the consideration that the U-pick is shared with all the other CSA members.

Your farmers are here to help

If there is anything we can do to make your Fox Creek Farm experience better, please let us know!

Sara and Raymond Luhrman, Fox Creek Farm CSA
182 Fox Creek Farm Road, Schoharie, NY 12157
(518) 872-2375
farmer@foxcreekfarmcsa.com