The Field Crew Preparing for the Cucumber Harvest

Greetings!
Vegetable of the Week: Carrots
We notice that when ideal temperatures converge with ideal moisture levels, our carrots are of the utmost crispness and sweetness. To store carrots, remove the leafy green tops, leaving about an inch of stems. Refrigerate dry, unwashed carrots in a plastic bag for two weeks or longer. The recipe below comes from TasteofHome.com and was found by searching “carrot cucumbers parsley” in Google’s Recipe search.
 
Gingered Cucumber-Carrot Salad Recipe
~1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced ~2 small carrots, thinly sliced ~2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (or other herb that you enjoy) ~1 tablespoon olive oil ~2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar ~3/4 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot ~1/4 teaspoon salt ~1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a bowl, combine the cucumber, carrots and herb. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, ginger, salt and pepper. Pour over cucumber mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving. Serve with a slotted spoon. Yield: 2 servings.
 
Farmer John Writes…
Summer Nears its Peak
Here come the plump eggplants, the rosy tomatoes, the sassy peppers, the crunchy sweet corn…the fruits of summer…of sun, light, heat and the earth’s mysterious ways. Our farm is so blessed with abundance this year.

These Munchers are not Munchkins
However, the flea beetles are also near their peak, and they have munched their way through all of our mustard greens, such as arugula, baby kale and tatsoi, and even through much of our 4 beds of grown-up kale cooking greens. Once kale gets established, the flea beetles usually leave it alone, but this year, they ravaged the bunching kale after we had already been harvesting nice leaves from it earlier in the season. This generation of flea beetles should soon abate, and we think we will be able to offer you scrumptious bunched kale and baby mustard greens a bit later in the season. About our flea beetle management, we cover most of our mustardy crops with Reemay, a lightweight translucent material, to keep flea beetles out. This usually works. But it seems that the flea beetles are embedded in the soil this year in huge numbers, so when we cover the beds to keep the flea beetles out, lots of them are already inside. Fortunately, we have plenty of other things to put in the box to make up for this shortfall.
 
Reference Guides in your Cookbook
In case you encounter something in your box that is unfamiliar to you, please consult the Vegetable Identification Guide, pages 336 – 338 of your cookbook. There you will find many informative illustrations by Hannah Bennett, a former cook at our farm.

Also, note the Vegetable Storage Guide, pg 339 – 343. This useful guide contains many tips for keeping your vegetables fresh as long as possible. You can also find storage tips here: https://angelicorganics.com/Vegetables/vegetablescontent.php?contentfile=vegstorage

Pickup Tip
A tip that might be helpful for shareholders: bring bags to the drop-site, transfer your veggies from box to bags, then fold & stack the box right away. That way, there’s no need to remember to bring boxes back to the drop-site! ~from Mark McClelland

In case that fold and stack comment above seems too easy, too much like just finish your calculus assignment and hand it in in the next two minutes, one of these videos should nail that box-folding puzzle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3TdPlRXlEo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLYz5JtGFz8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mffXD8U0H6U&feature=related
and from our very own farm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-37m7Trp9oM

Pickup Line
Upon our announcement of the availability of Home Delivery for your boxes http://angelicorganics.wordpress.com/home-delivery/, some shareholders have informed us that they would miss the random encounters with fellow shareholders at their drop sites. This makes me wonder if any romances have gotten their start at a delivery site. Submissions are welcome.

Vacation Time
Lots of vacations are occurring at once on the farm this week. My mechanic, machinery operator, and facilities manager Primo Briano is gone to Mexico, along with his wife Betty (who works for us part time) and their adorable young child Kechu. Greenhouse manager and field assistant Hilliary Oster is on holiday. Growing manager Jonathan Fagan is on vacation. We’re fortunate at Angelic Organics that we have a large enough team of seasoned and responsible workers that several managers and field hands can be gone at once and we can still get the work done well and on time. Back when we were a smaller farm, the absence of just one field hand would tilt us into crisis.

Sure Thing
When people ask me for time off, I almost always reply something like, “people have lives outside of the farm. Do what you want.” I sometimes think that businesses get big so they can get all the necessary work done on time, even if the employees go on vacation.

Another Reason
Another reason we can easily grant time off to our workers is that we’re organized. I should post our numerous organizational documents to the web some time.  Here is an example: a detailed map of our fields and what is growing in them: https://angelicorganics.com/2011FieldMap.pdf

Programs Coming Up at the Angelic Organics Learning Center:
August 20^th:
Food Preserving 101. 9 to 12:30pm: Learn basics of canning, freezing and dehydrating. http://learngrowconnect.org/node/3346
Pizza. 2pm to 7 pm: Make a pizza dinner in our earth oven, using ingredients gathered from the farm.
August 21^st:
Cheesemaking. 9am to 12pm or 1:30pm to 4:30pm: http://learngrowconnect.org/node/3348
Register by Sunday, August 14^th for all of these classes. The Learning Center August Events Calendar: http://learngrowconnect.org/node/3348

Box Contents
Please Note: this summary is written before you receive your box—please be aware that some guesswork is involved. As always, be sure to thoroughly wash all of your vegetables.
Fruiting Crops – Eggplant, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Melons & Hot Peppers
Alliums – Onions
Salad Greens –Head Lettuce
Root Crops – Carrots
Herbs – Parsley, Lemon Balm, Summer Savory