The month of June is considered strawberry season in this neck of the woods but with the variety we have planted (seascape) our strawberry season last for 6 months out of the year. Above you can see Tione supervising the strawberry picking and Suzie's Mom lending a helping hand in the harvest (we truly are a family farm!) Tuesday and Friday are our strawberry harvest days. Tuesday we harvest for the CSA and Friday for the Sat Market in Roseburg. In the peak of strawberry production harvesting can take two people up to four hours a day. Today as we picked my Mom asked me what my favorite crops were to harvest.. definitely not the strawberries only because it can be so back breaking. My top two favorite crops to harvest are melons (love to see them turn yellow and then slip right off the vine) Also I love harvesting eggplant.. moving along the row with a sharp pair or pruners cutting the beautiful fruits and piling them into the box gives me a feeling of satisfaction.
And finally the sweet corn! It could have gone another day before harvesting to really fill out the kernels but if we waited until next week it would not be good. This is our first planting of corn! We have three more plantings maturing so there will be more to come! The variety we grow is a bi-color sweet corn called Luscious. Corn is the best picked straight off the plant, prepared accordingly (alot of times for us in the field preparing simply means peeling back the husk and munching!)and eaten. Immediately after picking sweet corn the sugars in it begin turning to starch. It is especially good grilled on the bbq.
Unfortunately this year has not been a good one for our sweet peppers. You will get a few today but it is a sad harvest compared to last year when we were literally harvesting wheelbarrows full of the fruits. Many of the peppers that have formed have developed huge scabs that are caused by the sun (called sun scald).. it happens to tomatoes as well and you may have noticed a bit on your raspberries (the white areas). Early this week I went through and removed bucket loads of the peppers that were the worst marred from the sun scald. If you notice a small spot on any of your peppers simply cut that part away, the rest is still good!
Potluck Sunday September 18th from 2-6pm! Please RSVP
Harvest This Week Includes:
Sweet Corn
Shallots
Red Torpedo Onion
Ambrosia Melon
Sweet Pepper
La Ratte Fingerling Potatoes (please wash well before enjoying)Don't worry about peeling these.. very thin skinned!
Beets
Strawberries
Raspberries (hopefully enough for all)
Basil
Cherry Tomato Mix
Heirloom Tomatoes
Summer Squash
Eggplant
How to Store it and Enjoy it!
La Ratte Fingerling Potatoes.. please excuse the mud on these. Their skins are so thin that we tried to rub dirt away and ended up rubbing off all the skin. They should be stored at room temp until ready to use. Only wash right before cooking!
This is the first time we have grown this certain variety of fingerling and we are very impressed with its high yields... will definitely be planting more of these next season. We will have two more varieties of fingerlings for you all to try as well.. French fingerling and rose finn. yummy!
More info about La Ratte fingerlings....
Long prized by French chefs as a top quality fingerling it is an absolute delight to cook with. Long uniform tubers, yellow flesh with firm waxy texture and a nice nutty flavor, holds together very well. Especially good for potato salad or as a boiled potato. Commands a high price both in the restaurant and fresh market trade
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