Where is Gumby, Potato Harvest and Garlic

Hello from the farm, 

It's another week full of twists and turns.  We started off the week Monday morning by finding out that Gumby has been stolen, disappearing sometime after 8pm Sunday night and Monday morning.  When the birds realized that Gumby was AWOL, brazen hordes of them swarmed in to feast on blueberries.  We were not happy campers.  The next day, Bob came in and rigged up a "Gumby knock--off" and we were keeping back the birds again.  We dug right into the garlic harvest and we are thrilled to have an excellent crop this year.   

We spent a good bit of time hand weeding in the sweet potatoes--it is absurd how quickly the red root and lambsquarter weeds can grow in just a week.  We continue to have an endless litany of difficulties with our farm van and are looking to replace it soon.  We also began the potato harvesting this week, looking good. :-) 

WHERE IS GUMBY? FARMER GUMBY STOLEN - $50 Goodwill Gift Card Reward for his safe return.
Goodwill at Homefields Farm's Gumby was stolen sometime Sunday after 8pm. We need him back to keep the birds away from the berries!  

If you have information related to his whereabouts, please email concerns@yourgoodwill.org. We are offering a $50 Goodwill Gift Card for his safe return. Thank you. — at Goodwill at Homefields Farm.

Pick Your Own field Update:

Please wait to pick things in the herb beds and Pick Your Own field until you see it listed on the Pick Your Own/Herb boards, so things reach the correct height, stage or maturity.

If we've overlooked something, please let us know!! :-) 

Flowers:  see flower board at distribution area
**observe that CLEOMES have thorns**

Basil: cut only the top third of stems to allow for regrowth.  

Garlic drying upstairs in the barn. Once cured this way it can keep for a long time. 

It's tater time :-)  This week's Spotlighted potato is the Eva potato. Boil or steam in salted water until soft for that "new potato" experience. We ate some at lunch and enjoyed them very much.  

Stephanie the Breadbaker:

Serving Suggestions for the harvest this week:

Garlic: it is so nice to have fresh garlic. For maximum health benefit, cut and let stand for about 10 minutes to oxidize and thereby form the beneficial compounds. Not just super tasty, garlic also is known for reducing blood pressure, heart disease and cholesterol.

Carrots: carrots are really good roasted in the oven with some coconut, olive or peanut oil. Of course they are also good as carrot sticks or in salads. 

Beets:  these are good roasted or grated raw in a salad. For more work :-) look up a borsht recipe online. 

Walla Walla Sweet Onions:Mmm, what could be better than carmelized Walla Walla sweet onions?  Take a heavy frying pan, put in a big pat of butter (the pendulum now has swung in butter's favor)  and a whole mess of sliced onions and fry medium low stirring every five minutes or so until golden brown. Wow.  Then, put on top of fried egg and cover with your favorite cheese and broil.  Perfection! 

Eggplants:  We really like the long slender Asian type eggplants! They are user friendly, mild and great for grilling with soy sauce, miso etc on the grill or use in any recipe that calls for eggplant--in short, treat them the same as the Italian "bell-type" eggplants.  

Kohlrabi: sort of a mini-broccoli little crunchy dude, these are tasty raw and taste kind of like mild sweet broccoli. Usually eaten raw.  Some people peel away the outer layer.  I ate one this morning unpeeled and enjoyed it.  

Cucumbers!:  while most people don't usually drool over cucumbers, maybe they should over these. We don't like to boast, but these cucumbers are fabulous. Check out the Poona Kheera cucumber from India--they are golden brown when ripe, very crisp and juicy and never bitter. A real winner. 

Summer Squash:  add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook unless you like soft consistency.

Scallions: These mild-mannered onion family folks give an easy onion flavor to salads, sandwiches, stir fries and more.  Or you could do the old classic buttered bread and sliced scallion treat: my grandparents talked a lot about enjoying them in spring.  "A good spring tonic" says my 101 year old grandma. 

  

Goodbyes: 

Greens: these succumbed to the heat, with the exception of chard which continue to grow through the summer heat. We like to fry these in a skillet with butter or coconut oil until crisp, add some onions and saute them as well--a superb topping for rice, fried eggs or stand alone too.

Broccoli: Broccoli is dicey as a spring crop and the heat has made it flower and diminished its quality--look for a new crop in fall. 

Garlic scapes: we hope you enjoyed the delightful flavor of these. In a couple of weeks the garlic bulbs will be ready! 

Lettuce heads: these have run their course and are stretching skyward--a precursor to bolting--flowering to make seed.

Lettuce mix--the leaves have given it their all and are now finished.  

Green garlic: this is garlic harvested before the base swells and becomes a bulb. It has a milder flavor than bulb garlic and can be used anywhere garlic is called for. Keep refrigerated as you would green onions/scallions. 

Cilantro: this herb has run its life cycle and is "bolting" or going to seed.  

Enjoy the harvest! 

Your farmers