Lloyd Craft Farms Fresh Produce, Locally Grown

Just got a message from Ft Causeway, our natural meat supplier– They have 2 Lamb Variety Packs available with the 20 Pork and Beef Packs reserved for Lloyd Craft Farms CSA.  The lamb is more expensive, but if you’ve ‘shopped’ for lamb you know where the pricing is compared to Beef and Pork.  Pack Price is $90 for 10#’s:

The next Fruit Share will be Picked Up Monday, August 5th, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.  This SHARE will be completely ORGANIC.  A different supplier than the first share, it will be fun to see how it measures up!  More strawberries, and new Dark Sweet Cherries…citrus, apples, and oranges. 

This is also the day of the delivery of the Meat from Ft. Causeway–Meat and Fruit Shares can be picked up at the same time!  (Order you meat by July 31st–)

YAY!  Eat well and prosper–   The Farmer’s Wife

Congratulations! First Pick Up Day of the 2013 SEASON has passed–Gourmet Salad Mix, zucchini, 2 varieties of cucumbers, blue kale & Swiss chard, and yellow smooth skinned Antohi European Frying peppers! The Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday people were ‘awarded’ eggplant; Friday had to ‘settle for’ cauliflower–florets of all shapes and sizes…some not so white and maybe only 4 heads perfectly tight white clusters. We had exactly 18 heads that needed harvesting–the rest to follow later in the season. A blessing as at one time we thought we had lost all the cauliflower to the heat!

My congratulations to the garden for stretching itself to accommodate 85 recipients of all numbers and sizes. A first for me: I witnessed 180 foot of zucchini plants totally harvested! We started the week with ‘boats’ and ended the week with the exact number of small salad size to medium zucchini for the Friday members. We could not have found one more zucchini–each plant had given its all! With the five day rest now for the Eggplant, which also gave what it could, we will resume this week…in lesser numbers for the Half and Full Shares. What to do with Eggplant? Check the RECIPE page for #30. Eggplant & Goat Cheese Sandwich, a good lesson on broiling eggplant, and #43.a new Ratatouille recipe using eggplant, zucchini, and your Antohi peppers.

Shares for this week? More of the same with the addition of cabbage. Peas have set their length and are now filling out. Grape tomatoes are setting on but still green. Lettuces are between stages: Salanova not quite ready, Mini-heads a couple weeks behind the Salanova, Full heads filling out and adding stature. The Gourmet Mix we just harvested will take a week to ten days to regrow for the next harvest. We have Red Russian Kale and Blue Kale for the greens this week. We will also be harvesting the kohlrabi for one of the Pick Up groups.

Last week’s surprise herb was fresh dill–we will have that and a new surprise herb. What to do with these tender little bursts of flavor? Chop them up and add them to whatever you are cooking…dill is great finely chopped and added to a tossed salad or your vinegar cucumbers (half & half water and vinegar with salt and pepper, and at least two of the Tasty Jade cucumbers…the long ones). My very favorite is fresh dill in my potato salad.

You all did great! Tuesday was my eager beavers arriving 15 minutes early. Wednesday was the perfecto delectables- in and out in an hour and 15 minutes! Thursday, the biggest number of Full shares with an equal number of Half Shares, were the stragglers…but it was a sad day with the passing of our friend Kevin Anderson and his funeral that day at the Middle School. (Our prayers for Stephanie, Brittany, and Glenn…the school will have a void to fill in the Math Department. He will be missed by ALL.) Friday was the lightest day with only 15 Pick Ups which gives us time to assess the surplus and get it distributed to Bee Healthy and Nature’s Corner in Thermopolis, and our special friends at the Apple Apartments. We were able to give the cooler the week-end off and will give it a good cleaning Monday before we start filling it up again!

Rest well my friends–see you again starting Tuesday, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Farm. Bring your egg money and Meat Orders for the Pork Variety Packs from Ft. Causeway. I’m working on more eggs–following a couple of leads!

The Farmer’s Wife!

Wow!  The First FRUIT SHARES are here and most of them gone–We had a generous container of red grapes, organic strawberries in the Half Shares, and gooseberries from Montana–Pink Lady apples, Clementine’s from Chile (California Cutie’s are out of season), purple plums, and limes for our citrus. We also had a special little pear called Forelle. My guess was that probably Forelle meant “little pear” in French–but I was way off base…

According to http://www.specialtyproduce.com, one of my favorite spots to find out about all kinds of fruits and veggies, the little pear first came from Germany and means ‘trout’ which refers to its coloring.

Here’s what else it said:
Forelle pears are a petit, bell shaped pear with yellow skin that is dotted with crimson red freckles (known as lenticles) signaling the pears’ maturity. Only ripe Forelle pears will possess qualities that highlight the pears best virtues. Ripe Forelle pears are fragrant, their flesh, crisp and firm yet juicy, with flavors bright and candy sweet.

There’s your lesson for today—Forelle Pears!

Have fun and see all you Thermopolis members and Worland members A-C for the FIRST VEGGIE PICKUP today, Tuesday, July 23rd, 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

The Farmer’s Excited Wife

The Fruit Shares are here–I need to sort through them today, but the STRAWBERRIES are very good and RIPE. I don’t think they will keep until Thursday or Friday…maybe not even Wednesday. Right now they are in the cooler at 46 degrees–optimal for fruit–but starting tomorrow and for the rest of the week we will be in and out of the cooler as we add new veggies–temps raise each time we do that!

SOOOOO…for this week, until we get the other cooler up and going and can isolate the fruit and keep the temps consistently cool, I would like to invite the Fruit Share people to PICK UP their Fruit Share on Monday. Thermopolis people could probably wait until Tuesday…but if in Worland on Monday, feel free to stop by!

Apologize that for this week you may need to visit us twice–Fruit Share Pick UP on Monday and Veggie Share Pick UP later in the week.

PICK UP TIME 4:30 to 6:30 pm–See you then–The Farmer’s Wife

THE COOLER IS WORKING! The part we ordered Tuesday–after the part that came Monday did not fix the problem–the Tuesday-delivered-Thursday part fixed it. Rick Mead, with The Tractor Guys, came today and recharged the refrigerant, so it is now ready for the fruit that will be picked up tomorrow at Boja Farms and Costco.

Wow! We are gearing up for Pick UP’s next week–Tuesday starts A-C and Thermopolis Members. Check the PICK UP INFO page for more information. Remember to bring your own bags and money for EGGS and PORK—I have 10 dozen eggs and 50#’s of natural pork to be purchased individually. (Eggs $2.75 or $2.50 if you bring your own carton–Pork $4-$7.50 per pound, depending on the cut.)

If you were on the installment plan, your last payment is due–

Things are looking good in the garden and we anticipate a generous share of Gourmet Salad Mix, Eggplant, Zucchini (and extras to take), Kale and some Swiss chard, and a few Antohi peppers. I also will have a surprise herb. Grape tomatoes are green but looking good–soon to come….hmmmmmm…YUM!

And, real quick, let me tell you about the Cauliflower. We tried a new variety this year that proved disastrous–it did not handle the heat and the heads went UGLY!! Yesterday when we were assessing the damage and pulling plants, easily half, we found our favorite variety from last year was A-OK and we even found 8 heads that were white, round, and beautiful. We don’t have enough for everyone, as sometime happens, but when we get 20 we will surprise one of Pick UP groups with a Cauliflower. I keep records so that by the end of the season everyone will get their share!

SEE YOU SOON! The Farmer’s Wife

Orders so far are for 40# of Pie Cherries, 3 gal Red Currants, 3# Gooseberries—order due by 6PM today—

Pie Cherries–$4-$5 per pound
Red Currants–not confirmed
Gooseberries–$8.40 per pound

Terms–Order today, I pick the order up Saturday in MT, you pick it up and pay the following week with your Veggie Share.

For those not CSA members, you can pick it up Tuesday-Friday from 4:30 to 6:30.

A good question came up yesterday–I wish I had a definitive answer…but let me elucidate–The question was, “When will the last Pick Up be?”

We are two years into the CSA, but 14 years into farming. What I can tell you is that every spring is different! The average growing season in our region is 16 weeks. That is an average–based on the last freeze in the spring to the first frost in the fall. Hoophouses, floating row covers, and planting the right varieties of veggies can extend the season which translates into the amount of time you can harvest.

We will make every effort to extend the season as long as we can–but I can’t give you an exact end date no more than I was able to pinpoint a first pick up date. My preference for first pick up would have been mid-June (Plan A), or even the last week in June (as last year), but Mother Nature operated differently this Spring for us and other farmers, and we are now into Plan B (ASAP and use our tools to extend the season).

The late season start has not been the only delay. Our three fights this season have been poor germination, flea beetles, and purslane–Our strategy is to increase germination by more moisture and keeping the ground temps more consistent (long garden hose and shade cloth), mass extermination of the beetles and wood ash this fall to kill any that might overwinter in the ground, and continued hoeing and weeding on the purslane. (I have learned to wear a weight lifter’s belt…probably has a different name…and it has helped me tremendously with the back-breaking bending. I’m a new woman!)

We are excited for you to visit the farm next week! Pick up will start July 23rd for A-C and Thermopolis members; July 24th for D-G and Basin & Greybull, and Ten Sleep members; July 25th for H-O; and July 26th for P-Z. The garden looks amazing and though it has not been a perfect year, it has been a productive year.

For those new to the CSA, this is how it works: we harvest what is ready and divide it up among the members. With four harvests and four Pick UP days theoretically we will harvest 1/4 of the row and then divide it up among that day’s members.

For example, I had to harvest all the zucchini yesterday as it would not wait until next Tuesday. We had OVER 80 #’s–that would calculate out to one pound per member. One pound of zucchini is roughly three medium zucchini–that’s a fair share for starts, don’t you think?

The Farmer is yelling at me to get off the computer and come and eat dinner–His treat: PIZZA!

Holding my breath for next week- The Farmer’s Anxious But Excited Wife

PS-The cooler is still not fixed. The part they sent did not do the trick, but another part is coming Thursday. I am totally confident that we will get it up and running–that’s why I’m a Farmer’s wife!

PIE CHERRIES are available from BOJA FARMS–our fruit supplier.  Pie Cherries are a little tart for the Fruit Share, but they make wonderful pies or pastries, or can be frozen now for wine-making in the Fall.  Brenda, our little wine-maker extraordinaire, has advised that you need 3#’s of cherries for wine.  By freezing them they give more juice than crushing them now. How about another wine-making class in the fall–hands-on and in stages??