Lloyd Craft Farms Fresh Produce, Locally Grown

Thanks to everyone who participated yesterday– Great Day!  We hope to continue the Buyer’s Group next Fall after the garden is done– But take this opportunity to gear up for FRESH, LOCALLY GROWN produce and be a part of our CSA.  Learn how to preserve the best of the fresh for dead-winter…Freeze it, dry it, can it, or pickle it!  This will provide you abundant nutrition during the winter months when the Fresh is not available–

A few notes on the produce yesterday:

Locally grown, Regional Produce:  Wasn’t it great to have fresh bok choi, turnips, spinach, cilantro, and lettuces all grown locally!  Remember to wash the greens–first you want to remove the grit and dust from the garden, but second we growers by-law can not wash your goods for you without having a Food License and inspections…technically if we cut the lettuce apart and triple wash it, we need a commercial kitchen.  A clean table with a commercial salad spinner and three carefully maintained tanks filled with new water for each washing does not cut it with the Food Safety people.  So, wash your vegetables!

Persian cucumbers:  eat them as soon as you can.  If they are moldy or spoiled throw them out!  They are a thin-skinned cucumber and were shipped in from Mexico.  We raise Sultan’s here on The Farm–excellent flavor but a poor shelf life and easily spoil.  Refrigeration is hard on thin-skinned cukes, so they are best consumed promptly.  For all the Buyer’s Group members…we will give you fresh cukes in July when ours are ready!  I have your names–  🙂

Haas Avocados:  I cut open three at noon and they were brown inside.  They are still okay to eat, but the texture and color is not ideal.  Avocados normally begin to brown after you cut them open–this is oxidation, a natural process.  But if the inside is brown when you cut it open that is bruising from rough handling, or damage caused by severe temperature changes or other man-made causes.  If it is pulling away from the pit, or has pock marks of brown that is spoilage.

I so look forward to having our own produce–so much is lost in shipping and in the mandated food handling and processing…nutrition is leached away the longer the fruit is off the plant.  Fresher is better, right off the plant is BEST!

Thanks, The Farmer’s Wife