Whew!!! It amazes me that, as dry as it has been, mosquitoes are out in such force. Between the heat and the mosquitoes, this is a time when I think the caged indoor (screened and air conditioned) laying hens have it better than my outdoor girls do. I don’t think the deer flies are bothering them, but they are amazingly thick and tenacious about being close to me. They haven’t been biting but they are buzzing like mad. They even stay with the golf cart as it goes down hill, and are thick on the ceiling. I don’t like them!
I’ve been drinking a gallon of mint tea each day. To adjust to the heat, I have been getting up around 4 (I have to do this on farmers market days anyway), doing chicken chores, then garden work until about 1. Inside until 5 or so and then usually do something that is done from the tractor seat. Tonight instead of tractor work I harvested so I could have things chilling in the cooler overnight. I hate window air conditioning, but gave in and we put our old one in yesterday morning. Cooled the bedroom down so there is a retreat for the afternoon, and got it cool enough to turn off at night. The air stayed cool enough that my usual quiet fan blowing the air around was cool enough to sleep.
My gut feeling is that the offerings are very light this week, but then I look in the cooler and see stacks and stacks of aqua totes and think there is a lot. Maybe it is not packed tightly. I assume you don’t want much that needs to be cooked. I am buying some nice looking mixed greens salad mix from Fledging Crow Farm for you. We have some butterheads and small romaine, but I am also getting some romaine from Fledging Crow to be sure we have enough. They follow organic standards, are on top of a huge aquifer for irrigation, and have a larger labor force than I do so have nice greens. Even with their irrigation their lettuce mix was bitter though.I had hoped to get broccoli from them but there’s went with the heat. Even “heat loving” crops don’t like it above the mid-80s, and broccoli is a cool-loving crop, not heat loving. Another week and we should have some unless it bolts in the heat.
Anyone have suggestions for grilling kale? I personally find summer kale a bit strong for raw, but anyone have ways to tone it down without cooking? Maybe a sweet and sour dressing as cole slaw? We do have lots of really nice kale to use.
Just in case you wonder, when I say we are short of crops, but am going to two farmers markets, I’ve been taking scallions, garlic scapes, and basil since we have lots of that, but mostly being a chicken vendor at the markets. I had one pound of tomatoes and one pint of cherry tomatoes and could not think of a way to be equitable with ya’ll so took them. I’m thinking how good tabouli would be and wishing I had kept them. When we have enough that at least half of you can have some in one week, I’ll keep them back for you. I do plan to have plenty of tomatoes for both you and the markets, though something, I think rabbits, is taking bites out of the field tomatoes.
Morning comes early so I’ll wrap this up. See ya’ll tomorrow (Thursday). Have a good day.