Week 10, August 10, 2010

What delicious organic veggies are available this week at Valley Dream Farm?

In Your CSA Bag

Potatoes
Beets or Kohlrabi
Corn
Zucchini
Carrots
Broccoli
Cucumber
Radish
Lettuce
Tomato
Garlic



Also at the Farm Stand

produced locally...*

Blueberries ~ grown in the valley
Maple Shade Farm ~ Maple Syrup
Boyden Farm ~ beef
Twiss Hill Farm ~ Chicken
Free range eggs

* These items are brought into our farm stand to give you a larger selection.


Recipes of the Week

Fusilli with Corn and Tomatoes


News from the Field

We are very fortunate to have such wonderful growing weather this season. Most vegetables like the heat as long as there is plenty of water too. Thanks to our irrigations system we are able to keep the plants growing and the workers are keeping the weeds at bay. It never seems like true summer until the sweet corn begins. We hope you have enjoyed the sweet corn you received last week. Last year our members waited through a cold and wet June and July only to be disappointed to hear that we had over 140 dozen of our corn stolen. It was taken right from the field, during the middle of the night. We have moved the corn closer to home this year hoping to prevent that from happening again. It was around 11 pm when the phone rang and it as the neighbor telling me that there were men and dogs in the corn. I panicked thinking it was the thieves from the year before. Then I calmed down and remembered that we had asked a local coon hunter to stop by.

Corn has many predators besides the two legged variety. Birds love to eat the seeds as they emerge from the ground. We cover the newly planted rows with row covers to help protect the seeds. Birds also like to be in the corn to eat the corn borer and ear worms. Skunks will chew the bottom of the stalk to make it fall over and easier to get to the ears. Bears will roll around and flatten the stalks and then eat some and leave the rest. Most notorious are the raccoons. They have such a keen sense of smell. They know exactly when that corn is ready. They did get into the first planting just as it was starting to ripen. Thanks to the hunters and dogs and the double strand of electric fence, we have seen little new damage. We also try to stay ahead of any bugs (traveling to us by the storms) by using our organic sprays.

This year we have tried 2 new varieties of corn. The first is a smaller ear called"Sweet Chorus" and the second is a larger variety just starting to ripen called "Sweet Rhythm". Let us know how you like these varieties.

Please enjoy your fresh organic vegetables!- Anne Tisbert