Broadturn Farm

The clearing in the weather is a delightful change and we are all singing the sun's praises. The weeding party brought 4 die hard volunteers on Wednesday in the rain and a half a dozen on Sunday. Thanks to all who joined us to help clean up the weeds that seem to be enjoying a month of rain.

Well, the story of the crops is much the same....we are still suffering the results of the rain and the garden just seems to be waking up these last few days. We have lots of germination failure from seeds getting washed out and will need to be replanting many crops, including swiss chard, beans, beets, turnips and cucumbers. The effect of a month of rain is, unfortunately, season-long.

If you tried to find us as market this week, we decided not to go. Our yield is still so minimal we felt it best to hold the crops for our CSA members. If you have purchases a Farmer's market share and want to make a plan to come to the farm to pick up something special, please feel free to give us a call.

One benefit of the sun is the blooming of the flowers! This week will usher in the start of our Flower CSA distibution. Bouquets will be available for pick up this week. Cutting flowers is one of my all-time favorite activities. I don't mind climbing out of bed at 5AM to spend a few hours in the flower garden with all that color.

This week's harvest:

• Lots Of Snap Peas!!!
• Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Parsley
• Bunching onions
• A bit of radish
• Dill

Peas- these are snap peas and can be eaten with the pod....like a snow pea. The ideal sugar snap is full of tender peas surrounded by a juicy pod. Given the extraordinarily short harvest window before they turn starchy, peas do not all match that ideal, but dang good anyhow. Here is a link for a recipe for sugar snap peas with radishes and dill.

One other item of note....there is a pick-your-own herb garden for CSA members near the greenhouse. It is complete with tarragon, thyme, sage, oregano, edible flowers (nasturitums, borage and calendula). Please feel free to help yourself to cuttings at any time. If you are looking to dress your salad up with a few flowers, this is the site. The nasturtiums and borage are used whole and the calendula is used by taking the petals off the flower and sprinkling them into or onto your dish. They are beautiful on the top of a chocolate torte! If you have any questions about where it is or identifying the plants, please grab any one of us to help you.

Blessings on the meal-
Stacy and John