The recent storm dumped a tremendous amount of rain making it easy for the wind to knock things over. I gently stood each fallen plant back up. Many accepted my efforts and are mostly upright again except for a few of the huge sunflowers.  Somehow we never lost our power. I know many of you are still without it and those of you without generators must be getting a little tired of roughing it right about now. I hope by the time you read this your lights are on, your toilets are flushing and your showers are flowing!

We’re light on the greens this week with no kale, chard or collards. The previous high heat spell made them question whether or not they really wanted to be here! I’m letting them rest and regroup this week encouraging them to regrow for us. I’ve seeded more of each in case they don’t cooperate. We will though, have some young lettuces, baby bok choy and escarole. And……….the tomatoes are here — slicers and cherries. Time for fresh salsa and tomato/basil salads, yum!

This week is fingerling potato week with french fingerlings and a Peruvian fingerling called papa cacho. Both are delicious.

At the market this week:

• baby lettuce
• baby bok choy
• beets
• carrots
• cucumbers
• eggplant
• escarole
• green beans
• garlic
• herbs – basil, parsley, dill, cilantro
• potatoes – fingerlings
• scallions
• winter squash – delicata
• zucchini

Open Fridays 11am – 6pm

If you spent any time outdoors the last couple of weeks experiencing the relentless heat of the beating sun, you know how it feels to be drained. The garden plants deal with it by shutting down as much as they can to conserve their energy. They will slow down or stop flowering, put out little new growth, move precious moisture from their leaves to their main stems which causes them to wilt a bit. Extended heat is tough on even the warmth loving plants like tomatoes and it devastates most of the greens.  The aptly named sunflower appears to take it all in stride, though. They seem to stand there smiling. Their cheerful disposition helped improved mine as I toiled and sweated through the week. Cheer up your house with some. They’ll be available by the stem at this week’s market.

Available this week:

• a few kale, chard, and collards
• escarole
• baby bok choy
• a handful of arugula
• beets
• green beans
• carrots
• cucumbers
• zucchini/summer squash
• eggplant
• potatoes
• scallions
• garlic
• herbs – basil, cilantro, dill, parsley

Open Fridays 11am – 6pm

It’s always a challenge to practice patience when waiting for tomatoes to ripen on the vine. Mine got in later than usual this year as well but they are loaded with fruit. The first cherry tomatoes are beginning to color up. I’m thinking next week we should have at least a few pints. The slicers generally take at least a week or so longer before they start. While the wait is long, we all know a good Jersey tomato is worth waiting for!

In the meantime the green beans are coming in strong, the Asian eggplant is starting to produce and we’ll have some baby bok choy this week.

• Also this week:
• Kale
• Collards
• Chard
• Baby Bok Choy
• Escarole
• Eggplant
• Carrots
• Beets
• Green Beans
• Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini / Squash
• Basil
• Garlic

Open Friday 11am – 6 pm

I love digging carrots and potatoes. I think it’s the element of surprise. I just don’t know what I’ve got until it comes up out of the ground. Carrots tease me with a hint of their shoulders, but they often keep their true selves hidden. Each time I pull a carrot I predict it’s size and shape. I’m wrong more often than I’m right and I like that. There’s no telling what I’ll uncover when digging potatoes. A large cluster of good sized beauties or a scrawny clump of a few puny tots are possibilities. Delight or dismay. Then there’s the outrage of finding that some devilish moles have been feasting on the fruits of my labor with no above ground sign that they’ve taken up residence in the potato patch. I just started to dig the potatoes. I’ll harvest some each week for the next few weeks. So far, so good. Magic Molly are small purple potatoes rich in antioxidants and flavor. Yukon Gem has a buttery yellow flesh with a thin tan skin. It’s yummy.

Along with the potatoes and carrots we’ll also have:

• Fresh Garlic!!
• Collards
• Swiss Chard
• Escarole
• Kale
• Zucchini/summer squash
• Cucumbers – coming out of my ears – 1/2 price sale this week
• Beets
• Herbs – basil, cilantro, parsley, dill

Open Friday 11am – 6pm

Not me! Voles, rabbits and groundhogs are running the show this year. The critters are out maneuvering me at every step. They are exploiting any weakness in the fence they can find. If they can’t find a hole they make one. It’s been humbling. The voles and rabbits are truly bothersome but manageable. One groundhog, though, can do an amazing amount of damage. With Maya no longer here to chase them away, they’ve gotten pretty comfortable and bold. They know I’m no match for them. I’ll keep fighting the good fight but I think it’s time to adjust my mindset and acknowledge that this is a shared space in which we all belong. That said, if anyone knows of a nice fox family or pack of coyotes that are looking for a home, send them my way.

New this week: young carrots and swiss chard.

We are swimming in cucumbers and have plenty of summer squash and zucchini. This is the last of the sugar snap peas. We’ll have some lettuce and spinach but no more for at least a few weeks. It will be a light harvest for kale and collards. Beets, salad turnips, and radishes are available along with basil, cilantro and dill. Coming soon: flowers and green beans (if the groundhog doesn’t get them all first)

Open Friday 11am – 6pm

The heat is coming on strong for the next week or longer! Cucumbers can help beat the heat with their cool, crunchy flesh. I love a cucumber, red onion salad with a little basil or herb of choice. Easy, light, cool and tasty. They are starting to come in now and not a moment too soon. And I’ll have some basil too!

The beets are sizing up nicely and their greens are glorious so be sure to add them to your meal. A light steam or saute is all they need.

This week along with the cukes, beets and basil there will be some summer squash, kale, collards, lettuce, arugula, spinach, salad turnips, radishes, cilantro, dill, scapes and SUGAR SNAP PEAS!

Open Friday – 11am – 6pm

A two week strawberry season is much shorter than any of us would like, but we play the hand we’re dealt. They’re sweet and tasty and they are done after tomorrow. Limited amount available 😦

Hello Hakurei salad turnip and sugar snap pea! The sugar snaps are similar to strawberries in the length of their harvest, usually two weeks and I have a very limited supply. Knowing that makes them taste even better. There are giant heads of romaine lettuce and red leaf, and what may be the last week of spinach and arugula if we get many hot days next week. Also on this week’s list are radishes, kale, collards, garlic scapes, cilantro and dill.

It’s was such pleasure to see you last week, masks and all. Hope you’ll visit again tomorrow. Open 11am – 6pm

We are opening this summer with a limited amount of produce and flowers but also with a limited crew. Without our faithful ambassador, partner and dog, Maya, it will not be the same. We vow to carry on fearlessly in her memory.

Sorry folks! A caterpillar stung Nora on the hand this morning and the swelling would not stop. She is down at the emergency room now and making a rapid recovery after getting antihistamines and steroids intravenously. We don’t know when she will be back home, so its probably safer to come tomorrow.

We will post again today if she is ready to go this afternoon or feel free to call her sometime after 1pm.
– Mark