Porter Farm Happenings-July 24,2010

Pick Up Times
Each Saturday morning we begin our CSA work at 4am! We move all of the harvested vegetables out of the cooler and into our packing barn. By 5am our crew of 8 to 10 workers is ready to begin packing the produce bags. Although we are usually done by 8, there are some weeks where it takes us longer to pack because of the amount going into the bags or the number of people that are working that day. We ask that you please do not pick up your produce before 8:30 to ensure that we have everything ready when you arrive.


What’s in this week’s bag??
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Cucumbers
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Green Leaf Lettuce
• Bunched Beets
• Kohlrabi


Guest Bags
We will continue to offer guest bags to prospective members throughout the season. Please call the farm by Wednesday of the week you would like to order one to ensure its delivery for that week. Thanks for spreading the word!


Kohlrabi!
Kohlrabi is a crisp, lightly sweet vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked. According to our seed catalog, the taste is similar to a turnip with a texture like a water chestnut. A personal favorite here at the farm is to eat it sliced like carrot sticks! Kohlrabi leaves can also be eaten like cabbage or kale.
This is our second year growing this vegetable, and we received many positive comments about it from our members last year. We love receiving feedback, so please let us know what you think about it!


Farm News
It was a wet week here at the farm! Large thunderstorms passed through the area on Wednesday, bringing high winds, hail, and over three inches of rain! We are lucky that we did not receive the worst of the storm--farms to the north of us received 6+ inches! After the storm passed, we went out to assess the damage around the farm. We were worried that the hail might have damaged the growing tomatoes, but luckily they seem to be ok. Our lettuce and peppers (which you may remember us saying were under water back in June) became flooded again. We are glad that we decided to leave the drainage trenches in that we dug back in June, as it looks like these are helping to get the standing water out once again. Finally, our horses received quite a surprise when part of the roof of their small barn was ripped off!
To add to the rain totals, two more inches fell on Friday morning. As we write this newsletter, we're waiting for the rain to stop so that we can begin repairing some of the damages from Wednesday's storm.
Although we have received a lot of rain this season, we actually have accumulated more "Growing Degree Days" than last year. A growing degree day is a measure of heat accumulation that farmers use to predict how far along a crop is toward maturity. According to Cornell Cooperative Extension, at this time in the season last year we had only accumulated 809 growing degree days, while we are currently at 1,407 this year. This means that even though we have received a lot of rain, we have received the heat that is needed to keep our vegetables growing.
During seasons of significant moisture, farmers often worry of the threat of various diseases moving into their crops. As an organic farm, there is little that we can do to combat these diseases once they hit. Diseases such as blight and downy mildew have been found in the region, but so far our vegetables look disease free!
During the dry days here at the farm, we spent some time harvesting and cultivating. We were not able to finish all of the cultivating before the rain hit, and will need to finish this next week. We also direct seeded green beans and spinach, and transplanted broccoli, zucchini, and yellow squash. Hopefully the rain did not flood out the green beans and spinach!


Disappearing Zucchini Orzo
Ingredients
¾ lb orzo pasta
1 chopped onion
garlic, to taste
3 large zucchini (yellow squash can be substituted)
olive oil for sauté
thyme
oregano
¼ cup grated Parmesan or any hard yellow cheese

Directions
1. Bring 6 cups water or chicken stock to a boil and add pasta.
2. Use a cheese grater or mandoline to shred zucchini; sauté briefly with chopped onion and garlic until lightly golden.
3. Add spices to zucchini mixture, stir thoroughly, and then remove mixture from heat.
4. Combine with cheese and cooked orzo, salt to taste, serve cool or room temperature.

Source: “Animal, Vegetable Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolv