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Week 13 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 13 from Valley Flora! Sweet Peppers! Beets!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
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What's Cookin' on the Farm...
  • Dry-Farm Trials at Valley Flora

Dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes and North Georgia Candy Roaster winter squash, grown without irrigation
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What's Probably In Your Share This Week:*
  • Walla Walla Sweets
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Sweet Corn
  • Head Lettuce
  • Jalapeños
  • Sweet Peppers
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Green Beans
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What Might be in your Share Next Week...
  • Onions
  • Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Zucchini
  • Strawberries
  • Collards or Chard
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cilantro?
Dry-Farm Trials at Valley Flora
Drought has been in the news aplenty the past few years, with growing concerns about implications for agriculture in Oregon. A quick glance to our south doesn't paint a pretty picture of what could be in store for us. In drought-plagued California water wars have been raging fierce as the state grapples to balance the demands of urban centers, native salmon runs, and farm production. At the peak of water shortages a couple years ago, almost 2 million acres of prime farmland in the Central Valley - which produces almost half of the nation's fresh fruit and vegetables - were left fallow for lack of irrigation water. Meanwhile, communities were setting up portable community shower facilities to deal with water rationing and many of the state's native salmon runs were - and still are - teetering on the brink of extinction.

A similar scenario is playing out in Oregon's Klamath basin and climate change predictions are suggesting that we're in for less rain in the future, not more. In response, Oregon State University has spearheaded a project with 30+ farmers around the state to conduct on-farm trials growing a few specific crops without irrigation. We're one of those farms this year.

On Memorial Day, OSU professor and researcher Alex Stone arrived at the farm in her pickup, loaded with soil moisture probes, ten winter squash plants and five tomato plants. She took a six foot deep soil profile sample of our field, installed 4 soil moisture probes at 1', 2', 3' and 4' depths, planted out the winter squash and tomatoes on five foot spacing, and handed me a soil moisture reader to collect data with each week.

We got the plants established with drip tape for the first few weeks, but by the end of June had removed all irrigation from the plot. Every week I record the soil temperature, the soil moisture at each depth, and the percentage of squash plants with female flowers and send the data off to the OSU team.

The vigor of the dry-farmed plants has been astonishing. They are side by side with our drip-irrigated squash plants and the dry-farmed plants are actually larger than their irrigated counterparts. They are on wider spacing - 5' instead of 2' - which allows them to forage more widely for water and nutrients. The ground is bone dry these days but the plants don't show any sign of mid-day wilting and the fruit load on both the tomatoes and the squash is startling.

We're keeping yield data on the tomato harvest each week, and will do the same once winter squash harvest commences in September. Those numbers, taken together from thirty different sites, will be key in determining the overall economic viability of dry-farming for farmers around the state. We're expecting the flavor of both the tomatoes and the squash to be superior to that of irrigated plants (less water concentrates flavor in the fruit), and research to date has shown that dry-farmed squash keep in storage significantly longer than irrigated squash.

I'll let you know what we learn later this fall. Hopefully the research will help contribute to evolving solutions in the face of shrinking water resources.
The dry-farm trial plot planted to North Georgia Candy Roaster winter squash, Winter Sweet winter squash, and Early Girl Tomatoes
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
Every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!

Fresh Produce
U-pick Strawberries
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Please note our hours are slightly changed from year's past, closing at 2 pm instead of 3 pm
 
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2018 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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Lifelong dream blossoms in retired gardening guru's Coppell flower farm - Dallas News (blog)

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Dallas News (blog)
Lifelong dream blossoms in retired gardening guru's Coppell flower farm
Dallas News (blog)
She also composts all garden refuse and raises worms, whose castings go into compost tea, a home-brewed, organic fertilizer rich in microbes that feed the soil. Vanhoozier is undeterred by the extreme heat, ... The proprietor of Bishop Hill Farm ...

Customer At Chase Bank ATM in Short Hills Robbed At Gunpoint - TAPinto.net

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TAPinto.net
Customer At Chase Bank ATM in Short Hills Robbed At Gunpoint
TAPinto.net
SHORT HILLS, NJ - Millburn Police announced that a patron of Chase Bank in Short Hills was robbed at gunpoint last night at 9:30 p.m. while using a drive-up ATM. Two men in masks are seen from security cameras approaching the bank's customer from the ...

and more »

Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with the HOG Farm - GreaterBabylon (blog)

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GreaterBabylon (blog)
Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with the HOG Farm
GreaterBabylon (blog)
Below, chef Zach Rude of Verde Kitchen & Cocktails and Coastal Kitchen & Daiquiri Bar and Sean Pilger of the H.O.G. Farm in Brookhaven Hamlet talk about the importance of variety and the power of fresh, local ingredients. You'll also find out what they ...

Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with HOG Farm - GreaterPatchogue

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GreaterPatchogue
Island to Table: Zach Rude of Verde, Coastal teams with HOG Farm
GreaterPatchogue
Below, chef Zach Rude of Verde Kitchen & Cocktails and Coastal Kitchen & Daiquiri Bar and Sean Pilger of the H.O.G. Farm in Brookhaven Hamlet talk about the importance of variety and the power of fresh, local ingredients. You'll also find out what they ...

Community-supported agriculture seeks outside-the-box solutions - Gazettextra

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Gazettextra
Community-supported agriculture seeks outside-the-box solutions
Gazettextra
That was really their option,” Huth said. “Fast forward to today, you can go to Kwik Trip and things there will have a certified-organic stamp on them.” Even nonorganic operations have recently struggled to compete as local produce becomes more available.

Between the Rows: Farmstands, farmers markets support health of residents, economy - The Recorder

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The Recorder
Between the Rows: Farmstands, farmers markets support health of residents, economy
The Recorder
This year, 265 farms and landscape/garden centers, 64 restaurants, 43 retailers, 24 institutions and 16 specialty producers joined together to raise awareness and sales of locally grown farm products. The organization also works with 10 local farms to ...

Local farmers take agricultural expertise to prestigious Italian conference - Newnan Times-Herald

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Newnan Times-Herald
Local farmers take agricultural expertise to prestigious Italian conference
Newnan Times-Herald
The Cunninghams also teach local residents about the Slow Food Movement through a variety of classes on the farm, such as planting crops, organic gardening methods and preserving produce. They also provide recipes on how to prepare meals with fresh ...

Calhoun farm participates in Atlanta Farmers' Market - Northwest Georgia News

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Northwest Georgia News
Calhoun farm participates in Atlanta Farmers' Market
Northwest Georgia News
While Rise 'N Shine does not participate in Rome's farmers markets, much of the local communities are becoming more aware of the owners and the local organic farm. Besides the CSA deliveries, one main way Rise 'N Shine markets their produce is through ...

Week 12 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 12 from Valley Flora! Sweet Corn!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
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What's Cookin' on the Farm...
  • Oh August!
  • Strawberry U-Pick Update

The kind of Harvest Basket that makes me wish I was a Harvest Basket member....
-->
What's Probably In Your Share This Week:*
  • Walla Walla Sweets
  • Carrots
  • Strawberries
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Sweet Corn
  • Head Lettuce
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Green Beans
  • Sweet Peppers
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What Might be in your Share Next Week...
  • Onions
  • Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Zucchini
  • Strawberries
  • Sweet Corn
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Beets
  • Chili Peppers
Oh August!
It's so easy to eat right now. Without recipes, without a dinner plan, just come home and start cutting up vegetables and see what happens. Maybe you'll turn on the stove and dirty up some pans, maybe you won't. On Sunday eve we fired up the grill on my mom's back patio, perched there in her backyard overlooking the quiet farm. We grilled burgers and topped them with butterhead lettuce and roasted peppers and fresh heirloom tomatoes and broiled eggplant. We were out of ketchup and it didn't matter; those burgers were so flavorful I was glad there was no Heinz distraction. Then came the sweet corn, first of the season (had to eat 3 or 4 ears apiece to make sure it made grade before we put it in the Harvest Baskets this week). And finally, blackberry pie by candlelight with hand-cranked vanilla ice cream. We were three generations sitting there in the dark, wrapped up in borrowed coats against the fog-chill, filled up by August.

This week marks the kick-off to sweet corn season, which should go on for many weeks this year. We planted more corn than ever in hopes of dragging that wonderful August feeling all the way into October if we can. The patch wasn't uniformly ripe yesterday so I had to cherry-pick the fattest ears for today's totes and farmstand. It means there isn't a motherlode of corn this week (4 ears instead of 6 or 8), but it also means there will likely be corn for you again next week.

Often during corn season we lose track of our kids on the farm. It's the rustle of the corn stalks that always gives them away. From a distance you can track their progress down the row as they leave a wake of rippling corn tassels. At the other end of the field they emerge triumphant, holding up ripe ears of corn like trophies. They shuck them right then and there and eat them raw like little raccoons.
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Strawberry U-Pick Update

Our Albion Strawberries are starting to come on strong in the new u-pick field! They're later to bear fruit than the Seascapes but worth the wait. The berries are huge and easy to pick, with flavor that'll knock your summer sandals off. Our strawberry patch yields well into fall and it's a sweet little secret that the August/September fruit tends to be the sweetest and most abundant (especially once the school year starts up and everyone is at Saturday soccer games....now THAT's the time to fill your freezer).

Hope you can come get your fill in the coming weeks!
The Albion strawberry patch coming into full production!
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
Every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine!

Fresh Produce
U-pick Strawberries
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Please note our hours are slightly changed from year's past, closing at 2 pm instead of 3 pm
 
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2018 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

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