Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Pirate corn!

So, here is just a quick update of what is going on out here at the farm. We currently have tomatoes turning red every day. If you like fresh tomatoes, come on down to the farmers market, Thursdays at AJ Chandler Park from 3 - 6 PM. We have a few different varieties, so you'd better try a couple of each. Also, squash is bigtime right now. A couple different types of zucchini (gold, grey, eight ball, etc.) so take a few. Now we also have canteloupe and watermelon. Our watermelon is an heirloom variety called moon and stars. It is recognized by Slow Food USA as part of their Ark of Taste collection of endangered flavors. Even when not ripe, it still tastes awesome. We have more jalapenos than you can shake a stick at, and a few bell peppers are coming back, but with this heat they may not last too long. We also have lots and lots of CNG (see last post) sweet pirate corn. Why is it pirate corn, you say? Well, that because it's a buck-an-ear! Sorry, I guess that's not worth laughing at, but with the huge demand for ethanol and all of the flooding in the midwest, corn is at a premium right now. On the bright side, we are just about the only CNG or USDA Organic corn you can buy locally. Lots of corn out here, not much of it grown using organic principles. Well, ours is, and it is delicious. Boil it, steam it, grill it or eat it raw: however you like your corn, this stuff is awesome.

Now, getting ready for fall (farmers always have to think at least 4 - 6 months ahead), we are planting our squash and pumpkins for our heirloom pumpkin patch that will be open to the public. We have 17 different varieties of pumpkin-type squash, from your standard orange to white, blue, green, stripey, bumpy, warty, thick skinned for cooking, hulless seeds for eating... you will have to just come out and see it. I can't predict the future, but my guess is that we will have a wider variety than you can find anywhere else in the valley. If you have a special request for something you'd like to see in the fall, please let us know within the next couple of weeks. Like I said before, farmers have got to think 4 - 6 months in advance, so the earlier you tell us, the better we can plan.

See you at the market!