The News from Windflower Farm
Hello from Windflower Farm where the weather has been beautiful all week!
What’s in your share?
- Sweet corn (just a little)
- Sweet peppers
- Fennel
- Tomatoes
- Collards
- Yellow onions
- Dinosaur kale
- Squashes or cukes or cabbage
Sweet corn, collards and sweet peppers are this week’s new crops. Collards, with their ribs shaved thin and steamed for a few minutes, or long enough to make them soft and pliable, make excellent low calorie wraps for just about anything. Next week, you’ll get more corn (I hope!) and peppers and the first of our garlic and red cabbage. Your fruit will likely be Yonder Farm’s peaches.
What’s new on the farm?
Organic sweet corn is not especially common in the markets largely because it’s a challenge to grow. Birds, insects, weeds, drought, demanding nutrient requirements – these all play a role. With the early crop, my greatest concern had been European corn borers. And with the later crop, I had been most concerned about corn earworms and fall armyworms. These are all caterpillars, and in corn country they are present in large numbers. But I am now most concerned about the little bandit faced mob that has swarmed our corn. Raccoons are not interested in any of the other vegetables we grow, but we are learning that they love sweet corn. They destroyed half of our first planting this week, and I’m now looking for ways to prevent them from doing the same to our second planting. Nearly the entire farm perimeter is fenced, doing absolutely nothing to prevent them from coming and going at will. They are excellent climbers. An electrified interior fence is an option, as is trapping and removal. In the meantime, we are short of corn. Small quantities of corn can still be useful in the kitchen. Victoria tells me that she’ll carve kernels off the cob directly over the top of a garden salad. We’ll do the same over tacos or bowls of beans and rice. Enjoy this corn starter, this small down payment, and know we’ll (try very hard to) have more corn in the future.
Have a great week, Ted
Central Brooklyn CSA 