• Basil (Thai, lemon, red, sweet)
  
• Epazote
  
• Parsley
• Beans
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Plum Tomatoes
  
• Hot Peppers
• Tomatilloes
• Husk Cherries
  
• Flowers

CSA shareholders can visit the farm to pick your own Sunday through Thursday during daylight hours. Visit the red pick-your-own kiosk in the fields for a list of available crops and picking supplies.

The tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa or Physalis philadelphica) is a small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit surrounded by a paper-like husk formed from the calyx. As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be any of a number of colors when ripe, including yellow, red, green, or even purple[1]. Tomatillos are the key ingredient in fresh and cooked Latin American green sauces. The freshness and greenness of the husk is a quality criterion. Fruit should be firm and bright green as the green colour and tart flavour are the main culinary contributions of the fruit. Some maintain that the uncooked rather sticky fruit has the unusual taste of toasted cheese

Fresh ripe tomatillos will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks. They will keep even longer if the husks are removed and the fruits are placed in sealed plastic bags stored in the refrigerator. They may also be frozen whole or sliced.

I know you are all getting tired of hearing me say this, but it's pretty dry out here on the farm. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, our area is down almost 40% from our average rainfall -- great growing conditions for lots of folks but very challenging in our fields,
with their light soil.

The main problem, beyond the simple fact that crops needs water to grow, is that organic soils that are very hot and dry are essentially inactive -- nothing decomposes, all the soil life retreats lower down where it's cooler and wetter, and so nutrients that are in the very dry soil around the crops' root zone are not made available to them, slowing their growth and maturation. Since we depend on the decomposition of organic matter in the soil to feed our crops, verything is coming along more slowly that we would like.

Our drip irrigation is working well, and we've been able to fertilize the tomato and pepper crops with fish and kelp emulsion sent directly to their roots via the drip lines. They are pretty happy and starting to produce, as you'll see this week. We've been moving irrigation pipe daily, paying particular attention to the new seedlings that we've planted over the past few weeks. This past week, a problem with the water meter on our irrigation has meant that we can only irrigate half a row at a time, doubling the time it takes us to water.

Besides our water issues, we're still dealing with our woodchuck friends, who take one bite out of 20-30% of our summer squash every time we go out to harvest. The hot weather has been great for the growth of our next crops of cukes and squash, though, so we should continue to have small but steady harvests from now on.