This Wednesday marks the Summer solstice when the duration of daylight reaches it’s peak. It is a time of year that we are waiting for and working towards for months. The official start of summer means a lot of things to a lot people, but to many of the plants we grow and love it signals something a little more powerful. With the hours of light decreasing more and more with the passing of each summer day. Plants switch gears knowing that it is time to relax, growing big and strong. Going to bolt or setting seed is mostly a thing for the spring. The goal for said veg now is to reach their full potential survive the winter and be ready to set seed next Spring. Now we are not a seed farm(though those are truly essential) so our goal is a little different. We do still want to let things grow big and strong. But instead of seeds in the spring we want to harvest the veg this summer, fall and early winter.
That philosophy applies however only to the veg the we harvest for their leavers or the whole head itself, those thing we grow all year, not to the hotter weather tubers and fruiting crops. The potatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cukes and yes tomatoes that we love so much become the focus of our summer work. They are sweet, delicious and loved by us but they are also very demanding, requiring often twice daily attention(if we can find the time). Certainly, part of this grand design which sets up long summer days must be a lover for summer veg and possess an understanding of the hours needed each day to complete all the toil and harvest. We could certainly be categorized as misleading if we were to say anything but that this time of year there truly is more to do than time and hands allow. One summer time philosophy is that of farm triage, something we usually look to in the heat of July. Perhaps our approach of reacting to this idea is wrong. Proactively accepting that yes we can’t perfectly accomplish every goal on our list and inevitably somethings will fall to the wayside, might just be a better course. Viewing our summers’ work through this lens might just allow for less things to make the cut list and more of those ambitious plans be seen through to completion(or at least that’s the idea we’re sticking with this morning).
After a couple of weeks with inconstant markets between cancellations, our own absent mindedness and graduations, we can assure you that we will be attending all four of the markets this week and weekly throughout the Summer. Durham Thursday 3-630, Madison Friday 3-6, New Haven Saturday 9-1 and Chester Sunday 10-1, remember preorder is an option for each one of these markets. Another new addition to our preorder options is Sweet Sage Bakery’s bread. We are now offering three loaves available for Pick Up Friday at the farm in Durham only, orders due by 12pm Wednesday.
Another new feature that we will be doing throughout the year is; Recipes & Nutrition Inspiration By EmPower. You may or may not have met our dear friend Emily at one of the markets this year. Besides being a great friend and excellent addition to the Star Light team she is also a Chef and certified nutritionist. Since her return to the east coast we have been tossing ideas back and forth about how we can collaborate. Recipes and Nutrition Inspiration with EmPower is the first iteration of this. This weeks recipe, Garlic Scape Pesto, features a very seasonal item Garlic Scapes, so we encourage you to try it out while scapes are still available. This week is likely the last week we will be offering them online, but you can likely find them for the next few weeks from other great farms or home gardens.
Have a Great Week!