June 21, 2017

Boy is it hot outside! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been pretty much holed up in my house since I returned from Colorado late last week. I’ve been told that right before I got home the weather here was actually cool, and Whipstone Farm can vouch for that. Last Tuesday they had a hard frost that damaged a lot of crops, including some that are considered cold-hardy, such as kale, chard, and peas. Farming is so unpredictable! Luckily, some of the hot-weather crops such as tomatoes and pepper had only recently been moved out to the fields and received only minimal damage since they are still so small. Others like potatoes, sunflowers, and zinnias were hit pretty hard.

Willowbrook Farm, along with the other farms down in the Verde Valley, was lucky enough to escape the frost. Hilary and Hope are busy planting tomatoes and doing lots and lots of weeding. This past week they pulled all the garlic to dry and will soon be planting eggplant in its place. Denise will be planting her sweet corn patch again this year, with the first planting going in this week. It is such a treat to enjoy organic sweet corn, so let’s hope her crop turns out as amazing as last year’s.

This week we have apricots! The first stone fruit of the season, these sweet little treats can get mushy quickly, so enjoy them while they are fresh and perfectly ripe. If fresh apricots are not for you, cook a quick apricot jam to put on toast, yogurt, or ice cream. It’s delicious! The first crop of potatoes has been harvested at Sanders’ Farm in Camp Verde, a delicious yellow variety called Agata that Ramona will be digging fresh for this week’s shares. We hope to get potatoes regularly throughout the season, along with other staples such as onions, garlic, and carrots, so there is no need to hoard them away for later. Just like everything our farmers harvest, it is best when fresh!

Try to stay cool this week!
Meghan

What’s in your basket – June 21st

Apricots – Willowbrook Farm
Beets – Whipstone Farm

Fennel – Whipstone Farm
Pea shoots – Willowbrook Farm
Potatoes – Sanders’ Farm
Rainbow carrots – Whipstone Farm
Salad mix – Willowbrook Farm
Summer squash – Whipstone Farm

Do you love your flowers? We do!

Harvesting salad mix at Whipstone Farm.

Frost damage on squash. 🙁

Early morning fun weeding at Willowbrook Farm.