Thanks to everyone that got the cantaloupe-gram and came by to get one or two (or five)! In produce farming, we expect a certain amount of waste either with produce that hasn't sold or doesn't meet our quality standards. One of the quirks about cantaloupe is when they are ripe, you need to have a plan for what to do with them. Bill was puttering around at the farm Sunday and decided to check out the patch of early melons. He ended up bringing home about 100 cantaloupe with no place for them until Tuesday! Needless to say, the plants keep producing and we have about 150 MORE for Tuesday, plus Sunday's bounty.
This is where our e-mail list and our fantastic customers come in. I sent out a "Help! Drowning in cantaloupe" e-mail and several of you came to our rescue. If it didn't work out for you, I know ALL of you would have come by if you could have. I don't know if there will be an other opportunity like this in the future, but you can bet that I will let you know!
Like I said, it's watermelon time. I much prefer watermelon to cantaloupe and don't mind hefting the large orbs in and out of trailers. It makes setting up for a market a little more challenging since we can't toss the watermelon like we do the cantaloupes. Market goers on Saturday got a treat--we needed to put more cantaloupe on the table and the fastest way was for Bill to "toss" them to me over about 12'-14' distance. We usually employ a gentle toss with some height to allow the catcher time to get in position. Not on Saturday. This was major league, 90 mph fast ball throwing. Did I mention that most of these melons were in the 5-7 lb range? Bill threw blind because he was looking down at the next melon to determine if it was still good or if it had crossed the line into yucky (happens fast in this hot weather). I caught every single one, and they were coming fast. The show gets better when we start tossing our BIG melons that top out at 10-12 lbs.
Now is the time where your canvas bags really come in handy! Bags don't like being left in the car or at home (they've told me this !) and just love coming to the market to be filled with all kinds of good food. We do have official Mitchell Farms Produce canvas bags for sale. I haven't had them out at Normal due to more veggies than table space. If you are interested, let me know since I usually have them in the truck. They are $20 and are a heavy duty canvas with the MFP logo embroidered on one side. They also make great gifts! (end shameless plug!).
What will be going into your bags today?
- Red, seedless watermelon--first of the season, sweet and juicy
- Cantaloupe--there will be a pile of these--no need to have them "ripen" on the counter--ready to eat, cut up a few and have a healthy snack for the rest of the week
- Sweet corn--If you haven't had any yet, what are you waiting for?
- Zucchini--I have a recipe for zucchini cobbler--desert that is good for you!
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Asian eggplant
- Leeks
- Carrots--this is the first time we've successfully grown carrots. Allie is very proud of them! She weeded the entire patch by herself a few weeks ago and has been very concerned about their progress. She harvested the carrots and leeks by herself last night while Bill was busy with the melons.
- Sweet onions--these make the best onion rings
- Sweet banana peppers
- Hot Hungarian peppers & jalepeno peppers
No comments:
Post a Comment