Follow Us
Suzie's Farm CSA Members
Contact Suzie's Farm
PHONE: 619.662.1780
CSA Inquiries, please email rodrigo@suziesfarm.com
Local Chefs, please email robin@suziesfarm.com
For Farmer's Market Info, please email britta@suziesfarm.com
ADDRESS & DIRECTIONS:
For scheduled farm tours, our Kiki Town address is:
1856 Saturn Boulevard, San Diego CA 92154
Get Directions
Restaurants & Chefs
Did you know Suzie’s Farm delivers in San Diego five days a week? Not only that, several acres of our farm in San Diego’s Border State Park is dedicated to custom growing for the specific needs (and imagination) of our local chefs. Can you say boutique and convenience all in one breath? You don’t have to. Just say Suzie’s Farm. Visit our Chef's Page to view our delivery schedule and learn more about our partnership with restaurants.
Recipes
What's Sprouting Today
| July 2010 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Monthly Archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
Most recent entries
- 2010 Tomato Madness
- CSA Member Survey
- Box Contents, July 26 - August 1
- Kraft Paper Part 2
- A New Face for the Farm….gate
- Flying Things
- CSA Shareholder Partee
- Kraft Paper
- Box Contents, July 19-25
- Spanky’s
- Black Heart
- Okra Weather
- Home is Where The…Heart is?
- Melon Mania
- Box Contents, July 12-18
Syndicate
Site Credits
Powered by:
ExpressionEngine
Design by:
BlogMoxie
There are finally tomatoes coming out in the masses. They’ve taken their sweet as time, but a little heat and humidity has lured them out of their lush green hideaways.
For those of you shopping at the markets and especially you CSA members, here’s a few glimpses of our different varieties, just so you can relish in their beauty. Oh, and if you get some that are a bit too ripe- make salsa!!
Caspian Pinks (though this one is green…)
Pineapple Tomato
Black Tula
Paul Robeson
Marvel Striped
German Queen
We recently started packaging our CSA box items with brown kraft paper instead of plastic bags, in an effort to be a bit more sustainable and less wasteful. We’re trying to feel out if it’s worth it to switch over, if the veggies are staying fresh for you! So please take this quick survey and leave some comments just so we can gauge what everyone thinks- Thanks!
Love,
The Suzie’s Farm Crew
Summer Squash
Eggplant
Sweet Peppers (could contain, Nardello, Corno di Toro, Beaver Dam, Anothi Romainian, and Magno) - all of these are great as sauteing peppers. i used them to stuff veggie enchiladas last week!
Wax Beans (green or yellow)
Padron Peppers - these are incredible just sauteed in olive oil with sea salt. don’t mess it up by adding anything else!
Lettuce head
Tomatoes
Micro Basil
Oregano
Mixed hot peppers (could contain Cherry Bomb, Serrano, Hungarian Hot Wax)
Beets
Well I just opened up the Kraft Paper CSA box for the first time since we boxed it on Monday. Pretty impressive.
All of the veggies are still crisp and in tact. Carrots crunchy. The lettuce is springy - although it is just starting to get the smallest brown spot on the interior leaves. The micro basil also has a dime-sized black spot along the edge. Otherwise, everything looks good. And best of all - MINIMAL plastic.
We will probably run a trial at a host site next week. Any host sites want to take on this?
check it out! Ellie, one of our key farm assistants, painted this gorgeous sign for Kiki Town and Suzie’s Farm. Now at least it won’t be AS confusing finding your way to the farm tours, and maybe a bit more welcoming too…
Enjoy!
As always when I first arrive to the field I like to see the bees. Before the bees is a capture cage. The cage is painted a light moss green and is about 7 feet high. It’s got a door in the front, water and seed at the floor. I think the people at the Tijuana River Estuary have put it out. I can’t remember what they are trying to capture. Inevitably the cage is full of what I think are small song birds. As inevitable; a Hawk perched on the cage.
Today’s was a Cooper’s hawk who did not fly away when I creeped up. He drew one claw into his body, and swiveled his head to the right, fixing his left eye on me. We mutually agreed, I would not get out of the van if he decided to stay on his perch so that I could admire him. He was about 6 feet away, confident and secure. After a few moments he completely lost interest in me. The birds in the cage fluttered and flitted to the top corner, away from the hawk. I tried to image how the caged birds feel. With the hawk a few inches from them? They are protected by the cage, but the threat is emminent. Their hearts hammering. Futile.
I drove onto the bee boxes. It is there that I usually get ready for the work day. I take off my civilian shoes and put on my farm boots. I get my water, and pen and paper. I hike over the rabbit fence, and sit next to the bee hives. I notice which hives look busier than others. Today I saw what looked like one bee on top of another bee. My first juvenile thought was that they were mating. After the top bee flew away, I noticed that the bottom bee was not moving. Did the top bee kill the bottom bee? Was the bottom bee dead already and the top bee was, what? Stealing his honey? I wondered about the bees. What are they doing?
Back to the van to drive toward the road and the main part of the field. Mondays are field report day.
Of course every day we go into the field and see what we see, but Mondays are the day that we’ve been away for the weekend. I try not to even check my email on the weekend, so Monday can be something of a surprise, with all that surprises hold - good, bad, unexpected. Robin, Ellie and I each look at something different. Ellie will email us her report if we don’t see her in the field. Today Robin and I caught up with her in the sunflowers, the bees zipping by. We shared our preliminary reports. Robin’s celery harvest brought him a nasty case of photo dermititis. Ellie has a bit on her hands and ankle. Britta, Hugo and Taylor are pretty bad off. They all need to stay out of the sun.
I noticed that in one row, a carrot has gone to flower. Carrots are kissing cousins to Queen Anne’s Lace. If you’ve received a pre-made bouquet of flowers you maybe be familiar with Queen Anee’s Lace. From a distance what appears as a cloud, is really many clusters of tiny, white flowers. Those clusters are clusters of flowers, not flowers themselves. Cluster upon cluster, and M.C. Esher joke. All those clusters of flowers keep the plants probability for survival great. If something happens to one of the clusters it’s not big deal, there are 1,000 more where that came from. The cloud shape is attractive and visible to pollinators and other beneficial insects. You’ve got to give those guys somewhere to live and land if you want them to make the trek into the field.
I hear the water lines hissing as I near the carrot. I see wasps, lacewings, flies, bees, butterflies, dragonflies and moths. All coming, going or kicking it on the flower cluster. The flower cluster actually acting as a train station or rest stop along the way.
The west wind insists. As I cross to see the newly staked tomatoes, I spy a wasp making its way. We both cross the road from section 107 to section 112. It buffers and flies southwest, headlong into the wind. Unable to fly in a straight line, it rolls along toward the nearest green thing, landing on a tomato for just a moment to readjust and rest, before taking off again. I can’t surmise it’s destination. There isn’t too much left in the field after 112. In a general way, the wasp is heading toward the river.
The wasp continues ahead of me, destination clear in its mind. Undeterred, no matter how assertive the rush of air, the wasp wafts along. He pauses to rest, or assess his progress, but he persists. Buffeted by the breeze, lifting and dipping, and always moving forward.
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Suzie’s Farm CSA Shareholder Partee at El Take It Easy (ELTIEZ) in North Park.
Not just for CSA customers! It’s for anyone who is interested in the farm, in checking out a cool new restaurant or hanging out on a Thursday night!
Meet Your Farmers and Watch Them Freestyle Rap. ¡Farm to Table Veggie Dishes! ¡$3.50 Drafts! ¡$4.50 Micheladas! ¡$5 Wine! ¡Bring a Friend to Join the CSA and Receive a Free Gift! ¡Slideshow Presentation of the Farm! Visit our Events Calendar for a map to ELTIEZ and our Facebook Page to RSVP. We can’t wait to see you there.
We are conducting an experiement. In an effort to reduce our plastic consumption, we are going to try Kraft Paper to wrap the produce in the CSA boxes. Robin and I packed an experimental CSA box this morning in the warehouse. The only plastic used was the micro basil container and the green pint baskets. We’ve brought the box into the office to keep an eye on it. See how long it lasts, how long before the fruit flies attack it, how much quality diminishment we will see.
We might want to try a run for an entire CSA host site this weekend. We will keep you posted!
Here they are - your weekly box contents!
Melon - either Tiggers, Sharilyn or Galia
Falcon Eggplant - Classic Italian look and use
Carrots
Beans - either Bountiful Green Beans or Yellow Wax Beans
Cucumbers - We have put up descriptions and photos of them. Check it out!
Head Lettuce
Tomatoes - cherries, heirloom pleated and more! They are gorgeous!
Micro Basil
Basil Bunch
Watermelon Radish
We are giving you a two-week break from summer squash. Heave a sigh of relief.
...What happens when already smelly farmer girls get caught downwind from fragrant breezes of Spanky’s Port-o-let being emptied and serviced.
Note to self: when nearby oxygen sources are quickly befouled, find reprieve in nearby basil crops…
i love thursdays on the farm!
-britta
A few months ago our landlord came to us with a proposition. A juice company in Oregon was looking for someone to grow organic celery for their summer production. The celery harvest ends in Salinas in June and they needed a fill in. It seemed like solid money. We would simply plant an acre and a half and sit back. We were vulnerable. We had just taken on Bear Barranca. We pay our rent in February and August. Harvesting this celery in July would bring us the rent money just in time.
Our landlord is also the previous tenant of the property. He grew radicchio and celery here for years, until he had too many bad years in a row. My understanding is that his wife said, no more farming. She would rather absorb the cost of the unrented land than the cost of the rented land, and the water and the seeds and the labor and the insurance and the tractors and the drip lines and the seedlings and the boxes and the black plastic and the port-a-potties. Plus, any time he was working in the field he was not working as a heavy machine operator. Last year he came to us and offered us this 100 acre property. At the time we accepted 40 and have since tacked on another 18.
He wants us to succeed. He really does. But often he looks at us and shakes his head. We certainly frustrate him. I think sometimes we make him angry. We don’t take care of things the way he would. It is a normal reaction. So he came to us with this offer to grow celery. He had previously grown it. On this land. It did well. With his help it could do well for us. We agreed.
So we scheduled a forward contract with the juice company. It essentially says we agree to grow for them a designated quantity of product due on a pre-determined date. Once the delivery is made, we get paid.
We planted the celery in Bear Barranca about five months ago. It was the only thing in Bear Barranca for a long time. We joked that the celery was in a Time-Out all by itself at Bear Barranca while we harvested and planted the last rounds at Kiki Town. It wasn’t too long before we joined the celery in Bear Barranca.
Melons stand to the east of the celery, popping corn to the west. The celery sits smack center of the northernmost portion of the field, near the drainage ditch, occasionally shaded by the stand of eucalyptus.
Celery is a water hog. Its ribs swell with water in the last few growing weeks. It makes sense, no? Celery is the negative calorie food. It contains so much water, the urban legend goes, that it takes more calories to consume than it contains. It is perfect for a pre-bottled juice, providing a good percentage of the water.
Here we are in July. The time has come to harvest the celery.
Robin requires a macho crew. Robin took a few practice swipes at the celery earlier this week. He cut himself three times. The girls marvel at the bandages. Bringing in an entire acre and a half of celery - 100,000 plants - is macho work. Its not lighthearted. It is not for the faint hearted. With the weather up, it is exhausting, bad-ass, Herculean work.
The guys are out there, coffee-colored and slick with sweat. They stuff bandanas into the brims of their hats to protect their necks from the sun. Bent over at the waist, they grasp the top of the plant with one hand and swing down with their knives.
The celery knife is unique, developed exclusively for celery. Shaped like a T, the tip is angled for cutting the head from the root. Along the side other blades even the top of the plant.
I drive past our orange Kabota tractor, and park near the pizza oven. As I pull my boots on, a dove coo coo COOS in the eucalyptus. Two Harris hawks screech and dive behind me as I retrieve my knife. I’ve heard we have blackheart. I’m here to see it for myself.
I walk past the melons - probably an acre worth - already dusted, like donuts, with powdery mildew. These will be sweeter than the ones we are currently harvesting. The heat will convert those sugars. I come upon the celery.
It’s magnificent. Cocked. Proud. An acre and a half. As I approach the harvest crew there are pallets with cardboard bins scattered among the 6 rows they’ve already harvested. These bins are Mini-Cooper-sized and will eventually hold the harvested celery. Water pools between the rows.
As I walk through the already harvested section, flies jet and crawl from the detritus and standing water. It is ugly here. Scattered celery ribs litter the mud. To fetch the filled cardboard bins of celery, the tractor has driven in and out several times mushing the rows, tearing black plastic mulch, splaying drip lines.
It doesn’t look good.
I approach an unassuming head of celery. Mimicking the crew, I bend down and gather the ribs at the top, raise my knife in the air and send it swinging toward the root. Two cuts sever it. I pull some outer ribs away, tossing them with the rest of the mess, and look at the center.
Blackheart.
The central leaves of the celery begin to break down. They shrivel and dry up, turning black. The exterior ribs are perfect. Some say the disease comes from irregular water relations (?!). Others say excessive Nitrogen or Calcium Deficiency. Whatever the reason, we’ve got it.
Because of the prolonged contact with water, the center of the celery in my hand looks like butterscotch pudding, brown and custardy.
I approach the crew and Don Julio. “How are you? How are things?”
Not meeting my eyes, Don Julio replies, “Fine.” He continues loading celery into a bin.
“What do you think?” I ask. “Things are a mess, no? All of our work. All of this money, for what?”
Don Julio finally turns to me and asks, “Why didn’t you spray? As soon as you saw the first bit of black heart, why didn’t you spray?”
My answer is weak, flimsy, timid. There is nothing to spray. No control.
Instead of cleanly cutting the celery and tossing each head into the box, the crew cuts each head of celery, and then cut the rotten ribs from the good ribs. They separate the good ribs and place them on a tarp on the ground where another person comes around with a wheelbarrow, loads it with loose ribs, and heaves them into the bin. Three times as many cuts, and a reduced yield. The futility of it all is upsetting.
Robin has been pacing the field with a calculator. Bad sign. Another acre and a half of hopes dashed.
I thank the crew for their work. Twice. Five times. It is as disheartening for them as it is for us. I walk toward the road, sliding among the celery stumps and slipping in the water. As I drive away, the dust swirling around the van, I finally exhale. My breath leaves my body ragged and rough.
Before I left the crew I told them, “I don’t know what this disease is called in Spanish, but in English it’s called blackheart. Corazon negro.”
And that’s how I feel right now. I have a black heart.
Ask and ye shall receive.
After weeks of 62 degree weather, we finally have 82 degree weather. Hot and sticky. The heat makes you want to slow down and take it easy. The plants do the opposite.
Eggplant, okra, tomatoes and melons are all warm season crops. If you look at the agronomics you will see a temperature range. At the low end of the range the plants languish, unwilling to come out and expose themselves to low temperatures and lack of sun. At the high end of the range, the plants unfurl and explode. Its like your magic song that gets you on the dance floor. The plants are ready to party, like Paris Hilton when the paparazzi emerge.
Summer vacation was actually created for work; to get the kids on the farm. Stop your silly book learning and get this food in! Summer vacation equals winter sustenance. Not 100 years ago and not now. 100 years ago you put those kids to work. This weather revs plants into high production. If you didn’t stay on top of it, you starved in the winter. Harvesting, weeding, threshing, canning and pickling were what you did in the summer. Longer days allowed for longer harvest times. Resting is for winter time. Summer vacation is no vacation.
Winter plants chill. Greens grow, you cut them and they come again. Beets, carrots and onions bulb under ground protected from the snow. Broccoli cauliflower and cabbage thrive, growing slowly. Indifferently. There is no explosion in winter. Winter production is quiet. Winter production is steady. Winter production is diligent.
Not so in the summer. Summer production is passionate. Summer plants blaze and peal. Summer is fireworks; bursts and flares.
Most of our summer vegetables are actually fruits. And like fruit, they are delicate. Melons, squash, tomatoes, okra and eggplant are all fruits by the classic definition. They contain their seeds in the edible part of the plant. Fruit is ready when it’s ripe. Common sense, yes? Since we pick our products when they are ripe, by the time you get them they are well on their way so you’ve got to eat them fast. Maybe this is why your box isn’t lasting as long as it does in the winter? Winter vegetables love to live in your refrigerator. Most summer vegetables love to live on your counter, where they continue to ripen.
And so summer vegetables are like summer in that way. Hot. Sticky. Fleeting.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
July 14, 2010
As I return to San Diego from an enchanting time in Colorado with my family, I experience a very subtle, but noticeable confusion about home. So much of my heart resides in those Rocky Mountains, in my family, in the memories and familiarity of that place. And equally, so much of my heart is here in San Diego. I’m reminded of this by the warm smiling faces that greet me at the airport, the regards I receive from friends who’ve been missing me, and I them…The sunshine that pervades the air and the ground and my kitchen window. I know this is my home because I know I have cultivated a very unique, very strong community here. I forget sometimes, when immersed in wanderlust over the ideas of travels and dreams and new things. This life is beautiful, rich, diverse, and I am so thankful to come ‘home’. So much of my life here revolves around Suzie’s Farm- what’s growing, what’s not growing, what stories are happening in and out of the office, the field, the markets…
I walk through the tomato trellises, and the eery silence overwhelms me. It almost feels stagnant. There are a lot of bugs, a bit of mildew, and many shades of green. The bulging fruit are craving heat, the strength of the summer sun to energize them, give them their color, their taste, their flare. But our beloved sunshine has found its way back to these fields and my hope is confident that the tomatoes will continue to grow healthy and bountiful.
Crouching close to the dusty soil, I wander through the small patch of corn, now tall and robust against the other shrubby plants. Dust scatters every where, attacking my eyes and lungs as I peer between the towering stalks. Robin tells me that once the silk in the husks appears there are just a few weeks until the corn will be ready for harvesting. It tastes sweet and light, just like summer.
There’s an enormous crop of celery growing feet away and every time the wind moves I catch its striking, sweet aroma- similar to the smell of grandma’s kitchen just as she prepares that best, original chicken soup.
Home is so many things for me, but to return on this day to such a beautiful place teeming with life, with possibility, with “yes”, I sink deeper into a peace of mind and recognize that home really is, where you invest your heart and give of yourself…Cheers to the next summer months of bliss and trials- may they be filled with exuberance and wonder…
-Britta
For all of you CSA members who might be receiving some of our first melons of the season (and for those lucky ones who find them at our farmers’ markets)...I wanted to give you a couple of ideas for new and interesting ways to prepare meals with melons. Try it or leave it. Play with different ingredients. If you love it, share it. If not, well…out to the compost. Happy Summer Sunshine!!
Cantaloupe and Avocado Salad with Honey Lime Dressing (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cantaloupe (3 pounds), quartered and seeded
1 avocado, halved, pitted, and skinned
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, honey, oil, and salt; set aside.
Cut each cantaloupe quarter in half lengthwise. Run a knife between the flesh and the skin of the melon; discard skin. Slice each wedge lengthwise into 1/2-inch pieces.
Cut each avocado half again length-wise and then into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Add cantaloupe, avocado, and grape tomatoes to bowl with dressing and toss to coat. Divide among 4 plates.
Honeydew Salad with Blueberries (Serves 6)
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons minced or grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3 scallions, cut diagonally into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 small jicama (about 4 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks
1/2 honeydew melon, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 orange bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (about 1/2 pound), picked over and rinsed
4 ounces baby arugula
2 teaspoons canola oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together ginger, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt.
In a serving bowl, combine scallions, jicama, honeydew, bell pepper, and blueberries. Pour ginger mixture over salad, and toss to combine (salad can be made up to this point 30 minutes ahead of time).
Just before serving, add arugula to salad mixture; drizzle with the oil, and season generously with black pepper.
Melon
Socrates Green Bell Pepper
Purple Bunch Onions
Zefa Fino Fennel
Cucumber Mix
Lettuce Heads
Tomatoes
Summer Squash Mix
Sage
Basil
Watermelon Radishes
Basil, tomatoes, cucumbers and melons? Tastes like summer!