June is for Dreaming
The other day, my coworker Veronica caught me smiling to myself while tenderly tucking a teenage tomato plant into his new spot for the season. I was pretty embarrassed to be caught looking like a ding-dong, but I couldn’t help it – it had a sunny little yellow flower already! That tiny bloom sucked me into a dreamy state filled with thoughts of fresh salsas, tomato sauces and summer canning. June is a transplant-heavy time and, I think, a very exciting month because there are so many veggies and fruits to look forward to and fantasize about eating. There’s lots of time to let your mind wander due to the nature of June work. We spend a lot of our time giving our thousands of immature plants the best shot at being big, beautiful and scrumptious – this means lots of weeding, pruning, trellising, transplanting and more weeding. All great activities to think your thoughts, plan your themed dinner parties, and dream of all the delicious meals you want to share.
As we float (or more like race) across the farm managing all the growing produce, I get to see our diverse array of crops get bigger, beef up, show off their flowers, receive visits by our beloved pollinators, and witness their fruits ripen. Last week, the entire crew tackled the monumental task of weeding all our strawberries and, to my surprise and delight, we saw a few red berries! A beautiful little signal of the sweet bounty to come. We also got a huge portion of our squashes in the ground last week! That’s right y’all – time to dream of grilled summer squash, warm zucchini breads and fresh cucumber salads because they will be here before we know it!
However, this is not all to say that we’ve not been harvesting. Each week this month, harvest has been slowly ramping up, getting our minds and bodies prepped and primed for the heavy harvest season to come. We’ve got an amazing array of greens in the Red Dog Farmstand, including a new fresh set of leafy brassicas – curly kales, colorful chards, and sturdy collards. One of the new crops rolling in is broccolini, a favorite of mine! A more tender form of broccoli, it’s fantastic just simply sauteed with garlic and salt, but I’ve been tossing it in stir-fries too and letting it soak up the flavorful sauce in the pan. Each week’s fresh new additions to our growing array of offerings is bringing my food-filled dreaming to fruition. As much as it can be hard to wait for so much delicious food to come, the waiting also brings an extra layer of satisfaction with, and appreciation for, my meals because it’s totally worth all the patience, tender love and care.
~Flynn