What’s been going on?

Well we are extremely glad that the extreme heat wave has broken and for the rains we have gotten. Things were getting really crispy out there, plants and people. Our creek ran dry ten days ago and the pumping pond is down to the point that I will need to begin running water into it out of the upper pond (mostly recovered from the mysterious self drain) or the well. These rains will give me a few days respite and time to get the alternatives hooked up. 102 degrees last Wednesday at market was a bit much too!

Last Thursdays Farm Dinner at Foster’s Market went very well and the wide ranging group, including lots of kids, seemed amazed at all the different kinds of tomatoes. This week is the Carrboro Farmer’s Markets Annual Tomato Day, something like the 15th one. This years theme is about the origin of the tomato from South America with three dishes representing the tomato as it moved around the western hemisphere. There will also be a display of most of the different tomatoes available at market, many of the vendors will be sampling their fruits, music and kids stuff too. Dia del Tomate, be there!

Of course in classic Peregrine Farm style, we will have very few tomatoes to present beyond our wonderful reds as the peak of heirloom production has passed and is dropping precipitously. Most of the restaurants we supply will not be getting heirloom tomatoes this week, just not enough to fill their needs. Otherwise it has been a normal mid summer week, a little mowing, some work in the peppers and the first plantings for fall. This week we put in the Brussels Sprouts and Celery for Thanksgiving and the first of the late summer lettuce to be harvested in late August.

Picture of the Week

Just planted Brussels Sprouts and Celery for Thanksgiving

What’s going to be at the market?

Perfect to go along with the Dia del Tomate, The Crested Celosia’s origin is from South America too, still a crazy amount in the field. A good amount of Zinnias. More Lisianthus this week, it is one of the great cuts, lots of colors, and very long lasting. Betsy’s beautiful bouquets. Plenty of fragrant Oriental Lilies in white and pink and Asiatic (non-fragrant) Lilies in yellow. The first of the great Limelight Hydrangeas are here also. As usual other interesting cuts that Betsy will conjure up.

Here is the tomato run down. In Reds there are plenty of Big Beefs and a declining supply of our early red- Ultrasweet. A very small supply of Cherokee Purples and German Johnsons. The yellows are gone. A few very nice bi-colored, fruity Striped Germans. In green-when-ripe types the only one doing well is Green Cherokee. A fair amount of the Italian Oxheart sauce tomatoes and some nice Roma’s. In cherry types there is a pretty good supply of Sungolds, with a few pints of Grape tomatoes.

Peppers are beginning to become more abundant- Jalapeno and Serrano. Padrone and Shishito, the Spanish and Japanese snacking peppers, just quickly coat them in a pan with some hot olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and eat the whole thing.. Purple Bells and lime green Cubanelles. The first of the Anaheims, Poblanos and Passillas. Looks like some Italian heirloom Eggplant too. Basil to go with tomatoes. A few more our red onions even though they are very small this year, more like shallots.

Hope to see you all at the market!

Alex and Betsy