|
|
 |
|
|
This weeks harvest:
- Carrots - These long, sweet carrots are called Sugarsnax, and are our third variety this spring. These carrots are so long that even when dug with a pitchfork the tips snap off!
- Beets - More full-sized beets. The varieties are Chioggia (bullseye), Detroit Dark Red, and Early Wonder.
- Zephyr Squash - Our first summer squash! These green/yellow squash are the first of many to come.
- Swiss Chard - Our first harvest of rainbow chard for the CSA--delicious sauteed with garlic and onions.
- Lettuce - The last of our spring lettuce, "Magenta".
- Onions - These small, chipollini-like onions are delicious. When fresh like this, they are great thinly sliced on salads and sandwiches or cooked.
- Water Cress -Wild, gourmet salad green that is a tad spicy, but with a different flavor than arugula.
- Dill
- Mint
News From The Farm
Our work schedule lately has been structured around the muggy heatwave that is, hopefully, passing through. Early morning is usually devoted to harvesting before everything in the garden wilts, which has been around 9am for the past week. The midday heat is certainly the most intense, and we've tried to get out of the sun and work on other, in-the-shade projects. We hit the fields again by 3pm or so and, although still extremely hot, we knock out our hoeing, planting, and the other 100 things on the list. 8 or 8:30pm is not an uncommon time to end the day. The dinner plans usually have to be canceled and any sort of social life becomes fairly non-existent, but it sure is nice to work in the cooler evening air!
Everything is moving along here. Last week we pulled all of our garlic, which ended up being several thousand heads. Our disadvantage is that this is our first garlic crop, and most growers have been saving garlic seed for years, increasing the size and quality of their garlic. The largest heads are always saved to replant in the fall for next years crop. The medium-large heads will go to the CSA, and the smallest heads will be our personal supply
for the year. The garlic will cure for another week or so and then you'll start seeing it in your basket. I will say that it is incredibly good garlic.
Some of our garlic curing in the sun
We've also been spending the last few days taking care of our main summer/fall crops. This translates to checking all the beans and squash for pest insects, weeding the winter squash/pumpkin garden, weeding our early crop of melons/cantaloupe, and planting a later crop of melons/cantaloupe. We also planted another 400' of squash, cucumbers, beans, and okra. We will still have another month or so of portioned out squash and cukes, but in mid-July there will be more than we can handle. Tomatoes are getting larger, peppers are too, and the first beans are about 1/2" long and growing!
May you all have a wonderful week, and may we soon have rain!
Your farmers,
Eric,
Brooke, George, Kevin, Peter, and more!
Freshly dug carrots soon to be washed, bunched, and given to you! The kale and broccoli are to the right.
Yellow beans, peppers, tomatoes, and the tall bamboo trellis for the pole beans.
Recipes
Russian Potato Salad
Our
friend, Diane, served this delightfully colorful dish atop a bed of our
summer crisp lettuce last week, and it was scrumptious! The carrots
and beets make it look like a party on the plate, and the tangy
sauerkraut and crunchy pickle make it an unexpected textural party in
your mouth!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds white boiling potatoes
- 1/2
pound beets
- 3 or 4 medium sized carrots
- 1/2 cup
minced red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
- 1/2 cup chopped Italian
parsley
- 1/4 cup sauerkraut
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
-
1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon
salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper
Method
Put
the whole potatoes in a pot, and cover with cold salted water. Bring
to a boil, and boil until easily pierced with a fork.
Meanwhile, cut the carrots and beets into bite size chunks and roast at
425 until they begin to brown on the edges.
When the potatoes are
cooked through. Drain, and cut into bite size pieces.
Make the
dressing by mixing the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a
mason jar. Shake to emulsify.
Toss all of the ingredients together, and enjoy!
Squash Souffle
This
is my mom's recipe, and it's so darn good, I could eat an entire
casserole myself!
2 1/2 to 3 lbs. yellow summer
squash (sliced)
1
onion, chopped
Salt, pepper
Steam
squash and onion till tender and drain
as much liquid out as you can.
Add:
1/2 stick butter to the hot squash
Combine:
1 Cup evaporated milk
(or cream)
2
beaten eggs
1
cup grated sharp cheddar
Stir
all ingredients together and pour into
casserole dish.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until
bubbly and beginning to brown.
Serves 6-8
You
can make this with smart balance butter
and low fat milk and cheese and it tastes just as good. (I don't really
believe this, but some people do...)
Dear
CSA members,
If
any of you have come across some winning combinations/recipes using the
veggies from your CSA basket, we would love to hear about them. You
can e-mail me at kbgillon@gmail.com
with those recipes or any questions you might have regarding your
veggies, and what to do with them.
Thanks! Brooke
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
