What’s in the Box:
Heirloom tomato, slicing tomato, cherry tomatoes! Purple haze carrots, sweet onions, summer squash, zucchini, english slicing cucumber, eggplant, baby kale, basil, pea shoots, and garlic.
What’s going on at the farm:
Hot and dry was the theme around here this last few weeks but the fields dried down enough I could plow and put in the winter squash and prepare fields to plant a lot of beans for late summer and fall. My crew has expanded this month and we are bringing in extra help for the main season and pushing forward harder then ever this next few weeks to prepare for a great fall. Garlic will be coming in this week and all our onions are nearly ready for harvest after that. In total there are over 25,ooo of them to bring in with the garlic and leeks which will be coming soon! The extra help has helped us catch up on weeding and we have all our peppers, sweet and hot looking perfect and they are loaded, we even picked the first ripe red pepper this week! Eggplant is also ready and the very first peppers although we don’t really have enough for shares yet. Our watermelon and cantaloupe crops are looking amazing too! looks like a great summer ahead and I purchased some new tools for killing weeds this month which i’m hoping will really be a game changer for our fall greens production this year! All in all we are in great position for mid season and despite not having any early green beans I guarantee you there will be a lot to end the second half of the season as we plow in the carrot area this week too and prepare to put in edamame, green beans, and dragons tongue beans.
Tomatoes galore is the theme this week for boxes! They are one of our favorite crops here and I hope you all have your bacon and mozzarella cheese ready for caprese salads and BLT’s!
Eggplant is also here and this is amazing fried or grilled with some olive oil and herbs on it. Eggplant parmesan, lasagna, pasta dishes, ratatouille, eggplant burgers with tomato mayo and basil and the list goes on and on…. I love this veggie because it really can absorb so much flavor and has a great creamy texture when its cooked!
Purple haze carrots, one of my favorite carrots because of their gorgeous two tone color of purple with a bright orange core…. these babies will stores if you snap the tops off but otherwise the tops make great pesto too!
Our kale this week is a frilly baby kale, jagallo nero! its a new one for me and i hope you all enjoy it for the second time this year!
Pea shoots are great as a salad green with a little tomato cucumber and carrot. I also use them on sandwiches or garnishing dishes tacos or pizza too!
Sweet onions are back and they are good with everything and sweet enough to enjoy raw!
Zucchini and summer squash are still pumping out and these staples of summer are great in any dish you could create and even baking projects like zucchini bread, muffins, and cakes maybe even with the carrot for a carrot zucchini cake!
English style cucumbers are the only type of cucumber I grow anymore as they are sweeter, have smaller seed cavities, and thinner skin then their waxy american counterparts which can get bitter. A fresh cucumber and tomato salad with mozzarella and basil is one of my favorite things in the summer.
Basil and Garlic are the last few finishing touches on our boxes this week and there are so many ways to use these with your veggies I hardly think you all need the suggestions but I think these will round out the box very nicely for the week.
Thank you all again for being great CSA members and I hope you enjoy the food!
-Kyle