What’s in the Box: Sugar snap peas, swiss chard, zucchini, summer squash, english cucumber, basil, red russian kale, green top sweet onions, green cabbage, red beets (bi-weekly only).
What’s going on at the farm: Plenty of rain this past week has kept our soil and plant growth going well around here as we finish off the first quarter of the season this week with some familiar summer veggies and some new crops for us this year. We are starting a new drop site this week as well for Catalent employees so welcome to your first week to those of you just starting out with us!
Sugar snap peas are in and plenty of them to go around so expect a good portion of these. The pods can be eaten whole with the either raw or possibly in a stir fry. They can be stringed by snapping the stem end of the top off and down the back of the pea to remove a small string-like fiber.
Swiss chard is a good sauté green and our crop is looking amazing this year. Multi colored stems provide some nice color to your dishes and the stems can be eaten right along with the leafs. Just chop them coarsely and sauté them in your favorite pasta recipe or with eggs in the morning. It makes a great side dish too and can be used in place of spinach.
Red russian kale is also a sauté green which is higher in protein then any other veggie. Try these leaves in your smoothies, stir fries, or perhaps some kale chips seasoned with your favorite spices.
Zucchini and summer squash are basically the same veggies and can be used in almost any dish you could possibly imagine. I like to grill spears of them in the summer brushed with chili and soy sauce marinade. We eat them on pizza which we make a variety of ways and I sometimes use long thin slices of them in place of lasagna noodles to make a gluten free veggie lasagna.
Our cucumbers right n0w are the small mini english variety and they are never bitter and have no spines so there is no need to peel them unless you like the skin removed. These are a favorite for us at home for easy snacks with some salt and/or added to our salads.
Onions are being thinned out this week and you will receive them with small bulbs and large green tops this week. You can use the tops like scallion minced in to small pieces along with the bulb.
Our first cabbages are in this week too and the first to come to you are these pointed green mini cabbages. They have a very unique shape make a great pairing with the onion for a simple stir fry. Coleslaw is always a good option for these sweet mini cabbages too but my favorite thing to do is split them in half leaving the stem base on to keep them together and grill them on low indirect heat with the open face up and drizzle teriyaki sauce onto them which just simmers into the cabbage as it cooks.
Fresh basil is our herb this week and I’m sure you are all familiar with it. You can make your own pesto, marinade, or add it to stir fry or other dishes to add some great fresh summer flavor to your dishes.
Our last crop going out this week is for bi-weekly members only and that is the last of our red beets and our beet crop for this spring. the tops can be used like swiss chard but they will make your roots softer if you leave them on in the fridge so remove the greens if you plan on holding the roots for future use. The reason for this is the plant respirate through the leaves which slowly removes moisture from the root so this goes for any root crop you receive with tops on this year.
On the farm this week we are working towards getting our winter squash planted and starting crops for the fall season. The longest day of the year is passed now as we roll through summer solstice we have a small window of thirty days to get all of these things for fall growing before its to late for them to mature. To do this we also have a lot of field clean up going on this week removing open beds and tilling the fields again, and making mulch beds. Basically this is a huge transition period for us and we are going to need some dry weather for the fields which have been receiving rain every day lately. Some other crops coming soon include, onions, savoy cabbage, and large slicing cucumbers. Our summer crops of eggplant, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, and napa cabbage are also looking great and should be coming soon. Thank you all and enjoy the early summer crops!
