What’s in the Box: Green cabbage, pea shoots, summer squash, zucchini, green top red torpedo onions, english cucumber, curly kale, swiss chard, and basil.
What’s going on at the farm:
The season seems to always fly ahead faster then the crew can run this time of year as we keep plugging away all day every day but that is no exception to our earlier months either. In between all the harvesting, cleaning, packing, markets, deliveries, paperwork, weeding, and mowing this week we were able to plow down some finished crops such as the peas, broccoli, and beet beds. We planted over the long holiday weekend including spaghetti squash, three types of butternut squash, and acorn squash. We also planted garlic chives for next year and a direct seeding of edamame, and dragons tongue beans. More crops for fall were started too including fall melons, cauliflower, broccoli, and a new one for us, radicchio. The cauliflower was weeded along with the garlic, cherry tomatoes, slicing cucumbers and many other crops. We also pruned the tomatoes and pulled weeds in both greenhouses this week. Our tomatoes are ripening, both cherry and slicing tomatoes alike and we should have enough for shares within another week or two when they speed up a bit but they are coming very soon. We are also seeing some of the first eggplant and peppers forming on the plants. Our annual organic inspection is this week too! A representative from our certification agency MOSA will be doing a 3-5 hr audit of our farm and organic practices. This happens yearly here and not only helps us improve as farmers but provides a third party assurance that organic standards are being at the very least met. Here is a quick rundown of our crops this week.
Pea Shoots are new for you all this week and something we have been experimenting with growing more of here. We have had a good reception at farmers market with them and now we are bringing them to you. They are basically a sprout which is harvested 8-10 days after seeding and they make fantastic salad greens, or you can put them in your sandwiches, wraps or top anything with them really. I hope you all enjoy this new item which we are planning on growing more frequently in the future.
curly kale is going out for the second time. I am in love with this new variety which has a great rich wheat grass like flavor and extra frilly leaves. They make great kale chips, juice, and can be sautéed or eaten raw.
Our Swiss Chard crop is bountiful and beautiful this year. This versatile green can be eaten stem and all and is related to beets. One customer at market who keeps returning to us for several bunches of our chard every week has told us she breads the stems and her husband grills them battered. It sounds a bit like tempura to me but also sounds delicious.
Summer squash. Some suggestions for the week include grilling your summer squash. I cut them in spears or thick rings on the patty pans and brush them with olive oil and garlic powder or celery salt or barbecue seasoning. A little soy sauce tastes pretty good on them grilled too.
Cucumbers make a great cucumber salad and there are two possible types of cucumbers in your share now, the shorter european ones and the thicker skinned european slicers which will keep better and are a denser and crisper but not quite as sweet with slightly waxier skin.
Green cabbage is great for a slaw. I like to make a balsamic mayo sauce by simply mixing mayo and some balsamic with it, then just add salt and pepper to taste.
Basil is our herb again this week and this wonderful herb goes well with everything if you ask me. If all else fails drying your herbs is a great way to make use of them later. I’ve seen some folks freeze pesto up in an ice cube tray and then you can store those in a bag in the freezer for whenever you need a little basil and oil for your dishes.
Green top red onions is a descriptive name I use in the crop listing but these red onions are special in that they are a mediterranian variety which is a sweet summer onion and also referred to as a torpedo onion. These baby torpedoes can be used with the greens and they really do go good with everything.
Until next week, enjoy the veggies and happy 4th everyone!
