Hello CSA Members!
Week nine marks the middle of the season for us. For those of you that chose split options for payments I sent out an email reminder this week with a link to pay for the second half of the season so please send those in this week. This week we are also harvesting our garlic. The first garlic will be in shares this week and tomatoes are coming in faster now so plenty of these fruits will be here all summer and a great feature of the farm to have so many good cherry tomatoes and slicers. We are still battling the weeds this week and working hard to harvest all the vegetables this week. Last week we got some watermelons, cantaloupes, and eggplants and the last of the hemp planted and this week we will hopefully clear out some more space to plant some more crops for fall soon which is fast approaching now. This weeks crops will include…
Cherry tomatoes: Our cherry tomatoes are some of the best around and very firm and sweet with a blend of orange, yellow, black grape, brads atomic grape, pink, white, and red fruits. I like making mini caprese with these using the small mozzarella balls and cherry tomato and some basil on a toothpick makes a great snack any time of day or a great appetizer for get togethers and cookouts.
Heirloom tomatoes: This season we have about 12 different types of larger tomatoes going but we are growing a lot of pink tomatoes and striped tomatoes, and red tomatoes for CSA but we also have white, black, solar flare, orange, and purple romas coming along. Shareholders will get a mix of these based on what we have ripe this week. My favorite is BLTs or caprese salad with these sliced up and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Chioggia Beets: This will likely be our last week of beets. If you have some stockpiled make sure to take the greens off these beets because the roots keep longer in a humid environment with the greens off. roasted beets or Beet salad with feta or blue cheese is a great way to go with these or maybe with the kale. for a kale and beet salad.
Curly Kale: A staple of every organic farm and a high protein and nutrient packed green our curly kale is performing great and will be in shares again this week. makes a great summer salad green if you massage it with some oil or bake it into kale chips for a tasty but nutritious snack.
Carrots: these crunchy roots are great raw or cooked and the tops can be made into a pesto if you want to be adventurous
Basil: Fresh basil to go with your tomatoes! Makes a great pesto too!
Red onions: These summer onions are small but tasty and sweeter then a normal red onion imo…. we leave the tops on for ease of harvest and don’t wash them much because onions can spoil easier/faster when washed. You can take the tops off and keep them dry on a counter or wash them and then refrigerate them but I would say store them dry because they do have a dry wrapper at this point.
Cucumber. Fresh crispy fruit for salad with your tomato or just a refreshing snack.
Squash or Zucchini: green or yellow squash for roasting, grilling, or stir fries.
Garlic: This year we have a new type of garlic going for you all which is a little smaller bulb but has a good flavor and storage life. Chesnook red is the variety and the striped wrapper is very colorful and the cloves have nice rich flavor.
Thats 10 crops for this week! More will be coming in soon including more carrots, celery, and lots of different peppers before long. Thaw out the bacon and stock up on mozzarella and enjoy the summer tomatoes and other veggies this week! Thank you again to everyone for being a part of it all. -Kyle
