Hey there CSA members!
We are officially passing mid season this week! The tomatoes are pouring in and so many perfect cherry tomatoes coming out of the new high tunnel we can barely pick them as fast as they ripen. I think homegrown organic tomatoes don’t really get much better then these and hopefully these sweet fruits being one of the most hydrating veggies will help everyone in the summer heat. We are just starting to see some of the first peppers coming in but the plants were set back this spring because of all the late frost but we are getting very close to having peppers also. This last week we finished harvesting beets and cleaned up the beds and drip lines for that crop and harvested all of our garlic which is now curing in the greenhouse. I planted some green beans a few weeks ago for late season and those came up nicely this week when it rained. It looks like more hot dry weather ahead but hopefully there will be some more rain included in there. I’m hoping to get a lot of carrots harvested this week for storage and to plow some of the areas we cleaned up from garlic and beets to plant some new items for fall. This week we have an awesome crops of celery coming in also which should be pretty good. This weeks crops are as follows….
Cherry tomatoes: I think we have some amazing cherry tomatoes and they make great pico, or caprese salads, or roast them on a skewer on low on the grill. So many coming in that we are loading up large shares with double of these this week just like last week.
Heirloom tomatoes: These are so good for BLT’s or tomato sandwiches, or sliced thick on a plate with just some olive oil and balsamic and basil or cheese. They also make great sauce or panzanilla salad.
Zucchini and Summer Squash: Just like the green zucchini the yellow zucchini and patty pan squash is cooked the same way and lends itself well to stir fries, pizzas, pastas, and curries.
Cucumber: I think these fruits pair great with our tomatoes for a fresh tomato cake salad. My grandma always made them as cucumber salad with onions and sugar and they were always so popular they were gone the moment they hit the table.
Carrots: These roots are labor intensive the last few weeks but we have a lot to go around now for a few more weeks. I love the density, sweetness and bright yellow color of this variety.
Celery: Fresh and tall these celery heads are great for a healthy and cleansing juice if you have a juicer. otherwise i really like the full flavor of the homegrown celery in stir fry dishes.
Garlic. More of the chesnook red garlic coming for members this week. the spicy flavor of this garlic adds great flavor to any dish.
Red onions. These sweet little red onions are good with anything you can cook up.
Curly kale, Our curly kale is great for salad or cooking. When using it raw its best to massage the greens with some oil to tenderize it a bit for salad. If you have some stockpiled from last week then maybe make a batch of kale chips to catch up one your kale consumption. I use kale in stir fries or also juicing at home too.
Thats all our items for this week folks. Thanks for being part of the CSA and I hope you enjoyed the first half of the season and this beggening of the second half….. We will keep the ball rolling and the tomatoes pumping out here for a delicious summer ahead of us.
-Kyle
