Hello CSA members!
This week on the farm we are preparing to plant peppers, put in cucumbers, weeding all the garlic, putting down weed barrier fabric, making micro trays, and pruning and trellising tomatoes. Not to mention harvesting washing and packing your vegetables! School is also coming to a close so a much needed break from running around to events every day will be appreciated as we focus in on the crops and preparing for late summer and even fall! I got a quote on a new greenhouse last week and will be ordering this week and hopefully starting the site preparation for this new structure over the next week or two also as we got another NRCS greenhouse grant for a 4th greenhouse. This week we will feature the following crops for you in shares including the very first strawberries!
Red leaf lettuce. – These two tone green and red frilly heads can be chopped up for a salad, used for wraps, or mixed with your salad mix for a fluffier salad.
Green butter crunch Lettuce- We had these heads last week also and they are my favorite lettuce! The outer leaves can be used for wraps and the center is crunchy and creamy with a blanched center giving it a great texture for salads.
Cilantro – Fresh cilantro for your salads, stir fries, tacos, or safrito.
Kale- curly kale is a protein packed green can give you a lot of good energy to run on with healthy plant proteins and vitamins. Use it massaged with oil for salad or sautéed in oil or butter for other dishes.
Joi-Choi- These large white stemmed choi’s are full of vitamins and can be grilled also like the romaine, or you can use it to make stir fry or a side dish of greens.
Strawberries- You all know what they are and everyone loves them. These are picked vine ripe and at the sweetest we can get them so do try to eat them soon to enjoy the best vine ripe flavors. We pick these daily to get the best quality we can. there may be some spotting this year as its been extra humid and damp as they start to ripen which is the worst possible weather for clean fruit. We eat lots of berries here at home that are even more damaged than these so we know they are still good 🙂
Swiss Chard- This rainbow stemmed chard has many varieties and we grow a lot of them but my favorite this year is the peppermint stemmed chard. This is a great sauté green with butter and eggs or in pasta with olive oil. A Great sub for spinach any spinach recipe also. Closely related to beets this veggie glows with many colors.
Thats the lineup for this week folks! If we have enough of it we may add cilantro to boxes again this week for a fresh herb to use. We will be working hard out here to get all these fresh veggies out the door to you and hope you all have a great week and enjoy the fresh veggies! -Kyle
