Hello CSA Members!
Week nine marks the middle of the CSA season for all of us. This last week we harvested all our garlic. We also removed spent beds from the fields including trellising, mulch, and drip lines. Tomorrow we will put fabric down between out pepper beds which are looking very busy and productive for late summer shares. We are still battling the weeds this week of course also and working hard to harvest all the vegetables. (Ativan) We got some good rain this week which is important heading into the heat of late July and August. Hopefully we will still get some rains through the next few months. This week we have zucchini and squash crops peaking so be prepared, they do look and taste delicious as i’ve been cooking with them a lot lately.
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.
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.
Basil: Fresh basil to go with your tomatoes! Makes a great pesto too!
Kohlrabi: This will be the last week for these cabbage apples, enjoy them sliced with some smoky cheese for great flavor contrast.
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. Its not an amazing cake year for us so far but the fruit we are ting is tasty.
Zucchini: green zucchini. The zucchini is officially going off. so many perfect fruits coming in so expect enough to feed a family and then some this week and be prepared for some zucchini recipes. There are some on our website for you also.
Summer Squash: Just like the zucchini these are really hitting a peak this week with lots of beautiful fruits.
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.
Swiss Chard: A great saute green used just like spinach. the flavor is better cooked in my opinion.
Thats 10 crops for this week! If we get enough of the first picking we will have some jalapenos also. More will be coming in soon including, celery, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and lots of different peppers before too long. This week I will also work to prepare the new building site for the greenhouse also as that should be getting delivered in a couple weeks. Thank you again to everyone for being a part of it all. -Kyle
