Week 20 - The final box of the season.

Months ago, during the early stages of the pandemic, each of you signed up for a CSA.  Many of you were probably looking for a way to get fresh produce without going to the store.  Or maybe you had always been curious about a CSA, but it never made sense because you traveled a lot in the summer.  Regardless of the reason, I hope it exceeded your expectations.  Those of you that were CSA members in the past know that we were not originally planning on doing a CSA this year.  We had decided that five days of farmers market, wholesale and a CSA was too much.  We really debated the decision because having multiple sales avenues provides you with a safety net just as having diversity in the garden protects you against mass crop/income failure.  As the reality of the pandemic set in we realized we needed a CSA.  We ended up dropping two market days and scaled down our early spring wholesale while expanding the CSA.  This year, like every year we have farmed, was challenging.   We do our best to be flexible and take things in stride.  The end of the CSA marks the begining of the wind down for us.  Thank you for your support this year.  Thank you to the new customers who took a chance on us and to the returning customers that didn't hold it against us that tried to end the CSA and then asked you to forget all about that and join again!  We appreciate you all!   

Celery

Carrots - Mostly orange but with a little rainbow for fun

Butternut- One thing I will miss this winter is farmer potlucks.  We traditionally host a squash off where everybody brings a dish that has squash as the star.  The food is always amazing.  I made these tamales and they were so good I made them again on Solstice - another gathering I will miss.  

Watermelon Radish/Daikon Radish 

Potatoes 

Cucumber - last picking for these guys

Kabocha Squash- Large Only  Last year when Kelly was in Montana I made this amazing recipe from the cookbook Six Seasons.  It was all I had for dinner and it was so good I made it again the next night.  It would work with other squash as well. 

Frissee - Large Only  We don't grow many greens in the chicory family because I am not crazy about bitter greens.  However earlier in the season we were contemplating a late season CSA and I went off plan, ordered some seed from Osborne Seed in Mount Vernon and seeded a late round of some chicories.  The frissee is the first of these to mature.  My timing was probably a little late but we should have some other ones at market later in the month.  

 Week 19

We cooked our first squash the other night.  When we pulled the acorns out of the field I brought one in to try it and it has been patiently waiting on my counter.  Acorn is not usually my first choice, but we are growing a new variety this year and I wanted to see what it was like.  I sliced it into half inch slices and roasted it, a cooking technique I favor for delicatas.  It was excellent.   We had it in a burrito with roasted poblanos, rice, beans and some grilled pork.  I think squash is a great combo with roasted or grilled poblanos and I also love it with kale.  

This is your second to last week.  Next week we should have a radish medley (watermelon and/or daikon) and celery along with some other great stuff.  

Carrots

Lacinato Kale

Delicata Squash

Poblano Peppers

Small Lettuce 

Napa Cabbage

Cauliflower - Large Only

Week 18 

We saw a few of you while making squash runs last Thursday.  We had hoped the air would be a little better but with rain in the forecast for Friday we decided to push and try to get some winter squash out of the field and into the barn.  Most of the plants had died back.  Kabocha and sweet fall, both with soft corky stems were the top priority.  Then we went for the delicata, acorn and spaghetti.  The only squash in the field still is a patch of butternut at our house.  The plants are still alive and with no frost in the forecast it isn't too pressing.  You will have some squash in your shares next week - delicata I think.  

Broccoli or Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Salad Turnips 

Bell Peppers

Cherry Tomatoes  - the Friday down pour took a toll on our cherry tomatoes and the forecast for the end of the week spells doom for our field cherries but we think we can get on last round to you all. 

Cucumber - last call for these too!

Garlic

Flat Leaf Parsley

Arugula - Large Only   Collards - Large Only  The caterpillar to arugula ratio was frightening so we did a last minute sub and switched it to collards.

Week 17

 Week 17

We cut the crew early on Friday, but we worked a full day and then did market all day Saturday and Sunday.  By the end of the day yesterday I had had enough.  Got the crew out by 11am and we left at noon today.  Trying to just pick what has to be picked and leaving what will hopefully hold.  Chehalis market is cancelled for tomorrow and while we were stressed by the news at first, after thinking about it, it makes the most sense.  I was hoping for some better air to move in today, but that hope has fizzled.   Here are our thoughts on your boxes this week.  There may be some changes depending on how much we can get done and how many hours we are comfortable working and having crew work.  Take care everyone.  

Carrots

Potatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Red Leaf Lettuce

Broccoli or Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Radishes - Large Share Only

Week 16

 Week 16

We had another busy weekend at market.  It is one of the most gratifying times of year to set up the stand.  There is so much variety and great color.  This weekend was our first big display of sweet peppers.  Sweet peppers are one of my favorite things to grow and eat.  There are always lots of peppers that aren't nice enough to sell which means we inevitably have a pile of them on our counter for all of September.  I discovered a new sweet pepper spread, muhammara, when I was randomly searching the internet and I am really into it.  I need to get some pomegranate molasses so I can make it properly.   Another great red pepper spread is ajvar.  That one also has eggplant in it.  

Hope you enjoy the food and the beautiful weather in store this week.  

Cherry Tomatoes

Zucchini

Sweet Peppers

Cauliflower

Kale - Out of new planting - looks great, very tender, summer flavor.

Green Beans - for all large shares and small shares that didn't get them last week. 

Eggplant - small shares only- May have to finish getting everyone next week.

Red Cabbage - large shares only

Week 15

This week may see some changes. Corn and beans are on the edge of readiness. 

 

Lettuce

Cherry Tomatoes

Chard

Purple Potatoes

Watermelon

Radish - Small Only

Eggplant - Large Only

Carrot - Large Only

Week 14

 Week 14

Week 14!  Summer is just cruising by with September just around the corner.  Some of the vegetables in the field feel a little behind.  Normally by now we are flush with sweet peppers and the field cherry tomatoes are loaded with fruit.  Things are doing well, just coming in a week or so later than normal.  Hope to have sweet peppers for everyone next week but we will see.  I also hope to have another round of melons but they are getting ravaged by rodents.  It is the classic scenario where they only nibble on the ripe ones.  The watermelons are better scene but of course that is not what we planted a lot of this year.  Ahhh, farming...

Have a great week. 

Tomatillos - A lot of our winter meals revolve around what we put up from the garden.  One of our staples is salsa verde.  We freeze it so that I don't have to worry about the acidity and because I just think the qualtity is better.  We freeze small portions but also some larger portions to braise chicken thighs or pork shoulder.  Here is a very straight forward recipe for chile verde with chicken.  I have also been known to throw frozen chicken thighs, a little liquid and all the ingredients for chile verde in an instant pot.  Then I just puree the sauce with an immersion blender.  It isn't quite as good but still a great way to go when you don't pull the chicken out of the freezer until after you get home from work.  

Jalapeno

Poblano Peppers - Large Only

Shishito Peppers - Small Only

Slicing Tomato

Cabbage

Beets

Cucumber

Broccoli - Large Only

 Main Season Week 13

The shift in seasons has begun.  Kelly mowed the first round of cucumbers and zucchinis along with some older beds of salad and there are suddenly lots of gaps in the fields.  It is a bit like putting away that pile of laundry that has been sitting on your office chair for too long or sorting through a pile of mail that you should have sorted through last week.  Seeing all the weeds and decaying plants go away clears my mind a bit.  

A crew member from a previous year started today and will help us finish out our season.  Having some fresh energy, particularly when it is someone who knows how to do a lot of the work, is great for everyone's morale.  

We had a dinner with a theme last week (I love dinners with themes).  We made homemade ramen and watched the movie Tampopo.  We only made it through a third of it, admittedly movies and summer farming don't really go together, but it was still fun and I look forward to watching the rest of it.  I am thinking as things start to slow down in a month or so that a movie with a dinner that relates to the film might be a fun weekly ritual.  

If you find yourself in need of some recipes there are a few blogs that I find very reliable.  One is The First Mess.  We are trying the creamy corn pasta tonight and recently made the napa and kale slaw with a pickled jalapeno cashew based ranch.  I had intended to make the BBQ cauliflower to go with it but it just didn't happen.  

Hope you all are enjoying the veggies. 

Head Lettuce

Carrots

Zucchini

Cherry Tomatoes

Broccoli

Assorted Herb - One of the following: Parsley, Cilantro, Dill, Thai Basil, Basil

Persian Cucumbers - Large Only

Garlic - Large Only

 Main Season Week 12

Here is the start  of you box.  On our farm walk last night we ate our first watermelon.  Sadly it is a variety that has been discontinued and we only had a few seeds of it.  It has been a favorite of ours for the past five years.  It is a perfect size and really early.  Johnny's Seeds who we buy it from replaced it with another great melon called mini love that we trialed last year.  It is about a week later and while they call it an improvement I wish we could grow both of them.  They really compliment each other.  Our other early melon is called Sun Jewel.  It is a Korean style melon that has also been discontinued.  There are lots of other Korean melons out there but I can't imagine one as dependable as Sun Jewel.  Fortunately we had a lot of seed and get it for an extra year.  We are going to pick that variety today and see if it can go to some of you, all of you or if the melon party is going to have to start next week.  I will update/finish the list tomorrow morning.  

Have a great week.

Arugula - tender but pretty spicy

Cherry Tomatoes

Other Tomatoes - either saladettes or slicers

Red Gold Potatoes

Cucumbers

Poblano Peppers - Small Share Only

Sun Jewel Melon - crisp and sweet...this is not a a spaghetti squash, it is a melon.

Shishito Peppers - Large Share Only  These are great grilled or fried in a hot skillet until showing a little char. 

Lettuce - Large Only

Main Share Week 11

Collard - I was thrilled to hear from a few of you how much you enjoyed the collards last time.  These are from a new planting.  Most will be large, elephant ear style and very tender.  One of the people who told me they enjoyed them blanched them and used them instead of rice paper to make spring rolls.  It has been on my list ever since but I am mostly living off tomatoes these days., with the occasional fig thrown in.  Like all of you, I struggle to find the time to make good food/good meals sometimes.  The CSA often inspires me to make something new.  

Zucchini

Carrots

Lettuce

Slicing Tomato

Garlic

Purple Bell Pepper - Small Only

Radish - Large Only

Napa Cabbage - Large Only  

Main Season Share Week 10

Baby Fennel

Beets - We were originally going to wait another week for beets, but they look so good right now, particularly the greens.  

Cherry Tomatoes

Red Gold Potatoes 

Red Leaf Lettuce - This variety appears in your boxes more than any other because we grow more of it than any other lettuce.  The variety is New Red Fire and I think it is the most dependable in both production terms and in flavor.  We had some last night with these lettuce wraps and it was delicious.  

Onions - We don't have much in the way of onions this year and they will be few and far between.  These will be smaller bunched mild onions.  

Flat Leaf Parsley - Large Only

Lacinato Kale - Large Only

Next week will bring collards and hopefully slicing tomatoes for everyone, along with carrots and more cherry tomatoes.  Napa cabbage is on the horizon as well.  

Main Season Week 9

Hope you all are enjoying the summer weather we are having.  I love it, but I will admit I am pretty whooped after being outside all day.  We ended our day with some ice cream novelties/popsicles which is a bit of a summer tradition at the farm when we have our first really hot day with a full crew working. 

I love summer eating.  Tomatoes and mozzerella,  cucumbers in rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar, grilled zucchinis and peppers, peach and blackberry pie and many other things make me so happy this time of year.  I wish you a week of delicious summer eating!

Mini Head Lettuce - We grow a mini oak leaf, mini butter and mini romaine (also called little gems).  You will get a selection of two or three of them depending on how dense they are.  The mini butters and oaks are part of the selection we grow to cut for salad.
Zucchini/Summer Squash
Cucumbers - We grow three different types of cucumbers.  There is the traditional American slicer that you are all familiar with and have received.  Some of you have also received Persian cucumbers which a smaller and have a thin skin and then there are Japanese cucumbers which are longer and have a thin skin.  Both the Persian and the Japanese are burpless. 
Carrots - Purple Haze is our favorite purple carrot.  While it isn't as deeply colored as the fall one we grow, it tastes good cooked or raw all season long.  It is an outstanding carrot.
Basil
Cherry Tomatoes - I am hopeful for a full pint for everyone but if not the mall shares will have a half pint which I realize means the tomatoes last about as long as it takes for you to get them out of the bag and on the counter.  There will be lots to come soon.
Snap Peas - Large Only - If they pick decent on Wednesday.  Otherwise you will have collard greens.

Main Season Week 8

We are hoping to get everyone cauliflower this week.  We will start with Wednesday which I am sure we will have enough for and likely most of Thursday's boxes as well, but we may have to give it to some shares next week instead.  If you don't have cauliflower in your boxes there will be something else instead.  We roasted some last night and it was amazing.  I am happy that veggies still surprise me by being extra delicious.

Leaf Lettuce
Green Bell Pepper
Green Cabbage
New Potatoes
Cucumber
Cauliflower
Garlic
Arugula or Frilly Mustards - Large Only
Little Gem Lettuce - Large Only

Main Season Week 7

It hasn't exactly been tomato weather, but we picked our first few pints of cherry tomatoes on Friday.  It will probably be another couple weeks before we have enough for all the shares.  It has been good pea weather and we have those for you again this week.  I spontaneously planted green beans on Tuesday.  We had eliminated them from our production plan, but what is a summer without at least one round of green beans!  That probably puts them picking around late August.  Seeding rutabagas and weeding parsnips are also on the agenda for this week.

Head Lettuce
Snap Peas
Carrots
Zucchini
Chard - Since are missing the greens on your beets, chard seemed like a natural choice.  They are closely related.  In New Zealand, white stem chard is called silverbeet and rainbow chard rainbowbeet. If you pull a mature chard plant up it has a mangle/beet root that roughly matches the stem color. 
Bulk Beets
Broccoli - large share

Main Season Week 6

Hope everyone has a great week.

Snap Peas - I always try to make one snap pea dish a year where the peas are the star.  I never pass the planing without picking a few to snack on but rarely do we sit down to a dish made with them.  Last year I made a dish with burrata and the mild cheese with the peas was delicious.  I think that is why I was attracted to this salad when I saw it.  I used queso fresco.  I also think it would be good with grilled snap peas.
Carrots
Kale or Arugula - TBD
Turnips
Cucumber - I don't know where I got the motivation on Friday night, but I made homemade dumpling dough that I filled with a veggie (broccoli, cabbage, carrots and chard) filling.  We also had this cucumber salad.  I just used regular slicing cukes like the ones in the boxes this week and I thought they worked well.
Broccoli - Small Only
Salad - Large Only
Potatoes - Large Only

Main Season Week 5

Happy summer everyone.  Summer arrived as it always does and I barely took notice as I always do.  The days blur together this time of year during normal times and this year we started the season with a smaller crew and are now frantically trying to add some labor before things start to spiral downward.  No need for you all to be nervous.  There will be plenty of vegetables, but it is feeling a bit chaotic.  We are also trying to decided if we should shift or change any of our fall production plan.  Will we still be in the first wave, the second wave, will things be stranger and so forth.  One of the reasons we are at market right now is because the peas and carrots and beets you have been eating were seeded in February.   Our production plan and first plantings were designed for market which means you can have lots of some things and not much of others.  This week for example you have scallions seeded March 1st.  It is our only scallion planting and there will be just enough for the CSA with no market leftovers.  Carrots on the other hand would need a 500 plus person CSA to move them all.  We did shift some things around for summer harvest and as we seed things for fall it is difficult to know exactly who we will be selling to and how we will be selling it.  Which is why on Saturday, the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, we scarfed down slice after slice of Vic's pizza and then went to bed earlier than we had all week!

Carrots
Cabbage
Zucchini
Scallions
New Potatoes - One of my favorite things - I really look forward to these  We had some last night with grilled lamb chops and a snap pea and radish salad.  The lamb and salad were good, but I would have been happy with a giant plate of potatoes.  The easiest things to do with them are to steam them or roast them.  Steaming seems boring but it really lets the new potato shine.  Drizzle them with a bit of butter or olive oil and a fresh herb and enjoy.  My absolute favorite way to prepare them is to cut them in half, steam them until tender and then pan fry them in a cast iron skillet until the cut side gets extra crispy.  This works for potatoes of all sizes although I typically for the smaller ones.
Herb - Basil for the large shares and either cilantro, dill or basil for the small shares.
Mini Lettuce - Small Share Only
Broccoli - Large Share Only

Main Season Week 4

Sorry, this is going out a bit late.  I did the Sunday market at Olympia yesterday and it really threw my schedule off.  I am hoping we can find someone else to do it and I can return to my Sunday routine.  We typically do an afternoon farm walk on Sundays to make a list for the week and to make a list of available produce for you all but we squeezed it in this afternoon instead. 

Head Lettuce
Carrots
Snap Peas
Daikon Radish  
Cucumber
Garlic - Spanish Red - This garlic is wet!  You can use it right away, but what you don't use should just be left in the open air on your counter.  The flavor is a little milder than when it is fully cured and dried down.
Collards - You may not care if you get collards in your box but for me I have failed you if you don't get the spring trifecta of bunched greens - chard, kale and collards in the first part of the CSA.  You can cut the center rib out, roll them up tight and slice them thinly and give them just a quick cook in a hot pan with a bit of oil and garlic. 
Salad - Large Only

Main Season Week 3

You may notice something unusual in you bag this week, particularly if you have been a CSA member in previous years - your carrots have no tops.  When we are low on labor in the fall we occasionally top the CSA carrots, but during the spring and summer we always bunch them.  This year you are going to be seeing a lot more bulk carrots.  Bunched carrots are beautiful, but they are labor intensive and we are trying to keep the crew small.  There is the misconception that bunched carrots are fresher.  That may be the case at times in the grocery store, but your bulk/loose carrots are harvested on the same day as if we were bunching them. 

Snap Peas
Head Lettuce
Turnips 
Carrots
Broccoli 
Chard-Small Only
Beets - Large Only

Main Season Week 2

I can't remember a May with such perfect weather.  In recent years it has been either unusually dry or unusually wet.  We have had a nice mix of rain and dry days and have had to do very little irrigating which is a huge time saver.  We even treated to the rare thunder and lightening storm on Saturday morning as we were loading up for market.

We have a couple big single planting crops to get transplanted this week, melons and winter squash.  Hoping to get the winter squash in today and tomorrow.   This is also the first week of the Chehalis market.

Carrots
Salad
Kale
Herb- Most if not all of you will get basil.
Turnips or zucchini
Garlic Scapes - It may take us two weeks to get everyone scapes.
Rainbow Chard - Large Only
Purple Sprouting Broccoli - Large Only

Main Season Week 1

Kohlrabi
Head Lettuce
Spinach 
Cabbage
Radish
Zucchini - The zukes are in a hoop house.  We just started picking them last week.  Everyone will get them, but it will be a small amount as the plants aren't cranking them out yet.  We grilled some last night along with some kohlrabi.  It was a nice change of pace.
Salad - Large Only
Herb - Large Only

Early Season Week 5

This is the last week of the early share.  The main season will start next week.  Thank you for your support.  It has been a great way to start the season for us.  I hope you all have enjoyed the produce. 

We are planting out peppers and tomatoes this week - two of my favorites! 

Lacinato Kale
Bunched Mizuna
Bok Choy
Radishes or Turnips
Carrots
Little Gem Lettuce
Salad Mix

Early Season Week 4

Enjoy the veggies!

Head Lettuce
Spinach
Rainbow Chard
Green Cabbage
Beets 
Green Garlic - A customer sent me a picture of this bread they made with the green garlic.  The recipe is in metric but has a toggle button to change it.  The recipe refers to green garlic as wet garlic which must be how it is referred to in the UK.  It looks amazing,  We have been making some really good dressings with the green tops.  We had a beet, beet green, quinoa and feta salad that we dressed with a mix of blended green garlic, lemon, oil, mint and parsley.  I also made a tahini dressing with green garlic and a cilantro lime dressing with it.  This will be the last time it goes in the shares but garlic scapes are only a few weeks away.

Early Season Week 3

Ate my first spring carrot and saw my first snap pea flower this week!  Carrots should make it into week 5 and I have my fingers crossed for cabbage next week.  Swiss Chard should also be ready for next week.  Have a great week.

Head Lettuce - Assorted Varieties
Spinach - first picking from the field
Collards 
Kohlrabi 
Radishes
Salad Mix
Mixed Mustard Bunch

Early Season Week 2

It isn't often that we eat a CSA share.  Typically, I just grab whatever culls are around unless I have my heart set on something special.   This time of year there isn't a lot of random stuff coming back from market so I harvested an extra of everything and we had all the same things in our fridge that you did this past week. I thought the salad was extra primo and the spinach not as good (but still yummy), as it was a couple weeks ago.  It was the last picking from the greenhouse planting and it is loosing its sweetness and developing more of an oxalic acid taste(next week's box will have field grown spinach in it).  Taste and textural differences between plantings is most often related to plant maturity, the weather and the nutrient level in the soil.  When all three of those things are in alignment it makes for epic food.  This week the bok choy looks like it is going to be epic - mild, juicy, crunchy and delicious.

Enjoy the produce.

Lacinato Kale - the first picking of spring.
Bok Choy
Arugula or Mizuna - not sure which of these we will go with
Bunched Turnips
Green Garlic - We plant garlic close together for green garlic and harvested like scallions, you can use the entire thing.  It is milder than dried down garlic.
Salad Mix - all lettuce this week
Little Gem Lettuce

Early Season Week 1

Salad
Radishes 
Turnips - good raw or cooked - greens are also edible.
Spinach
Beet Greens - A spring time favorite on our farm.  Trim off the stringy tap root, leaving the beet root base and wash well.  We typically chop and saute them.
Mustard Bunches

Next week we should have some green garlic in the bags!  Have a great week.