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.