CSA Week #16
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of September 14th
VEGETABLE SHARE
Cell Phone! - 1 piece - Holly thinks she may have dropped her cell phone in one of the CSA boxes going out today. If you find it, please call us at 631-722-3302. Thank you!!!!!
Baby Arugula - 1 bag
Cilantro or Dill - 1 bunch
Peppers - 1-2 pieces - if you happen to get a small red one, check to see if it’s hot before cooking or handling with kids!
Red Kale - 1 bunch - This is the beginning of our fall greens of which there will be many more to come. Be sure to remove the hard stems before cooking. I usually just rip the leaves off the center stem, which gets tossed in the compost.
Zucchini – 1 piece - Almost the end of the season!
Tomatoes* - 1-2 pieces - The tomato ripening has come to a halt with the cool weather this past week, so we have a very limited number to send out. Each week we send out everything we have harvested that is ripe for the week, so the volume you receive directly relates to the daytime and nighttime temperatures. Have no fear- this is not the end of the tomatoes!
Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pint
Garlic – 1 head - The garlic has been carefully graded *twice* to prevent any garlic that has internal breakdown from going out in the boxes. Occasionally it’s impossible to tell from looking at the outside, so if you get a bad garlic by some chance, please let us know!
Watermelon - 1 piece
Cantaloupe Melon - 1 piece - Tues & Wed ONLY - Picking melons is very tricky, so we've been very careful to pick ones that are just right-- but please let us know if you get a "dud".
Green Beans -or- Beets - 1 bunch or bag - Thursday ONLY
*The tomatoes have been sprayed with copper as a preventative for late blight fungus. This spray is certified for use in organic production and is harmless to humans, but must be washed off before eating. Also be sure to ripen completely on the counter before eating! They should be a deep red and slightly soft to the touch.
FRUIT SHARE
Tuesday - 1 bag mixed Bosc Pears & Apples - Bosc pears are ripe when they turn an even brown color. They are still firm when ripe! Refrigerate immediately when ripe. If left to soften, they will be rotten when you cut them open, so be careful!
Be sure to remove fruit from plastic bags immediately when you get them home. They can ripen out on the counter or in a paper bag. Store ripe fruit in the fridge.
LETTER FROM YOUR FARMER - SEASON UPDATE - PART 1
Greetings!
At long last, your farm season update! After starting to put down my thoughts last night, I realized just how much information I have to share with you, so this will be Part 1 of several installments I'll write over the next few weeks.
Our plantings are almost finished here at the farm, with only a couple plantings of baby greens, radishes, and spinach left to seed. And of course, garlic! Garlic is planted between mid-October and early November - whenever we have time - to be harvested next July. We also have a lot of cover cropping to do to protect and enrich the soil throughout the winter and into late spring. We seed various plants after our crops are finished in a field. Hairy vetch, rye, triticale, oats, crimson clover, and red clover are some of the cover crops we plant on our farm.
So… things would seem to be slowing down at the farm, and to a certain extent, that is true. The intensity of our field preparation, our planting, cultivating, irrigating and mental overload is definitely slowing. We can be somewhat happy that the season so far has not been the disaster that it looked like it was destined to become back in July. And we can always do what many farmers love more than anything- dream about next year! But not quite yet…because there is so much stuff to harvest! We have 11 more weeks of the 2009 CSA season and lots of good veggies coming your way, as long as the weather cooperates!
This is a great time to do a season and crop update to let all of you know the inside scoop about our farming season and some details of the state of our crops. Kind of like a State of Our (Your) Crops Address. Sounds like fun! Well here it goes... This not intended to depress anybody, but more importantly to connect you to your food and to enrich your experience with locally produced food. After all, as a CSA member you directly experience the events of the season.
This year has been full of complication. At this stage of farming, there is not much that can really wreck our season except really bad weather. And for the most part, that means rain. Rain and continuously wet conditions can not only destroy crops, but for a CSA farm where weekly succession plantings are integral to the program, it turns most plans upside down. Parts of June and almost all of July brought all of our very complex planting and seeding schedules to a standstill. While the rain was not hurting our spring planted greens and other crops which were harvested through June and July, it became impossible to get very much planted or to cultivate many of our crops. June is a big month for us to plant many of our large acreage one planting crops like winter squash, sweet potatoes, late tomatoes, melons, watermelons, as well as other multiple planting crops like beans, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage etc. We had so few days to plant and weed during these 2 months that it became a nightmare of scrambling to do a couple weeks work in a couple of days. Every small opportunity to plant or cultivate or prep fields became frenzied, marathon days from before dawn 'till after dark. And as usual, the crops had to be picked, the boxes made up and all the rest of the normal farm functions went on as usual. The planting schedule became, “what are most important crops that we can get planted as fast as possible, as soon as we have a chance”. This is not normal for us. While we are always working and modifying our plans around the weather, this year we were really not given a chance. We just had to wait, all the while frustration building, until the ground was able to be planted. This lasted for weeks at some points. To most people lots of rain is just annoying or an inconvenience, but to farmers excessive rain and wet air conditions can spell disaster. We are lucky on Long Island to have soils that drain well, and we have nice raised beds that keep all the crops above any standing water. We rarely have standing water in our fields for more than an hour or two after heavy rains, but if the soil is saturated we cannot till and plant because it destroys the soil and the plants won’t grow very well- if at all.
So now everybody wants to know how their crops are doing! Well, not too badly in general. But specifically, here is our crop update. This week I'll talk about Tomatoes and Potatoes. Next week I'll address our other crops out there in the fields...
Tomatoes - Many of you have learned about late blight this year. It was here very early and caught many people off guard, including us in the beginning. It’s easy to think, "Oh, it won’t happen here!”, until you know better. Anyway, we were the second documented farm on Long Island, maybe in the northeast, to get late blight on one variety of potatoes. (More about that in the potato section). So then we started to take things seriously. Luckily, it was early enough to get ready for the tomato battle to come. Organic farmers don’t like spraying very much, but there wasn’t much of a choice if we wanted to give out any tomatoes in our CSA this year. Basically, we had a new job, which somehow we were supposed to find time for in amongst everything else to do. We’re on our 3rd method of spraying the tomatoes and after buying and borrowing the right equipment we now have the ultimate tomato spraying setup! A super mini tractor fits down between the tomato rows with a little 50 gallon air blast sprayer attached to the back. It provides excellent coverage of all the leaves and fruit with a very fine mist that doesn’t go all over the place. For organic farmers, the only way to prevent late blight currently is to have copper coating the plant before it becomes infected. The leaves, fruit and stem can become affected. If the weather is right, a beautiful field can turn black and die really quickly. No fun after spending many thousands of dollars on growing, staking, and tying a planting! We have been successful with our first planting so far. We're not out of the woods yet, however. Our second planting of tomatoes was not sprayed at all during most of August when we were working on various sprayers and waiting for parts. The weather was really great- sunny, warm, and barely any signs of blight. Then, a couple of dewey mornings and one rain and it took off again! It was all sitting there just waiting for the right conditions. Luckily the new setup was working and the spraying continues in earnest. The second planting is looking pretty good, so we hope it will continue.
Potatoes - Well, there are a decent amount of not very big, but very good looking and delicious potatoes this year. They are not too big because it was so wet and we were so busy we couldn’t find time to spray to get rid of the potato beetles that arrive in the early summer. We sprayed them 2 weeks late and by then they were no longer small larvae and were consuming potato leaves as fast as they could eat! Most of the beautiful 6 acre leafy field of potatoes looked like potato stick plants with all the leaves eaten in a matter of days. But not all was lost because the plants had grown enough to produce some beautiful tubers, although smaller than normal. And the best thing was, we didn’t get late blight on most of the potatoes because there was no live tissue to become infected. The potato beetles did us a great favor after all! As I said before, we did get late blight on one variety, which we promptly flail mowed down so there would be no live tissue. Some of these potatoes have already been given out in CSA shares so they can be cooked and eaten. They look great. There will not be the same quantity of potatoes in the share as last year, but they are better looking spuds!
...More to come next week about our successful sweet potato and bean crops and more!
Be well, and remember, you are what you eat! - Farmer Matt
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
CSA Week #15
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of September 7th
VEGETABLE SHARE
1 head Batavian Lettuce (Tues)
1 small Red Watermelon (Wed)
1 container Raspberries or Blackberries (Thurs)
1 bunch Basil
1 bunch Dill
1 pc. Rosa Bianca Eggplant
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1 pc. Zucchini
1 lb. Fingerling Potatoes (Tues & Wed)
2-3 lb. Red Tomatoes
1 small Cantaloupe Melon (Tues & Wed)
1 lb. Fingerling Potatoes or Cantaloupe Melon (Thurs)
Excellent new small variety that we're trying out this year. So far the ones we've tasted have been great! Picking melons is very tricky, so we've been very careful to pick ones that are just right-- but please let us know if you get a "dud".
FRUIT SHARE**
Tuesday - 1 bag mixed Peaches/Apples and 1 bag Damson Plums - Make jam this week with these special plums! Recipe link here
Wednesday & Thursday - 1 bag Peaches and 1 bag Apples
*The tomatoes have been sprayed with copper as a preventative for late blight fungus. This spray is certified for use in organic production and is harmless to humans, but must be washed off before eating. Also be sure to ripen completely on the counter before eating! They should be a deep red and slightly soft to the touch.
**Be sure to remove fruit from plastic bags immediately when you get them home. They can ripen out on the counter or in a paper bag. Store ripe fruit in the fridge.
BOX NOTES
The fingerling potatoes have the most fantastic flavor and texture. We made fingerling home fries over the weekend with shallots that were to die for!
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE.
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
CSA Week #14
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of August 31st
VEGETABLE SHARE
1/2 lb. bag Lettuce Mix -or- 1 head Batavian Lettuce
1 bunch Parsley -or- Rosemary -or- Thyme
3 pc. Shallots
2 pc. Cucumbers (Tues & Wed)
1/2 pint Raspberries or Blackberries (Thurs)
3-4 pc. Zucchini
4-5 lb. Red Tomatoes
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1 small Cantaloupe Melon (Thurs) - Excellent new small variety that we're trying out this year. So far the ones we've tasted have been great! Picking melons is very tricky, so we've been very careful to pick ones that are just right-- but please let us know if you get a "dud". Tuesday and Wednesday groups will get melon next week as they're just starting to ripen.
FRUIT SHARE**
1 bag mixed Peaches/Nectarines & 1 bag Apples
1 container Raspberries (Wed ONLY - Replacement for moldy berries last week. The fruit farmer apologizes for the inconvenience.)
*The tomatoes have been sprayed with copper as a preventative for late blight fungus. This spray is certified for use in organic production and is harmless to humans, but must be washed off before eating. Also be sure to ripen completely on the counter before eating! They should be a deep red and slightly soft to the touch.
**Be sure to remove fruit from plastic bags immediately when you get them home. They can ripen out on the counter or in a paper bag. Store ripe fruit in the fridge.
BOX NOTES
The tomatoes are in! Most organic farms in the Northeast have lost their entire tomato crop this season due to late blight, so we should all be very thankful that we have plenty to go around. You can thank your very diligent farmers, Matt and James, for their careful monitoring and preventative actions that made this year's tomato harvest possible.
Shallots! These have been in the works for several years, and they're finally coming through very well this season on a trial basis. Shallots are not onions, but they are part of the Allium species. They have a mildly sweet onion flavor that some say also has hints of garlic. I like to use shallots in dressings and in place of onions in delicately flavored dishes. Let us know what you think! Should we grow more of them for next year's share?
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Baked Cherry Tomatoes with Parmesan Topping More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
Cucumber "Noodle" Ginger Salad
CSA Week #13
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of August 24th
VEGETABLE SHARE
1 bunch Arugula (Tues & Wed)
1 bunch Purslane (Thurs)
1 bunch Baby Basil Tips
1 piece Green Bell Pepper
2 pieces Green Long Peppers
1 piece Eggplant (Rosa Bianco or Black)
9-10 pieces Zucchini
1 piece Cucumber (Thurs)
2-3 pieces Tomatoes*
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes (Tues & Wed)
1 half pint Blackberries or Raspberries or Cherry Tomatoes (Thurs)
1 head Garlic
FRUIT SHARE**
1 bag Peaches & 1 bag Apples (Tues)
1 bag Mixed Tree Fruit & 1 container Raspberries (Wed)
*The tomatoes have been sprayed with copper as a preventative for late blight fungus. This spray is certified for use in organic production and is harmless to humans, but must be washed off before eating. Also be sure to ripen completely on the counter before eating! They should be a deep red and slightly soft to the touch.
**Be sure to remove fruit from plastic bags immediately when you get them home. They can ripen out on the counter or in a paper bag. Store ripe fruit in the fridge.
BOX NOTES
This is the first harvest of basil for the season, so we've picked just the tender tips of the plant. It's a small bunch, but basil packs a lot of flavor into its leaves. There will be much more to come for making pesto and other basil recipes over the next few weeks. The long green peppers are supposed to be sweet, but in past years we've found that one or two may be hot, so please check first before cooking with children.
LETTER FROM YOUR FARMER Hi Members-- It’s a zucchini bonanza!! We know that 10 zucchini might challenge everybody’s creative cooking skills, but the bounty of the harvest is what is so exiting about CSA. We have a beautiful new planting of zucchini that just matured and we are harvesting about 1,000 pounds a day! Since it must be picked daily, that means we're taking in 7,000 - 8,000 pounds a week-- And it’s all coming to you! This will probably continue for a couple of weeks and then begin to abate. And by then you will be so happy to see them go. Amazingly, we missed all of the rain that surrounded us over the last few days. Even though we could have used a nice soaking rain, we’re fine with it. After this past June and July with almost nonstop rain, we could not be happier to see dusty farm roads, feel the intensity of the sun, and irrigate constantly. It feels like things are back to normal when the irrigation engines are running most of the time and any vegetation that is not irrigated starts to wilt in the hot sun and soon dehydrate completely. One of the unique things about farming on Long Island is that much of the rain that comes to the east coast from the west in the summer never makes it out to us on the North Fork. All the heat and humidity last week was very unpleasant to most people, but it gets crops to ripen quickly. The tomatoes are finally coming in relatively well, almost in full swing but not quite. Between good weather and our extra attention we’ve managed to keep the infamous late blight from causing much harm, so far. It even managed to infiltrate our high tunnel and affect a few of our tomato plants. It is something we will have to deal with for the rest of the tomato season, so stay tuned. -- Farmer Matt We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Sicilian Eggplant Stuffed with Garlic & Cheese More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
Fettuccine with Zucchini, Arugula, Basil and Lemon
CSA Week #12
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of August 17th
VEGETABLE SHARE
Yukon Gold or Keuka Gold Potatoes - 2 lb. bag (All Days)
Yellow Onions - 2 pieces (All Days )
Long Green Peppers - 2 pieces (All Days)
Green Bell Peppers - 1 piece (All Days)
Red Tomato* - 1 large or 2 small (Tuesday & Wednesday) - 2 lb (Thursday)
Zucchini - 2 pieces (All Days)
Baby Arugula - 1 bag (All Days)
Asian Eggplant - 1 piece (Tuesday)
Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pint (Wednesday & Thursday)
FRUIT SHARE**
1 bag UFO Peaches (Tuesday & Wednesday)
1 bag White Peach & Nectarine Mix (Wednesday & Thursday)
1 container Raspberries (Tuesday)
1 bag Ginger Gold Apples (Thursday)
*The tomatoes have been sprayed with copper as a preventative for late blight fungus. This spray is certified for use in organic production and is harmless to humans, but must be washed off before eating.
**Be sure to remove fruit from plastic bags immediately when you get them home. They can ripen out on the counter or in a paper bag. Store ripe fruit in the fridge.
BOX NOTES FARM NOTES This week we have some visitors at the farm who are putting together a cookbook that will feature the Golden Earthworm Farm as well as a few other CSA farms from around the country. The book will be written by Janet Fletcher and photographed by Sara Remington, both of whom are here this week to document the farm and all our busy activities! The book will be published next year, and is a collaborative project with Sur la Table. We'll definitely let you know when it becomes available! We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Zucchini with Garlic and Crushed Red Pepper More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
The long green peppers are supposed to be sweet, but in past years we've found that one or two may be hot, so please check first before cooking with children. Tomatoes are coming in slowly but they're looking great! Arugula is super baby sized and oh-so-tender!
This hot sunny weather is just what the farmers ordered! Our eggplants, tomatoes and peppers are thriving under these perfect summer conditions, so you'll be seeing lots more of them in your box in the coming weeks. We finished seeding all the late fall root crops last week and now we're trying to keep up with irrigating the fields. It's very important to irrigate newly seeded crops so that they germinate properly!
Baba Ghanoush
CSA Week #11
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of August 10th
THE SHARE WILL DEFINITELY CHANGE FOR EACH DAY OF DELIVERY THIS WEEK. Please check back for daily updates!
THURSDAY VEGETABLE SHARE
Red Onions - 3 pieces
Green Peppers - long and bell varieties - 3 pieces
Zucchini - 1 piece
Parsley - 1 bunch
Beets - 1 bunch
Swiss Chard - 1 bunch
Purple Potatoes - 2lb. bag
Surprise Veg!
FRUIT SHARE
1 bag UFO Peaches
BOX NOTES FARM NOTES We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
The long green peppers are supposed to be sweet, but in past years we've found that one or two may be hot, so please check first before cooking with children.
Where are the tomatoes? Well, we're about 10 days behind schedule due to the cool June and July weather. Some of the tomatoes are starting to ripen, but it's a slow process. As long as our plants hold out and we are able to keep the late blight in check, we'll have lots of tomatoes and other summer crops coming soon!
CSA Week #10
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of August 3rd
Contents of the share may change depending on your delivery day. Please check back for daily updates!
THURSDAY VEGETABLE SHARE
Green Cabbage - 1 head
Garlic - 1 head
Zucchini & Summer Squash - 1 piece
Onion - 1 piece
Green Romaine Lettuce - 1 head
Red Batavian Lettuce - 1 head
Swiss Chard- 1 bunch
Red Norland, Purple or Yukon Gold Potatoes - 2lb. bag AND 1 quart
FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 bag Peaches
FARM NOTES We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Simple Classic Coleslaw More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
Your newsletter writer has come down with a bad cold, so she's staying in bed for the meantime and will be back with more news from the farm next week!
Sesame Kale Salad
CSA Week #9
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX - week of July 27th
VEGETABLE SHARE
Purslane - 1 bunch - *See note below
Green Beans - 1 bag
Lettuce Mix - 1 bag unwashed
Zucchini & Summer Squash - 2 pieces
Cucumbers - 1 or 2 pieces
Green Romaine Lettuce - 1 head
Green Crisp Lettuce - 1 head
Cipollini Onions or Scallions - 1 bunch
Parsley - 1 bunch
Broccoli - 2-3 pieces for Tuesday & Wednesday only
Red Norland Potatoes - 1 bag
FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 container Blackberries
1 bag Peaches
PRODUCE NOTES Purslane? Purslane is a wild green, meaning that it grows wild on our farm, and in many gardens and farms in our area. Can you believe that purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular) than any other leafy vegetable plant? Purslane has a lemony, salty flavor and can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like spinach. Lots of Lettuce! We have a double planting of lettuce coming in now- just in time for this hot and humid week ahead. Take this perfect opportunity to turn salad into a quick, cool and refreshing dinner with the addition of some potatoes, grilled zucchini, and for the carnivore in some of us, grilled meat sliced on top. I think you can turn the entire box into enough salad meals for the remainder of the week! Cooking in the Heat This time of year I love to cook in the morning before it gets too hot, and stock the fridge with delicious vegetable salads to plop on a plate for a quick lunch or dinner with minimal effort! This week I'm making a green bean salad, a grilled zucchini salad, some quick pickled cucumbers and a rich potato salad to get us through the next few days. Oh yes, and maybe a chilled zucchini soup with purslane. ON THE FARM FRUIT SHARES are now in full swing! We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Purslane Salad More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
You can thank the weather for a rather full box this week! We were hoping that the thunderstorms would not hit us Sunday night and Monday so we could start our potato harvest, and it just happened to work out perfectly! The Red Norland variety of potatoes you'll find in your box are one of the most stunning varieties we grow because of their beautiful red skin tone. These are best steamed or boiled. Try this week's potato recipe or if you still have your collards from last week, try last week's collards and potato salad recipe for dinner tonight!
We're still playing catch-up around here. The on-again, off-again rain pattern has created a logistical nightmare for us in terms of getting anything planted or cultivated on time, but we're doing our very best. We've also spotted a few cases of late blight on our tomatoes, but we continue our organic interventions to prevent further infestation and are keeping a very watchful eye. This humid weather with pop-up thunderstorms is the worst type of weather for late blight, as fungus loves to grow and spread under these wet conditions. We'll definitely keep you posted!
Please remember that fruit shares are housed in separate RED crates. Only members with FRUIT listed after their name may take the fruit share. We only send enough for the members who have paid separately for the fruit, so please double check the list. Thank you!
Red Potatoes with Feta, Olives and Mint
CSA Week #8
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX
*NOTICE: The contents of the share will change depending on your pick-up day this week. The following list is for TUESDAY only.
VEGETABLE SHARE
Garlic - 2 heads
Collards - 1 bunch
Cucumber - 1 piece (First of the season! The plants are just starting to produce...)
Broccoli - 1 head
Arugula - 1/2 lb. bag
Carrots - 1 bunch
Scallions - 1 bunch
Zucchini/Summer Squash - 5 pieces
FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 container Blackberries
CROP NOTES
Beautiful, beautiful garlic! This hard neck variety of garlic has a superior flavor to the soft neck variety you'll find in stores. It has fewer cloves per head, but the cloves are larger and more pungent.
BOX NOTES -- Please remember that it is normal for the quantity of produce in the share to fluctuate from week to week. This is due to weather, season, crop output, and other factors out of our control. It is not unusual for some week's share to be twice as full as others. For those of you who have been members in the past, you know that August, September and October are the fullest months for the CSA here in our climate. This is when the hot summer crops like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers fill the box together with greens, vining vegetables, and more!
ON THE FARM
The first harvest of potatoes will take place over the next few days, so look for them appearing in your box starting next week! Many of you may have read in the NY Times about the late blight that is hitting farms hard this year, but luckily we've managed to have a pretty good potato crop despite a small number of infected plants. We're keeping a vigilant eye on the tomatoes for infection, but so far they look really good.
And believe it or not, we could actually use the rain we're getting this week! It's amazing how quickly the fields can dry out after such a wet early summer, but we're happy to stop irrigating and let nature water the thirsty crops for the next few days...
FRUIT SHARES are now in full swing!
Please remember that fruit shares are housed in separate RED crates. Only members with FRUIT listed after their name may take the fruit share. We only send enough for the members who have paid separately for the fruit, so please double check the list. Thank you!
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE.
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Fettuccine with Zucchini, Arugula, Basil and Lemon
Collard Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
CSA Week #7
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX
*NOTICE: The contents of the share will change depending on your pick-up day this week. The following list is for THURSDAY only.
VEGETABLE SHARE
1 bunch Cippolini Onions
1 head Savoy Cabbage or Radicchio
1 bunch Toscano or Green Kale
1 bag Lettuce Mix, (unwashed)
Several pieces Broccoli (Tuesday & Wednesday only. Thursday received this last week.)
Several pieces Zucchini & Yellow Summer Squash
1 head Red Batavian Lettuce or 2 Baby Romaine Lettuce heads
1 bunch Parsley
1 bunch Red Beets
FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 bag Peaches
CROP NOTES
I'm so excited about the Cippolini Onions in this week's share! They're a special flat Italian variety that have an intense flavor, but are not too "hot"! Try roasting, grilling, or baking them to bring out their sweet, complex flavor. You'll find more zucchini in your box this week as the warm weather and sunshine increases the crop's production. Our zucchini plants will continue to produce for another few months, so they will make a regular appearance in your share. Luckily, zucchini and summer squash are very versatile vegetables, so I'll be posting lots of interesting recipes to keep things fresh! You'll also find some more broccoli in your box this week, especially if you just received one head last week. This first planting did not produce as much as we had expected, but there is another one coming along soon.
BOX NOTES -- Please remember that it is normal for the quantity of produce in the share to fluctuate from week to week. This is due to weather, season, crop output, and other factors out of our control. It is not unusual for some week's share to be twice as full as others. For those of you who have been members in the past, you know that August, September and October are the fullest months for the CSA here in our climate. This is when the hot summer crops like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers fill the box together with greens, vining vegetables, and more!
ON THE FARM
We've been harvesting garlic all weekend long and it's now carefully hung up to dry in our barns and storage houses. This has been the best harvest we've ever had, so look out for some gorgeous hard-necked garlic in your box soon! Matthew and James have been out in the fields trying to get a handle on the weeds by constantly cultivating the crops, and getting our fall crops like broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts transplanted. Everyone has been asking about the tomatoes....well, they look great! You can expect to start seeing them around the 2nd or 3rd week of August, which is just about a month away.
FRUIT SHARES are now in full swing!
Please remember that fruit shares are housed in separate RED crates. Only members with FRUIT listed after their name may take the fruit share. We only send enough for the members who have paid separately for the fruit, so please double check the list. Thank you!
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE.
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Orzo with Summer Squash and Toasted Hazelnuts
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
CSA Week #6
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX
*NOTICE: The contents of the share will change depending on your pick-up day this week. The following list is for THURSDAY only.
VEGETABLE SHARE
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Scallions
1 bunch Green Kale
Heads of Broccoli
1 piece Zucchini
1 head Romaine Lettuce
1 head Radicchio
1 bunch Beets
FRUIT SHARE
1 container Blueberries
1 container Gooseberries* (see note below)
ON THE FARM
Sun, at last! I'm sure farmers aren't the only ones happy to see the sunshine, but it certainly makes our job more enjoyable. Now we can finally get out in the fields to combat the massive flush of weeds that have cropped up.
CROP NOTES
Lots more greens in the box this week, including one of my favorite leaf chicories, radicchio! The share contains just one zucchini, since we're at the very start of its season. Once the plants get going, they produce in abundance, so you'll be seeing a lot more zucchini and summer squash in the coming weeks and months.
FRUIT SHARES begin THIS WEEK!
Please remember that fruit shares are housed in separate RED crates. Only members with FRUIT listed after their name may take the fruit share. We only send enough for the members who have paid separately for the fruit, so please double check the list. Thank you!
*GOOSEBERRIES? Yes! The gooseberry is a small round fruit that comes in hundreds of varieties and is grown around the world. In North America, the gooseberry season is very short, which makes this week's gooseberry share a very special treat for all of us! The taste of cooked gooseberries is unlike that of any other fruit, and raw gooseberries respond best to baking and sugaring to release their rich, wine-like flavor. Gooseberry tarts and pies are common, as well as gooseberry jam. Try these links to find some delicious gooseberry recipes on the net: www.gooseberryrecipes.org or www.bbc.co.uk
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE.
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Zucchini, Sun-Dried Tomato and Mozarella Tart
Penne with Caramelized Onions and Radicchio
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
CSA Week #5
THIS WEEK IN THE BOX
*NOTICE: The contents of the share will change depending on your pick-up day this week. The following list is for THURSDAY ONLY.
1 bunch parsley
2 bulbs Fennel
1 bunch Arugula
1 head Cabbage (Red or Green)
1 bunch Dill
1 bunch Carrots
1 bunch Collards
1 bunch White Salad Turnips
FRUIT SHARES begin NEXT WEEK - the week of JULY 6th!
Please remember that fruit shares are housed in separate RED crates. Only members with FRUIT listed after their name may take the fruit share. We only send enough for the members who have paid separately for the fruit, so please double check the list. Thank you!
We welcome you to explore our website to learn more about our farm and the wonderful things you can do with your weekly share. You may find our PRODUCE STORAGE TIPS page useful in figuring out how to maximize the life of your veggies, and our RECIPE section to search for ways to cook up your box! And maybe you need help identifying a particular mystery vegetable? Try our CROP GUIDE. THIS WEEK'S RECIPE SUGGESTIONS Braised Fennel
More recipes for all the week's produce can be found here on our RECIPES page.
Collard Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing