Feeling overwhelmed by the amount of green in your share? Its all part of the evolution of the season! I like to imagine a bear emerging from winter slumber to start off the summer with tender greens before the fruits and roots develop. Consider balancing out the heaping piles of salad with nuts and chick peas or rounding out the cooking greens by putting them in bean soups or cashew stir-fries. We promise, the season will advance with heavier crops as we go along:)
Bok Choi This cruciferous Asian type of cabbage only grows well in cooler temperatures, so this week be the last week of it until Fall. Braise or stir-fry it lightly for a gorgeous balance of crisp, light stalks and dark green leaves. You can also marinate after finely chopping both leaves and stalks for a raw salad. Lettuce Heads You each have two varieties to keep your salads diverse. There may be some dirt on the interior of the heads to wash off. Salad Mix This mix of baby greens is sharp thanks to the arugula in it. If it is too sharp for you, you can try a sweet salad dressing to tone it down. It has been triple washed. Rainbow Chard These young leaves are tender enough for raw salads and also delicious cooked. They are interchangeable with spinach in recipes as they are in the same plant family and have similar flavor profiles. Consider combining with this week’s spinach for a big batch of homemade saag (an Indian style creamed spinach dish). Like spinach, it cooks down a ton, so while it may seem like you have some giant bunches, you may be surprised at how it shrinks. Cilantro This herb pairs well with bean dishes or curries. Try making a cilantro salad dressing or a cilantro pesto. Consider drying it if you don’t think you’ll use this week. Hakurei Turnips These juicy turnips are different from a typical European style storage turnip. Both sharp and sweet, they are juicy and delicious when eaten raw. Slice right before eating as they sometimes get a bitter flavor if sliced too far in advance. Roast or sautée to sweeten. The greens should not be overlooked as they are fabulous raw in salad or tossed into a soup, stir fry, pot of pasta, or casserole. French Breakfast Radishes Might as well put these beauties next to your peonies for decor instead of eating them! But then you’d miss out on their crunchy, sharp eating quality. Chop them up for salads or try roasting or sautéing to sweeten them up and bring out a rich flavor. The greens are too tough for some people but others like to sauté or steam them for eating. Peonies! What? Flowers in my vegetable share? These are not edible, they are just pretty! We happen to have access to a huge planting of gorgeous peonies and we couldn’t help but share them with you to celebrate this first week of the CSA. Keep in clean water to ensure a long vase life. Sungold Cherry Tomato Plants We’ll be harvesting plenty of these orange cherry tomatoes for your shares this summer, but we thought the gardeners among you (as well as the new or aspiring gardeners!) might enjoy growing one of your own. Use plenty of compost when preparing the space, fully cover the block of soil from the pot with garden soil when you plant, and keep well watered after planting. Make sure your plant gets plenty of sun, has some support to grow as large as it will want to grow, and is kept clear of weeds. Spinach This spinach got quite big due to the recent heat so it might be best cooked rather than raw. Kubocha Squash Also called the Japanese pumpkin, this squash is particularly dense and creamy. Perfect for soups or really any dish that calls for pumpkin. Salad Radishes Radish season is in full swing! If you don’t eat these raw on a salad or in tacos, try roasting them in the oven or sautéing on the stove top. Broccoli Raab These plants toppled a bit last night in the wind so we decided to harvest the stalks for their delicious leaves even though not all of the broccolini florets are formed yet. Cook the leaves and the most tender part of the stalks in stir-fries or soups. Isabella Freedman registrar, Simone Stallman, makes a delicious pasta with lemon zest, broccoli raab leaves, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Broccoli Incredibly sweet heads! The leaves can used just like kale. Salad Mix This is a mix of baby lettuces, arugula, and green and purple mizuna. It has a bit of a kick thanks to the arugula but is still relatively mild. It has been triple washed. Sweet Peppers We’ve been covering these on cold nights so they just keep producing! Oregano A pinch of oregano to go with your winter squash, salad dressings, soups, or to dry. Onions The rest of the season will include regular storage onions rather than the sweet onions you received over the summer. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Carrots Sweet and crunchy! The leaves can be used in soup stock for flavor. Delicata Squash The striped squash in your share are delicatas, and their flavor is indeed delicate. Sweet, tender- these are easy to eat simply as they are after cooking until soft in the oven or on the stove top.
Spaghetti Squash This variety is called orangetti. The flesh turns stringy like spaghetti once it is cooked and you can eat it with sauce or toss it into other dishes like roasted roots, sautés of greens, or even chili or other stop top dishes. Salad Radishes Radish season is in full swing! If you don’t eat these raw on a salad or in tacos, try roasting them in the oven or sautéing on the stove top. Curly Kale We’ve been tossing kale into everything these days- salad, pasta, soup, smoothies, curry, stir-fry… there is almost nothing that can’t take a little kale. Napa Cabbage This Asian style savoyed (another word for crinkly) cabbage is one of our favorites for marinated salads, kimchi, or light cooking. Salad Mix This is a mix of baby lettuces, arugula, and green and purple mizuna. It is a bit spicier than last week’s mix thanks to the arugula but is still relatively mild. It has been triple washed. Sweet Peppers We covered these over the cold nights last weekend and they made it through with no problem. Onions The rest of the season will include regular storage onions rather than the sweet onions you received over the summer. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Broccoli These are unbelievably sweet and flavorful! Cilantro This classic salsa herb grows particularly well in cool weather when some of the other salsa ingredients aren’t producing much. Luckily, it also offers a lot of flavor to curries, chili, and beans. You can also use it in creative salad dressings with lime. Tomatoes These cooler nights mean that tomato ripening is beginning to slow down. The smaller quantities help us savor the last bits of summer harvest. Acorn Squash This variety has thin enough skin that you may want to try eating it, or tossing it to the compost depending on your palate. Like most winter squash they are simple to roast either in halves or rounds. You can stuff them for a beautiful display or simply eat them with oil or butter and salt.
Hakurai Salad Turnips You may remember these juicy turnips from spring- they are delicious raw but can also be sautéed or roasted like more traditional European style turnips. The greens are some of my favorite of the greens we grow and can be lightly cooked or chopped up for salad. Purple Potatoes Gorgeous inside and out! If you still haven’t moved through the last two weeks of potatoes, remember that should store very well in your refrigerator for months. You could consider saving these absolute beauties for Thanksgiving or some other special meal. Lettuce Heads This variety is called magenta. It is crunchy and beautiful and the last of the head lettuce we have for you this fall. Salad greens will start coming in the form of baby leaves. Speaking of which… Salad Mix This is a relatively mild mix on the spectrum of baby green flavor profiles. It is a mix of baby lettuces and green and purple mizuna. It has been triple washed and Kale This variety is called Siberian Kale. It is as versatile as any kale and works particularly well for soups. Tomatoes These cooler nights mean that tomato ripening is beginning to slow down. The smaller quantities help us savor the last bits of summer harvest. Sweet Peppers We love that these colorful reminders of summer continue producing even after other heat loving crops decline. Onions The rest of the season will include regular storage onions rather than the sweet onions you received over the summer. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Parsley Try making a pesto-like puree with parsley and garlic or simply toss it on salads, squash, or grains. Hakurai Salad Turnips You may remember these juicy turnips from spring- they are delicious raw but can also be sautéed or roasted like more traditional European style turnips. The greens are some of my favorite of the greens we grow and can be lightly cooked or chopped up for salad.
Delicata Squash Winter squash season is here! This variety has thin skin, so you can eat the entire thing. They are simple to roast either in halves or rounds. You can stuff them for a beautiful display or simply eat them with oil or butter and salt. Potatoes These white fleshed potatoes have a few dark spots- nice evidence of the fact that we don’t use any chemicals to grow your food! Feel free to cut around them. Leeks These onion relatives have a mildness and creaminess all their own. Kale Tender young leaves on our fall crop of cooking greens. I’ve been simply sautéing them with a little olive oil and a few drops of water plus a pinch of salt, cooking only until they have turned a brighter green and making sure to remove from heat before they darken again. I’ve also been making simple raw kale salads by massaging kale (or just stirring aggressively) with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt; then adding sliced sweet peppers, and nuts. Sweet Peppers The pointy colored peppers are called Corno Di Toro types (Italian for bull’s horn). Don’t let their shape confuse you, they are incredibly sweet and not hot at all. Tomatoes These cooler nights mean that tomato ripening is beginning to slow down. The smaller quantities help us savor the last bits of summer harvest. Onions The rest of the season will include regular storage onions rather than the sweet onions you received over the summer. Dill You can always dry dill very simply if you don’t use it up in salad dressing or soups this week. Just hang upside down in a well ventilated area. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Kale Tender young leaves on our fall crop of cooking greens. When sautéing or steaming, be sure to turn the heat off just at the point when the greens have brightened and before they return to a darker color to maintain the most nutrition.
Potatoes These white fleshed potatoes have a few dark spots- nice evidence of the fact that we don’t use any chemicals to grow your food! Feel free to cut around them. Leeks These onion relatives have a mildness and creaminess all their own. Sweet Peppers The pointy colored peppers are called Corno Di Toro types (Italian for bull’s horn). Don’t let their shape confuse you, they are incredibly sweet and not hot at all. Tomatoes These cooler nights mean that tomato ripening is beginning to slow down. The smaller quantities help us savor the last bits of summer harvest. Beets The greens can be used like chard or spinach for salads or cooked dishes. The roots can be shredded for raw salads, roasted, steamed or made into soup. Onions The rest of the season will include regular storage onions rather than the sweet onions you received over the summer. Dill You can always dry dill very simply if you don’t use it up in salad dressing or soups this week. Just hang upside down in a well ventilated area. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Tomatoes Heriloom tomato varieties tend to be more delicious and more variable in yield. They also tend to crack or ripen unevenly. We find it worthwhile to grow them anyway thanks to their incredible flavor profiles. The yellow/orange variety that has been so prolific this season is called Nebraska Wedding and it is a bit of an exception to the rule- both delicious and consistent in ripening and shape.
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes This variety does tend to crack, especially after a summer rain. We try to sift out the spilt ones but sometimes it happens as they get jostled so you may find a few split ones in your bag. Cantaloupe These are some of the last of the beloved summer fruits! Green Beans Another round of green beans! Zucchini A little known fact- the smaller the zucchini the more tender and flavorful the flesh. Eggplant Just a few small eggplants still hanging in there this season. Red Onions The red onions are gorgeous this year and we have many more to harvest over the fall. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Cilantro This could be a great salsa week with the tomatoes, cilantro, onion, ad peppers. Sweet Peppers The pointy colored peppers are called Corno Di Toro types (Italian for bull’s horn). Don’t let their shape confuse you, they are incredible sweet. We also have some colored bell peppers in the mix. Green Butterhead Lettuce This variety has a tender, blanched (whitened by being kept from direct sunlight) interior and greener outer leaves. Watermelon This heirloom variety is called ‘sugar baby’ and its pretty clear why- so sweet! Once in a while a watermelon shows signs of ripeness without having reached peak sweetness. Let us know if you ever get a bad melon by emailing [email protected]. Its really helpful to have melon ripeness feedback, or really any other feedback on the quality of the produce if an issue arises.
Rainbow Chard Add a few dark leafy leaves to your tomato sauce, salad, scrambled eggs or just about any dish you might put spinach in. Zucchini The zucchini plants are finally beginning to slow down but we do still have some sizing up. Eggplant These are on the wane for the summer but we still have a few rolling in. I find that when people don’t like eggplant it may be because they undercook it. Whether I roast, fry, grill, or sauté eggplant I cook it all the way until super soft. Lettuce Our early fall lettuce crop came ready early due to all the heat. Summer lettuce is not as sweet or tender as spring lettuce is, so you may find you need to add a strongly flavored dressing to compensate for a bit of bitterness on these heads. Still- its nice to have some leafy greens back again! Sweet Onions These onions are like a walla walla, they are sweeter than traditional storage onions. Garlic This garlic is fully dry and should store on your countertop for months at this point. Tomatoes The numbers of ripe tomatoes are building! We grow a wide range of varieties so you’ll see yellow, pink, purple and red tomatoes in the mix coming up. Sungold Cherry Tomatoes This variety is so sweet we love to just snack on them throughout the day in the field. Dill Try drying this down if you aren’t ready to use it this week. Just hang in a well ventilated area until dry. Sweet Colored Peppers We grow bell peppers and long pointy Italian frying peppers- both are super sweet now that they are ripening to fabulous colors! |
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