Harvest Notes- Week 1

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 I love to make a very simple salad out of oil, vinegar, and soy sauce over finely chopped bok choi. You can also stir-fry it or try out any number of asian braising methods or salads.  

Lettuce Heads The cool, rainy spring seems like a distant memory now under these long sunny days but all those April showers did slow growth such that most plants are only catching up this week. Our lettuce heads were still quite small at harvest but they are tasty nonetheless!

Salad Mix This mix is heavy on the mustard greens and lighter on the lettuce, so its a little spicy. If it is too sharp for you, you can try a sweet salad dressing to tone it down.

Pea Shoots Also called pea tendrils, this crop is all the rage in the culinary world right now. Stir-fry them (perhaps with bok choi), sauté them, or try them raw in salad.

Spinach Such a gorgeous color! This is fairly young spinach so it is versatile- great for salads or for cooking.

Lemon Balm This perennial herb can be added to ice water as a cooling summer drink. You can also brew it into tea, bake it into muffins or just place its stems in water on your counter to savor the aroma.

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. Recut the stems when you get home with something sharp and keep in clean water to ensure a long vase life.

Sungold Cherry Tomato Plants We’ll be harvesting plenty of sungold 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 soil block 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.