Can you believe how much warm weather we have had this year? We are
pretty surprised by the number of days over 90 degrees. The two week
forecast looks like more hot days with weather in the mid 90s is
going to just keep coming. We have been joking that we hope it
doesn’t go straight from 95 for a high to 45 for a high in mid
august and stay there until we return to 8 months of snow cover.
That’s a bit of a dramatic over-exaggeration but this spring really
did go from abnormally cold, wet, and gray to abnormally hot, sunny,
and dry. The summer crops are all thriving in the heat, especially
the zucchini and cucumbers, which we are making sure to harvest at
least every other day to get to them before they are gigantic.
This week will be your first week for having a few non-refrigerated
items in your CSA. We will have these set out separate from your box
at CSA pickup with a clearly marked sign. “Take One Bag of
Tomatoes and One bag of Potatoes”. Don’t
forget your Potatoes and Tomatoes! It happens every year . . .
don’t let it happen to you!
~A bit about our fresh potatoes~
If you’ve never had fresh dug, thin skinned, new potatoes you
are really in for a treat. They may need a light wash in your
kitchen sink to get any stubborn dirt off, but there is no need to
peel these beautiful potatoes. The potatoes don’t need to be
refrigerated and can be kept in a paper bag in a dark cabinet or on
your kitchen counter until you eat them this week. These are good
boiled for potato salad, or pan-fried/braised (with lots of
butter!!!) for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
~A
bit about our tomatoes~
This year we are growing 4 different types of tomatoes. We have our
Mini Slicer, Large Slicer, Sungold (orange) cherry
tomatoes, and red cherry tomatoes. We currently “only”
grow 200 tomato plants and don’t have enough to include the same
variety of tomato in all the shares every week. We will be
alternating which type of tomatoes the full and partial shares get
and keeping track to make sure everyone at every pickup site gets to
try all the different varieties over the course of the season.
The
tomatoes are ~just~ starting to produce this week we have enough for
just a few for the partials and a few more for the full shares; pints
and quarts of tomatoes will be coming before you know it!
We
grow our tomatoes in our unheated high tunnel and carefully prune and
trellis the plants for maximum yields. Someday we would like to add
just a little
supplemental nighttime heat for our slicer tomatoes. Tomatoes really
need warm nights to grow well and get full flavor. Even with highs
in the mid 90s we have our lovely cool nights that are easily 40
degrees cooler than our daytime temps.
You
never, ever, ever need to refrigerate
our tomatoes. Refrigeration
wrecks their flavor. Our
late summer/fall
nights are often just as cool as a refrigerator.
It may be just me, but I think the texture changes if they get cold
after they’ve come off the vine more
so
than if it gets cold while they are still vine ripening.
~A bit about the varieties of Zucchini~
In addition to green zucchini we also have a yellow zucchini, light
green ‘ribbed’ zucchini, and a light green, dark green, and
yellow patty pan squash. All of these can be used
interchangeably and even though they all look very different they
taste pretty much exactly the same.
~A bit about this year’s cucumbers~
This year we cut back on the number of varieties of cucumbers we are
growing. We have a green slicer, a white slicer, and lemon
cucumbers. We only grow a few lemon cucumbers and when they are at
full production we will make sure all CSA members get lemon cucumbers
in their box at least once this year.
CSA week
12
Partial
Green Cabbage - ½
large
Fresh “Red long”
onions - partial bundle
Red Green
Onions - partial bundle
Zucchini/Patty
Pan - 1-2 each
Cucumber - 1
large
Curley
Parsley - Partial bundle
Lettuce
Mix - Partial bag
Braising
Mix - Partial bundle
Tomatoes - ¼
pint
Potatoes - Partial
bag
Full
Green Cabbage - 1 med
Fresh “Red long” onions - bundle
Red Green Onions - bundle
Zucchini/Patty Pan - 2-3 each
Cucumber - 2 medium
Curley Parsley - bundle
Lettuce Mix - bag
Braising Mix - bundle
Tomatoes - ½ pint
Potatoes - Full bag
Red Long Onions-
are a french heirloom “Red Long of Tropea” and are similar to the
mini onions, they are a fresh onion that is good raw, sauteed or
grilled.
This
week’s Braising Mix
is a lovely bundle of a collection of mustard and Asian Greens. I
love this with eggs! Chop and saute some of your red long onions
and finely chop the whole bundle of Braising Greens, saute about 2-3
minutes, add a dash of balsamic vinegar and scramble 3-8 eggs to add
to the skillet. The Brasising Mix would also be good added to a stir
fry or any casserole, frittata,
or quiche that you usually use cooked spinach, chard, or kale.
It’s
going to be so hot this week I know we’ll be using our green
cabbage to make a coleslaw.
We love a nice rich cold coleslaw and burgers and pan fried potatoes
for dinner when it’s hot.
We
are including a bundle of parsley
in the shares this week.
Sometimes I like to put about a cup each of oil and vinegar and a bit
of salt, half a bundle of green onions (top to bottom!) and a bundle
of parsley in our vitamix for a thick green dip.
I don’t add water so it’s thick enough for the kids to ‘dip’
their cucumber slices at dinner. They love dip more than dressing :)
Don’t forget to save the date for our farm tour:
Wednesday August 16, 6-7:30 p.m
~Happy
August!