July 9 , 2017 ~CSA
Week 9~
We hope you all had
a wonderful 4th of July and have been able to stay cool as
much as possible in the crazy heat the last week. The vegetables are
holding up well in the heat so far. We are spending a lot of time
irrigating and making sure everything is getting enough water.
Despite the warm
weather we are still weeks away from the first tomato. The Zucchini
have started producing which is exciting because that
means...cucumbers will be next!
Hilariously, I
didn’t take any broccoli to market this Saturday because I wanted
to make sure we have ‘enough’ for CSA this week. And, when I
uncovered them Saturday night when I came home from market I was
like….oh, look….every single head is ready and it looks like they
are 2-3# each!
We have been trying
to get the online store going for CSA members but it’s been slow to
take off; probably because we keep forgetting to ‘activate’ and
update the store.
If you are
interested in adding Broccoli or Red Cabbage to your share this week
text Mandy at 471.9538. CSA member stock up special price this week
is Broccoli $2.50/lb and Red Cabbage $1.60/lb. Also if there is
anything else you want send Mandy a text by 6 pm on Monday for
Tuesday folks and by Wednesday for Th/Fr folks.
Thank you all so
much for the positive feedback about introducing the Lower Valley
Farm Crew in last week’s newsletter. There is so much we would
love to share with you about the happenings on the farm each week and
so little time and space to share in the newsletter. Probably the
Very Best way to share with you about how the farm works and answer
questions is to show you. We are very pleased to announce we will be
having a farm tour this year! Save the date for:
Wednesday August
16, 6-7:30 p.m. Lower Valley Farm Tour!
We would love for you all to be able to come and see how much the
farm has grown. We are constantly humbled by the fertility and
abundance of the farm. We currently have ONLY two acres of
vegetables in production on the farm. When you think about the
hundreds of tables the produce fills each week, it is a pretty
amazing thing! Come and check it out with a guided tour.
CSA week 9
Partial Full
Lettuce
Mix - partial bag
Broccoli - 1
Mini Onions - ½ bundle
Purple Green
Onions - partial bundle
Zucchini/Patty
Pan -1 each
Red Beets - partial
bundle
Dill - partial
bundle
Carrots - partial
bundle
Toscano
Kale - partial bundle
Full
Lettuce Mix - bag
Broccoli - 1 large
Mini Onions - 1 bundle
Purple Green Onions - bundle
Zucchini/Patty Pan - 2 each
Red Beets - bundle
Dill - bundle
Carrots - bundle
Toscano Kale - bundle
This is one of those weeks. When we advertise our CSAs, we often
speak about eating seasonally, and following the abundance of the
seasons. If we have a long cold spring (as we did this year), we
say, CSA might start later and/or be thinner, and then later in the
season when there is more abundance, shares might be larger. So…
it’s later in the season! It’s a big
share this week. Let’s dig in to how you can take best advantage.
You’ve had green onions in your share for many weeks now.
Growing green onions this year has been among our most successful
endeavors. It has been the perfect storm of three factors. First,
we planted them in very fertile 3rd year beds. All the
crops in this garden set have gone gangbusters. Second, we planted
them using our new Paper Pot Transplanter, and so we got a very
uniform planting that was perfectly dense. Third, as we mentioned
last week, we have a lot more help on the farm this year, and so we
have been able to stay on top of weeding. The result of all this has
been our most prolific and generally awesome green onions ever.
Here’s something everyone on the crew has been doing lately. This
idea is courtesy of Jenny Mattern - make yourself some rocking onion
powder. Lay out the greens part of your onions on a baking tray.
(Use the white bulby part in a salad or something) Set your oven to
it’s lowest setting overnight and jam it in a food
processor/blender the next day. Levi went home (he lives nearby)
last week at lunchtime because he needed to pull his out of the oven.
Katie L made a batch, and by then we were pretty much shamed into
trying it ourselves.
The super beautiful Mini onion is a lovely little sweet onion
perfect raw, grilled, sauteed or baked. Use the greens part just
like you would your green onions. They’re a little hardier, but
are just as good! Add them into your onion powder stash. Perfect!
It’s a cruel irony that just when the heat drives us all to grill outside, forest fire season begins and drives us all back in. If the smoke isn’t too thick this week, stay cool inside and grill your veggies. In this week’s share, the beets, mini-onions, broccoli, and summer squash can all be grilled to scrumptious perfection.
Have a great week!
~Jay & Mandy
