Welcome Summer Everyone. Today is the longest day of the year (the summer solstice), and boy, it sure felt long this morning while we picked and cleaned everything for your CSA out in the hot sun :-) It takes us a good solid 3 hours from start to finish! Farming is very hard work, and it's good for you to know what really goes into it so you can value your food all the more.
We are thinking about using a easy up tent next week over our picnic table though (where our cleaning station is set up), to at least keep us cool while we wash/rinse/spin/bag everything. It fascinates me that there are farms who have hundreds of CSA's. I've even heard of a farm in CO that has like 3000! I don't know how they do it, but I'm sure it involves lots of employees. We don't ever want to get big; small works for us. We utilize who is available to help. Sometimes that is a sister, sometimes one of our children. Thanks for committing yourselves to our mission, even if it is just for this year.
New this week: Romaine Heads! They aren't the tight white heads you find in the grocery, but bursting with flavor and nutrients. Someone once said "a little dirt never hurt", and although that is probably true for some things, no one really wants to bite into their Caesar salad and find a chunk of gritty brown. Because these are still attached to their roots, and the way they grow around each other, they are highly susceptible to dirt even though they have been washed.
Things that made their way into every one's bag this week were as follows:
Romaine Heads
Rhubarb
Swiss Chard
Lettuce
Garlic Scapes
Walking Egyptian Onion
Lemon Balm/Dill (Herbs)
Cucumber
When we split things up for both size bags, the larger shares get a larger amount of the similar item. Just in case you were wondering.
Half shares also received:
Beet Greens
Spinach
Full shares got:
Kale
Radishes
While some crops we harvest over and over again all season, others are a one time event. The garlic scape is like that, and once it's here, savor it, because it won't be again until next year. We were able to get two weeks out of it by not harvesting it all last week, but this is it. Enjoy. Here's a fun article I found pleasure reading while looking for more ideas of what to do with mine.
Your herb bag this week has a nice combo of lemon balm and dill. These would go great diced up and roasted on potatoes or chicken, with some lemon juice, salt/pepper, and olive oil. I have been buying my potatoes at the Farmers Market in New Gloucester (if you are local {or not} and are free on a late Sunday morning, check them out ). Serendipity Acres from North Yarmouth has had potatoes they have wintered over, and the fingerlings and red ones are my favorite. Won't be long until ours are available; can't wait! We have never been able to grow enough to keep them around until the next years crop. Maybe they take up too much space in the gardens to grow enough, or maybe we eat them too fast :-)
Do you know about kale? It is one of the most nutritious vegetables you can eat. It's great in soup, and I've been known to add it to my smoothies for extra nutrition. Just remove it from the stalk first. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but have been drawn to it from a great website we use for recipes.
Things have been growing fast with the heat and rain. We hope to have something new to offer you next week too, and it won't be long before there is a plethora!
Have a great week.
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