Well hello. The fourth farm share, and we have some good stuff coming online, and all shares this week will be getting:
Sugar snap peas! At long last. Our peas are really late this year, and still not really in full production, but we should have enough to get them in all shares tomorrow, and a lot more are on the way soon. Our peas are one of our signature crops and everyone loves them, especially kids! I am relieved that they are finally producing.
Carrots- A bigger bunch of beautiful orange "Hilmar" carrots in your share. Most modern carrot varieties are hybrids, which means a controlled cross of two different varieties to produce a more uniform, vigorous variety (often with better disease resistance or other desirable qualities), but these Hilmar carrots are "open pollinated", meaning both parents were Hilmar. I find they have almost as good uniformity and vigor as a hybrid, though, and to me the flavor is better.
Zucchini/Summer squash- Our squash are really starting to produce, and we're now picking them three times a week to keep up! A similar mix to what we've grown in years past, with lots of green and golden zucchini with a few patty pan, crookneck, and cocozelle thrown in.
I am reposting Bobbi's peeler recipe here that was in last week's blog as well:
http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-the-no-chop-too-lazy-to-really-cook-summer-saute-244665?li_source=LI&li_medium=RelatedRecipes
Basil!! Our basil is suddenly growing like a weed in this warm weather, so we will give everyone a big bouquet of fresh stalks. So awesome to have basil in the farm share before it's even July! It's a mystery to me why many of the heat loving crops are thriving so much in spite of our cool Spring.
Walla walla onions- These are the same sweet onions that were in your share a few weeks ago, but as you'll see they are quickly plumping up, so they should be bigger and juicier. Great on a salad or sandwich because they are pretty mild eaten raw, but they can be used just as you would any onion. They make the best onion rings, too!
Spinach- The spinach is just great this year, with big gorgeous plants that have been surprisingly slow to bolt. Hard to keep up with all of it, so it's back in the shares this week.
http://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/best-spinach-recipes-gallery
Garlic- We are now starting to clean and hang our garlic to dry...I thought we'd give each share a stalk of our "Xi'an" garlic, an Asiatic hardneck. This is my favorite garlic variety, because it is super early and has beautiful purple skin. It is only partially dried, so it can be eaten right away as a semi-fresh garlic, or put it in a dry spot in your kitchen for a week or two if you want to cure it a bit more. The flavor will grow stronger and spicier as it dries down a bit more, but it is delicious fresh too.
In large shares:
Green cabbage- These cute little green "Gonzales" cabbages are great for a summer slaw or stir fry.
Fennel- Fennel is a wonderful vegetable in the carrot family with a tasty anise flavor. It is great eaten raw when it is thinly sliced, and the licorice flavor is stronger. If you chop it and cook it down, much like an onion the flavor will get sweeter and milder the longer it cooks. Great for lots of Italian and French recipes, as well as roasted or in a salad or slaw. Check out Martha's list of awesome recipes: http://www.marthastewart.com/search/results?keys=fennel
Lettuce- With spinach the only salad green in all shares, I figured the large shares could use a head of lettuce as well.
On the farm...
I am happy to say, it feels like we are getting out of our hectic Spring craziness and into the mid Summer flow on the farm already. Irrigation season is in full swing, but we got enough stuff done in advance that it hasn't been too chaotic of a rollout, and we have even had some time to accomplish a few tasks that were on the to-do list all Spring that we never seemed to be getting to.
The strawberries, after setting an enormous first flush, are now between fruit sets so aren't producing a whole lot, but they should be gearing up to set another batch of fruit before long.
I hope you're enjoying your shares! Let me know if you have any questions or feedback.
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