Week 5; August 1, 2013
What's in the box?
lacinato kale
broccoil
cabbage
Tropia onions
the first new potatoes of the season
zucchini
summer squash
lacinato kale
broccoli
cabbage
summer squash
zucchini
cauliflower OR cucumbers OR Asian eggplant
basil
Notes on the box...
Single shares got some basil this week. Don't store it in the fridge and keep it dry are the two main rules for nice green leaves.
There will be more new potatoes next week! We dug about 1/3 of a bed and decided that more people would get more potatoes if we waited a week. We got some nice rain and great temps for potato growth. The plants had lots of little potatoes that we think will size up nicely for the next box. We didn't wash the potatoes because we didn't want to rub off the skin. The skin of new potatoes is very thin and tender as they are "uncured" They are best stored out of your fridge. We like them best very simply roasted or in a potato salad with a really light dressing. This is what a potato really tastes like!
The cabbage is one of our favorite varieties called Tendersweet. It is named perfectly. It is THE BEST cabbage for cloeslaw. It's fine for cooking, but it cooks down more quickly than some other types of cabbage. Nice for adding at the end of a stir-fry.
The broccoli might be winding down before it really ever wound up in great quantity in the boxes. We may have it in the box again next week, as well. The fall broccoli is growing along beautifully, so we have that to look forward to. The stalks and stems are edible and can be chopped up and cooked along with the florets. consensus among the crew is that the stalk is prefered to the tops, so go ahead and use the whole thing! Some members got "side shoots" which the plants put on after the main head is harvested. The side shoots are pretty great as they are pretty much ready to cook with very little preparation.
Zukes and Summer Squash grew nicely this past week after getting some rain. If this is a vegetable that your family doesn't like, try out the recipe for zucchini fries or make some chocolate zucchini cake. Really. You cannot go wrong with chocolate zucchini cake (you can use summer squash and zucchini interchangeably)
Recipes...
[yumprint-recipe id='9']Zucchini Oven Fries with Sweet Onion Dip
Garlic Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Vinaigrette Broccoli is AMAZING roasted!Give it a try if you haven't yet or if you are tired of steamed or stir-fried.
Brown Rice Broccoli Adai We haven't tried this recipe yet and don't have all the exact ingredients on hand, but I'm looking forward to trying a variation on it. We'll let you know how it turns out!
*see previous blogs for some good kale recipes*
On the farm...
The harvest party will be on Saturday, September 14 here at the farm. We will start in the afternoon (around 3 pm) There will be music, it will be a potluck, and we will be providing grilled brats and some veggies. More details to follow, but go ahead and mark your calendars! We hope you can make it out to the farm!
This week we got some welcome rain and some much cooler temps. We would welcome the warmer weather again to keep the summer crops growing and ripening (we are all so ready to be eating tomatoes, I know!), but we are facing the hard fact that August is already here!
We dug the newest of the new potatoes and were struck by how the soil has changed in just a few short months. We have invested in a Spader, which does similar work to a rototiller, but is much better for the soil and its structure, especially in the long run. We ran the underbar cutter beneath the potatoes and so easily pulled out plants with a nice amount of potatoes on them. There was life in the soil! Lots of nice worm castings and nice, fluffy soil. Grasses and weeds were breaking down and adding organic matter. Digging potatoes is always enjoyable for those of us who really love getting our hands dirty. We kneel down and use our entire arms to reach in and flip over soil searching for bright red potatoes. It's just about as close to swimming in the soil as we get, and we were all pretty in love with the experience. And we didn't have to play "rock or potato?" which is a game that we won't miss at all! Once we get the soil better amended and the fertility up, we are looking at some really wonderful ground here. It's been a hard season thus far, but we are feeling very optimistic about the future of this farm!
