We hope you are all enjoying your Independence Day holiday! Hopefully there is squash grilling and salad eating involved!
This week the cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini are cranking out beautiful fruit. Our pick-your-own flower field is in bloom, and beans and sunflowers appear to be on the verge of producing an abundant crop. Tomatoes are ready for another line of trellising and are showing some very promising looking green fruits, and our green pepper plants are producing peppers that are close to harvestable size! Though the hot dry weather continues to present very challenging conditions for many of our crops (like greens, lettuce, fresh onions and potatoes), we are overall feeling optimistic about what the rest of our summer will bring!
In the Vegetable CSA:
- Cucumbers - both pickling and slicing varieties available!
- Summer Squash
- Zucchini
- Purple Haze carrots - these tasty carrots have a purple skin and orange interior. They make a colorful addition to salads or crudites.
- Nelson carrots - we continue to have traditional orange spring carrots available this week as well.
- Garlic Scapes
- Mini cabbage - purple, green and Caraflex.
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Arugula - this planting has more holes in it than the previous planting. We had covered earlier arugula plantings with row cover to keep out flea beetles, but it has been too hot for covering recent greens plantings, hence the flea beetles have created some hole-y greens this week. They still taste good though!
- Yukina savoy
- Baby bok choi
CSA Pick-your-own: We continue to be in an awkward in-between stage. For Tuesday we have just herbs for picking, but by the end of the week we may have green beans and sunflowers available!
Gooseberries
Pick-your-own Flowers: The flower field is blooming and this week we have snapdragons, bachelors buttons, orlaya, gomphrena, strawflower, statice, ageratum and small amounts of zinnias, salvia and cosmos. The field is open to both Flower CSA members and the public, so stop by and grab a jar to pick!
In the store: Everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we'll have mushrooms, eggs, and a small amount of gooseberries and mustard greens.
Cucumber-Lime Paletas (popsicles)
from Bon Apetit, June 2014
- 1 peeled large cucumber (10–12 ounces)
- 1 cup simple syrup
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger
Puree 1 peeled large cucumber (10–12 ounces) with 1 cup simple syrup, 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, and 1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger until smooth.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup, divide among ice-pop molds, insert sticks, and freeze until solid, at least 6 hours.
To make homemade simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water (so for instance, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water) in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and stir a minute or two, until the sugar dissolves. Take off heat and cool to room temperature. Store in a very clean jar; any solid particles may cause crystals to form. Refrigerate, tightly covered, up to a month.