We are in the thick of harvest season! This time of year we spend our days harvesting as fast as we can to keep up with ripening crops, trying to get them at just the right time for optimal size and quality. Any remaining time we have is spent weeding and irrigating the fall crops to keep them happy during hot summer days. After a very rainy spring and early summer we are now in a dry spell and hoping for rain. Our sandy soil drains out quickly and it becomes a full time job to set up irrigation on all our crops. Our transplanting is almost done for the year (with only lettuce, spinach and herbs left to go), and we have only a few crops left to seed directly in the field such as turnips, radishes, greens, and some late fall beets and carrots. With the end of veggie planting in sight we can start thinking about our other main planting project: cover crops! Lise diligently mows and disks in any areas where we are done harvesting vegetables to make way for the planting of cover crops so that we will be sure to have a nice stand before the winter to protect our soil. We will be ordering the seed this week and next thing you know we will be seeding field peas and triticale to prepare fields for next year!
This week in the CSA:
Tomatoes - In addition to our high tunnel tomatoes are field tomatoes (pink damsel, one of our favorites!) are starting to ripen
Peppers - green bells and purple “Islander” peppers
Eggplant
Red Potatoes
Fresh Onions - both Ailsa Craig (white) and Red Long of Tropea (red). They should be stored in the refrigerator.
Cucumbers - slicers and picklers
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Carrots
Beets
Cabbage
Kale
Swiss Chard
Arugula
Celery
Lettuce
CSA Pick-your-own:
Cherry tomatoes - Sungolds (orange), yellow mini (yellow), grape (red), cherry bomb (red), sunpeach (pink), and more are ripening. Check signs for guidance on the correct color for ripeness.
Hot peppers - these got damaged by Colorado potato beetles, but there are still some nice jalapenos (green) and fresno chiles (red) out there.
Green and Dragon Tongue beans- Look under the foliage to find beans. Dragon tongue beans are white with purple spots and can be prepared like green beans. To pick, hold the plant just above the stem of the bean and gently pull the bean off.
Herbs: parsley, dill seeds, dill flowers, coriander seeds, thai basil, chives, peppermint, spearmint, thyme, oregano, tarragon and sage. Many of the herb plants in the herb beds near the farm stand are still small. Please pick sprigs, leaving plenty of plant below to continue to grow. For sage, pick off only a couple of individual leaves, leaving at least 6 or 7 leaves per branch.
CSA Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday 11am-6pm
Saturday 9am-3pm
PYO Flowers
We’ll have snapdragons, bachelor’s buttons, calendula, orlaya, gomphrena, cosmos, strawflower, statice, star flower, verbena, rudbeckia, scabiosa, celosia, decorative basil, buttercream sunflowers (in the flower field this week), zinnias, and more. Picking is open to PYO Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet (we provide the a jar for measuring your bouquet size and you fill it with the flowers you’d like to take home!).
This week in the farm stand:
We will have all of the veggies listed in the CSA available in the farm store as well as baby boy chow. We will also have sweet corn from Verrill Farm, eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds and mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm.
Green Gazpacho
Adapted from “Plenty,” by Yotam Ottolenghi
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 green peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
3 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
1 mildly spicy chili (such as jalapeño), roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts, lightly toasted
1/4 pound arugula or other tender green
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup parsley
1 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
2 cups water
Ice cubes
Combine the celery, green peppers, cucumbers, chili, garlic, sugar, walnuts, spinach, basil, parsley, olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and 1 cup water in blender and puree until smooth. Check seasonings, and add more water if you feel it needs it. Let chill in refrigerator. To serve, divide into six bowls, and garnish each with a dollop of Greek yogurt, two ice cubes and a drizzle of olive oil.
Cucumber Yogurt Raita Salad
by Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
2 long, English-style cucumbers (2 pounds total)
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, diced
1/2 medium red onion, chopped small
Dressing:
1 cup (227 grams) plain, full-fat yogurt
1 garlic clove, peeled
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
Juice of half a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon minced mild or hot fresh chile (I used a jalapeno)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, black or yellow mustard seeds or nigella seeds (I used black mustard seeds)
2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves, divided
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, divided
Kosher salt to taste
Make the dressing by placing yogurt in a medium bowl and using a very fine grater to grate the garlic and ginger over it. Stir in sugar, lemon, chile, seeds, half of the mint and cilantro and season it with salt to taste. Set aside until you’re ready to serve the salad.
Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise, then each half three more times into long wedge-shaped pieces (i.e. 8 long pieces per cucumber). Cut them into 1 to 1 1/2-inch lengths on a diagonal and add them to a big bowl. Pile tomatoes and onion on top and when you’re ready to eat, mix half of the dressing with the salad. Sprinkle with remaining mint and cilantro and serve with extra yogurt dressing on the side.