Every day we have been progressively chipping away at our to-do lists, with our rock star crew pushing through difficult hot and humid weather conditions last week. We have been weeding, trellising, seeding and more, but it is our heavy summer squash, zucchini and cucumber harvests that have perhaps eaten up the largest portions of our days. Because of how quickly the fruit grows, we need to harvest at least 4 or 5 days per week. The work doesn’t end with the harvest, though. Next we need to bin the harvest up into crates (and oftentimes we need to condense and wash bins in order to have something to put the harvest into!) and then we shuffle things around in the packed cooler to make space so that it’s organized for the person stocking the store and the CSA. After the squash, zucchini and cucumbers are all binned up, then we usually have a mountain of harvest buckets to scrub. Fortunately, bin and bucket washing is a highly desirable task on hot summer days!
In the CSA this week:
Potatoes - This week we’ll be enjoying “Dark Red Norland” variety, which has red skin and white flesh.
Cabbage - we’ll have both the regular round green heads as well as the conical green heads (“Caraflex” variety).
Pickling cucumbers - These can be eaten fresh like slicing cucumbers, but they are especially suited for pickling as they will maintain crispness better than other types of cucumber.
Carrots
Celery
Fennel
Garlic scapes
Scallions
Summer squash
Zucchini
Slicing cucumbers
“Burpless” cucumbers - thin-skinned and seedless
Carrots
Curly kale
Lettuce
Salanova lettuce mix
CSA Pick-Your-Own:
Green beans
Sunflowers
Herbs - sage, thyme, oregano, chive, parsley, dill, cilantro and basil
In the farm store:
In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have beets, as well as mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Pete and Jen’s.
We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday and Friday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering currently opens at 6pm on Tuesday for Wednesday pick-up and 6pm on Thursday for Friday pick-up.
Fennel-Apple Salad With Walnuts
by Melissa Clark, from NY Times Cooking
Ingredients
3 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced on a mandoline
2 Granny Smith apples, halved and cored, thinly sliced on a mandoline
3 celery stalks, thinly sliced on a mandoline
⅓ cup fennel fronds or roughly chopped parsley leaves
½cup toasted walnuts
2½ ounces Parmesan, shaved with a vegetable peeler (about ⅔ cup)
Preparation
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in oil, continuously whisking, until dressing is emulsified. Taste and add more lemon juice and/or salt if needed.
In a large bowl, toss the dressing with fennel, apple and celery. Fold in fennel fronds or parsley and walnuts. Top with Parmesan just before serving.
Tip: Dressing can be made the day before serving. Store in the refrigerator. Toss with salad ingredients up to 1 hour before serving.