2014 Summer Share #1

Welcome to Red Moon Farm’s first summer CSA share!

Some of you are joining us for the first time and many have been along for the ride for a while now.  We are simply thrilled to have you as members of our farm.  Each week we post the vegetable line-up to the blog to both help you identify your items and to receive tips and ideas of how to use them, including handling and storage tips. Check it each week!

 

Here’s your vegetable line-up this week.  We hope you have some culinary adventures with a few familiar and some new veggies.

  • Carrots—Rainbow mix comprised of yellow, orange, red, and white carrots. Don’t forget that the tops are edible! Try them in a tabbouleh salad.
  • Onions—Red and Yellow.  We had a great spring harvest You will receive them as long as they store well. Rain and humidity are not their favorite conditions for storage so we’ll get creative if they don’t store too long.
  • Zucchini—Our beautifully ribbed heirloom variety: Romanesco.
  • Yellow squash—Your standard tasty squash. The squash and zucchini should be at their most prolific in another week or two. We hope to have them coming out of our ears!
  • Green tomatoes—A fun teaser for the future. We won’t send these again so enjoy fried green tomatoes this week!  We should have ripe cherry tomatoes ready in 2 more weeks, slicers in 3, and heirlooms in 4.
  • Beans—Large shares received green beans and Small shares received an heirloom variety: Dragon’s Tongue. They are so lovely and delicious.
  • Blueberries from our friends!—As you all know, our young farm does not have a fruit orchard established yet, though we are dreaming and planning for it over the next several years. Our farming pals over at Winona Orchards gave us this special treat to share with you guys.  Justin loves to chat with them about soil biology and plant health- they really know what they are doing!  Annually they fertilize with a non-organic fertilizer but they don’t use any chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides on their blueberries, which is not an easy feat. They work hard and use lots of skill to manage their plant health without those chemical inputs. Good for them!  I hope you guys will relish this special treat.

Wash your vegetables just before using them to improve shelf-life. To keep your carrots from getting rubbery, cut off the tops about ½ inch above the root and store them separately, sealed in bags in the fridge. Tomatoes and onions prefer to be stored dry but not cold. Don’t put them in the fridge. Squash and zucchini last a bit longer in the fridge, but are fine out on the counter for a couple of days if you use them quickly.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’re using your CSA share!

Don’t forget to head on over to the Kitchen blog to see what we’re cookin’ up

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Large share: Romanesco zucchini, yellow and red onions, mixed carrots, green tomatoes, beans, blueberries, and yellow squash.

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Small share: mixed carrots, Romanesco zucchini, green tomatoes, yellow and red onions, Dragon’s Tongue beans, blueberries, and yellow squash.

Jessica & Justin