CSA Share Notes:

Welcome to this week’s summer CSA share! Here’s your vegetable line-up:

• Squash—Everyone received a mixture of crook neck yellow squash and Zephyr squash. Zephyr grows one end yellow, and one end green. They are fully ripe! This is how they are supposed to grow. It’s a little different. We hope you like them!
• Onion—Yellow onions for the small shares, and some yellow, some red for the large shares. These yellow onions are so mild and sweet, we’ve been eating them fresh with our burgers and fried cat fish, so slice ’em up for your 4th of July holiday menu!
• Sweet bell peppers—These beauties would make a wonderful stuffed pepper entree with ground beef and spices or a great snack with some hummus.
• Sweet Italian Frying Peppers—We have a few varieties of Italian peppers, one is a pale yellow, and the other a light lime green. These long and slender peppers are nice and sweet, similar to bell peppers, but it can be fun to try something a bit different. They’re growing exceptionally well in our climate!
• Basil—Genovese basil, perfect for pesto and Italian cooking. Remember, don’t refrigerate! Put in a glass of water on the counter.
• Jalapeños—Everyone received a few delicious and spicy jalapeños this week.
• Peaches—Once again, our long standing relationship with Winona Orchards brings you these beautiful, healthy peaches this week! These are the same farmer friends who provided you with blueberries last week. We love being able to surprise you wth fruit from time to time. Be sure to eat these over a sink so you don’t drench your shirt! I’m dreaming up a basil-peach-cherry tomato salad, and a peach salsa with fresh jalapenos!
• Eggplant—Large shares received Fairy Tale Eggplant, small shares received a mixture of our Italian and Japanese varieties of eggplant.  I love making our favorite green curry this time of year from all the bell peppers and eggplant.
• Beans— Small shares received just a small handful of our mixed green, burgundy, and dragons tongue beans. Just enough to mix into a fresh salad.  The beans are putting out loads of flowers, but not much fruit. We’re investigating to see if there’s a nutrient imbalance, or maybe a water/heat issue, to see if we can remedy it.
• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes—The large shares received our first harvest of sungolds. These are not your ordinary cherry tomato.  We’ve grown dozens of varieties over the years and finally settled on only growing this one. It’s truly the best out there and we are so excited to bring them to you! The cherry tomatoes are always the first to ripen, then the Romas, then the slicers, so there are more tomatoes coming just around the corner.

Veggie Storage tips:

Onions, cherry tomatoes, and basil will all prefer to stay at room temp. Tomatoes especially will begin to get mealy if stored any colder than 55 degrees, and basil will totally ruin below 50. The squash, peppers, and eggplant can be stored in the fridge if you won’t be getting to them for a few days, although they wouldn’t mind being left out if you’ll be eating them quickly. Everything will need a good washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent faster spoilage.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers,

Jess & Justin

Large Share
Large Share:  (top row) Basil, Italian Peppers, peaches, jalapeños, Fairy Tale Eggplant (second row) Yellow onion, red onion, crook neck and Zephyr Squash, bell peppers, and sungolds.

Small Share

Small share: (top row) jalapeños, crook neck and Zephyr Squash, yellow onion, basil (second row) Italian Eggplant, Japanese Eggplant, bell peppers (third row) peaches, Italian Peppers, and mixed beans.