CSA Share Notes:

Whew that garden is shutting down in a hurry!  Every summer it eventually goes kaput and this year that moment has arrived a few weeks earlier than usual.  It’s no huge surprise. The plants were very stressed by wet conditions in early June. And even though conditions have been close to ideal for the past month, albeit a little wet, sometimes plants can never fully recover from major stressors they’ve endured in their early days.

So that’s a late start, and an early end to the summer garden! Bummer. But it was so abundant and delicious while it lasted.

Now here’s your vegetable line-up:

• Basil — Remember, DO NOT REFRIGERATE your basil.   Store it bouquet style, in a glass of cool water on the counter. If yours is wilty, you may be able to refresh it submerged in a sink of cold water, let it soak for an hour. If it doesn’t revive, use soon, or hang to dry to store and use this winter. (try to pick up your box promptly after delivery whenever possible!)
• Eggplant — Large shares received long slender Japanese eggplant and Fairy Tale eggplant, Regular’s got our beautiful heirloom Barbarella Italian eggplant.  Mini shares received 1 or 2a small Italian and a few fairy tale. My best eggplant tip is cook eggplant HOT and FAST. You want a good browning as this really brings out the sweetness. Grill, oven roast, or blister in a cast iron.
• Slicing Tomatoes —  Just a couple for the Large and Regular shares. This harvest is spent! But the plants have put on a ton of beautiful new growth and flowers so it will be interesting to see if they produce again in a month or so.
• Sweet Peppers — Everyone is receiving a couple of bell peppers, and a few sweet Italian peppers. These went into an excellent Korean stir fry steak dish with peppers and eggplant. Super delicious.
• Hot Peppers — Jalapenos, a few for everyone.
• Shishito Peppers — for the regular shares
• Cucumbers — about 2-4 cukes per share, depending on size.
• Onion  —  We gave you plenty so you’ll have some to last you a little while now that we won’t be bringing you a box for a few weeks
• Garlic  — We gave you plenty so you’ll have some to last you a little while now that we won’t be bringing you a box for a few weeks

Veggie Storage tips:

• Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
• Basil must not be stored in the fridge. Keep it in a glass of water in a cool place, and out of direct light.
• Tomatoes, garlic, and onions prefer room temperature, dry conditions.
• Peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, want to be in your fridge. Seal them up in a bag or container to retain moisture for longest storage life.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook, showing us how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

We were short staffed today and so we didn’t have time to get pictures taken for the blog!  You can look back at prior weeks to identify any unfamiliar items.

Today’s Bouquet Share:

Today’s Bouquet Share notes:

Loads of sunflowers, zinnias, Gomphrena, quite a few celosia, giant marigolds, and a few verbena and rudbeckia.

Bright hues are headed to DFW and Longview this week. Muted tones are headed to Tyler.