Share Notes July 24, 2025

Crops are starting to wind down! Tomatoes crested last week, zucchini and squash the week before, and the potato and onion storage crops are pretty much all at your house already, there’s not much left in our cellar. We aren’t totally sure how many more weeks the garden will continue to provide for you – now that temperatures are reaching near 100, the clock is ticking on when they’ll be too tired to produce- but we’ll send you veggies as long as the garden allows!

For now, we have an amazing abundant share for you! So many beautiful summer colors.

Here’s your vegetable line-up:

• Basil – A sprig of Italian Genovese Basil for everyone.  Important Storage Tip: Don’t refrigerate your basil or it will ruin and turn black! It needs to be stored in a glass of water on the counter and it’ll be fresh for several days. If wilty when you receive it, trim the stem and place in a glass of cold water and see if it perks up. If not, hang to dry to enjoy dried basil after basil season is over!
• Cucumbers – A couple for everyone!  I LOVE a fresh cucumber salad. Enjoy, friends!
• Potatoes – White kennebec. This is just about the last of them!
• Onions – each color for everyone. This is just about the last of these, too!
• Garlic – A few for everyone.
• Okra – Enough for the Large and Regular shares this week. This is a Texas Heirloom called Hill Country Red and it stays tender and delicious even when it gets fairly large. It’s perfect when prepared at high heat: oven roasted, grilled, or blistered in a cast iron.
• Hot peppers – Jalapenos for everyone this week! You may recall our report from last week that deer got into the bell and Italian peppers a few nights, so we’re now having to nurse them back to health. Hopefully we’ll be loaded with peppers in another 2 or 3  weeks.
• Eggplant – The Large shares received slender Japanese eggplant and Fairy Tale eggplant. Regular shares received 2 Italian eggplant, including our beautiful heirloom Barbarella. The Mini shares received several fairy tale eggplant.  Eggplant wants fast, high heat cooking, just like okra, to prevent a funky texture. If used super fresh, theres no need to sweat them, but if you store them for a couple of days, you’ll want to slice and salt them to let any bitterness sweat out before cooking.
• Slicing Tomatoes –  If you haven’t been making fresh salsa and pico, and scarfing up Caprese salads and greek tomato cucumber salads, on the daily, GET ON IT!  If you cannot get through all of these tomatoes fast enough, you can freeze them whole once fully ripe, and then make a batch of pasta sauce from them once you have enough or when you find the time.  These amazing yields will wind down soon and when they do, it’s wind down fast so enjoy this abundance while we have it! Store them on the counter, upside down, and allow to fully ripen. Remember to never refrigerate your tomatoes! They become mealy below 55 degrees.
• Squash –  one for each Large share, and 2 for each Regular share. Some years we are drowning in squash and zucchini, but not this year! Every season is so different.
• Zucchini – Enough for the Large shares this week. You might have our Romanesco zucchini or our Black Beauty. We’ve been making great sheet-pan dinners with zucchini, okra, eggplant and more. It’s been heavenly with a pork chop or chicken breast on the side. And a side of sliced tomatoes. Always.
• PEARS!! – Just like last week’s figs, these huge Orient pears come from Victor Zillmer in Lindale. He uses no chemicals on his orchards, so they’re clean as a whistle! These southern pears are picked hard and allowed to ripen slowly.  Victor says 10 days on the counter and they’ll be perfect. In my experience, they do even better when stored in a paper bag in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks *and then* brought out to the counter to fully ripen, so your mileage may vary. Also, you’ll discard the peel and just eat the sweet flesh.
• FIGS! – Again from our friendly neighbor farm, Zillmer Farm in Lindale, TX. We had enough to give them to the Large shares. He grows his fruit with no chemicals, so they can absolutely be considered clean!

Veggie Storage tips:

• Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
• Fridge storage this week: figs, squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumber, pepper, okra, all sealed up in a container or plastic bag.
• Counter storage:  Don’t refrigerate your basil, tomatoes, garlic, or onions.
• Dark cabinet storage: Potatoes keep best away from the light, but in the open air. Don’t keep them in the plastic bag, switch to a paper bag or in an open-air basket in your cupboard.

Regular Share

Regular Share – top row left to right: Basil, Fairy Tale Eggplant, Japanese Eggplant, zucchini and squash, Bell pepper and a jalapeno, cucumbers, (2nd row) onions, garlic, figs, potatoes, and across the bottom, a buuuuunch of tomatoes!

Large Share

Large shares – top row left to right: Italian Sweet peppers across the top, plus a couple of jalapenos. (2nd row) Basil, 2 Italian Eggplant, zucchini and squash, cucumbers, (3rd row) onions, garlic, okra, figs, potatoes, and across the bottom a buuuuunch of tomatoes!

Mini Share

Mini shares – top row left to right:  Basil, Japanese Eggplant, zucchini and squash, shishito peppers, cucumbers, (2nd row) onions, garlic, okra, potatoes, and across the bottom a buuuuunch of tomatoes!

Flower Shares:

Lovely color mixes this week. Loads and loads of zinnias, basil, Purple Kisses ammi, cockscomb celosia, and a bit of trailing amaranth and cupcakes cosmos, and just a few rudbeckia. I hope you love the color scheme you received this week! Snap a picture of yours and show us on instagram!

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