Share notes – July 3, 2025

We’re still easing into the summer season, just delivering to roughly half of our locations till the crops come in with greater abundance.  The rain-saturated month of May really caused some problems: it mucked up our onion and garlic crops, it cut the Spring season short by a couple of weeks, and it stressed out our summer crops, which, by and large are recovering very well with new leafy growth, but are very slow to put on new fruits.

And when it rains, it pours: This week, crows have taken a huge interest in our tomatoes, damaging most of the sungolds, (thank goodness that’s the only variety they seem to care about at the moment) and deer ripped through our deer fence and ate some of the okra plants.  Can’t win for losin’ out here! 

Y’all say a pray for your farmers to catch some easy weather, fair growing conditions, no pest pressure, all the good things. We’d sure take it.

 

Until the crops come in with greater abundance, we’ll be spreading the yield around to all our different locations as fairly as we can.

 

Here’s your vegetable line-up this week:

• Slicing Tomatoes – They’re finally here! We’re so excited to bring your our pretty red slicers. Store them on the counter, upside down, and allow to fully ripen. Some need between 3-5 days before they’re fully ready, but some are ready to eat now.
• Potatoes – A mixed bag: Red new potatoes, white kennebec, and a few yukon gold mixed in.  These are excellent for boiling, roasting, home fries, or potato salad. Yum!
• Onions – A trio for all. The onion harvest for this year was small, (exceedingly wet conditions) so we’ll only have onions for you for a few weeks before we run through the whole crop. Enjoy them while we’ve got them!
• Garlic – A few for everyone. Just like the onions, they did not like the boggy conditions they were growing in throughout April and May. And when we harvested them, they were caked in mud, so the papery outer coating may be unattractive, but the innards are delicious! Most years we have such amazing and beautiful garlic that we’re so proud of. Welp, better luck next year!
• Sungolds – Just enough for the Large shares this week. These are super sweet and delicious for snacking and salads.  Hopefully the crows will move on to some other field soon! They’re incredibly witty birds, and our many strategies of deterrence are not seeming to make a difference.
• Squash – This crop is just starting to produce, and we usually get 4 delicious weeks out of it.  We’ve got a yellow straight neck for you as well as a really cool green and yellow striped squash called zephyr. It’s tender and delicious. Enough for the Large and Regular shares this week.
• Zucchini – Enough for the Large shares this week. Closely related to squash of course. This veggie has featured in our kitchen through fantastic zucchini boats stuffed with mushrooms, sausage, topped with parmesan, we’ve made zucchini noodles to sub in for pasta for a low-carb-eater in our house.
• Okra – Just enough for the Large shares this week but hopefully lots more soon. This is a Texas Heirloom, Hill Country Red and it stays tender and delicious even when it gets fairly large. So good raw, roasted, or grilled.
• Cucumbers – a taste for the regular shares, and a few for the Mini shares, too.  I LOVE a fresh cucumber salad. Enjoy, friends!
• Peppers – Just a few are ready right now, with a bigger harvest building up over the next few weeks. We’ve got a mix of everything for you this week: Bells, Sweet Italian, and Shishitos. No hot peppers are ready quite yet, but they’re coming.
• Basil – A sprig of Italian Genovese Basil for everyone, plus Regular shares also get a sprig of Lemon Basil which is excellent in a salad.  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.

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:  squash, zucchini, cucumber, peppers, 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 (lemon basil is pale green, genovese is darker green) onions, squash, cucumber, garlic, (2nd row) potatoes, and a buuuuunch of tomatoes!

Large Share

 

Large shares – top row left to right: Basil,  onions and garlic, mixed peppers, squash and zucchini, (2nd row) potatoes, sungolds, okra, and a buuuuunch of tomatoes!

 

Mini Share

 

Mini shares – top row left to right: Basil, onions and garlic, several tomatoes (2nd row) cucumbers, potatoes, and a mix of peppers

 

Flower Shares:

 

This week I made two different types of bouquets. You’re either getting vintagey pastel shades, or you’re getting bold and bright colors.

In the vintage bouquets: Queeny Lime series zinnias, Ballerina zinnias, Cinnamon basil, Purple Kisses ammi, Coral Fountains trailing amaranth, lots of cupcakes cosmos and cranberry cosmos, a little bit of our magenta celosia.

In the bold and bright bouquets: Oklahoma series zinnias, Lemon basil, Emerald trailing amaranth, lots of bright Cockscomb Celosia (these look like coral, or brains, they’re so cool!), and our beautiful bright and cheery 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