CSA Share Notes:

Welcome to our final week of our Summer season!

1. If you want more, you can join our coming Fall CSA season, with harvests beginning usually in Early October. We’re filling up but still have room for you. I like to give our current members plenty of opportunity to join in before I advertise it widely to the greater public. Reserve your spot now if you want a share!
2. Over the coming weeks we will still have a smaller harvest coming out of the garden every week. While it’s not enough to feed all of you lovely CSA members, it’ll still fill our farmers market tables nicely.  Find us on Saturday mornings at Rose City Farmers Market in Tyler (221 S. Broadway) and Historic Longview Farmers Market in Longview. (105 W. Cotton)

Now here’s your vegetable line-up:

• Melons – This week everyone is getting watermelons. Large received mostly an orange flesh watermelon called Clemson Sweet. Regulars mostly received Yellow flesh called Baby Doll or red fleshed Sugar Baby.  Mini shares received (in a paper bag) either Mini Love or Sugar Baby, both red fleshed melons.  Almost all the melons are going to be fantastic, but odds are that out of over 100 melons, there are bound to be a couple that are under ripe. Please forgive if the odds don’t fall in your favor! If any of you come really early to market on Saturday (before we sell out!), we’ll have some more available, so stop by.
• Onion and Garlic – The very last of our allium harvest this year. Enjoy!
• Tomatoes – A few beautiful ripe slicers for everyone. Check your ‘maters for blemishes, and if you’ve got any damage plan to use those up fairly quickly.  Let them finish ripening upside down on a windowsill. They’re ripe enough once about 90% of the tomato has reached its fullest color.
• Sungolds – These really dropped off in productivity, but we had enough for the Large shares to finish off the season
• Basil – For everyone this week. Remember our tips: if wilted, rehydrate in a cold water plunge if wilted.  And DO NOT REFRIGERATE.  Instead, store it bouquet style, in a glass of cool water on the counter.
• Peppers: refer back to our instagram post of our different pepper varieties. It can be hard to tell some of them apart, and to remember which ones are spicy and which are sweet. Hope this post helps!
• Bell Peppers – Green and Purple, and the first of our few Red bell peppers went to the Large and Mini shares this week.
• Sweet Italian Peppers – Everyone received these this week, but the Regular shares received most of them. You received both vibrant green ones, and pale yellow-green ones. See the instagram post mentioned above to help you identify them.  These are delicious, crunchy, long and slender Italian sweet peppers, NOT spicy! These will be very similar to bell peppers in flavor and heat.
• Shishito peppers – A clamshell for everyone this week! These are so perfect blistered in a hot skillet or grill, and then dipped in any delicious type of dip you can come up with to go with it. They’re super yummy. Remember, every once in a while, you’ll find a warm one, but they’re not nearly as hot as a jalapeno.
• Jalapenos – A whole bunch for everyone.
• Cucumbers – The intense heat the past week means it’s difficult to harvest these before they turn bitter. Even the under-mature and small ones are turning bitter. We did our best, but we can’t taste test each one. Please forgive our garden if any of your cucumbers are on the bitter side. They’re hot and tired, too. Salting and draining helps remove bitterness.  Try a smashed cucumber salad this week! Got a blender? Make Cucumber Melon Agua Fresca!
• Eggplant –  Our Large shares received the lovely heirloom Italian eggplant and standard purple Italian eggplant. Regular shares received the tiny and beautiful Fairy Tale eggplant and some long Japanese. Mini shares received Fairy Tale eggplant and an heirloom Italian.
• A Squash and/or a Zucchini – Just enough for Large shares.  This crop is spent. And I have to say, I’m ready to see it go! I’m all squashed out.

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, potatoes, garlic, and onions prefer room temperature, dry conditions.
• Squash, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and cucumbers all want to be sealed up in plastic and stored in the fridge. You CAN store them at room temp for just a day or three, but you’ll extend their shelf-life considerably by storing them properly in the fridge.

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

 Left to Right: Crimson Sweet (slightly Orangey-yellow), Baby Doll (neon yellow), Mini Love, and Sugar Baby.

Regular Share

Today’s Regular Share:
Left to Rt (top row): Tomatoes, Italian Peppers above jalapenos,  Shishito peppers in a clamshell, and basil. ) middle row: cucumbers, garlic, onions. bottom row: Japanese eggplant, Fairytale eggplant, and a Sugar Baby watermelon (although many received our pretty yellow Baby Doll watermelon).

Large Share

Today’s Large Share:
Left to Rt (top row): colorful bell peppers, sungolds in a clamshell. (2nd row) Italian peppers, onions, yellow squash (some received a zucchini) Italian eggplant, and basil. (3rd row) jalapenos, garlic, shishito peppers in a clamshell, Heirloom Italian eggplant. (bottom row)Red slicing tomatoes, cucumbers and a Crimson Sweet (orange-fleshed) watermelon.

 Mini Share

Today’s Mini Share:

Left to Rt (top row): Italian peppers, japalenos, bell peppers. basil (2nd row) slicing tomatoes, onions and garlic, cucumbers (3rd row) Sugar baby watermelon (some received Mini Love) Italian heirloom eggplant, fairytale eggplant, and clamshell of shishito peppers.