Share Notes June 29, 2023
CSA Share Notes:
Welcome to a soft-opening of our Summer season! We’re only delivering to about 1/3 of our members this week as the garden gradually comes into its’ full readiness. Early in the week we saw there were quite a few things ready for you out there in the garden, just not enough for the entire lot of members. So if you’re getting a share this week, consider yourself super lucky, and if you’re not, your turn is a-coming!
I want to mention to you our truck fundraiser, which you can read our latest update here:
https://mailchi.mp/redmoonfarmtx.com/truck-fund-update
About 5 weeks ago, while delivering the CSA shares to Tyler, someone ran a red light and totaled our farm truck. The insurance payment doesn’t come close to covering the replacement value of the truck, (it’s about half) so we’re in a bind, and asking our community to help us be able to get back on the road ASAP. Please contribute if you are able! We’re so grateful to all of you who have helped us so far.
Now here’s your vegetable line-up:
- Basil- Important note! DO NOT REFRIGERATE your basil. Basil can’t tolerate temperatures below 50 degrees. If you refrigerate it, you’ll have black, nasty leaves, only fit for compost. Store it bouquet style, in a glass of cool water on the counter. In fact, if you treat it just like you would a fresh, locally grown bouquet (trim the stems often and change the water every day), you can get incredible vase life out of it. I see pesto pasta or margarita pizza in your future! You’re going to get a lot of basil over the next month. Plan on hanging some to dry for use later in the year.
- Green Tomatoes – Exciting to have our firsst tomatoes of the season this week! What will you do with yours? Fried Green Tomatoes? Chutney or chow-chow? Or maybe this green tomato salsa verde?
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- 1 lb. green tomatoes, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Cilantro, to taste
- ¼ cup onion, diced
- Poblano or a few jalapenos, chopped finely, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- lime juice, to taste
- Chili powder or cayenne, if desired. Place all ingredients in a blender/food processor and puree until desired consistency.(Alternatively, you could chop everything if you wanted a chunkier consistency)
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- Cabbage – Round, slightly flat TenderSweet cabbages for the large and regular shares and a crinkly Alcosa cabbage for the mini shares. We have a few final HailMarys of the Spring garden, and cabbages are one of them. They’ve held out in the extreme heat we’ve had the past 2 weeks and are reaching their end. We’re lucky to share the last of them with you! Great shredded onto tacos or turned into an Asian peanut salad (two ways we’ve enjoyed our cabbage this week). Want to turn your plain cabbage into a superfood that is also delicious? You can use a quart mason jar to make a batch of lacto-fermented kraut. It’s so, so easy! Read here to get the method. Start it on your counter top or pantry with a loose jar lid for about 3-5 days, then move it to the fridge to continue fermenting slowly for the next month or so, then it’s ready! If you’re a beginner, or if you want extra assurance your kraut will develop the right lactic acid bacteria, you can inoculate your batch when you start it with a teaspoon of whey. You can collect whey from a container of high-quality, unsweetened, plain yogurt (it’s the clear-to-milky liquid that forms on top).
- Carrot – Beautiful bunches for all this week! These crunchy, delicious carrots have been paired with a roast and grated into a fresh Asian peanut salad this week in our kitchen.
- Fennel – A few of these super delicious flavorful bulbs. This crop is excellent shaved into a salad or slaw, or is lovely slowly sauteed or even roasted or cooked into a soup. The fronds are delicious too. Need some help knowing what to do with fennel? Use this helpful write up from a fellow CSA farm!
- Squash/Zucchini – The large shares received our very first petite harvest of this summer crop. The storage life on this first young harvest will be short, so use your squash/zukes up quickly. We had enough for most of you to get a few very small yellow squash, and to taste one of our heirloom zucchinis or a colorful zephyr squash, too. They’re all tasty and tender. Enjoy!
- Potato – Pretty red potatoes, ready to boil into a delicious potato salad. Or try Smashed Potatoes: parboil and drain, then lightly oil a baking sheet and place boiled potatoes on it. Smash each one with the bottom of a coffee mug into a flattened disk (the potato will crack, deeply. This is fine) Brush all sides heavily with olive oil, salt generously, and bake at 450 till crispy and golden, about 30 min. (We actually use a small counter top oven which we plug in outside on the porch to not heat up the kitchen this time of year). This will be your new favorite way to enjoy potatoes.
- Onion – A yellow and/or red onion for everyone.
- Garlic – Good quality garlic is impossible to find in stores and we’re elated to have this back in our kitchen this week! This year’s garlic harvest is one of the best we’ve had and we’re so excited to share it with you. These are a red Creole type, bred for hot, humid Louisiana conditions, and this helps it perform well here in East Texas, too. It consistently produces large bulbs with a smaller number of nice big cloves with a wonderful, pungent flavor.
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.
- Sever the roots/bulbs from their tops (fennel) and store the tops separately if you’re going to use them.
- Tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, and onions prefer room temperature, dry conditions.
- Cabbage. fennel, and carrots want to be in the fridge. Enjoy!
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
