Share Notes June 30, 2022

Share Notes June 30, 2022

CSA Share Notes:

Here’s your vegetable line up:

  • Tomatoes!—Y’all our crop is struggling this year. It has not been a fan of the super intense early heat and so we’ve been watering a ton to keep them going. We got a huge surprise rain about a week ago…after we had watered them all day! and then their poor roots were wet for a few days drying out. Overly wet conditions like that, with already stressed plants, coping with last week’s 100+ degree temperatures…it was a recipe for soil-borne disease and fungal growth. A wilting disease called Verticilium Wilt has effected over half of our big tomato crop. They’re still producing though, but the crop may be short lived. We shall see. For now, we’re really happy we were able to give everyone a couple of tomatoes this week. There are 3 varieties that appear to be unaffected, so we’re babying those and sending the rest of them lots of good healing vibes. If you love tomatoes, send up some prayers for ours this season!
  • Squash— Tender and sweet. Straight neck, crook neck, and zephyr, which is half yellow, half green, and so pretty. We sort it by size and ensure that Regular shares receive more than Minis, and Large shares receive more than Regulars.
  • Zucchini—This crop usually produces only about 1/3 to 1/2 as much as squash, but this year, it’s really doing well.  Excited to give out plenty to everyone this week. We have a couple of different types, one is an heirloom that’s a lighter green with deep ribs, called Romanesco. It’s my favorite. So amazing. Try these little Italian zucchini dumplings for a switch up on this great crop.  Or save this great recipe for when our tomatoes are in full swing, about 3 more weeks
  • Basil—Large and Regular shares received a few fragrant stems of our Genovese basil. Big leaves, big flavor. Use them in any Italian cooking or toss handfuls into a Thai red or green curry (at the tail end, right before serving) for a massive flavor punch. It’s great.
  • Sweet Corn—Regular shares only this week. This crop was grown in an experimental plot Jessica managed this season and they grew wonderfully! Unfortunately some of the varieties reached their peak of sweet perfection last weekend while Jess was out of town, so she harvested it the day she got home from her long trip and got it right into the cooler to preserve it for you as best we could. This means some of the ears are a little past their prime and, while still sweet and delicious, you’ll notice a bit of starchiness to them. Just butter ’em up and salt ’em up real good and you’ll still enjoy them. **AN IMPORTANT NOTE** we do not spray anything on our corn, so you will almost certainly have a caterpillar living in the tippy top of all or most of your ears (there’s really no organic approved spray for corn that will get inside the ears to kill or prevent corn ear worms. We’ve learned to co-exist, and now you can, too). Don’t be creeped out! Just peel back the husk a bit and you’ll see if yours has brown frass from a little caterpillar damage, then get a big sharp butcher knife and chop the tip off with a big thwack. 90% of your ear should be perfect and delicious. Consider that other 10% a tithe to mother nature
  • Apple Yellow cherry tomatoes— These golden girls are so good! Give them a couple of days on your counter to complete ripening. Mini shares only
  • Sungold Cherry tomatoes— For the large shares. This is our staple cherry tomato. It’s the most delicious and sweet tomato candy you’ll ever eat!
  • Carrots— Everyone received a small bunch. Carrots are ideally grown in cool conditions to increase their sugar content, so they won’t be as delicious as our late fall and late Spring crops you may have had the joy of tasting in seasons’ past. The really good ‘n sweet carrots will be ready for you in November/December!
  • Cucumbers—Both the Large shares and the mini shares received cute crunchy cukes. We hope to have even more next week so everyone will get them.
  • Potatoes— a mixture of 4 different kinds, Red Lasota, White Kennebec, Purple Majesty, and Masquerade.  Roast, grill, make bunch home-fries. Delish!
  • Winona Blueberries—These gorgeous blueberries were grown by our great friends at Winona Orchards. They were grown this year without any spray of any kind-herbicide, fungicide, pesticide, etc, but the soil was fertilized with commercial fertilizer. We consider these berries “no spray” and they are really fantastic. Enjoy as a special treat! This will likely be the last week we provide blueberries.
  • Onions— 3 for the Large, 2 for the regular, and 1 for the mini.  A great staple we’ll have all summer long.
  • Garlic!— We are so excited about our garlic crop this year. It did well and is beautiful and delicious. Please enjoy it! We’ll have several more bulbs of it in your boxes over the summer season

Veggie Storage tips:

Tomatoes and Basil MUST stay above 55 degrees so do not refrigerate them. Basil should be trimmed and placed in a glass of cold water and kept on your counter (You can first submerge it in a sink of cold water for a few hours if wilted) Potatoes, garlic, and onions prefer room temperature, with good air ventilation. If stored in the dark, the potatoes will begin to sprout, but don’t give them *too* much light, either, or their skin will begin to green. Everything else wants to be in your refrigerator, sealed up in bags of containers to prevent drying out. Everything will need a gentle washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent spoilage.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

Regular Share

Regular Share:  Sweet Corn, Multi-potatoes, carrots, (2nd row, center) blueberries, garlic, tomatoes, (bottom row) Basil, squash, zucchini, onions.

 

Large Share

Large Share top left to right:   Carrots, zucchini, several cucumbers, blueberries, sungolds (2nd row) squash, multi-potatoes, basil (bottom row) tomatoes, onions, garlic.

Mini Share

 Mini share: top left to right: Carrots, blueberries, onion and garlic, multi-potatoes, (2nd row) yellow apple tomatoes, squash, cucumbers.