Stunted growth

Hey everyone…July is underway this week and we have a few more interesting vegetables to add to the mix. The downside is the conspicuous absence of greens, mainly that CSA share staple lettuce.
The lack of light and the vast amounts of water we have been dealing with has really slowed up the growth in most things out in the fields. Unfortunately this slowdown is most apparent in things we try and harvest for you every week –like lettuce. These crops are planted every few weeks and go through a cycle of cut and re-cut before a new planting is ready for harvest. The timing of the harvesting and planting is time tested, based on my last ten years of growing in the northeast. Unfortunately the poor growth is a testament as to how far off the average we really are this year. This morning we went down to the field and decided that the new lettuce mix planting was just not ready. The older planting that we have been working on has some re-growth of size but we all found it to be tough and a bit bitter. As a rule when faced with deciding to give low quality food
or not, we opt to hold back. Taste, keeping quality and most importantly, nutrient content are all reflected in the flavor and texture of the produce we grow.
We are hoping that lettuce  (along with many of our other “staple” greens) will return next week. In the meantime let’s talk about Kohlrabi! This is a great old European vegetable from the cabbage family that excels in many ways beyond its obvious good looks. The swollen stem or crown is what we eat and we have chosen this variety because of its superior taste. The color and shape make kohlrabi appear to have been invented in the proctor and gamble fun food lab –but no it is the result of a few generations of farmers with good tatste and a good sense of humor. Please try this vegetable! It’s fresh and crisp raw and rich and creamy cooked. There are a few good recipes to try on the website http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/kohlrabi . Don’t forget to use the leaves! They have the texture and flavor of kale.
The Upic field is coming along and thanks to a lot of great work by CSA members Bob Leezer and Barb Harvey it looks like it will be the best looking Upic in recent memory. Peas are in deep flower and we hope to be able to let you into them soon. Some of the flower varieties are also coming along, as is the first planting of snap beans. More on the upic field, what’s ready to pick and how it all works in the next newsletter.

Great local products at pick-up. Eggs, organic milk, cheese, fresh bread, lamb sausage, bacon, pork sausage, ground beef, fair trade coffee and organic gelato, all locally produced, will be available.
Pre-order bread, milk, and eggs this week for next week’s pick-up. Talk to one of us at pickup if you would like to preorder and reserve these items for next week. Let us know how much you would like, what day you will come for pickup, and if it will be a standing order. Wild Oats bread flavors are six grain and anadama on Tuesdays and honey wheat and molasses oat on Fridays.
Maples Maine made organic gelato is here! This is good stuff. Look for vanilla bean, carmelized banana, dark chocolate sorbetto and many other flavors.
Crystal Spring Blend Coffee. That’s right, our own blend of fair trade locally roasted coffee from Brunswick roaster Wicked Joe’s Coffee. Twelve oz. bags are $10 with all profits going to retrofit the farm buildings. Drink deeply.

Roasted Kohrabi

1 1/2 pounds fresh kohlrabi, ends trimmed, thick green skin sliced off with a knife, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic (optional, to my taste)
Salt
Good vinegar

Set oven to 450F. Toss the diced kohlrabi with olive oil, garlic and salt in a bowl. (This can be done on the pan but you’ll likely use more oil.) Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and put into oven (it needn’t be fully preheated) and roast for 30 – 34 minutes, stirring every five minutes started after about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with a good vinegar (probably at the table so the kohlrabi don’t get squishy).