Ramping up

What’s in Upic?

Peas

Cilantro (help it’s bolting!, make pesto)

Flowers

Things are really exploding here. The heat and the regular rain have pushed things along getting us caught up from the dreary May, now just a hazy memory.  Potatoes have just started to form little tubers, eggplant is in flower, cantaloupe is vining out and full of little fruit, tomatoes are growing so fast we can’t keep ahead of the trellising.

Scallions are Onions

This weeks’ scallions are on the big side, some of them even bulbing up a bit. We will have these for the next couple weeks at least until we move into our sweet summer onions. Until the “real”onions start don’t be afraid to use the scallions any way you might use their bigger cousin, the onion.  Not just for the top of salads, scallions can enhance sautee or soups, – or even grill, and add to burgers.   Tonight we sautéed scallions and blended them together in the food processor with Chard making an amazing pesto we tossed onto ravioli (the kids loved it).  Kind of like a quick & simple basil – no cheese or nuts necessary.

Get Ready for Basil

Next week we hope to have our first harvest of Basil. New this year we are growing basil in our high tunnel that we will harvest and distribute in your shares.  If you are pesto fan you may want to get your pine nuts/walnuts and parmesan ready. Here’s the link to our favorite pesto recipe .  Don’t forget, if you are wondering what to do with your greens (chard & kale) go ahead and add them to your pesto.  (May want to lightly steam the kale first.)

Mad Rush for Kale

We have been growing food for CSA members for the past thirteen years. The most complex part of farming in this way is figuring out how much and what to grow. Each year we tweek things a bit, taking your feedback from the fall survey along with our own harvest data and trying to get closer to that “perfect” share. Sometimes we are way off base and grow too much of one thing or too little of another. One thing we have consistently over grown for the past few years is kale. Call it wishfull farming, we have been encouraging CSA members to eat more of this superfood for years. This past winter we gave in and cut our plantings way back, almost 40% from last year. Wouldn’t you know it but this year so many of you have jumped on the kale bandwagon and the past two weeks the kale has been more popular than the typically favorite, chard, in the mix and match! This is like the donut shop running out of bran muffins! Kudos to the kale lovers – more coming soon!

Weeding Wednesdays

Come help us beat back the weeds and enjoy some good conversation or peaceful quiet as you choose! Stay for as long of as short as you like. Meet us at 9am at the CSA Barn.

More recipe ideas, just for you…

A current member has set up a facebook group specifically for our CSA members to share tips and recipes week to week.  There are some great ideas on there & we encourage you to join if you’re looking to give or receive ideas on using your share.  Find it here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/152345198170344

What to expect in your share this week:

Scallions

Lettuce

Chard/Kale

Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Beets

Cabbage

Don’t get behind on your cabbage, there’s more food coming next week. Look at our recipes in the sidebar to you right… See you at the farm.

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