July 15 or 18

Beets with mud, before cleaning.

Our godson, Henry, on his last day working with us.

Small boxes: 2 pounds red hybrid tomatoes, 1 1/2 pounds of green cucumbers, 1 head of "cured" garlic, 1 bunch of red beets, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 head of green cabbage.
Regular boxes:  2 pounds red hybrid tomatoes, 1 1/2 pounds of green cucumbers, 2 heads of cured garlic, 1 bunch of red beets, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 head of green cabbage, 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, 1 bunch of root parsley, 1 bunch of leeks, 2 pounds of fingerling potatoes.

Henry is our 14 year old godson who came to live and work with us for 5 weeks.  He was an absolute champ!  He got up for work at 6 am everyday and worked right along with the crew all day doing whatever the task was with a cheerful countenance.  He made us laugh and gave us some new perspective.  Thank you Henry!  Now he's back to Blacksburg VA to enjoy the rest of his summer in a more relaxed schedule and start high school this fall.

Thank you to all who responded with words of support and enthusiasm to our email on Sunday!  We really do want to fix what we can when you have problems with our CSA.  Let us know if you get something that's not good and we'll replace it.  If you have dietary restraints, let us know and we'll do what we can to change out vegetables.  Those of you who pick up at Catawba rather than a market have a bit less flexibility in this matter but I will try to fulfill your requests.

Storage:  garlic and tomatoes can be kept on the counter and used this week.  Everything else needs to be refrigerated.  If you aren't going to eat the beet greens within 2 days, cut them off of the beets and store in a separate bag with the air squeezed out.  Parsley root is usually long like a carrot but ours is knobby because we transplanted it.  The greens on top are stronger than parsley grown for leaf use.  You can use it in small quantities raw or you can make a pesto with it mixed with basil and/or other herbs.  The root is good cooked in soup, stew, or roasted vegetables.  You can eat it raw in salad or slaw too.
 "Cook (almost) Anything" is an interesting blog with many good ideas in addition to the recipe I linked below.
Parsley Root and Leek Soup Recipe
Here is a link to fennel ideas:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/fennel-recipes_n_1152097.html

Have a great week!

If you look closely, there is a newly fledged kestrel chick on the left sprinkler.  We got to watch them for a few days as they learned to fly.

July 8 or 11 CSA

PLEASE RETURN CLOTH BAGS!!!
Small boxes: 1 pound tomatoes, 1 bunch of basil, 1 head of garlic, 2 red onions, 1 head of celery, 1 pint of baby squash, 1 eggplant.
Regular boxes: 2 pounds tomatoes, 1 basil bunch, 1 garlic bulb, 3 red onions, 1 head of celery, 1 pint of baby squash, 2 pounds of cucumbers, 1 bunch of dill, 1 eggplant.

Storage:  Tomatoes will have better flavor if you store them outside the refrigerator.  Basil will keep in a cloth or paper bag in fridge or with stems in a glass of water on the counter.  Everything else will keep best in the refrigerator.

The garlic is "uncured" still and needs to be used this week or kept in the refrigerator.  It is likely to mold if kept out on the counter.  The tomatoes in the box this week are a hybrid variety called "New Girl".  They are best for fresh eating but can be cooked with too. 

I like to eat eggplant roasted the best of all.  Slice in 1/4 inch slices, toss in olive oil with salt and pepper and roast in a single layer at 450 degrees until lightly browned.  I know there are many other things to do with eggplant and the epicurious site has some good ideas:
An Eggplant Idea

The cucumbers in the regular boxes are from a new planting and are crisp and delicious.  We make cucumber salad with them using fresh dill, an onion, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper.
This blog post is short and hurried because we are burning up the daylight right now with onion harvesting, tomato trellising, preparing beds for fall crops (can't believe its time already to think about this!), moving cows to green pasture.  I hope you have a good week!

July 1 or 4

Small boxes:  2 pounds of Satina potatoes, 1 pound of green snap beans, 1 pound of zephyr squash, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 green cabbage,1 bunch of torpedo onions, 1 bunch of red beets.

Regular boxes: 2 pounds of Satina Potatoes, 2 Pounds of snap beans, 2 pounds of zephyr squash, 1bunch of parsley, 1 green cabbage, 1 bunch of torpedo onions, 1 bunch of red beets, 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, 1 1/2 pounds of small slicer tomatoes.

Storage:  Everything except tomatoes will keep best in the vegetable drawers of your refrigerator.  Parsley and beet greens need to be wrapped in a cloth or in a bag with the air squeezed out.

We thought that folks might be celebrating July 4th with potato salad and cole slaw so we hope you are!  The potatoes are similar to yukon golds in color and texture with a sweet flavor since they are freshly dug.  We had a discussion about whether parsley or dill was the important herb for these dishes and consensus was parsley.  I hope you agree...
The following link has a recipe for an unusual potato salad.  I omit the sugar in the dressing because the potatoes have plenty sweet flavor on their own:
  Beet and Potato Salad

The torpedo onions are really good grilled if you are firing up the grill.  We marinate them in salt, pepper, olive oil, and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar.
The cabbage is an heirloom variety called "flat dutch", due  to it's sat-upon look. 
The zephyr squash has a different appearance than normal because it is from a new planting and the first squash produced on the plant is mostly light green instead of the usual green and yellow.  These are also delicious sliced thin and grilled with the same marinade as the onions. 

Steamed Squash with Mint
4 cups of squash, sliced thin
1 T water
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1 T oil
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
a sprig of mint
a dash of red wine vinegar

1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan with a lid.  Add the squash and mint.  Steam until soft (about 5 minutes).
2. Strain off excess water and remove the mint sprig.  Saute the garlic in olive oil for a minute or so and add the squash, vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Freshly harvested garlic laid out in the barn to "cure".

June 24 or 27

Harvest of the storage onions has begun

Small boxes:  1 pound green beans, 1 head of purple cabbage, 1 bunch of sweet onions, 1 pound of zucchini, 2 cucumbers, 1 pound of white carrots, 1 head of celery.
Regular boxes:  all the above and 1 pint of blueberries, 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of parsley, 2 fennel bulbs, 2 white cucumbers.

Storage:  everything will keep best in refrigeration.  Celery needs to be wrapped in a damp cloth or kept in a bag with the air squeezed out.

The celery is different than what you buy in the store.  It is more flavorful and much smaller.  A little bit goes a long way.  Use the leaves as well as the stalk.  It is great added to potato salad, egg salad, pasta sauce, soup. 
The white carrots were harvested yesterday.  We cut the tops because the greens aren't very pretty now.  Use the same as you use orange carrots.
The sweet onions are very mild.  I think they are best used raw in salads.  We've been eating a lot of coleslaw made with purple cabbage and sweet onions.  Delicious!

Loading the onions into the barn loft

Paul in motion

The onions will sit with a fan blowing on them for a few weeks and then we'll cut the tops off and begin eating them.

June17 or 20

Small boxes:  2 green cucumbers, 1 yellow cucumber, 1/2 pound spinach, 1 bunch of red scallions, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 bunch of basil, 1 pound patty pan squash, 1 pound new potatoes.
Regular boxes:  4 green cucumbers, 3 yellow cucumbers, 1 head of red butterhead lettuce, 1 head of treviso radicchio, 1 bunch of red scallions, 2 fennel bulbs, 1 bunch of basil, 1 pound of patty pan squash, 1 pound of zucchini, 1 pound of cauliflower, 2 1/2 pound new potatoes.


 Storage:  all the vegetables this week need to be kept in the refrigerator drawers.  We did not wash the basil because it tends to turn black under refrigeration when wet.  I suggest washing it, letting it drip dry awhile and storing in a paper bag or towel in the fridge.

Zucchini

Fennel and Potato Gratin
(from Farmer John's cookbook) serves 4 to 6
butter for greasing the baking dish
2 small fennel bulbs, cut crosswise into 1/8 inch thick slices
2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
salt and pepper
2 cups half- and -half
2 T butter
1. preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly coat a shallow 2 quart baking dish with butter.
2. cover bottom of dish with a layer of fennel slices.  cover with half the potato slices.  sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  repeat with layers until all slices are used.
3.  bring half-and-half to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.  pour over fennel and potatoes.
4.  press down on top layer until submerged.  dot with butter.  bake until potatoes are tender and top is golden, about 1 hour.

The potato digger in action

June 10 or 13

Freshly harvested onions heading back to wash shed to be cleaned

Small Boxes:  1 bunch of purple carrots, 1 large red beet, 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of swiss chard, 1 green garlic, 1 bunch of cipollini onions, 1 pint of snow peas, 2 zucchini and 2 yellow squash.
Regular Boxes:  1 bunch of purple carrots, 2 large beets, 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of swiss chard, 1 green garlic, 1 bunch of sweet onions, 2 pints of snow peas, 1 red cabbage, 1 bunch of komatsuna, 2 zucchini and 2 yellow squash.

Storage:
carrots and beets:  cut tops off and keep in a cloth or plastic bag in refrigerator drawer.  (use tops in a soup stock or compost)
onions, romaine, komatsuna and chard:  store in a cloth or plastic bag with the air squeezed out in fridge drawer.
snow peas:  eat right away or keep in a bag.  (they will become less crisp in storage but are still good to eat!)
garlic:  use this week.  fresh garlic doesn't keep well.  we keep it in our fridge just on the shelf but you may want to enclose it to keep it from flavoring everything in the fridge.
cabbage:  store in drawer of fridge uncovered.
squash:  in fridge drawer uncovered or in cloth or paper bag.  (plastic will make them rot sooner)

Purple carrots!  Their flavor is strong and less sweet when eaten raw.  Roasted, they become much sweeter.

The beets are giant but still very good.  I cut ours in quarters and boiled until tender, slipped the skin off with my fingers, dressed with a little bit of red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and added to a lettuce salad.

Swiss chard is good all the way spinach is good (they are family members).  I like to add it to pasta while the pasta is still warm enough to wilt it and then add sauce.

Cipollini onions are on the sweet side of the onion spectrum.  Use them fresh or in cooking.

I love to stir fry snow peas with fresh garlic, salt and pepper and eat by themselves.

The small boxes all have 1 dark green zucchini and 1 lighter green with ribs.  The lighter one is an heirloom variety with a great, nutty flavor.  All the zucchini and squash are good sauteed with garlic, onion, salt and pepper.

Komatsuna is an Asian green, similar to tatsoi and bok choi in flavor.  It is good lightly sauteed.  It would be good with the snow peas.

There is a Carolina Wren nesting in a box on a high shelf in our wash shed.  I peeked in the nest weeks ago and saw that it was lined with a shed snake skin.  The eggs have just hatched and all day yesterday while we cleaned vegetables we saw the parents coming with spiders, worms, beetles to feed the babies.  It was cool!

Directions for transplanting the winter squash

June! 3 or 6

Small boxes:  1 head of napa cabbage, 1 head of green bibb lettuce, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of garlic scapes, 1 head of frisee, 1 kohlrabi, 1 bunch of dill, 1 # of corn grits!
Regular boxes:  1 bunch of carrots, 1 # of sugar snap peas, 1# of small zephyr squash, all the same stuff in the small boxes except napa cabbage.

Grits! grits! grits!  We hope you are as excited about the grits as we are!  This a dream realized that we can put them in your box.  We grew this corn, a strain of "Trucker's Favorite", last summer, dried it in our greenhouse for the fall, and traded half of it with Farm and Sparrow Bakery so that they would mill the other half for us to put in CSA boxes!  It needs to be stored in your freezer and the sooner you use it, the more of a treat it is.  Freshly milled grain is more flavorful.  The proportions for grits are 4 to 1 water to grits. 

Kohlrabi Slaw
1/2 half a napa cabbage, cut into thin strips
1 kohlrabi, peeled and shredded
2 scallions, green part too, cut in thin rounds
1 bunch of dill, chopped small
juice of 1/2 lemon
1-3 T of mayonnaise
1/2 - 1 T mustard
salt and pepper to taste

If you make this an hour or 2 in advance, it is more flavorful

Napa cabbage is also good as a cooked green.  We like it sauteed with onions and garlic and white beans and served with crushed red pepper and romano cheese on top.

Garlic Scapes:
We are at the point in the season where we need to remove all the remaining garlic scapes from the plants in a day.  It is more than we know what to do with.  We extend the invitation to you to try pickling some.  If you're interested, let us know by email or at market how many you want and we'll give them to you!

Kohlrabi in the field