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.