Hello Members and welcome to week 8! The halfway mark of the main CSA season! That went fast.
On the farm these days, it's a blur of planting, weeding, moving and feeding animals, harvesting, mowing, pruning, trellising, and irrigating, irrigating. The chickens go to butcher tomorrow and then we will be all stocked up on chickens. We have lots of brats, hot dogs and chops for the grill, too! You can add them to your box or sign up for a Farmstand Order that would be delivered THIS THURSDAY! https://www.harvie.farm/farm/blackbrook-farm/shop\
The summer crops are a little behind last year- about 1-2 weeks. The tomatoes are coming, but it is slow and everyone will get either larger tomatoes or a pint of cherry tomatoes. Looking at photos at last year, we were in full swing by this time. Weather has alot to do with "degree days" and how much plants grow and mature in a given day during the summer. The corn is tassling and there are little melons on the melon plants.
This is the transition part of the year into summer crops, but we are still waiting on most of them so the boxes are not as full or bountiful as I would like. Fear not, we will have all these things but it will take a bit more time!
What you might find in your box this week:
Cucumbers
Yukon Gold Potatoes (small)- A very small amount of these this year. They are tasty and can be cooked in many ways- they are not cured so keep them in fridge or eat soon. ***Our Colorado Potato Beetle pest issues this year were so intense that we just had to mow our potatoes in last week. This means they stopped growing, so our potatoes this year are going to me very small. We are trying to figure out ways of moving forward for next year and beyond as it seems this pest (which eats the plants down to sticks) is increasing exponentially in this area (for other farms in this area, too).
Summer Squash/Zucchini- The heat last week made these grow so fast that were a bit too big ( better for baking with). This week we made sure to get everyone on the right track of harvesting them a little smaller so we don't have to lug around 1000 lb of squash 3-4 times a week! And you get a little less, more tender squash.
Purple Torpedo Onions- These are a great grilling onion and an all around awesome onion for fresh eating- samdwiches or diced into a pasta, tuna or potato salad.
Basil- Nice tender, beautiful basil for all your salad, pesto, pasta cooking dreams! Do not refrigerate or wash. Keep in a container on the counter.
Rainbow Chard- This beautiful crop is also hard to find uses for a lot of people. It tastes a little like dirt (reminds me of beets, which is in the same family). It typically goes really well with stir fried with other veggies, cooked up in a quiche or eggs. Wash, keep in a plastic bag in the fridge. Use the stems, too!!! Very nutrient dense.
Red Beet Bunch- Beets store for a while in the fridge as long as they are contained in a bag or container. Use the greens sooner, though. They cook up well with chard because they are basically the same thing (add to the saag recipe!). They are great grilled or roasted and then cooled and tossed in a salad.
A bunch of great recipes and ways to cook up beets (and greens!)
Broccoli/Cauliflower- It's either or this week again. We hope we can get everyone a cauliflower! Cauliflower is amazing grilled or raosted and dipped in a tahini sauce.
Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini and herb sauce
Cherry Tomatoes or Large Tomatoes- We are getting there with the tomatoes! For the first year ever, we have so many Colorado Potato Beetles that they are starting to not only eat our eggplant (typical- they like them more than potatoes)but also our tomatoes and peppers. It's rough and we are doing everything we can to mitigate it, but they are attacking our lovely hoophouse tomatoes now. We are looking at cherries and hoping they really start turning color in full swing this next week. Do no refrigerate.
Eggplant - some members- So amazing on skewers with summer squash, peppers, onions, mushrooms, steak or shrimp and some seasoning (sesame oil, tamari or soy sauce, red peppers flakes or garlic.
Fennel- Also great on the grill or chopped into a fresh salad or pasta or potato salad.
Labneh Dip with Caramelized Onions and Fennel
Carrots- A little less carrots this week, but still sweet and crunchy as ever. Keep in the bag. Wash again before using.
the great tomato hornworm on a bit of purslane
Ronia showing off her evening bounty
piggos looking fine on pasture. They are growing really well this year!
We grilled skewers with fresh onions, eggplant, summer squash, sirloin steak, mushrooms and peppers. They are delicious!
Have a great week!
