CSA Newsletter:2010 – Summer Week 8
Share News: Can you say food explosion? This week is a melon bonanza. You will find 3 different kinds of melon in your box this week. A watermelon, with either red or yellow flesh; a cantaloupe, with either orange or green flesh; and an asian melon. It’s our first time growing asian melons. They look kind of like a delicata squash. They have a little crunch and aren’t quite as overtly sweet as the other melons. Enjoy these treats. We’re not exactly sure why our melons are all ripening in such a short time span ” this has never happened to us before – but such is the unpredictability of weather and growing melons. All we know is, they are ripe, they are delicious, and we are happy to share the bounty with you.
There are lots of other new items this week. Celery! Jalapenos! Slicing tomatoes! Yahoo the hot-loving crops are coming in. If you’ve never had locally grown celery you are in for a flavor burst. The stalks are a deep green and packed with taste; don’t be surprised if the heart of the celery doesn’t look so good ” that’s normal when growing celery in Wisconsin conditions.
If your’re like us, and turning on the stove isn’t exactly what you want to do these days, this is a great week for eating lots of things raw. Melons for breakfast! Slice up your pepper, tomato, and cukes for sandwiches at lunch. Need an afternoon pick me up? Who doesn’t love ants on a log? Grill some zucchini and burgers for dinner. Garnish with basil. Boil some water for the sweet corn. Watermelon for dessert! Don’t sweat the big box, you can do it! Pack your body full of the healthy minerals these veggies have to offer.
From the Fields: This week we began harvesting from the 2nd planting of corn. Some of you will get corn from the 1st planting. These ears will be larger, but like last week, will be missing tips due to corn borer damage. Those of you who get corn from the 2nd planting will see that they are quite small ears. Why? Remember all that rain earlier in the season when we couldn’t get our plants transplanted into the ground? When we couldn’t get this corn planted, it got really stressed out. Just like people, plants don’t forget about stress. If a plant gets stressed when it’s young, that stress affects the plant throughout its life. Basically stressed transplants begin to fast-track their attempts to reproduce. So the corn didn’t grow very tall and began to form the ears really early, hence the small size. We are actually pretty amazed that the corn produced ears at all!
In other news, this week we harvested the first shallots and storage onions. With these clear days, we can leave them out in the field to begin to cure before we haul them in for storage. Tuesday afternoon we harvested some of our first potatoes! These beauties are coming your way soon. Both of these crops went in the ground in April, and for the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on getting them out of the ground and stored. These potatoes and onions will last through the winter.
Community News: We want to wish a safe ride to all the folks doing the AIDS Network ride this week. We’re very happy to have donated some green beans, cucumber, and zucchini for the riders. Back before we ran a farm, Cassie used to do this ride. It’s a beautiful bike ride and is a really important way that the AIDS Network raises funds to support their services.
ENJOY THE SWEET VEGGIE LIFE!
Sincerely, Mike, Cassie, Zea and Crew
In the Box:
Asian Melon
Basil
Beets (Gold or Red)
Cantaloupe (orange flesh OR green flesh)
Carrots – *EOs
Celery
Cucumber
Garlic
Green Beans
Green/Red Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Red Cabbage ” *EOs
Slicing Tomato
Sungold Tomatoes ” *REGs and some EOs
Sweet Corn
Sweet Onions
Watermelon (Red or Yellow Flesh)
Zucchini, Gold and/or Green
REGs = regular shares only
EOs = everyother shares only
Recipes
Melon Carpaccio
Vegetable Korma
Sweet Summer Fridge Pickles
Summer Week 8: Wednesday, July 28th – Everyother Group B
