CSA Week 6!
Week 6 has arrived! Goodbye Snap Peas, hello tomatoes! This is the time of the season where weekly and sometimes daily changes are occurring here on the farm - in our short, Vermont growing season all the plants are trying to capture as much sunlight as possible before the dark period of our calendar arrives - us too - so its not uncommon to step outside and see almost overnight growth in one of the tomato houses, or new weeds after an unexpected rain, or a darkening of green in the kale after a particularly sunny day. July is the tipping point of the season. It is the “make or break” month where all the work leading up to this period will either succeed or fail from various influences: water, weeds, pest pressure, etc. Because as we move into August, things start to level off with the waning days and what emerges from these crucial four weeks is stability or chaos. Here at Naked Acre we are experiencing a little bit of both which I imagine will always be the case but every year it seems that stability becomes just a hair stronger. Wendell Berry has an amazing quote that I often turn to when I’m feeling uncertain about how we are tending our fields which says: “Don’t worry and fret about the crops. After you have done all you can for them, let them stand in the weather on their own.” In the third week of July, we are in the midst of doing all we can for them.
On to the share!!
week 6 share
I am really excited about this share. In fact, I am really excited about the CSA in general this year. It has been such a great experience for us here and we plan to invest even more time and energy into what we feel is such an amazing way to connect with you all! Here are the details:
Snap peas - like I said, this is most likely the last time we will see peas. Good-bye until next year!
2 Summer Squash - Genica simply sautéed some sliced squash with some onion and ground beef (adding the squash after the onions and beef were almost cooked) and we served that over pesto noodles. Simple dish, but the flavors from this time of the year really shine and can bring a simple dish to life!
2 cukes - raw, with salt and oil, a quick snack for the kids.
a bunch of carrots or loose carrots - some of the tops started to break off so we packed many of them loose. We will see carrots for a couple more weeks and then not until the fall.
Broccoli head - one big head (or two small) heads - the last of a good crop. There may be a few small, teeny-tiny spots deep inside the head that you will need to cut out - we were calling in “mank” but other than that it should be delicious. Often I’ll steam broccoli in a pot (chopping it up first) with an inch of water for a few minutes until it changes color but is still crunchy, then drain the water and add (guess what??) butter and salt for a simple side dish. Hopefully there is enough there for some of the bigger families!
a bunch of basil - seems to be a pesto sort of year. I was talking with a CSA member about pesto when they were here weeding over the weekend and recipes may call for a little more basil to make pesto. You can always supplement with kale or another leafy green to add flavor and volume. Genica made these meatballs recently (she did a lot of cooking this week) where she chopped/minced fresh basil and rolled small meatballs in the minced basil before cooking them in a hot pan with oil and garlic. You could even try to put the garlic directly into the meatballs as you make them. We do eat a lot of meat here so for all you vegetarians out there I wonder if you could try the same thing with a garbanzo bean “meat”ball. Cook and cool beans overnight and roll the mash into little balls and cover with basil before cooking? You can add an egg to the mash of cooked beans to help it all stick together. Hmm. That sounds pretty good! Don’t forget salt.
The first of the years tomatoes - red and orange. Many more on the way.
a sweet onion - we’ve been seeing these weekly that were overwintered in one of the hoop houses. If you feel like you are on onion overload, just put them on the counter. They will keep until you want onions again. I just love these onions!!
a head of green cabbage - We eat it fresh a lot, adding as a fresh topping to a taco or salad, you can make some Cole slaw, a cooling dish for these hot days, you can use the carrots and onion! Or tried this simple, tasty dish. Or try your hand at fermenting. Although that seems more like a fall thing.
the “big share” saw double cukes, zucchini, and more carrots this week!
Thats it for the week. I do want to mention that I have a woman helping me on these harvest days named Hannah. It has been a new experience being a “manager” for Hannah and our friend Ryan who is also helping me two days a week. She has been so absolutely helpful and amazing and CSA day has become a joy rather than a mad dash scramble. I am hoping to make time to visit each drop location in the coming weeks after the July madness is over, and we have done all we can for the crops. Until next week! I hope you are healthy and happy. Here are some views from the week:
Romanesco coming soon
Indi in the house as we pruned the tomatoes. She likes to hang with us where we are.
Genica on our newly running 1953 Formal Cub cultivating tractor. Our neighbor graciously came and helped us get this running recently. Weed destruction is starting!!