It’s Friday, woohoo! That means we are all about to turn the page on this week, hopefully having time to enjoy the warm weather for the weekend!
We are now in full swing of cleaning up some of the fields. The tomato fields need stakes pulled, twine cut and plants drug, which is an extensive project when each field has thousands of plants (and you’re doing it by hand). When we aren’t harvesting and delivering shares, we are cleaning up for the season. This weather the past week almost fooled us though, it’s been so hot! It got to 90 degrees here around Big Lake on Thursday!
A little warm weather won’t keep us from the cold crops though! When CSA members ask about the different produce we grow, I explain one farming season is basically 3 separate seasons: cold crops in the spring, the majority of our produce varieties in harvest mid-summer, and cold crops in the fall. We are transitioning into the cold crops, and it seems we are going to have to work really hard to make sure everything fits before the end of the season!
This week in your CSA Share, you can expect to receive: Sweet Corn, Sweet Dumpling Squash, Cauliflower, a Hot Pepper mix (Jalapenos, Anaheim, and Hungarian Hot Wax), Onions, pickles/ cucumbers, and Swiss chard.
Sweet corn is an easy addition to any meal, if you’ve had enough corn on the cob for the season try cutting it off of the cob and adding it to another dish, or making it it’s own! This week is a little warm for corn chowder, but soups are always an easy way to mix a lot of different produce varieties in a healthy way.
Sweet Dumpling Squash is related to the acorn squash that you received this week. It is sweeter and has a more smooth texture than the acorn squash. If you can’t use the squash this week or even next week, keeping it in a cool dry place will help keep the squash up to 2 months, literally. Just make sure it doesn’t freeze whole, because after thawing it will be softened and not safe to eat. Helpful hint: If it is hard to cut the squash in half to de-seed it, microwave it for 2 minutes and it will soften enough to cut easily and then you can bake it.
Want more squash? Any variety, or mix or varieties can be purchased by CSA Share members for $25.
Hot peppers are best kept in the fridge, in the plastic bag that they will be packed in. Remember, if a pepper is lose in the box it means it’s sweet, if it’s in a plastic produce bag it means it’s a hot pepper. Always feel free to reach out with any questions! Jalapenos will be the hottest peppers in the bag this week, followed by Hungarian Hot Wax peppers (also called the hot banana), and the least hot being Anaheim peppers.
We will be offering fresh onions again this week. During the mid-summer we pull about half of our onions to dry, leaving some in the field to have the fresh onion flavor. This week we are hoping to make sure they are all fresh onions, a mixture of red and yellows. We are also planning on offering dried onions during the last week.
Pickles and cucumbers are coming again this week. This will likely be the last week for them, as the vines are starting to whither and they aren’t producing as much. One way to use pickles and slicers is a substitute to crackers for appetizer spreads, tzatziki (which can be used on so many dishes), or even adding them to your water. Remember the diffusion trend we all went through about a year ago? It’s because it’s good for you! 😉
Swiss Chard should be stored in the hydrator drawer of the fridge, wrapped in a damp towel or placed in a plastic bag. Chard is best used fresh, but it will keep for up to 2-4 days if kept moist and refrigerated. Chard is a mild yet nutritional and versatile green that originated in the Mediterranean. You can use chard in replacement of any leafy green in a recipe, so instead of wilting kale and adding it to alfredo pasta for example, try using chard! Â Â #brownfamilyfarm #cleaneating #csamn #csafarming #plantstrong