In your box

• Basil
• Head lettuce
• Kale, “Scarlet”
• Red Currants
• Salad Mix
• Scallions
• Summer squash or broccoli

Farm News

Thanks so much to everyone who made it out to the Co-op Farm Tour this past Saturday! We ended up with 120 people in attendance throughout the day, which is approximately 120 people more than I see on a typical day! It was also a jump to go from talking almost exclusively to my dog and family to talking to strangers for 6 hours, but I survived. We’re planning to host a work day in mid-August when the onions are ready to harvest and a year-end party in September, so there are still opportunities to make it out to the farm this year.

Last year I came across a basketball-sized hive of paper wasps on one of our currant bushes, and they have returned once again this year. The hive isn’t as large and it is on a different plant, but unfortunately they set up their hive on the biggest currant plant we have–a monster absolutely dripping with ripe red fruit. For the first few pickings I avoided their bush and went for fruit without menacing, stinging insects in the direct vicinity. But every time I passed the infested bush, I craved the beautiful ripe fruit despite its protectors. Finally, I gave in. Working on the side of the bush opposite the hive, I carefully took all the fruit I could without getting too near them. Every time I would rattle their branch or get a little too close, the whole hive starts buzzing and I would back off. From past experience, the buzzing is the final warning before they send out their enforcers and the stinging begins. All in all, picking currants from this bush was about as much fun as defusing a bomb, but much tastier! And it paid off, thankfully, with a personal record of 18 pints from that single plant.

Just a couple quick reminders: Please remember to return your boxes each week and fold them flat so our delivery sites don’t need to. Also, please do not remove the label stickers from the boxes when you bring them back–this just makes more work for me to print out replacements. Thanks for your help with this!

This week’s box

This week brings the final harvest of our beloved salad mix. While we’ll still have head lettuce most weeks going forward, our loose leaf mixture can’t handle persistent heat and the quality begins to suffer if it’s picked too late in its season. We will grow it again for harvest in September and October. We’ll have several weeks without the Asian greens before the next crop comes ready in September. Our cabbage looks great and it should be ready for the next two weeks. 

Summer squash are still coming in slowly after the cooler weather we had last week, but it looks like we’ve got rain and heat coming so they should start ramping up their production soon. We’re also starting to see the first broccoli heads of the season, so for this week you’ll receive one or the other of these crops. Next week we’re hoping to have one of each for the boxes.

Fusilli with Uncooked Tomato and Basil Sauce

From New Vegetarian Cooking, by Rose Elliot

Ingredients:

• 9 oz. Fusilli pasta
• 2 c. chopped tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
• 2 good sprigs of fresh basil, leaves torn
• 1 TB olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the package directions.
2. Drain the pasta in a colander, then return it to the still-warm saucepan and add the tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil and salt and pepper. Swirl it around, then stir in the avocado chunks, and serve.
3. A spoonful of pesto makes a pleasant addition. Stir it in with the pasta before adding the tomatoes.

Serves 2-3

Coming up

Next week we are expecting fennel, red onions, broccoli, head lettuce, gooseberries, summer squash, cucumber, and cabbage.