In your box:

• Cucumber or scallions
• Head lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Red Currants
• Salad mix
• Snap Peas
• Summer squash
• Turnips

Farm News

It’s the middle of July, so I suppose I can’t really gripe too much about heat and humidity. The good news is that we’ve been picking up enough rain lately to keep the gardens green and healthy, so we should be able to navigate through this heat wave just fine. 

There is still a steady trickle of baby plants that I transplant into the field from the greenhouse, but right now most of my time is spent pulling weeds and harvesting. All of our main crop beds are planted, but I do need to keep planting out new heads of lettuce and short-season crops so that we have a steady supply for the boxes all year. The greenhouse area is getting pretty sparse, though, and by early August all of the crops will be growing out in the field.

This week’s box

Kohlrabi is the baseball-shaped green vegetable with kale-like leaves coming off the top. The leaves can be snapped off and used like kale. The ball itself needs to be peeled and can then be shredded like cole slaw, chopped fine and eaten raw with a dip, or added to a stir fry.

This week finally brings us some fruit, as our red currants are ripening nicely.  I grow white and red currants and I plan to add some black ones next spring.  Currants are a great source of vitamins C and B as well as flavonoids.  They are great raw–just wash them off and eat them fresh or mixed into your morning cereal or oatmeal.  I didn’t have enough time to sort through them thoroughly, so I’ll leave it to you to wash them up and remove any damaged berries.  I personally enjoy flossing with them–just pop the whole thing in your mouth and use your teeth to pop the berries off of the stem (called a “Strig”).

I’ve become a huge fan of currants, and I highly recommend them if you have a small garden space available.  They grow well in partial shade and can bear a strong harvest in just a few years.  My 6-year old plants yielded as much as 18 pints each this year, so you don’t need a lot of plants to have enough for making jam.

The other new addition this week is Sugar Snap Peas. The whole pod is edible (and delicious!) on these, and they’re usually just consumed raw. Simply remove the top of the pea and pull off the stringy spines and they’re ready to eat. These make a great snack and can also be chopped up into a salad.

Kohlrabi-Turnip Slaw

from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound kohlrabi (about 1 large head, leaves included)
• 1 medium turnip (about 8 ounces), peeled and quartered
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Separate stems from kohlrabi bulb, trim, and discard tough bottoms of stems. Half leaves lengthwise then thinly shred crosswise. Trim root end from bulb and peel away tough outer layer; halve lengthwise.
2. Fit a food processor with a shredding blade (or use a box grater) and shred kohlrabi bulb and turnip.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, peanut oil, honey, and sesame oil; season with salt and pepper. Add scallions, kohlrabi leaves and bulb, and turnip to bowl; toss to coat. Let stand at least 15 minutes.

Coming up

Next week, we are expecting head lettuce, fennel, green onions, summer squash, cucumbers, salad mix, broccoli, peas and currants.