In Your Box:

• Beans
• Carrots
• Chard
• Cucumber or summer squash
• Head lettuce
• Snap Peas
• Sweet onion

Farm News

During a hot, humid week like this, I’m much more focused on survival than trying to get every last weed in the gardens pulled. As far as the plants go, a heat wave in a drought year like this is especially hard as the plants don’t have much rainwater to draw on to keep up the moisture levels they need to survive. I’ve been able to keep everything irrigated fairly well, and we did pick up a welcome inch of rain late last week to help the plants make it through the extreme heat.

As far as your humble farmer goes, I’m focused on my own survival too! Most of the days this week will be too hot for field work after lunch, so I’ll be up early to get the harvests in and then focus on office work in the afternoon. And if the opportunity for a nap presents itself, who am I to turn that down?

A couple of upcoming dates to make note of:

• We will be on family vacation to Mt. Rushmore the week of  August 14th. There will be no delivery on Aug 15th or 17th but we will still plan on a full 18 weeks of delivery, wrapping up in October.
• The Minnesota Garlic Festival is coming up on August 12th in Hutchinson! For more info on this celebration of local foods and all things garlic, check out http://www.MNGarlicFest.com . Hope to see you there!

This week’s box

Our summer squash plants are really turning up their production, and so far we’ve been spared the usual cucumber beetles and squash bugs that tend to damage and spread disease among our plants. We typically offer summer squash weekly through mid-September, so get ready to start sneaking it into every meal you can! We grow four varieties of summer squash: green and yellow zucchini, a yellow crookneck, and my favorite, “Zephyr,” half yellow and half green. Sometimes recipes will specify zucchini or squash, but they are completely interchangeable. Zucchini is just the most common variety of summer squash.

Our cucumber and tomato plants look healthy and vigorous, but I’m not finding much to pick yet. Despite the favorable weather, we’re probably a week or two away from consistent harvests.

The sweet onions this week are not dried and cured, so they will be happiest in your fridge. Sweet onions only keep for a month or so, unlike the long shelf-life of storage onions. The greens on these are edible and delicious, so be sure to include them while cooking, too.

Speckled Rice Salad

From Vegetarian Recipes by Better Homes and Gardens

•  1/3 c. wild rice
• 1/3 c. brown rice
• 1 ½ c. water
• 3 TB teriyaki sauce
• 2 TB rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. Toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp honey
• ¼ tsp. Crushed red pepper
• 1/3 c. shredded carrot
• ½ head shredded Napa cabbage
• 6 oz. Pea pods, chopped
• ½ c. peanuts, coarsely chopped

 Directions:

1. Place wild rice in a colander and rinse under cold water. In a medium saucepan bring wild rice, brown rice, and water to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 45-50 minutes or til water is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from heat.
2. For dressing, in a screw-top jar combine the teriyaki sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, honey, and crushed pepper. Cover and shake the dressing well.
3. Transfer the rice mixture to a bowl. Stir in the shredded carrot and cabbage. Pour the dressing mixture over rice mixture, tossing to coat. Cover and chill for 2-24 hours.
4. Before serving, toss the rice mixture with the pea pods and peanuts.

Serves 4

Coming up

Next week’s box should have summer squash, scallions, head lettuce, carrots, broccoli, beans, and cucumbers. Tomatoes and peas are possible, too.