In Your Box:

• Basil
• Beans
• Beets
• Broccolini
• Cabbage or cauliflower
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Summer squash
• Sweet onion
• Tomatoes

Farm News

Thanks so much for supporting our family vacation last week! Hopefully you were able to finish up the cabbage and bok choy hiding in the back of your fridge. It’s hard to believe, but after today we’re halfway through the CSA season. We plan to deliver weekly until MEA break in mid-October, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the season!

We had a wonderful trip up to Bayfield and Madeline Island, complete with kayaking along the rocky coast, spending way too much money in the book stores, and swimming and fishing in the big lake. It was a great chance for our family to connect before school starts up in a few weeks, and my back really appreciated a few days without pulling weeds.

The farm was in great shape when we came back, thankfully. Some of the weeds I ignored before leaving are now waist-high, but I’ve got great weather this week to get them under control again. And our wet summer continues, so there’s still no worry about irrigation. 

This week’s box

This week finally brings our first harvest of beans. This is my favorite variety, “Dragon’s Tongue.” Not only are they large and easy to pick, but they have a great texture and taste. Beans should be kept in the fridge and keep well for a week or so. To boil them, 2-3 minutes is really all it takes for the perfect beans. Much longer than that and you risk a mushy mess.

Tomatoes continue to increase production, and we’ve got our first heirloom fruits available this week. Some of these are orange, purple, striped, or just plain big and weird. Heirlooms are expensive in grocery stores because they don’t ship well, but they work great for our local harvests and the taste is worth the extra effort. There’s a lot of mixed opinion about storing tomatoes in the fridge, but it really is ok once the fruits are fully ripe. Heirlooms are especially vulnerable to splitting, which can attract fruit flies. Keeping them in the fridge keeps the bugs away and helps them last longer.

This week we finish up our spring cabbage and cauliflower. We’ll have cabbage again in October, but unfortunately cauliflower takes up too much room in the garden for me to justify planting it more than once.

Summer Borscht

• 5 medium fresh beets or 2 large
• salt to taste
• 2 c. stock
• 16 oz. Sour cream
• ½ c. plain yogurt
• ¼ c. sugar
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 tsp vinegar
• 1 ½ tsp pepper
• 2 c. medium-diced cucumber, seeds removed
• ½ c. chopped scallions or sweet onion
• 2 TB chopped fresh dill

Directions:

1. Place the beets in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 30-40 minutes. Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and also set aside to cool.
   
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 ½ c. of the beet cooking liquid, the stock, sour cream, yogurt, sugar lemon juice, vinegar, 1 TB of salt, and the pepper. Peel the cooled beets with a small paring knife or rub the skins off with your hands. Cut the beets in small to medium dice. Add the beets, cucumber, scallions, and dill to the soup. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Season to taste and serve cold with a dollop of sour cream and extra dill.
   

Serves 6

Coming up

We are expecting carrots, garlic, scallions, beans, head lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and broccolini.