In Your Box:

  • Beets
  • Broccolini
  • Fennel
  • Head lettuce: Summercrisp
  • Salad mix
  • Scallions
  • Summer squash

Farm News

Thanks so much to the brave families who weathered the heat and humidity on Sunday for our open house! We’ll have some more events in September and October, when the deerflies aren’t as fierce and the weather isn’t trying to roast us alive.

During the heat this week, I’m noticing how many bugs are seeking refuge deep under the leaves of lettuce and in the shade of the broccolini stems. To harvest a head of lettuce from the ground is to uncover a world of pill bugs, slugs, worms, caterpillars, and critters too fast to even identify. Some of this wildlife sneaks a ride to our packing shed, where hopefully it will be washed out. But a few bugs always manage to sneak past us, so be sure to wash your veggies before eating.

This week’s box

This week brings our first broccoli of the year. Most of the broccoli that we grow now is a sprouting broccoli called “broccolini,” which starts off with a small head and then continues producing several weeks worth of broccoli shoots. This tends to be less pest-prone than regular large-headed broccoli, and personally we prefer the tender shoots and delicious flavor of these sprouting broccolis. Some of our broccoli is purple, so we hope you enjoy the variety of colors and sizes of the broccoli we provide. This week we offer mostly the large initial heads, but over the next couple months we’ll regularly have harvests of small shoots bunched together. It can all be used as a stand-in for regular broccoli, though we find it doesn’t take as long to boil down and is quite delicious raw and fresh. The long stems are entirely edible according to your taste.

Our beet harvest is off to a great start, with healthy leaves and good sized roots early in their year. Beets are happiest in the fridge and keep well for 2 weeks. The greens are edible and can be used in the same ways as spinach or chard. They don’t keep as long as the roots, so you’ll want to keep them in a bag and use them in 5 days or so.

One other new crop this week is fennel. Fennel is of the same family as carrots, celery, and dill, and has a strong smell of licorice. The whole crop is edible, with the leafy fronds a common ingredient in soups and baked dishes, and the bulbs used for stir-fries and roasting.  The bulbs can be substituted in any recipe calling for celery.  For a good starter into the world of fennel, try it baked: cut into quarters, drizzle with olive oil, and bake until tender, about 35 min at 350°. To store: The bulbs will last for two weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge.  The leaves will go limp, and should be wrapped in a moist towel in the fridge.

Roasted Sausage with Broccoli and Fennel

  • 12 ounces (about 3 or 4 links) good-quality pork sausage, removed from casings and cut into 3/4-inch pieces. Non-meat alternatives work great too.
  • 2 small heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and cut into thin slices, about 1/4-inch thick
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
  • Finely grated zest and one 1 teaspoon of juice from 1 small lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper, or a lesser amount of red pepper flakes or cayenne (omit if you’re using spicy sausage)

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 425° F.Combine broccoli florets and sliced fennel in a shallow baking dish. You want them to fit snugly in a single, even layer. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, whole-grain mustard, lemon juice and zest, and Aleppo pepper. Add to broccoli and fennel and toss well to coat evenly. Nestle the pieces of sausage among the broccoli and fennel.
  3. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the broccoli and fennel are tender and the sausage is no longer pink. For extra security, you can toss about halfway through the cooking time to ensure even cooking.
  4. Optional but highly recommended: Heat broiler, and place the pan under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the sausage and slightly char the broccoli and fennel in spots.
  5. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Coming up

Next week we are expecting scallions, cabbage, head lettuce, carrots, broccolini, summer squash, tomatoes and basil.

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