THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Purple Bok Choi, Dino Kale, Celery, Cabernet and Cipollini Spring Onions, Multicolored Beets, Purple Daikon, Romance Carrots, Kohlrabi, Olympian Cucumbers, Summer Squash and Zucchini, Arugula, Mustard Mix, Newham Little Gems, Muir Summercrisp Lettuce
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick
🌟Pickling Cucumbers (See below for instructions)
🌟English Shelling Peas (See Harvest Notes below)
Albion Strawberries (The strawberries are taking a bit of a break as they put on vegetative growth and make more flowers for future berries)
Frying Peppers (See Week 4’s Newsletter for harvest and cooking tips)
Jalapeño Peppers
Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Italian Parsley, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Tulsi, Various Mints, Catnip, Chamomile, Purple Basil, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil
Flowers!
HARVEST NOTES
Shelling Peas: Fresh English Shelling Peas are not your grandma’s frozen peas — they are a fresh, summer, candy-sweet treat. To pick properly, only pick plump ones rather than thin ones — the thin ones are still filling out and will be ready next week. Eat them right out of the pod as a snack, or lightly cooked. Open them by snapping the little “hat” formerly connected to the vine and pulling down the spine of the pea, opening the pod like a zipper. Check out this amazing Springtime Spaghetti Carbonara recipe from the New York Times. We also recommend incorporating them into salads featuring the beautiful dill that we have in the garden at the moment!
Purple Daikon: Purple daikon are sweet and mild, with a touch of spicy mustard flavor. Try slicing them raw to dress up your salad or crudités platter, or adding them to kimchi. For extra magic, toss them with a little acidic salad dressing or lemon juice and watch their color change to hot pink.
PICKLING CUCUMBERS
Each year, we plant a large patch of pickling cucumbers so members can have the joyful experience of making fresh pickles at home! The season limit this year is 2 gallons per share. (A “season limit” means the total amount you are able to harvest over the course of the season in contrast to a “weekly limit”. You are responsible for keeping track of how much you’ve picked. You’re welcome to pick incrementally, or all at once.) The pickling cucumbers should be available from now until mid-August.
See below for instructions on how to pick them and a tried-and-true crunchy pickle recipe from CSA member Kate Seely.
HOW TO PICK PICKLING CUCUMBERS
Bring a bucket or bag from home to take your cucumbers home in.
When you get to the farm, check the u-pick board for the current season limit. Grab a five gallon bucket from under the u-pick board. We’ve marked the limit on the inside of the bucket with tape.
Comb through the plants doing your best not to step on cucumber vines or the adjacent beds. The ideal sized pickling cucumber is around 4 inches long and 1 inch thick. Please don't pick too many that are smaller than this. If you see a monster cucumber (7 inches long and 3 inches wise) please pick it anyway and leave it in the pathway. This will help the plant produce many more nice small ones.
Pick however many you want up to the Season Limit. Please note that this is a season limit rather than weekly limit.
Transfer your cucumbers to your container and return the farm bucket to the barn for other members to use!
MAKING PICKLES
The following recipe is from CSA member Kate Seely. It is a tried and true pickling method that can be used not just on cucumbers. Pickled Daikon, anyone? Thanks, Kate, for sharing your wisdom!
Kate’s recipe includes instructions for water-bath canning to preserve the pickles for up to a year, but if you’re short on time or know that you’ll eat them sooner, you can always pop your pickles in the fridge rather than canning, where they’ll keep for a month or two.
******
For crunchy pickles, Kate has found that the trick is to pickle them as fresh as you can — i.e. as soon after picking as possible. (Some people swear by putting grape leaves or citric acid in with the pickles to make them crispy, but Kate hasn’t found that to work.) If you can’t get to pickling right away, try getting them into the ice water / salt bring as soon as possible. Another helpful trick for crunchier pickles is to pick your cucumbers in the morning rather than the heat of the day.
BRINE INGREDIENTS
1:1 ratio water : organic distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup pickling salt for every 8 cups liquid
**If you like it a little less vinegary, go 2/3 water : 1/3 vinegar instead of 1:1. Also, you really can use this brine to vinegar pickle any vegetable.
PICKLE INGREDIENTS
Fresh WCCFarm pickling cucumbers!
WCCFarm Garlic!
Fresh spicy peppers (a jalapeño works, or any spicy pepper) or red pepper chili flakes
Yellow mustard seed
Fresh dill (if you don't have fresh, dried is fine). Try using the dill flowers in the garden.
Peppercorns
EQUIPMENT
Canning Pot
Pint Jars (or Quart if you want to go big!)
New lids for sealing
Tongs and/or can removers
STEP-BY-STEP
CAUTION: Canning can be dangerous. If it is is not done properly, bacteria that can make you very sick, or even kill you, can develop in the jars. If you have never canned before, make sure you do your homework and feel confident in your ability to can safely before starting.
Step 1 - Soak Cucumbers: Cut your cukes, removing ends and sizing the slices to the size of the jars you will use, and set in water, salt and ice. Use about three TBSP of salt for 5 pounds of cukes. Let sit anywhere between 4 and 24 hours.
Step 2 - Make Brine: Begin this step when you're ready to pickle. Put the brine measurements into a separate pot and bring to a boil. 1:1 water to white vinegar, and 1/3 cup salt for every 8 cups of liquid. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer.
Step 3 - Sterilize Jars: Fill canning pot with water, bring to a boil. To sterilize, wash jars with soap and water, then place in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside. Be mindful not to touch the insides of the jars with your hands as that will de-sterilize them. Sterilize lids in a smaller pot as well.
Step 4 - Fill Jars: Drain the cucumbers you have soaking in the ice / salt mixture. Trim them to the length of the jar as needed.. Jars should have 1/4 inch of space between liquid and jar top. Pack cucumbers, dill (1-2 sprigs), and garlic (one clove for a pint jar). Really, PACK them in there.
Add spices: Pour 1 tsp yellow mustard seed, 3/4 tsp (or more or less depending on the spice you want, I like them spicy!), 6 peppercorns on top of cucumbers.
Step 5 - Pour Brine: Pour your brine over pickles, covering them, but leaving 1/4 inch until top of jar. Remove lid from small pot with tongs, being mindful not to touch lids. Screw on cap so that it is not tight, so that air can escape from jars as you water process them.
Step 6 - Sealing Jars: Place jars in canning pot and water process for 15 minutes. (If you do not have a canning pot with a metal insert to hold cans, make sure to put a buffer between your glass jars and the bottom of the metal pot, like an old dish towel. Your jars will break if they touch the hot metal. Heck, they might break anyways if you're reusing jars. That's just the way it goes.
Step 7 - Remove Jars: Remove jars and let cool. As they cool the lids should seal tightly. Once cooled and sealed, tighten the jar lids down. Any jars that did not seal properly should be kept in the fridge and eaten first. Store your sealed pickles in a cool dark place and enjoy for many months!
FARMER’S LOG
A SPECIAL TIME IN THE GARDEN
It’s a special time in the garden right now.
If the first month and a half of the flower garden were the lift off phase — the launch pad, the rockets pushing, then gaining speed, hurtling towards space — then we have now cleared the stratosphere.
It is quiet now. We are surrounded by a galaxy of glittering stars. Many flower beds are going supernova… the full mass of their energy erupting in a blinding display of blooms before the end; This week it’s the cosmos, marigolds, nigella, agrostemma, angels wings, and bishop’s children dahlias…
From left to right… Top row: Rocket snapdragons, nigella, black hollyhock | Middle row: Rudbeckia, strawberry lemonade sunflower, scabiosa and monarda | Bottom row: Centaurea, chocolate Queen Anne’s lace, bishop’s children dahlias.
And new many new star clusters are flickering into existence this week. The scabiosa, monarda, and rudbeckia in the three perennial beds near the oaks are coming into their own; the Queen Anne’s lace west of the sunflowers is unfurling in chocolatey luminance; the tightly woven centaurea baskets are popping, one by one, into spokes of radiant white; the godetia, also west of the sunflowers, is newly defining the word “magenta”.
Bees and pollen seekers of all types fly around like space craft all day — and land on soft little moons to sleep each night. The nigella, in particular, is the bazaar of choice this week. Just close your eyes in the warm morning sun, and listen to their hum.
We hope you enjoy your spacewalks. Just don’t forget a handful of dill when you return to your ship.
See you in the fields,
David and Kayta
