THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Arugula, Mustard Mix, Muir Summercrisp and Tendita Baby Romaine Lettuces, Radicchio, Integro Purple Cabbage, Romance Carrots, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes, Pink Lady Slipper Radishes, Green Magic Broccoli, Olympian Cucumbers, Asterix Red Potatoes, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Watermelon or Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic
U-PICK
Please remember to check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick
🌟NEW Flambo Shelling Beans: See Harvest Notes below for tips
Albion Strawberries: Still cranking! Please check the u-pick board for this week’s limit
Cherry Tomatoes: NO LIMIT
Frying Peppers: Shishitos & Padrons | See week 4’s newsletter for harvest and preparation tips
Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers | Check u-pick board for limits
Tomatillos: Check u-pick board for limits
Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, 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!
It’s been sort of a weird year in the u-pick hot and frying peppers — but there’s still a lot of good stuff to be foraged out there, like these Habaneros.
HARVEST NOTES
Flambo Shelling Beans: Shelling beans are like your pantry dried beans — but fresh off a plant. They harken back to another age when old grandmas sat on stoops shelling beans. But why? Like other vegetables, fresh beans, (like, really fresh) are a revelation compared to the old dried beans. To cook your shelling beans…
Remove the beans from their shells: slice off each end of the pod, and pull the pod apart at the seam, or use the tip of a knife to break the seam.
Give the beans a rinse then add to a large pot. Cover with at least two inches of water and add salt and aromatics (crushed shallots or garlic, bay leaf or oregano, and dried chili).
Bring to a boil on the stove, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender. Check occasionally by taking out a few beans and trying them – they should be smooth and creamy without any resistance when you bite. This can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes depending on the size and age of the beans.
When tender, remove from heat and add salt to taste. Let the beans cool in their liquid, then drain (you can reserve the liquid as a broth). Add to pastas or salads, sauté with onions and garlic, or serve on their own with a little olive oil, or freeze for use later! Bon appetite!
Bel Fiore and Radicchio Chicory: Radicchios on the menu this week. Check out last week’s Newsletter for CSA member, and cookbook author, Sarah Kate Benjamin’s wonderful summer salad recipe below using fresh Chicory.
Miles Roeyer: Expert strawberry picker
WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!
The hottest tickets in town are now on sale — Winter Sister Farm’s 2023 Winter CSA program is now open for registration! Winter Sister Farm, right next door to us, was started by our dear friends Anna and Sarah Dozor. Their CSA runs runs from December through May and includes 24 weeks of specialty winter veggies, flowers, herbs, and more — all picked up by CSA members, free-choice market style, on their beautiful farm here on Cooper Rd. Sign-up today!
FARMER’S LOG
WORK SONG
If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it…
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
there, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides…
The river will run
clear, as we will never know it…
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand,
its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.
The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields…
Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament. The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom
and indwelling light.
This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its reality.
Work Song Part II - A Vision (Epilogue) by Wendell Berry
(From "New and Collected Poems", Counterpoint Press)
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See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
