THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Poblano Peppers, Bel Fiore & Sugarloaf Chicories, Fresh Cabernet Onions, Fairytale + Asian + Italian Eggplant, Slicing Tomatoes, Lorz Softneck Garlic, Red Russian Kale, Loose Carrots, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Olympian Cucumbers, Lemon Cucumbers, Salad Mix, Rosaine Little Gems, Arugula, Bok Choi, Rainbow Chard
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits
Pickling Cucumbers (See below for tips and instructions)
Amethyst Green Beans
Albion Strawberries
Purple Snow Peas (Gleanings)
Sugar Snap Peas (Gleanings)
Frying Peppers (See our Week 5 & 6 Newsletter for harvest tips)
Jalapeños
Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Dill, Tulsi Basil, Italian Basil, Thai Basil, Purple Basil, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, Perilla & Purple Shiso, Chamomile, Cilantro, Mints, Anise Hyssop
HARVEST NOTES
Amethyst Green Beans: Amethyst Green Beans are a beautiful purple varietal green bean that is delicious both raw and cooked. (They will turn green when cooked, FYI. Magic!)
Poblano Peppers: The poblano chili pepper is the beloved mild chili, originating in the state of Puebla, Mexico that when dried it is called “ancho” or chili ancho and when roasted and stuffed with cheese biomes the magnificent chili relleno.
Bel Fiore & Sugarloaf Chicories: We usually reserve these beauties for the Fall but we couldn’t wait that long this year. Chicories (which include Frisee, Radicchio, Dandelions and Escarole) are sometimes thought of as an acquired taste because they are bitter — but we highly recommend you acquire that taste for their bitterness masks a hidden sweetness. The chicories in the share this week are delicious both raw and cooked. For a raw chicory salad try pairing with plums or pears and pecans with a honey-lemon dressing, or, for a more savory twist, a mustardy dressing topped with this week’s daikon radish. Another great way to eat chicories is to roast them: We quarter them, toss them generously with olive oil and garlic and broil them until the outer leaves are slightly crisped and blackened the leaves are melted. Top with salt and/or grated parmesan and eat as a side.
PICKLING CUCUMBERS
Each year, we plant a large patch of pickling cucumbers so interested members can u-pick them fresh from the field to take home to pickle!
See below for instructions on where to find them, how to pick them, and our favorite pickle recipe from CSA member Kate Seely.
PICKING PICKLING CUCUMBERS
Bring a bucket or bag from home to take your cukes home in.
Check the u-pick board for the current season limit. Grab a GVCFarm five gallon bucket from under the u-pick board. We’ve marked the limit on the inside of the bucket with tape.
Find the pickling cucumber patch out on the farm. They are located in Field 1, behind the massive wall of corn if you look to your left from the frying peppers. The beds are marked with a double pink flag.
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 (currently 3 gallons per share). Please note that this is a season limit rather than weekly limit.
Transfer your cukes to your container and return the GVCFARM 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!
******
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 GVCFarm pickling cucumbers!
GVCFarm 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, 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 - Seeling 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!
FLOWERS for KILEY
CSA member and fellow farmer Kiley Clark is well on her way to raising money to start her regenerative farm. In just a few short weeks she has raised over $86,000. She’s now aiming at a new milestone — $125,000 — which is awesome because getting secure land access and properly capitalizing a regenerative farm is expensive. The world needs more regenerative farms owned and operated by women and people of color. To support Kiley’s campaign we are holding a raffle. A raffle for what, you say?
A Flower Share! If you have a friend, family member, or co-worker nearby who you think would love to come to the farm each week to pick a bouquet, enter to win them the gift of a Flower Share! $15 gets you a ticket. Buy two! Or ten! Winner gets free access to the flower garden to pick-bouquets from early August until the last blooms expire in October. Need a place to meet up with your Hinge date? Enter to win them a Flower Share. How romantic. Have a friend waiting forlornly on the waitlist! Win them a Flower Share!
To buy tickets, Venmo Kayta Plescia @greenvalleyfarmers in $15 increments based on how many tickets you want. The drawing will be Wednesday, August 5th. All proceeds go to Kiley’s GoFundMe campaign.
ADD-ONS
Bramble Tail Homestead Creamery: Stocked with Bramble Tail frozen yogurt, 100% grass-fed beef, Green Star chicken, eggs, Oz Family Farm heritage rabbit and more. Become a member of the weekly dairy herdshare by emailing Aubrie at brambletailhomestead@gmail.com.
The Marketplace: New products this week include bone broth and gluten free breads! Also stocked art, soaps, honey, coffee, Moonfruit Mushroom dressing and seasoning, beverages, and much more. Across from the Bramble Tail Creamery.
Revolution Bread: Our baker Eli is still dealing with some (non-COVID) health challenges. Fresh bread and cookies should be back next Saturday.
Moonfruit Mushrooms: Mushrooms are a mysterious fruit. Cory and Ryath report that there next flush looks to be about two weeks away.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out this Wednesday to help with this carrot harvest and garlic harvest!
VOLUNTEER WEDENSDAYS
Need some farm therapy? Come out for our standing volunteer morning. Come find us in the garden or fields from 9am - 11am on Wednesday mornings!
FARMER’S LOG
AUGUST EMPTINESS
This time of year it is hard to find time to write one’s thoughts down… the rhythm of the steady, bulky harvests drowns them out with an ever increasing tempo. The sun blares down. It’s hard to think about anything but the farm. To sneak in planting and seeding and other tasks in the margins, your only thoughts are farm thoughts, your only feelings are farm feelings. You must remain disciplined, focused… you can’t miss a beat.
This week we turned the farm another turn towards Fall. Kayta seeded our 5,600 ft of Fall carrots. We cultivated our Fall Brussels sprouts and planted Romanesco for our Fall selves. We trellised tomatoes and planted our last cucumber succession.
Kayta seeding over a mile of carrots for the Fall.
Our internal lives — our emotions, dreams, and whimsies — feel far away at this time or year; shoved aside by harvest and urgent needs in the field. But at the same time we never feel more full.
There is a strange fullness in being so busy as to be empty.
Then, the swelling corn stalks can lift you up to the eaves. The heat is your sorrow. The flowering potatoes are your whimsical thoughts. And the simple things — a good sip of coffee, a crew mate’s joke, a good harvest — can fill you to the brim.
See you in the fields,
David and Kayta
