Week 5: June 29th
Summer is officially in full swing! Cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes are almost ready for shares. Weeds are slowly taking over our lives, but it's all okay because the veggies are looking great! Here's what's in store for this week:
Half Share:
Lettuce Mix
Scallions
Kale
Thai Basil
Garlic Scapes
Snap Peas
Fennel
Kohlrabi
Full Share (everything in half plus):
Dill flowers
Chard
Butterhead Lettuce
Turnips
Carrots
A few reminders:
Fennel is here!
Fennel is one of those vegetables that I never ate on purpose prior to becoming a farmer but is now maybe my favorite vegetable. I love the subtle anise flavor mixed with a celery crisp sweetness. It's great roasted in the oven with some sausages, thrown on the grill, or shaved thin for a salad (see our recipe this week). Fennel was the first thing to be transplanted back in April and one of the first seeds to be started in our greenhouse in February. It survived several late frosts and intense heat. Though the bulbs are not the size of the California grown ones in the grocery store, we think you'll agree that the flavor is immensely better!
Recipe time!
This week's recipe is one of my favorite dishes at Selden Standard. It's crunchy, vinegary and has cheese for good measure. The fennel, kohlrabi, carrots, turnips and scallions (in place of chives) will all work perfect here. Selden Standard has been one of our biggest supporters since our start, and we are incredibly grateful to chef Andy and his team of amazing sous chefs for really cooking in season and making the most delicious food. They are now open again for service, so be sure to reserve your spot today! Also you can try their secrets out for yourself:
Field Notes
It's been an interesting week on the farm. I could sweep over all the stressful moments of the week, but I think as members of the farm it's important that we update you on everything, good or bad. We had a lot of our spicy salad mix bolt (meaning it goes to seed, rendering it bad for harvesting) which meant pulling out hundreds of pounds of greens to be composted. While we salvaged what we could, it felt like a defeat. One reason why we had so much bolting was our surplus of spicy mix. We didn't have enough space in our cooler or anywhere to sell it to, and far too much to donate, so we skipped a harvest and it over grew. Though we planted more this week, that means we will not have any spicy mix for about another month. We do have lettuce mix still though! Another bummer was our iceberg lettuce. We thought we would have enough for a few weeks in the CSA but they got attacked by slugs and are mostly rotten inside, though look perfect on the outside. So if you did get any damaged parts on your lettuce head, our apologies!
Between keeping up with weeding, pruning and trellising tomatoes, watering schedules, and harvesting for the increase in demand from restaurants, we've felt a bit overwhelmed. But, this is a typical feeling for this part of the season! We just have to put our heads down, concentrate on one task at a time, and be present in how great it is that we get to work outside every day. Our neighbors and community have been loving all the donated produce and garden supplies! We feel that the unofficial reparations from our garden have been a tangible first step towards dismantling harmful racism. Our farm feels more inclusive than ever in my opinion, and we only hope to grow that feeling more.
See you all on Monday or Tuesday! Enjoy the bounty the first official week of summer!
Half Share:
Lettuce Mix
Scallions
Kale
Thai Basil
Garlic Scapes
Snap Peas
Fennel
Kohlrabi
Full Share (everything in half plus):
Dill flowers
Chard
Butterhead Lettuce
Turnips
Carrots
A few reminders:
- I attached an add-on "menu" once again. Please remember to order by Monday at noon so we can have it ready for you at pick up. Also, please do not do substitutions unless you have an allergy.
- Please bring back wax boxes if you are a full share member or leave them out for us to collect if you are getting deliveries. It really helps us with packaging costs and less waste!
Fennel is here!
Fennel is one of those vegetables that I never ate on purpose prior to becoming a farmer but is now maybe my favorite vegetable. I love the subtle anise flavor mixed with a celery crisp sweetness. It's great roasted in the oven with some sausages, thrown on the grill, or shaved thin for a salad (see our recipe this week). Fennel was the first thing to be transplanted back in April and one of the first seeds to be started in our greenhouse in February. It survived several late frosts and intense heat. Though the bulbs are not the size of the California grown ones in the grocery store, we think you'll agree that the flavor is immensely better!
Recipe time!
This week's recipe is one of my favorite dishes at Selden Standard. It's crunchy, vinegary and has cheese for good measure. The fennel, kohlrabi, carrots, turnips and scallions (in place of chives) will all work perfect here. Selden Standard has been one of our biggest supporters since our start, and we are incredibly grateful to chef Andy and his team of amazing sous chefs for really cooking in season and making the most delicious food. They are now open again for service, so be sure to reserve your spot today! Also you can try their secrets out for yourself:
Field Notes
It's been an interesting week on the farm. I could sweep over all the stressful moments of the week, but I think as members of the farm it's important that we update you on everything, good or bad. We had a lot of our spicy salad mix bolt (meaning it goes to seed, rendering it bad for harvesting) which meant pulling out hundreds of pounds of greens to be composted. While we salvaged what we could, it felt like a defeat. One reason why we had so much bolting was our surplus of spicy mix. We didn't have enough space in our cooler or anywhere to sell it to, and far too much to donate, so we skipped a harvest and it over grew. Though we planted more this week, that means we will not have any spicy mix for about another month. We do have lettuce mix still though! Another bummer was our iceberg lettuce. We thought we would have enough for a few weeks in the CSA but they got attacked by slugs and are mostly rotten inside, though look perfect on the outside. So if you did get any damaged parts on your lettuce head, our apologies!
Between keeping up with weeding, pruning and trellising tomatoes, watering schedules, and harvesting for the increase in demand from restaurants, we've felt a bit overwhelmed. But, this is a typical feeling for this part of the season! We just have to put our heads down, concentrate on one task at a time, and be present in how great it is that we get to work outside every day. Our neighbors and community have been loving all the donated produce and garden supplies! We feel that the unofficial reparations from our garden have been a tangible first step towards dismantling harmful racism. Our farm feels more inclusive than ever in my opinion, and we only hope to grow that feeling more.
See you all on Monday or Tuesday! Enjoy the bounty the first official week of summer!