GREEN THINGS

This week is a heavy greens week, which excites me but maybe not everyone!

I'm here to welcome you into your salad era.. if you're not already there.

So those who have been with us for a while know that Ottolenghi cook books are a huge inspiration to me. They even have come out with some books that feature CSA /Veggie baskets, teaching readers how to adapt to what comes their way with an uncustomizable, seasonal book. Check out their "Shelf Love" and "extra Good things" if you're interested in learning to "wing-it" but still make delicious things!

If you don't have an Ottolenghi book, you can google the vegetable in question with "Ottolenghi" and chances are you'll find a recipe.

The rule of thumb for me is to think about adding multiple textures and flavours to your dish. For example, adding some fresh elements to a cooked dish. Some juicy currants to a roasted eggplant dish or some finely chopped herbs to a roasted kale salad plus some toasted sesame seeds or nuts.

Currants

The other important element of enjoying veg is chopping properly. Use a sharp Knife or one of those tools that I forget the name of.. the things that julienne veg.. anyway, finely chopped is best. you'll help break down the cell walls, incorporate the flavours better, easier to digest.. etc.

ENDIVE: YOUR NEW FAVOURITE VEGETABLE

So endive is a new one for a lot of people and it is quite rough and bitter. BUT here's a must try recipe that I think most people can get behind. It turns the endive silky and get's rid of much of the bitterness. It's also very very good for you!

Set a 2-3 leaves aside and then Cut it from the stem into 4-6 pieces (do it from the stem so the leaves stay intact).. wash thoroughly and pat dry. Heat a pan with a generous amount of of oil and a pat of butter and add some chopped garlic or scapes on the side while you sautee the leaves. Cover to wilt while the bottom browns. Flip and brown the other side.

Chope the uncoooked leaves very very finely and toss wiht the wilted leaves. Add a lemony creamy dressing (tahini or caesar style).

And here's a video tutorial on how to use up your endive: ENDIVE VIDEO

Garlic Scapes

If you're sick of garlic scapes here are some things you can try! Grilled in a cast iron pan with olive oil and salt.. I put them beside my steaks.. they look beautiful and add a nice element .. could be fried with tofu or tempeh also.. add to any roast veg. Also throw them in with your left over herbs with lemon and salt to make a nice pesto for later in the week or freeze for the winter!

KOHLRABI

Alot of you got ALOT of kohlrabi last week. Your welcome/I'm sorry.. although I'm not sorry. Kohlrabi is the best! I've convinced my kids they are called field apples. Chop up as an appetizer (peel first) and you may just get rid of them that way.. but if you want some more inspo, they are fantastic julliened into a salad. Rather than tell you what I do here's a link to two Kohlrabi by Ottolenghi: KOHLRABI RECIPE

HERBS

I make my herb bunches big. Some employees have asked why.. do people actually need all those herbs? Well yes, yes they do! Because a bunch of herb should never be neglected in the bottom of your crisper, here are some tips for using up herbs:

Anything leftover should be blitzed with garlic, salt and lemon and frozen in a little jar for the winter.

But Also, in my opion, an entire bunch of herbs can be used in one dish. Here's another herb salad : HERB SALAD RECIPE.

Use this as inspiration.. there's another recipe out there that sautees the nuts in 1/4 cup of BUTTER and pours it over about 3 cups of finely chopped mixed herbs. Gosh that's a good one.

OK OK One more thing before we go: the radishes last week were, admittedly, not great. We had a snaffoo with the napa from the same field. That entire first field of brassicas is having drainage problems.. the tile drainage seems to be clogged and so the plants have wet feet. they don't like wet feet.. it inhibits growth and causes disease and pest problems.

anyway.. one day they look fine and then we get a lot of rain and they don't. So We're clearing that field and moving on to higher ground. Thanks for understanding!

Tip for for using up funky radish is to peel off the skin and roast in olive oil or salt.

FARM UPDATE: Summer and snafoos!

When school is out and daycares are on vacations farmers are the busiest! BUT we still need to take care of our families! July and August are already challenging as we balance packing shares, keeping up with admin, finish planting, and try to tackle weeds (that just love the heat and humidity a lot more than we do!) while missing critical team members who are taking their well deserved vacation week.. so last week we had Tim gone and this week Matt so I (jess) was trying to fill in for their admin while also completing my tasks and well.. let's just say it's I'm not perfect and some mistakes were made. For those of you who were victims of said mistakes, I'm sorry and thank you for your patience!! Every mistake is an oppourtunity to learn and we're doing our best to learn so you get the best basket possible!

We're in the weeds folks. Literally, figuratively.. it's all happening.

How is it Mid July? Our window of oppourtunity for getting a lot of our crops established has already passed. We're just starting to harvest eggplants in zucchinis and field carrots and beets are another week or two away.

With the cold spring we had some crop failures. Unfortunately in this climate for things like corn and squash we only get about three weeks to get the crop established.. and the conditions are unpredicitable! some years we get heat waves followed by frost.. this year it was just cold.. so a lot of our seeds just rotted in the ground. We've been scrambling to try and make up for it and contacting farmer friends to secure some extra crops to supplement our stocks in the fall. Don't worry, we're on it!

We have lots of success though! more than the failures! Carrots, beets and parsnips are looking so good! fall cabbages and brassicas are too!

Thank you for reading and being on this journey with us!

• Jess and the farm team