full share
medium share
small share
Hope everyone has been keeping cool in this hot hot heat! We are finally starting to see some more summer staples creep into the box. Snap beans are finally here! There were two plantings that failed due to too much heavy rain this spring (beans are very susceptible to rotting when it’s wet and cool). Sweet corn is also making it’s first appearance for the season! It’s starting off sparse, but soon we’ll be rolling in it! And yes, tomatoes should finally be here next week. The plants are looking beautiful and full, just a lot of unripe tomatoes waiting to turn red/orange/yellow…
summer squash coming out of the field
Somebody’s been caught eating your sweet corn (along with several other little buddies too). Don’t worry raccoon fans, catch and re-locate is the practice around here)
Come on tomatoes! You can do it!
The crew working hard transplanting in the heat. Purple and Green Italian basil in the foreground.
freshly planted mustard greens on the right, cilantro on the left, you’ll be seeing these in your box in 30-40 days!
close up of the mustard greens
What’s in the box:
- Beans (Dragon Tongue)-3/4# for small shares, 1# for medium and full shares
- Zucchini-2 for small shares, 3 for medium, and 4 for full shares
- Onions (Walla Walla)-1 bunch for all share sizes
- Cucumbers-3 small for small shares, 2 regular for medium shares, 3 regular for full shares
- Kale or Swiss Chard-1 bunch for small and medium shares
- Garlic-1 each for medium and small shares
- Sweet Corn-2 each for medium and full shares
- Cabbage-1 for full shares
- Beets-1 for full shares
- Broccoli-about 1# for full shares
Recipes + Crop Notes
Beans-These specialty beans really are great raw, if you’re up to that. Maybe whip up a dip of yogurt, garlic and a little peeled and grated cucumber? If you like to cook your beans, just note that the purple color will largely disappear and you’ll get a pleasant yellow-green colored bean. We don’t do much more than steam our beans and toss with salt, olive oil and whatever herb is on hand. Have you checked out our newest drop site, The Olive Grove? They’ve got some super good stuff in there, besides the fact that they welcomed us into their store when Fresh & Natural suddenly closed! If you’d still like more of a recipe, how about my go-to, the Spanish Green Bean and Olive Salad by Jose Pizarro?
Zucchini-They’re coming on strong around here! Did you make that fritter recipe yet? How about our Zucchini and Raw Corn Salad? Or this “Healthy” Zucchini Bread? Michele brought us some fresh zucchini bread on Monday morning and no kidding, the foot-long loaf was gone before bedtime! It also freezes REALLY well, so make some and save it for a cold and snowy day this winter.
Walla Walla Sweet Onions– These things are great! Named so for Walla Walla county in Washington state (Walla Walla county is named after the Native American first nation Walla Walla in case you’re wondering). These onions were originally brought from France in 1900 and were selected over the years for sweetness and jumbo size. Such a standout onion that it is the official “designated vegetable” of Washington State and is widely grown and consumed throughout the US.
You could use them like any other onion but that would be a waste of a great thing! This will be the only week we have these beauties so I recommend making something with them that highlights their specialness. I don’t want to bore you with how great these onions are, so here’s a link to a succinct list of great ideas.
Cucumbers-It would be hard to do anything but snack on these little cuties, but if you really want to make something of them, I’d suggest a fabulous salad made for us this weekend by the famous local cheesemaker, Rama Hoffpauir.
Here it is:
Peel, seed, and dice some cucumbers
Add plenty of fresh yogurt to coat
Stir in some garlic and any herb (if any) you want
Add Salt and pepper to taste
Eat!
Thanks to Rama and her husband Josh at Turnip Rock Farm/Cosmic Wheel Creamery for supplying us with these cucumbers this week. They were kind enough to give us all the cucumbers we needed for the week since we were short on items this week due to a surprising number of crop failures.
If you’d like to do a quick little pickle, try one of these recipes:
(Please note, that with just a few cucumbers you’ll probably only get about 3/4 to one pint–perfect for a week!)
Sweet Corn not enough in the box this week to really do corn on the cob, but plenty to add a little corn to a taco or other dish. To cut the corn off the cob, stand the ear upright after shucking (long-ways up), take a knife and cut straight down the sides where the kernel meets the cob. My grandpa always preferred his corn this way. I don’t recall ever seeing him eat corn on the cob no matter how much he grew.
Sneak Peek at Next Week:
- tomatoes!!!
- basil (yes! more pesto!)
- sweet corn
- onions
- peppers
- zucchini
- snap beans
Enjoy the start of the heart-of-summer produce season and happy cooking!
All the best from all of us,
Heather, Brandon, Maybelle, Ted, Michele, Hannah, and Nicole
sleepy root farm 