Full Share:  Garlic Scapes, Green Cabbage, Broccoli, Carrots, Salad Mix, Arugula, Golden Beets, and Spring Onions

Partial Shares:  Garlic Scapes, Cabbage,  Salad Mix, Arugula, and Scarlet Turnips

Hello CSA Members!

It takes a village to raise a kohlrabi.  Many thanks to the folks who came out to help us weed this past week….every little bit helps and is much appreciated!   The farm crew has been putting in a valiant effort, even volunteering to stay a bit later each night in order to knock out a few extra beds, while keeping a great attitude as well.  So our thanks to them!  The work is not done yet, but we’ve put a huge dent in the weed pressure, and the farm is shaping up nicely.

In spite of it being year 11, we are still learning many new lessons each year, and this year has been one of the more humbling. But farmers always see the weeds, when everyone else focuses on the crops.  And if one looks at the crops, it’s shaping up to be another good year.  The garlic plants are huge and beautiful, and the scapes are in full curl this week.

The cabbages and broccoli are coming on strong, the potato plants have surfaced and are filling out nicely, and we’re urging the carrots to keep filling out.

The first Broccoli crowns!

What’s most surprising, given the damp weekend, is just how dry it is out in the field.     With such little rain in May and June on this side of the valley, combined with a lot of breezy warm afternoons, the soil is much drier than one might expect. The dusty trail conditions on Spencer last week suggest that the forests are following suit.

As far as recipes this week, if you went out and bought that Mandolin that I suggested 🙂 now would be a great time to employ it on the cabbage.  And the golden beets.   The first spring cabbages are so tender and sweet (unlike their storage cousins) that simply slicing them thin and dressing them with some olive oil and vinegar makes for a fabulous salad or slaw.  And the golden beets are the sweetest beet variety, and that sweetness can really be accentuated by roasting them.   Here’s a roasting recipe that allows you to use your garlic scapes as well. Speaking of the garlic scapes, if you haven’t encountered them before, they are simply a seed stalk that forms at the top of hard neck garlic (as opposed to soft neck, which have no scape).  One scape per plant, one time per year.  When picked at full curl, they are tender and delicious, with a mild garlic flavor.  Use the thicker round part, and discard the whip end including the small “Taj Mahal” seed head, as they are fibrous.

Well, time to get some shut eye.  See you all at CSA pickup!

Todd