Full Share:  Cauliflower, Zucchini, Summer Squash, Salad Mix, Sungold and “slicer” tomatoes, Cucumber, Carrots, Green Beans, Broccolini, and an onion.  

Partial Share:  Salad Mix, Carrots, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Sungold Tomatoes, cucumber, and broccolini

Hello CSA members!

I’m really having a difficult time believing it’s August 6th already!  As hard as this season has been, it still seems to be flying by.   The aphids have already arrived, and the yellow jackets are acting ornery, which are usually things that happen in early-September, rather than early-August.  Perhaps they are telling us something about the summer to fall transition this year?

Despite getting our butts kicked by personnel issues and extremely heavy weed pressure this year, right now the farm is in good shape and all the crops are doing well.  The farm is on the cusp of another transition, as we are finishing up the last of the  early-summer crops such as cauliflower this week, and by next week will be moving more into later season crops such as potatoes, onions, peppers, and maybe even sweet corn.  It’s the time of the season where we are harvesting more than we are planting, and so the size of the farm begins to shrink.  And this is a very enjoyable sensation….to know that we are bailing water faster than it’s coming into the boat.   We are super happy with many of the crops so far, but one of the biggest victories have been the carrots.   In past years some plantings would do well, while  the later season ones were not quite right, and we’ve been ending the season with a dull thud due to poor carrot quality….we believe due to soil issues.  But this is the first year since moving our farm from Eureka, that all of the carrot plantings seem to being doing well (knock on wood).  We’ve already pulled close to a thousand pounds of carrots for storage and bulk sales, and there are still more than 20 beds out there (with around 400 pounds of carrots per bed), so we’re optimistic.  Not that the work is over at this point, as August is one of our busiest months from a market and sales standpoint.  But while I hate to see the summer going by so fast, it’s also calming to know that the work demands of the farm will be relaxing a bit as well.  Sunday, Rebecca and I planned to go climb Great Northern after we did a few chores around the farm….10 hours later we found ourselves stumbling back inside having worked all day on the farm, which is not an atypical pattern in our summer lives.  Perhaps we’ll reschedule Great Northern for later in August.

While you all may not agree with me, I feel like my dinners this week have really benefited from the addition of cauliflower.  I’ll admit it, cauliflower is one of my top three favorite vegetables.  I’ve been breaking it up into a cast iron pan with some oil, and putting  a lid on it so it kind of steams/fries for 5 minutes or so.  Then I add some sliced yellow squash and sweet onions for another 5 minutes.  Then at the very end, I throw in some shredded green cabbage so it wilts down a bit.  Stir in some basil pesto, and top it off with sun gold tomatoes, maybe some bacon or meat balls, and a healthy pinch of sea salt, and it’s about the best thing ever.   No heavy seasoning required, just the flavors of the vegetables and basil shining through.   I’m going on day five of that one, although tonight I swapped out the cabbage for some quinoa.  Basically every meal I eat during during the summer months is a variation of this….even my nephew, whose favorite vegetable is chicken, seemed to like it.

We’re about to move into the season of onions and garlic, so that will bring the flavor up another notch.  The amount of yellow squash coming out of the field is threatening to crack the concrete foundation in our cooler, so you’ll be getting a heavy dose of it this week.  I just went online to find this simple recipe and after reading the description,  I realize that the process I use to cook all my meals is basically called “smothering”.  I never thought of myself as the “smothering”-type of guy.   Based simply on the photo, this recipe  looks unique and delicious!

For anyone who ordered extra basil, it would be preferred if you paid for it at the time of pickup (except Glacier, who can mail it in), either with cash or check.  If not, you can pay via PayPal at  paypal.me/TwoBearFarm