Summer CSA Newsletter: Week 2
WHATS IN YOUR BOX THIS WEEK AND HOW TO USE IT
STRAWBERRIES - Airtight containers are always best, preferably glass. DO NOT wash your berries until you plan to eat them.
LETTUCE MIX - Store in a plastic bag loosely in your refrigerator. The ideal temperature for storing lettuce is at or near 32 degrees. Wash prior to use. Lettuce stores normally for UP to two weeks.
CARROTS- If your carrots have the tops on, take them off right away to avoid limp carrots. The tops like to suck the moisture from the root (carrot) which makes for lifeless carrots. Store carrots in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or container. They can store for several weeks and sometimes even months.
SPINACH - Maintain loosely in a bag in your crisper drawer. Wash well prior to use. Stores normally for one - two weeks.
RADISH - Remove the greens from the root. If you choose to keep the greens, wash them and then store wrapped in a damp paper towel in a bag. Place in the crisper of the refrigerator. The root can store up to two weeks in the fridge in a plastic bag. Wash before use.
SPRING ONIONS - Store in the refrigerator crisper drawer for up to one week. You can peel off layers that become dry or slimy if used after one week.
VEGGIE OF THE WEEK
Photo Credit: Johnny Seeds
SPRING ONIONS
Shockingly, I realized today that after 7 years of vegetable farming I don’t have a single decent photo of spring onions, better known as green onions. I have no idea how that has happened, so shout out to Johnny Seeds for their picture of green onions.
As with all of my other posts I seem to use the words I love or I like a lot, well guess what, I LOVE green onions. I love the smell; I love the taste and I love using them as much as I can, fresh from the garden. I always look forward to a few certain easy recipes when certain produce comes in from the fields. Green onions are so easy with a small amount of cream cheese, wrapped in a thin slice of ham or prosciutto. YUM YUM YUM. A great cool and easy snack in the warming months. My grandmother would make these at Easter as an appetizer and I was more into chocolate bunnies then ham and onions but, 30 years later those chocolate bunnies are the last thing I want. Funny how our taste buds change and develop as we get older.
Photo Credit: Joy Filled Eats
Ham Roll Ups - Easy Appetizer Recipe (joyfilledeats.com)
Green Onions are great because you can use the entire plant, minus the tiny roots. The tops are perfect as a garnish or just to eat. I use the tops (chives/scallions), in eggs or omelets, salads, on top of bean dip or tacos, in compound butter, in dips, soups, on top of baked potatoes, salsa, potato salad, the list is endless. The onions have a nice crisp taste and are sweeter rather than spicy. I use them in much of the same way as the tops.
Photo Credit: In the Kitchen with Matt
Perfect Baked Potato Recipe | In the Kitchen with Matt
We are fast entering grilling season and a great baked potato is always easy and delicious. For simplicity I always use my pressure cooker to make baked potatoes and I love a good Yukon Gold. They are creamy, soft and tick all the boxes for me. However, their skin isn’t crisp like this bad boy is in the picture. A nice crispy skin russet with butter, sour cream, cheese, green onions and rock salt…..again you know I’m going to say YUM YUM YUM. You can also make this a meal instead of a side dish and make it a loaded potato with pulled BBQ pork or chicken. Also, a favorite in our house.
A few others to try:
Easy Stir Fry Vegetables – A Couple Cooks
You can substitute the red onion for green onions instead.
Air Fryer Breakfast Frittata - Recipes From A Pantry
This recipe uses spinach too and is in an air fryer!
Green Onion Dip - A Dash of Megnut
Easy summer dip.
Week 2
We are currently finding our groove again in managing the farm and preparing for the start of the first tomato harvest, which fingers crossed is sometime in the next couple of weeks. Although we stay occupied throughout the year, tomato season is when we truly become swamped with work. Pruning, trellising, cultivating, scanning for pests is a daily chore, but I have to tell you, standing back and looking at a clean, pruned, trellised and organized greenhouse gives me all the warm and fuzzies.
This is from 2023. We will try not to let it get this bad in 2024!
I feel warm and fuzzy just looking at the clean organized rows forced into the chaos jungle.
One other struggle we are staying on top of much better this year, although they are still a huge problem is aphids and ants. They are the bane of my existence. If you didn’t know some ants “farm” aphids similar to how we farm cows or sheep. Aphids feed primarily on the sap from plants and secrete a liquid called honeydew. This secretion is very sugar-rich, and quite favored by ants as a food source. To add to our issue, we found out the hard way, high levels of nitrogen fertilizer favor aphid reproduction. We made a major switch in our fertilizer two years ago from a synthetic to a more natural option. While we like the new fertilizer, the recommended amounts for each crop were too much and the aphid population exploded, which then attracted the ants. (The picture below is from fall of 2023)
This is the top of a bolted carrot loaded with aphids.
Aphids themselves are not difficult to control, but you add in ants that want to protect the aphids, their food source, and the process is much more difficult to manage. Ants will kill beneficial insects, such as ladybugs to protect their food source. Ants will also take aphids with them to overwinter, and aphid eggs are extremely hardy and can survive cold winters. We had to increase our efforts tremendously, rotate in crops that aphids are less attracted too and utilize methods to reduce the population multiple times until manageable numbers can be reached. We are doing much better this year but, insects can become a problem and ruin an entire crop quickly if you’re not vigilant in scouting your fields and monitoring your crops.
If All Else Fails
If your week has been crazy and you haven’t had time to do a thing with items in your bag, focus on these three tasks:
Make sure your strawberries are still good and if you absolutely must - freeze them. You can do this whole if needed and later use them for a quick strawberry jam or make ice cream topping for ice cream! Fresh local berries are super sweet and we don’t add any sugar when we make ice cream topping. Smash them up until your desired consistency and add on top of vanilla ice cream.
Make sure the greens are removed from the root vegetables. Your roots will store for a good while, your greens from your root vegetables need to be used or lose them.
Lettuce, spinach will store for at least 7-10 days. We wash and spin dry your greens one time. You should wash and dry again before consumption. The best way is with a hand crank salad spinner. Keep in mind moisture leads to spoilage. You can wait to wash your greens until you plan to consumer them. Place greens in an airtight container such as a bag or Tupperware. Greens will hold for 7-10 days.
You can freeze green onions including the leafy green tops, the white bulb end, and the stem in between. After freezing, the texture changes somewhat. Stem and bulb portions become soft, while the green parts sometimes become tough.
Next Week’s Possibility’s
Your bag next week will include 6-7 of the following depending on availability and if it’s ready to harvest.
Strawberries
Kale
Swiss Chard
Carrots
Herbs
Green Onions
Lettuce (head or mixed)
Spinach
Radish
Turnip
Beets
Wishing you a fantastic week ahead, see you next week!