In Your Share (June 25th edition)

Most months of there year there are a variety of things in bloom at the farm. The flowers on the farm – from veggies, to natives, to cover crops, and yes – even the weeds, they all attract and support different beneficial insects with the pollen & nectar that the blooms provide. This week there is a whole field of leek flowers blooming. The big round orb comes in shades from silvery white to dark purple.  Some of the other things that are blooming on the farm now include white & red clover, oxeye daisy, and many different mustards. I’ll post more blooms through the summer!

You can download Recipe Packet for this week’s share HERE. These are written by my friend Katherine Deumling at Cook With What You Have.

We still have a few SUMMER SHARES for sale!! Follow the links above to sign up.

This week your share may include…

• Homegrown Dry Beans: An assortment of beautiful beans that we grew last summer – choose from Black Turtle, Red Berlotti, Tigers Eye, and our own selection of giant cannelini called Laura’s Big White.
• Choi: These are little bigger than last time, but still tender and tasty! I really like to make soba noodle salad with them. You can also try it in the Peanut Noodles with Pac Choi from this week’s recipe packet.
• Baby Fennel: These sweet little bulbs come with the frilly fronds attached. The bulb is the most tender part, but the fronds have good flavor too. Shave the bulb into salads to add a hint of licorice flavor.  I often quarter these little bulbs then roast or poach them until tender. The flavor is much more mild after cooking them.
• Purple Kohlrabi: With the leaves on this little root looks slightly alien, and to many americans it is an unfamiliar vegetable. In northern europe, kohlrabi is considered a mundane crop as common as potatoes or carrots are here. I love the sweet crunchy taste of the bulb and often eat it raw or grate it into salads or slaw. Peel the skin off the bulb and use the tender center. The leaves are also good sauteed as you would collards or kale. If you need inspiration, there are both recipes and tips in your packet.
• Lettuce Heads: Big beautiful heads of Ramaine Lettuce. I love Ceasar salad and there’s a classic recipe – just like my grandmother used to make – in your packet this week.
• Napa Cabbage: The greens are bountiful this week! This cabbage is traditionally used in kimchi and winter shareholders will recognize this link to one of my favorite recipes. However, you needn’t feel constrained by tradition – it works wonderfully sauteed in other recipes as well.
• Spring Onions: These little red onions still have all their leaves on. Use the bulb as you would a regular onion and think of the green tops as giant scallions. The tops would be great raw on the CSA Salad or lightly sauteed and added to the top of the lentil soup – both in your recipe packet this week.
• Radish: The bright red round ones are Cheriette and the longer red & white ones are French Breakfast. Katherine included radish’s in severa of the recipes this week and I’ll include the link to one of my favorites again – it’s from Lynne Rossetto Kasper at the Splendid Table website – Radish Butter
• Turnips: Lots of recipes for these in your packet! Don’t forget to cook the greens too.