- Lettuce
- Green onions
- Herb( parsley, cilantro or basil, or mint)
- Beets or carrots
- Cabbage or broccoli
- Kohlrabi or fennel (the last for a while)
- Sugar snap peas
- Summer squash (Costata Romanesca, Noche, Gold Glory are some of the varieties)
- Kale, chard or collards
- Spinach or Chinese broccoli
- New Potatoes
First, let me say: Happy Father’s Day! We celebrate and honor all those papa’s out there. We hope you get a chance to feel the love of your families. I miss my dad and think of him often and all that I learned from him. I feel so lucky to have had him for so much of my life.
We also celebrate Juneteenth today – now a national holiday to commemorate the effective end of slavery in the United States.
This is from the White house briefing two days ago:
“ After the Union Army captured New Orleans in 1862, slave owners in Confederate states migrated to Texas with more than 150,000 enslaved Black persons. For 3 years, even after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved Black Americans in Texas remained in brutal bondage, immorally and illegally deprived of their freedom and basic dignity. On June 19, 1865 — over 2 years after President Lincoln declared all enslaved persons free — Major General Gordon Granger and Union Army troops marched to Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved Black Americans in Texas.
Those who were freed from bondage celebrated their long-overdue emancipation on June 19. Today, our Nation commemorates Juneteenth: a chance to celebrate human freedom, reflect on the grievous and ongoing legacy of slavery, and rededicate ourselves to rooting out the systemic racism that continues to plague our society as we strive to deliver the full promise of America to every American.”
Read more about the history of Juneteenth and what it means here: https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth
We have so far to go in reparations and if you have not read Ta-Nehisi Coates essay here is the link: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
Here is what is going on at the farm:
The sugar snaps have gone crazy! All three beds inside the hoop houses are producing as well as the 200 foot bed outside. That means we need help with the harvest. We make this CSA work with the help of our member volunteers. We ask for your help twice a season with bringing in the harvest. We begin harvesting around 7:00 a.m. and finish around noon (sooner if we have more help). We hope each person will join us on a Sunday or Wednesday morning and to get the full experience of what it means to grow food. We understand that not everyone is able to help and that is absolutely fine, and we hope those that are able will find time in their busy schedules to help extra.
The tomatoes in the hoop house got their second pruning and they are now about waist high. They have lots of flowers and some small fruit. The tomatoes outside are just a few weeks behind and catching up fast. The peppers are also getting chunky and putting out flowers and fruit. Even with this cool wet spring the summer crops are zooming ahead. The pest pressure is intense. We have not seen striped cucumber beetles in these numbers for several years. They love all cucurbits and beans. We are doing our best with row covers and organic strays but the battle wages on.
As we near the longest day of the year our plants really take off. The onions are the cleanest they have been in years and now will turn their attention to bulbing. The wheat is almost ready to harvest. The grass is almost done producing pollen. We work long days and well into the evening when energy permits.
From the CDC: Only 9% of adults ate the recommended amount of vegetables and 12% of adults at the recommended amount of fruit. Kids don’t eat what their parents don’t prepare or offer. You are doing a great thing by ensuring that fresh organic vegetables are on the plate of your children. CSA subscribers eat far more than the average American – so good job. Here are some recipes to enjoy this week: (thanks again Sue Kass)
Sheet Pan Chicken with Potatoes, scallions and capers
4 servings, 40 minutes
12 scallions, trimmed
5 Tbs EVOO
1 lb potatoes, sliced 1/8” thick
8 large bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
2 Tbs drained capers
1 Tb lemon juice
Heat oven to 450. Place scallions in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle w/1Tbs EVOO and season w/salt & pepper. In a medium bowl, season w/salt/pepper and toss w/2 Tbs EVOO. Spread 1/2 the potato slices in a single layer over the scallions. Season chicken w/salt and pepper, drizzle with remaining oil and place on top of the potatoes. Arrange remaining potatoes around the chicken. Roast until chicken cooked through, approx 30-35 minutes. Transfer chicken, potatoes and scallions to serving plates, Scrape remaining pan juices and drippings into a small bowl, stir in capers and lemon juice and spoon over chicken.
Salt-baked potatoes
This is kind of a fun party-trick kind of recipe:
2 Lbs small potatoes
2 lbs kosher salt
2 Tbs fresh rosemary needles
2 Tbs pink peppercorns.
Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, mix the salt, rosemary needles and peppercorns and 1 c water with your hands, crushing the rosemary needles with your fingers —it should feel like wet sand (add water as needed). Transfer a little less than 1/2 the mixture into a cast-iron skillet or other oven proof pan to make a salt bed of 1/2” Nestle the potatoes into the sand, close but not touching. pack the rest of the salt over the potatoes and rub and brush and smooth it until you have tightly encased the potatoes in a little salt sarcophagus. Bake for 30-40” or until a skewer easily pierces the potatoes through the salt. The salt should harden like baked clay. To serve, Rap the pan on a hard surface until cracks appear in the crust. Pluck the potatoes and serve with butter.
Thai Style Cabbage Salad
4Tbs lemon juice
4 tsp peanut oil
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
1 cabbage, finely shredded (I have also used julienned kohlrabi/snow peas/sugar snaps/bok choy
1 c kale, sliced into ribbons
1/2 c thinly sliced red onion or shallot
3/4 c shredded carrots
1/2 c each mint, cilantro
Combine everything but veggies in a large mixing bowl, then add greens and toss.. Allow to sit for at least 1/2 hour before serving. I like to toss in roasted peanuts at serving time.