Thank you to everyone who came out to market this weekend, it was our biggest market day yet! We are so happy with the success of this season so far, it’s hard to believe we are in week six of our CSA and we’re finally heading into summer. Cherry tomatoes are just around the corner and you’ll be getting the first big harvest of mini cucumbers in your bags this week.
We’ve got an awesome surprise this week from our broccoli field. Heads as big as your hands! The consistent water, plenty of nutrients, a cool spring, and perfect spacing has produced our best broccoli crop to date. We’re excited to share it with you. The stems are so sweet and the florets are huge, we think you’ll like it too.
Broccoli!
Tyler and I spent hours on Monday harvesting, bunching and washing a bed and a half of carrots. Our first batch of rainbow carrots are beautiful. This is our first time growing all the colors together and it was tricky timing them to mature on the same date but I think we got close.
Washing and packing beets for CSA
For those who came on the tour, you were introduced to the potato bug. The adults are large clumsy striped beetles and the larvae are squishy and red. They multiply quickly and can cause a lot of damage to the leaves of the potato plants if they get out of hand. We witnessed something really cool this week when a predatory stink bug ate a potato beetle larvae. We’ve been able to identify the stink bug and their eggs and are hoping to build their population over the years so that we have a back up team eating any larvae that we miss. The stink bug is the black and orange beetle at the bottom of the photo.
In your CSA bag this week:
Mini cucumbers
Broccoli
Lettuce mix
Garlic scapes*
Green onion
Swiss chard
Parsley*
Beets
Daikon radish*
Rainbow carrots
Daikon radish are a storage radish. Sometimes they are white, we grew the purple ones. Don't worry if you can't get to eating them right away, simply cut off the greens and keep them in a drawer in the fridge for up to a couple months. They are a bit spicier than a salad radish so we like to eat them sautéed.
Garlic scapes are the flowering tops of the garlic plant. They are more mild than regular garlic. People like adding them to pesto or any meal that needs some garlic flavor.
Parsley is a great herb to add to potato salad, salads or coleslaw.