Zukes & cukes steal the show this week

First Sungold cherry tomato
getting a blush of orange
color

This past week saw the farm crew in the trenches harvesting squash and cucumbers, two crops that produce veggies almost as fast as we can pick them. Looking at the plants today, I see a lot of new fruit that will be ready this week, so we'll have another bumper week for those two summer staples. 

While we continue to play the waiting game with our thousands of tomato plants (sharp eyes spotted the first cherry tomato starting to color up on Friday!), we have another new crop coming in this week--carrots! These guys are still pretty young (and very tender), but they're very tasty. I seeded these carrots all the way back in early April, when the soil was still very cold from the long winter. I worried over them for weeks, as they took forever to germinate--cold soil can significantly slow that process down. They finally popped up and the whole farm crew took several afternoons to weed them by hand very carefully. Now they're finally big enough to start harvesting and we're all excited to start enjoying them!

In your share this week: lots of cucumbers and squash (green zucchini, golden zucchini, and yellow summer squash), young and tender carrots, mini cabbage or chard, beets, hakurei, and parsley. 

Recipe of the Week 

Zucchini and Fresh Herb Fritters
from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 lb green or golden zucchini, coarsely grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 bunch scallions, including an inch of the greens, thinly sliced
1 c. dried bread crumbs 
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1 Tbs chopped marjoram or basil 
1 tsp chopped mint
Olive oil as needed

Lightly salt the zucchini and set it aside in a colander to drain for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the remaining ingredients together except for the oil and the pepper. Quickly rinse the squash, squeeze out the excess water, then stir it into the batter. Taste for salt and season with pepper. 
Film two large skillets with olive oil. When hot, drop in the batter--1/4 cup makes a fritter about 3.5 inches across--and cook over medium heat until golden brown on the bottom. Turn and cook the second side. Serve hot.