CSA Week 5

Happy July!  This week marks the beginning of greenhouse seeding for the late summer crops; over the next two weeks I'll be secluding myself away from the world, to seed nearly 200 flats of lettuce, spinach, kale, and chard. It's a big undertaking, one that'll all be worth it in a month when thousands of healthy seedlings are transplanted into waiting beds. 

Along with your CSA share from chestnut hill, we will be opening our first two flowers beds to all CSA members for PYO (pick your own) flower bouquets.  Feel free to take up to 15 stems - scissors and rubber bands will be provided, and the beds will be labeled. I'm so glad you all will finally be able to enter the field and see all the work I've put in this summer!

Here's Des with the share contents and some recipes:

In Your Share (if all goes as planned):

Beets
Head Lettuce
Salad mix
Kale
Green Cabbage
Summer Squash & Zucchini
Cucumbers (hopefully!!!!)
Green onions
New Potatoes?!?

Recipes and Veg of the Week:

I love summer squash and zucchini. If pressed, I might say that it was my favorite veggie right next to tomatoes- which I also adore. In the summer time (never in the winter because the squash from the grocer that has been shipped 3000 miles tastes disgusting and has the texture of slimy cardboard), I eat summer squash every day, sometimes for all three meals in some fashion. I love it sliced, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and grilled. I love it roasted, sautéed, steamed with butter. I love it made into quick bread, muffins, cake, pizza crust and so on and so forth. I think it might just be more versatile than the potato. 

If anyone ever tells me they don't like squash, I usually ask them if they've ever eaten it any other way than boiled (um, this is gross. for almost any vegetable other than a potato). 

I was given this recipe by a CSA shareholder nearly 10 years ago. Her father was Lebanese and she said that he made it every year only during the summer because that was when the zucchini were the sweetest. This has become the staple stuffed zucchini in our household and we look forward to it every summer as well. For the vegetarians in my life- I've experimented and successfully substituted eggplant sautéed and minced fine (think of the eggplant meatball recipes you've seen and do that) instead of the ground beef. 

Cousa Mihshi
1.5 lbs of cousa or zucchini squash up to 8 inches in length
1 small chopped onion
butter for sautéing
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1lb of ground lamb or beef
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp salt
pepper to taste
1lb can of stewed tomatoes

Cut the squash lengthwise and remove the cores leaving 1/2 inch of sidewall, careful not to pierce the sides. Rinse in cold water and drain. Saute onions in butter in a large pan. Place rinsed, drained rice in a bowl and add meat and seasonings, mix. Add half of the diced tomatoes to meat mix. Stuff the zukes 3/4 full. Arrange the stuffed zucchini over the onions and pour the rest of the tomatoes on top. Barely cover with water and a little additional salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 35 minutes or until the rice is done. Enjoy!

--Farmers Casey & Des