Mid-summer classics

Two mid-summer crops are ready for harvest this week, some fragrant basil and some juicy baby fennel bulbs. Our resident groundhog population enjoyed eating quite a bit of the fennel crop when it was first planted in May, but we were able to save enough for you to enjoy some as well. The basil crop is looking healthy and vigorous and should keep producing long enough to overlap with our soon-to-be-ready tomato crop.

Moraine Farm in Beverly.
Photo: Elizabeth Green

Since the first growing season at Weir River, we've struggled growing potatoes--our soil type and soil pH are ill-suited to the particular demands of potato plants. The plan this year was to work with sister Trustees farm, Moraine Farm, and Farmer Gretta to have our potatoes grown there, where they have
ample room and the lower soil pH that potatoes crave. About a month and a half ago I learned from Gretta that her potato crop is late this year, like virtually all New England farms after the cold spring we had. Small and tender new potatoes were originally expected in early July to fill out the shares between our spring crops and the late summer onslaught of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. A behind-schedule potato crop left me worried that we would have a bit of a gap, with skinny shares throughout July. Gretta tells me that she's expecting new potatoes to be ready to harvest for next week's share, which is excellent news. And fortunately, our bumper crop of squash and cucumbers is filling out our shares quite nicely.

In your share this week: more squash and cucumber, baby fennel, basil, choice of beets or carrots and PYO green beans. Enjoy your veggies this week!

Recipe of the Week
Inspired by CSA Member Sue Roy, who delighted me on Saturday with some homemade bread and butter pickles she made with last week's share, I wanted to share this recipe. I got this originally from Annie Rockwell, the first farmer I apprenticed for fresh out of college. She taught me innumerable things about vegetables that summer, including the idea that pickles could be sweet and could be made with zucchini, which blew my mind just as much as everything else I was learning on her farm.

Annie's Bread and Butter Pickles
makes 5-6 pints

5 medium zucchini, sliced
1/4 c. sea or kosher salt

syrup:
2 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. cider vinegar
3/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp clove
pinch of ginger
1/2 tsp celery seeds
a few whole peppercorns
1 Tbs mustard seeds

In a large bowl, place sliced zucchini and salt and cover with water. Refrigerate overnight. Drain well in the morning.
Combine the syrup ingredients and bring to a boil in a large stock pot. Stir in zucchini and return to a boil. Remove from heat and place in jars. Pour in remaining syrup to cover. Cover and keep refrigerated. Pickles will be ready in a day.
Note: this recipe is for refrigerator pickles, not shelf-stable pickles.

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.  

Crisp & cool & perfect for summer...

Cucumbers are back! Our first field planting is finally ready for picking and we're looking forward to many weeks of crisp, cool, juicy, fresh-off-the-vine cucumbers. Luckily this classic summer veggie is super versatile--cucumber salads, quick pickles, in agua fresca, or juiced with other farm veggies--the list goes on and on. Best of all, our cukes are picked fresh for you, so you don't have to peel them like the waxed ones in the grocery store!

Nutritionally, I think cucumbers have been written off as lightweights, but they really have more to offer than what's generally recognized. In the vitamin department, they're a decent source of Vitamin K (needed for bone health), but more importantly they contain phytonutrients like lignans and flavonoids, which are antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer.

Also in your share this week: zucchini!, beets, mini cabbage, parsley, choice of kale or chard, sugar snap peas!!, and hakureis. In the field you can pick your own green beans (another first of the year for this week!) and dill.

Farm yoga is back again this Saturday at 5:30! Meet us at the Yellow House with your mat and any sunscreen/bug spray/water you'd like to bring. Yoga class is free for members and donation (to benefit our Food Access Fund) for friends, who are very welcome!

Enjoy your veggies this week!

Recipe of the Week
This one comes from the food blog The Yellow House, which I was first introduced to by CSA member (and food blogger herself at the always-gorgeous I Will Feed You blog) Lindsay Grimes. After Wednesday it looks like it will cool down enough to turn on the oven without causing an uprising in your household, and this roasted wedge salad is super simple.

Roasted Cabbage Wedge Salad

1 head cabbage (recipe calls for savoy, but this will work with our tender mini cabbages just fine)
1-2 Tbs olive oil
Kosher salt

5 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs sherry vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Pecorino romano cheese

Preheat the oven to 450. Using a large, sharp knife quarter (or halve) the cabbage. Trim away any very pithy or brown ends of the core, but leave the core intact. The core will hold the wedges together when roasting.
Arrange the cabbage wedges on a baking sheet. Drizzle the wedges with the olive oil and then sprinkle liberally with kosher salt.
Transfer the baking sheet to the oven. Roast the cabbage for 30 minutes, flipping the wedges at 15 minutes to make sure they brown evenly. At the conclusion of roasting, the cabbages may have some blackened, crispy outer leaves. If you don't want this, take them out a few minutes early, but note that the inside of the cabbage may be less tender than if you had left it in longer.
While the cabbage is roasting, make your vinaigrette: whisk together olive oil, sherry vinegar, and dijon. Taste the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper to taste.
When the cabbage is finished, work quickly. Plate the wedges, drizzle with vinaigrette, and grate pecorino romano over the top. Serve immediately, while the cabbage is still hot.

Some Must-See Eye Candy

First, some eye candy from around the farm in the last week or so--

Chard harvest

photo: Lindsay Grimes

Last week's share, beautiful arranged

photo: Lindsay Grimes

Having wrapped up the bulk of our spring plantings (although we'll continue planting and seeding various things all the way up to the beginning of September), the farm crew has turned to some other farm projects. This past week we tackled a big weeding project in our popcorn planting, which occupies almost a quarter of Quaker field (across from the brick hospice). The weeds were growing fast and threatening to overtake our crop so we pulled out all the stops--our Cub cultivation tractor, followed by our trusty wheelhoe, then scuffle hoes and hand-weeding to finish the job. The beds look fabulous and are ready for some irrigation, which has been our other project this past week as the days turned hot with no rain in sight. So far we have almost all of our key summer crops supplied with drip irrigation, the most efficient and effective way to bring water to thirsty crops. The drip irrigation lines we run along side the rows of plants emit water right at soil level (so very little water loss to evaporation like an overhead irrigation system) and deliver it right to the root zone of the crop (and not to the weeds that might grow between the rows). With our dry soil and the last significant rainfall a distant memory, our crops would have suffered during the hot days of the last week, but instead they were happy, irrigated crops, loving the summer heat above ground, and slurping up good, clean  well water below ground.

In your share this week: parsley, beets, 2 bunches of hakurei, salad mix, a mini cabbage, garlic scapes, choice of chard or kale, and PYO dill or oregano. Please remember to return the PYO scissors to the basket when you're done with them--we've found a couple in the pathway!

Recipes of the Week

Wondering what to do with TWO bunches of hakureis? Lynn Rosseto-Kasper of The Splendid Table (a great radio show/podcast and food blog) has this recipe for Fast Japanese Pickles. As written here, it calls for carrots, radishes, and turnips (or some other variations), but I like it with just the hakurei--2 bunches does the trick. It takes me about 20 minutes to make, sits in the fridge for an hour, then it's a great snack or side.
If the kale and chard have left you looking for new recipe ideas, I have a few to share. Real Simple has a collection of 24 easy kale recipes (try the Curried Kale with Coconut!) that are excellent and sure to have something for every taste. Lately I've been enamored with a very simple sauteed chard recipe from Deborah Madison's excellent Vegetable Literacy. I've tried it finished with several kinds of vinegar (sherry, apple cider, white wine) and they were all good, but I like it best with an infused (honey and ginger) white balsamic that I got as a gift.

Sauteed Rainbow Chard with the Stems
serves 2-4
5-10 minutes prep, 10 minutes active time

1 bunch chard
2 Tbs olive oil
Sea salt to taste
1 Tbs butter or ghee
Freshly ground pepper
Lemon wedges or robust vinegar, for serving

Separate the leaves from the stems. Select some of the better looking stems, cut them into similar-sized pieces about 1 inch long, and set aside. If the remaining stems are very thick, cut them in half lengthwise, then cut them into 1 inch long slices; you should have about 1 1/2 cups. Chop or tear the leaves coarsely, you should have about 8 cups. Rinse and set aside in a colander to drain.

Heat the oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced stems and cook for about 3 minutes. Season with a few pinches of salt, then add the chopped leaves, cover, and cook until wilted and tender, at least 6 minutes. Taste the chard to be sure it is as cooked as you want. Restaurants tend to undercook chard, and while it looks beautiful and bouncy on the plate, it is not nearly as good to eat as when it is actually tender. Remove the lid and stir in the butter or ghee. Taste for salt, season well with pepper, and pile onto a plate. Serve with something sharp, lemon wedges or vinegar, to bring up the flavors.

Enjoy your veggies!

New greens this week

Every week the array of produce that we're harvesting out of the field shifts a little bit. Some crops carry over from the week before, new crops make their first appearance, and others drop off as their harvest finishes for the season or there's a gap between different

The baby cuke is the spiny little thing between the
yellow flower and the stem.

successions of the same crop. Cucumbers are in a succession gap right now, as the first succession we've been babying in the greenhouse for over 3 months finishes its run before our first succession of field-grown cucumbers is ready. The good news is that the field cukes are not far off! Right now the plants have 2 or 3 baby cucumbers on them, each about the size of my fingernail. Some sunshine and some warm weather is all they need to grow big enough to harvest. 

All the way back in March, on a blustery, chilly day, we seeded some escarole in our bright, warm greenhouse. Escarole is in the lettuce family and looks very similar to the green leaf lettuce we've

been harvesting lately. Slightly bitter by nature, I've heard escarole described in a beer analogy--lettuce is to escarole what Bud Light is to Guinness. Chefs often pair escarole with sweeter salad dressings and sometimes fruit toppings to play up the flavor differences, but you can also make different variations of beans and greens, or just chop it and add it to your salad mix. Store it in the fridge like lettuce (I wrap mine in a wet paper towel or thin kitchen towel and put it in a plastic produce bag) and use within a week to 10 days. 

In your share this week: lettuce, spinach, hakureis, chard or kale, beets!, mustard greens, garlic scapes, salad mix, escarole, and Pick Your Own dill, cilantro, or oregano (choose 2). 

Enjoy your veggies this week!

Recipe of the Week 
Escarole Salad with Apples and Pecans
from Martha Stewart's great online collection of escarole recipes

1 Tbs olive oil 
1 Tbs white wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
1 head escarole, cored, trimmed, and torn into bite sized pieces
1 apple, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup pecans, toasted

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, Dijon and 1 Tbs water; season with salt and pepper. Add escarole, apple, and pecans. Toss and serve immediately. 

Spinach!!

 

It's been a great spring for spinach--that's another crop that loves the cooler weather we had in April and May. After coming in strong for the last few weeks, we were worried about it surviving the recent heat wave. But Sophie reported that this morning's harvest is looking as good as ever!

Old friends and new favorites

In addition to the familiar salad superstars like lettuce, spinach, and salad mix, some new crops are coming in this week, including one of my all-time favorites, hakureis. These small, white Japanese root veggies look sort of like golf balls, but also have lush green tops--and both parts are edible! The white, round roots are slightly sweet, slightly spicy, and

Freshly picked hakurei bunches--don't worry
we'll clean them up for you!

very juicy and crunchy. Although I usually intend on using them raw in a salad, I almost always end up eating them all as I'm slicing them. They are also delicious when roasted, but with the hot weather predicted this week, I don't think I want to turn on my oven. Hakurei tops are mild and perfect for adding to a sauté (maybe with mizuna and chard or kale) with garlic, olive oil, and a little salt. 

Also ready this week are some new herbs for Pick Your Own, a choice of cilantro or oregano. The oregano is just about to flower, which means it is at its peak flavor. If you choose oregano but don't think you can use it all this week, you can dry it easily. The cilantro was one of the very first things I seeded in April and it has been growing very sloooowly during the cool weather this spring. It's finally big enough to harvest, though (and might even double in size this week during the hot weather)!

Casey with a huge head of lettuce!

In your share this week: 2 heads of lettuce,1 bunch hakureis, a choice of chard or kale, salad mix, mizuna, spinach, a greenhouse cucumber, a potted herb for your garden or kitchen window sill, and PYO cilantro or oregano. 

Reminders for the week: don't forget your reusable grocery bags on your pickup day and don't forget we have yoga on the farm this Saturday at 4pm, taught by CSA member and yoga teacher Maureen St. Croix and followed by a BYO picnic! Class is free for CSA/Trustees members and sliding scale donation (to benefit our Food Access Fund) for other friends and yoga buddies. All are welcome!

Enjoy your veggies this week!