Week 6 CSA basket

July is here, which means hundreds of new seed starts and turning over of beds. We still have abundant greens, but roots and fruits are coming along. You will get more sugar snap peas this week and possibly green beans. Carrots and beets are soon to follow. And we've eaten our first few ripe tomatoes!

Expect the following this week:
Arugula, lettuce, cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, sugar snap peas, kale or collards, cabbage, radishes, maaaaybe beans.

--> --> --> Think you're tired of greens? Try eating them this way. Yum.

Week 5 CSA basket

Busy times on the farm... for whatever reason the weeds are booming a week earlier than last year so we are catching up on that daunting task. The tomato plants have grown what seems like a foot in just a few days! So we are on to tomato pruning and trellising, too. And our potato plants are flowering, which means new potatoes will be in your baskets soon.

But the newest star this week is the sugar snap pea. Unlike last week's shelling peas, the sugar snap has a sweet, crispy, edible pod. Eat them as snacks or slice them thinly on the diagonal and dress with orange, orange juice, mint and some greens for a delicious salad.

Expect the following in your baskets this week:
Sugar snaps, hakurei turnips, radishes, chard, lettuce, lettuce mix, kohlrabi, collards, arugula, basil.

Recipe for salad dressing

Here's my becoming-famous salad dressing recipe:

1 spoonful dijon mustard
1 spoonful honey from a local farm
1 bruised garlic clove from a local farm
big pinch of kosher salt
2/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 1/3 cup good extra virgin olive oil

Put all ingredients in a pint-sized mason jar and shake well before pouring onto your greens.

Week 4 CSA basket

When you farm and you go away for a weekend you are always amazed at how fast everything grows. Especially the grass. And especially the weeds.

But these hot days have also given us shelling peas. And the greens are still going strong.

Expect the following in this week's basket:
Lettuce, lettuce mix, braising mix, kale, cilantro, dill, basil, arugula, hakurei turnips or radishes, cabbage, shelling peas.

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When you receive your shelling peas you will appreciate every bag of frozen peas you ever buy from now on. They are a lot of work (to harvest! and) to shell, and even though the volume of green that you get might be but a cup, the flavor and crispness of the peas are so worth it! Eat them as soon as you can while all the sugars are still strong. If you must cook with them rather than eat them on the car ride home, showcase them in a dish, either as the star of a spring soup or salad, served on burrata, ricotta or other fresh cheese, or in a risotto, paired perfectly with mint or orange zest.

"You're the only farmer I know who..."

"... has their toenails painted."


I ask, "but do you know why I have my toenails painted?"

...

"To hide how dirty my feet really are."

Week 3 CSA basket

The spinach is bolting, the garlics are scaping and some more sunny days will bring us the shelling peas.

Garlic scapes

Spinach is a "long day" plant, which means it wants to flower once the days are long (12+ of daylight) - that's why you only get spinach in the spring and fall: by mid-June, all the plants want to "go to seed." And this late winter gave spinach a slower-than-usual start, so we are operating on the shortest window yet to grow spinach out in the fields. Lettuce is also a long day plant, but ours is still looking full and beautiful and you'll get plenty of it this week.

courtesy of C. Kaye Photography

Meanwhile, garlic has been in the ground since October of last year (because it requires the longest growing season of all of our crops). Around this time it sends up a "scape," which would eventually turn into a flower. If a garlic plant (or onion, or shallot plant) flowers, then the energy of the plant is spent making a healthy flower full of seeds, as opposed to being spent forming a nice, big bulb that we know and love. So we break the garlic scapes off and enjoy eating them for their mild garlic flavor and leave the garlic head to grow in the ground.

Finally, our peas are puffing out. I tasted some sweet shelling peas today, and if we get some sun, we'll have them next week for you. The sugar snap peas are also climbing high at nearly 5 feet now, starting to flower and grow their sweet, crisp pods.

Expect the following in your baskets this week:

Lettuce, kale, collards, bok choy, tatsoi cabbage, radishes, garlic scapes, arugula, spinach.

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Chop up your garlic scapes into your salad! Chop it all up into your salad! This is the time to eat fresh, fresh, fresh after a looooong winter and spring gap of vegetables.

Week 2 CSA

The cold, slow spring is almost past. Even though some standard crops are not yet ready due to cooler-than-usual soil and air temperatures (e.g., radishes, turnips), we will have an abundance of greens for you! Expect the following in this week's basket:

Lots of lettuce, kale, chard, braising mix, bok choy or tatsoi cabbage, scallions, arugula, maaayybe radishes.

And here's my becoming-famous salad dressing recipe:

1 spoonful dijon mustard
1 spoonful honey from a local farm
1 bruised garlic clove from a local farm
big pinch of kosher salt
2/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 1/3 cup good extra virgin olive oil
Put all ingredients in a pint-sized mason jar and shake well before pouring onto your greens.

Putnam County is farming

Our tiny New York county is farming. Traditionally home to many horse boarding farms, the number of vegetable, fruit and grain growers is, well, growing. Thanks to efforts by local Glynwood Farm and the County agriculture office, we will soon know all about what's going on here. Take a look at this article posted last week in The Journal News by our friendly local reporter, Ned Rauch. And we'll be in touch with results from the "Keep Putnam Farming" farmer survey that is now being conducted.