What's in the box?

Sweet onions
sweet corn
new potatoes
broccoli
bell peppers
carrots
cucmbers
zucchini / summer squash/ patty pan squash
heirloom tomatoes
salad mix (large and medium)

Notes on the box.

Sweet corn. Oh yes. As soon as you get home, put a big pot of water on to boil. Start shucking. Salt the water. Put the corn into the boiling water and cook for maybe 5 minutes. Take the corn out of the water (tongs!) roll ears directly onto a stick of butter and sprinkle with salt. Eat at least 3 ears (or try to break Josh's record of 8 ears). Now you are having the best Summer ever. If you can't eat all your sweet corn right away in one sitting, it's okay to store it in your fridge. But as it sits, the sugars turn to starch, so the fresher you eat it the better! If you know you won't eat it all in a week (there's more coming!) sweet corn is super easy to freeze. I just cut the kernels off the cob, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it. I don't bother with blanching and the corn is just fine for soup, chili, cornbread, or just a side during the long fresh sweet cornless months.

The new potatoes are unwashed. The skin is so thin and tender that it was peeling right off with just the spray from washing. You will be able to wash them more gently. Otto gave the new potatoes the best reaction when we were eating them. He stopped talking in the middle of supper and said, "whoa. mom, these are like, high level good. the best food good." I like to parboil them then roast them in the oven to finish. With a lot of butter and salt and pepper. They also make lovely potato salad.

Bell peppers are great for snacking. Craving potato chips? Try some sliced bell pepper instead. It's satisfying! They are easy to freeze, too. I cut out the core and seeds, dice them, and freeze them raw. We add them to soup, stir fry, and sometimes we put some on top of a frozen pizza to make ourselves feel better about eating frozen pizza. It's true, sometimes your farmers resort to frozen pizza... But it's okay because we snack on bell peppers, right?!

Cheese shares.

We got a couple of requests for more ricotta, so here ya go! I also included a wedge of a cheese we named Circle of the Sun. I am making it in larger wheels that will take quite a long time to age, but I couldn't resist making some in small wheels to be able to try it sooner. It's a Gruyere or Comte style cheese with nutty sweetness. Hopefully some of the larger wheels will be aged enough to get you some nice big chunks of it before the season is over! If not, it will be really fabulous by next year!

Recipes.

Heirloom Tomato Tart with Ricotta and Basil

shumai siumai dumplings filled with broccoli and zucchini

Summer Vegetable Tian

Broccoli, White Bean, Ricotta "Meatballs"

On the farm.

August is kind of the wall of the farming season marathon. We've been running since March and we just have to keep going! July and August have lots of lovely nicknames amongst vegetable farmers who all are looking pretty haggard and tired at this point in the season. But the rewards are the great at this point, too. Beautiful tomatoes, checking on melons daily, the nicest weather that anyone can remember, crashing into bed after very long exhausting days. There's no way we could ever get everything done that needs to happen. After each task is finished, 3 new ones have been written on the to do list. Each task is marked with a star signaling it as a top priority. There's a lot of pressure and a lot of stress. But then there are lots of little things that bring us right into the moment and away from the worries, biting into a cucumber or sweet corn as it's being picked and is still cool from the morning air is so wonderful, especially if it's harvest is followed by a second pot of coffee at break time... AND there's the super uplifting and encouraging emails and feedback we've been getting from our members. What a difference that makes! We love direct marketing because we love the connection to the people eating the food that we grow. So much THANK YOU to our CSA members. You all are THE BEST! Thanks for that cup of water and cheering as we keep running!

Remember to mark your calendars for farm events. August 22 and September 26!