What’s in the box?

Cucumber
Zucchini/Summer Squash
Celery
Green top Beets
Butter Head Lettuce
Green Onions
Carrots
Cilantro
Basil
Fennel (medium and large shares)
Napa (large shares)

Notes on the box.

Remove the tops from the carrots and beets for best storage. The beet greens are edible and can be cooked as you would spinach or chard.
Fresh celery! What a treat. It has a lot of really nice celery flavor. Tuna salad with finely chopped celery is a favorite no-stove summer meal.
The butterhead lettuce is so tender. It’s a favorite on the farm.
Fresh basil should be stored out of the fridge. I like to have it in a little cup of water on the counter like a bouquet until I’m ready to use it.
All the other veggies from this week should be stored in the fridge.

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

This week I included Moonshadow and Moonglow. These two cheeses are made with the same recipe in the same way. The Moonshadow is made early in the Spring before the pastures are ready for grazing, so the cows are eating only hay. The Moonglow is made the rest of the season when the cows are eating all fresh pasture. I like to send the two together so you can taste them and look at them side by side to see what a difference what the animals are eating makes in the finished cheese. The Moonshadow has a creamy color and the Moonglow is more bright yellow. The Moonshadow has more tastes of broth and hay and the grassy flavor in the Moonglow is more apparent by comparison. It’s a fun side by side that I like to do each year. Hope you enjoy it! Besides snacking, I like theses cheeses on pizza with summer squash or diced in a salad with some roasted beets and nuts.

Recipes.

Basil Cilantro Oil - great for drizzling on top of hummus, roasted beets/fennel, or any grilled meat for an extra flavor kick

1 cup basil leaves
1 cup cilantro leaves and stems
1 large clove garlic or garlic scapes roughly chopped
1/2 jalapeno (optional)
1/2 cup olive oil
Add all ingredients to blender and process until smooth.

Thai Cucumber Salad
Cucumber Salad Ingredients:

2 cucumbers, sliced
red or white spring onion thinly sliced with thinly sliced tops
thinly sliced celery, about a half cup
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
optional toppings: toasted sesame seeds, red chili flakes

Dressing Ingredients:

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons avocado oil (or olive oil)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 small clove garlic, minced or pressed
1–2 tablespoons sweetener (such as maple syrup, honey or brown sugar), to taste

Mix all ingredients together.

Roasted Beets and Sauteed Beet Greens

Beef and Celery Stir-Fry

Shaved Fennel and Celery Salad - you can substitute sunflower seeds or walnuts for the pinenuts in the recipe

On the Farm.

We got an inch of rain this morning. The heat! Summer crops are growing beautifully. We think we will have new potatoes in a couple of weeks. Tomatoes and peppers are putting on fruit and looking great and loving the hot weather. We have sweet corn tasseled out so probably a month until that’s ready to go.
The cows aren’t the biggest fans of hot weather. They prefer about 50 degrees. The milk production has gone down, but the grass is still growing.