What’s in the box?

green leaf lettuce
romaine lettuce
radishes
rainbow chard
green onions
garlic scapes
summer squash
salad turnips aka hakuri turnips
cucumber (large shares)
cilantro (medium and large shares)

Notes on the box

Less cucumbers last week than this week. The heat last week knocked off the blossoms and fried the little baby cukes on the vines. Hopefully the plants bounce back from the heatwave.
The curly long skinny loopy green things are garlic scapes. As the bulb is developing, it sends out a stem with what will be a flower on the end if we don’t harvest it. Pulling off the stem/flower bud makes the bulb grow larger. And they are an early season treat! You can use them as you would green onions, but they will have a garlic flavor.
Stems of rainbow chard are beautiful and edible! They take a bit longer than the leaves to cook, so I like to add the chopped stems at the same time as garlic and onions when cooking, then add the leaves at the very end as they will wilt down quickly.

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.

Two of my most favorite cheeses! Circle of the Sun is a raw milk aged cheese. It’s great for snacking or cubing or shredding onto a salad.
The quark is flavored with green garlic and is wonderful on some bread with sliced radishes. It’s also good on crackers or with roasted potatoes or baked salmon.

Recipes.

Rainbow Chard with Hot Bacon Dressing
Chop the stems of the chard up to the leaves. Chop up some green onions and a garlic scape. Chop us chard leaves and place into a bowl (you can also add radish greens and turnip greens if you’d like a larger helping. Put the chopped greens into a serving bowl. Chop up 4-5 slices of bacon. Fry up the bacon in a skillet until preferred level of crispiness. Remove and reserve bacon, but leave bacon grease in the skillet. Add chopped chard stems, green onions, and garlic scapes. Sautee for a few minutes. Add to the pan 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar and cook until sugar is dissolved and heat for about a minute. Pour the hot dressing over the greens and mix well. Greens will wilt down. Top with bacon and hard boiled eggs (optional).

Edamame Garlic Scape Dip
Blend together in a food processor: 8 ounces steamed edamame, 3 garlic scapes, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 lemon - zest, 1/2 lemon - juiced, 1/3- 1/2 cup olive oil. Use as a dip with pita chips.

Buttery Braised Radishes and Greens

5 ingredient Cilantro Vinaigrette you can use garlic scapes in this recipe instead of garlic cloves if you like.

On the Farm.

Farmers are always talking about the weather. That’s no surprise. It’s to be expected. So much of our livelihood depends on it…. But wow. Record breaking heatwaves and no rain for weeks. We keep on going and doing our very best, but it’s impossible to know what to expect. Seems like we have entered chaos mode on the farm. Seasons have gone very wonky. We are harvesting summer squash already! Looks like broccoli is bolting, which is a heartbreaker. We are long overdue for some rain, so irrigation is going on and on and on and on. We know that some of the damage from the hot weather will not be obvious until later in the season… As we work on our deep breathing and trying not to be overwhelmed by the swings of this Spring we are grateful, if wary. We are beyond impressed with the incredible endurance of our farm crew! Everyone has been put to the test and are proving to be champions. Working together to endure and thrive in trying times is what we should always be moving towards. Being small and nimble enough to bend in the relentlessly changing wind is a strength. Building community that actually cares about it’s farms is the only way forward. So, here we go!

Farm and food system suggested listening: Discussion on Debt relief for Black farmers with John Boyd Jr of the National Black Farmers Association and professor Thomas Mitchell. A really great source to learn about this program and why it’s so necessary.