What's in the box?

Rainbow Chard

Green Onions

Collard Greens

Sugar Snap Peas

Basil

Zuchinni/ Summer Squash

Collards

Green Onions

Broccoli

Cukes

Zuchinni/ Summer Squash

Notes on the box...

Do not put BASIL in the fridge. Try to keep it dry and warm. Your counter is a good spot for it.

Rainbow Chard is best stored in an open plastic bag in your crisper. It is out outside, so it may look wilty out of the box, but a nice soak in cold water will perk it back up. You can use it in any recipe as you would spinach.

Everything else is safe stored in the crisper, no bag needed.

We just want to come out and say right away that this box is disappointing for us. We don't like to put out boxes that don't contain a good value. We don't like skimpy boxes. It was painful for us putting this one together. We mentioned last week that we lost just about all of our head lettuce to deer. We are still working on getting the fence up, but there's a lot that needs doing at the same time. We have no garlic scapes this season because we left our garlic in the ground when we moved (this was a real bummer as we had been saving seed for 8 years!) One of our farming mentors refers to this point in the season as "the heart of darkness." Everything needs doing yesterday, things don't seem to go smoothly, it's hot, things break down, and we are in between the Spring crops and the Summer crops. This year, it is particularly bad since so many of our direct seeded crops were planted late and then didn't germinate, and many of our Spring crops either got too hot and bolted (not good to eat) or they are still sitting there, not producing enough yet (I'm lookin' at you broccoli and cauliflower!). Seriously we have about 3/4 of an acre of just Broccoli and that is about 10,000 plants and we only harvested about 150 lbs this week and a little less than that last week. We've never seen anything like this! But optimistically, the Summer crops are looking good... corn is tasseling, tomatoes are reaching for the sky, peppers have little baby peppers, eggplants have baby eggplants, and melon plants are stretching their vines all over the place. And the potatoes are looking so amazing! We are doing a "crop swap" with a fellow CSA farmer and he said salad mix and carrots will be ready in a few weeks.

Our apologies again for the less than stellar box. We want you to know that these are not our standards and we strive for much better... We feel confident that we will get there and things will get better as the season moves along. The weather has really thrown us and the plants for a loop, compounded by the move and things discussed in previous blogs. It's part of the risk involved in CSA. No one ever wants to have the risk become a reality, but here it is. Hopefully we will be able to make it up to you as the season progresses. Being a member pays off over the long haul (many seasons). Farming is a marathon race, and a lifetime of investment.