What's in the box? 

medium share

Same in small shares, but lesser amounts

• salad mix
• green beans
• broccoli or cauliflower
• summer squash
• zucchini
• cucumbers
• green top carrots
• sweet onions
• kale
• basil
• heirloom tomatoes
• bell peppers

Notes on the box... 

We wash the Salad Mix, but suggest you give it another wash before eating just to be sure it's 100% dirt free.

Some of the Cucumbers may be a little large.  We culled out the largest ones (they were growing faster than we could pick them!), but there were some on the large size that still tasted wonderful.  Though you may want to scoop out the seeds if you find them unappealing.  The easiest way to do this is to cut them in half lengthwise and run a spoon down the center making a cucumber boat.  Easy.  There are quite a few this week.  We have been putting them on sandwiches, making cucumber water (just put some slices into your water and put it in the fridge for a few hours until it's nice and cold and so refreshing), making refrigerator pickles, adding them to every salad, enjoying them sliced in the morning with our eggs, and eating them whole fora  quick snack.  We really love them around here! 

Please remember to remove the tops from your carrots for the best storage.  If you don't get to it right away and find your carrots a little bendy, you can try soaking them in cold water for a half hour to see if they crisp up again. 

Sweet onions are sweet and mild.  They are good for fresh eating on burgers and in salads.  They are not cured (dried for long term storage) so you should keep them in your refrigerator.

  Bell peppers are here!  Hooray!  They will be coming weekly and as they ripen we will send red and yellow ones.  You can expect to see them until frost, so add them to your stir fry and with abandon!

It's the first of the Heirloom tomatoes!!  They will be coming on heavier and you will get more soon.  The first ones are so special and loved.  Best eaten all on their own with maybe a little salt to let the flavor shine.  Don't put tomatoes in the fridge unless you plan on cooking them. The cold makes the texture mealy and can lessen the flavor, too.  Store tomatoes at room temperature on their shoulders (that's stem end facing down). 

Recipes 

From members Charles and Shannon, a suggestion for what to do with your cabbage if you still have some from last week.  They said it's really good! Worlds Best Braised Green Cabbage

Ben's Everything Easy Salad

Ben took all the produce that was sitting on the counter and made a beautiful salad out of it.  So Summery and tasty.  Finely chopped broccoli or cauliflower would be nice in it as well.  You could serve it with your salad mix, too. 

• zuchinni or summer squash, diced
• bell pepper, diced
• basil, cut into thin strips
• sweet onion tops, cut into thin strips
• carrots, grated
• tomato, diced
• dress with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

I will ill be testing this Meatless Greens Meatballs recipe this weekend using kale and carrot tops!  Wish me luck! 

  Zuchinni Pizza Crust  requires pizza stone

  Chilled Cucumber and Herb Soup 

Refrigerator Pickled Green Beans

Spicy Refrigerator Pickled Summer Squash and Zucchini
 Last season I was making pickles and had some leftover brine.  I sliced up some zucchini and summer squash and pickled them.  They were wonderful! 

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles
 For all those cucumbers!

Cheese Share

This week we have Antares (the cows milk Manchego) again.  It was made in a different wheel size for this batch.   I like this cheese on a fresh vegetable sandwich piled high with cukes, tomato, lettuce, and bell pepper.  I also like it on pizza and on its own for a snack.  Note that some of the wheels weighed less and so some people got a smaller wedge than others.  I tried to group the smaller wedges by drop site and made a note of who got smaller wedges so that I can give bigger ones later on.  Don't want anyone to miss out on cheese! 

You may have also seen on facebook or instagram the picture of the fresh mozzarella that I pulled for the farmers market.  It was well liked and I want to deliver it to the cheese shares, but I need to figure out how to get it delivered to you without the brine spilling everywhere or the mozzarella getting squished!  I also need a lot more practice at pulling so that I can make it more quickly without so many that don't pass quality control...  Keep your fingers crossed, or if you can't hold out, come to the Linden Hills Farmer's market where we will have the fresh mozzarella in limited quantities off and on in the coming weeks.

On the farm...

We harvested a beautiful crop of garlic this week.  It's curing in the barn and we will start adding heads to your box when it dries and gets cleaned up.  YAY! 

Ahhhh...  This time of year is so nice!  Everything is coming ripe and looking beautiful and vibrant.  Not many pests have found us and we've been getting enough rain.  There's still too much to do to stay on top of all the weeds, but we are happy to have a nice abundance to put in your boxes!  We hope that you are enjoying everything and making your way through the veggies before the next weeks delivery arrives. 

I have to say, seeing pictures on Instagram of the meals that you make with the veggies that we have grown is one of the best treats we get!  We are so grateful for all the feedback we are getting from our members. Here's a look at some of the lovely pictures of some truly yummy looking food that you all shared with us.  Please keep it coming!  It's really fun and motivating for your farmers to know about these amazing meals that you are putting love into for yourselves, your families, and your friends!  THANK YOU! 

And now the pictures from the farm...

bee pollinating squash flower

Shaq harvesting squash... just kidding, that's just Josh in a Shaq jersey ;) 

bringing in the harvest

Farm fun!  Kelsie trying out Otto's trike

Dana washing salad mix

happy farmer!

grow little melon, GROW!  coming your way in about a month

pizza Friday on the farm

Next Week

• cukes
• summer squash and zuchinni
• tomatoes
• bell peppers
• sweet onions
• carrots
• celery?
• new potatoes??

What's in the box?

Medium Share

• green beans
• green top carrots
• spring onions
• cauliflower
• cabbage
• zucchini/ Summer squash
• cucumbers
• fennel
• head lettuce

Small Share

• same as above, but in smaller quantities

 Notes on the box...  

The Green Beans were picked just after a very heavy rain and were splashed with dirt.  We don't wash them, so you should give them a good rinse right before using them.  

The tops should be removed from the carrots as soon as you get them home.  The carrots will get rubbery if you leave the tops on.  Remove the tops and store the carrots in a plastic bag.  The tops are edible, as well if you need more greens in your life!  They can be blanched and made into a pesto or used in place of parsley in some recipes.  Taste it and see if you like it.

Fennel may be new to some people.  It was well received last season, so we thought we would send it out again this year.  The bulb, stems, and fronds are all edible.  I suggest removing the tops from the bulb for ease of storage.  Nibble the leaves to get an idea of the flavor of the rest of the plant.  It's like anise.  Check out this tutorial on how to prep fennel from Bon Appetite.

Cheese Share  

This is a cheese we are calling moon shadow.  It will mostly be aged to a dry jack, but we thought we would have you try it young.  All of our cheeses are young right now since our cows freshened in March and April and our facility was just licensed in May.  This cheese has the characteristic lactic tang that comes with younger cheeses and that mellows out over time.  You can enhance the bitey tang by pairing it with an IPA, or you can balance it with a farmhouse ale, a fruity chardoney, dried apricots, or smoked fish.  Or you can keep it simple and make a great cheese sauce for your cauliflower or broccoli!  Let us know what you think!

Recipes

Ginger Garlic Sesame Green Beans

Rinse beans (however many you want to eat) and remove the stem ends.  Heat a Tablespoon or two of oil in a skillet or wok.  Add the beans, some minced or grated ginger and garlic and cook over high heat until bright greeen, but still crisp.  Remove from heat and drizzle with a little toasted sesame oil and salt to taste.  You may also garnish with sesame seeds.  

Fennel, Cabbage, and Cucumber Slaw

• 1/2 a cabbage, very thinly sliced 

• 3 spring onions or 1 sweet onion, very thinly sliced 

• 1 fennel bulb—very thinly sliced or grated

• 1 -2  cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly crosswise

• salt

• 1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup chopped dill or fennel leaves

• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds

Mix crème fraîche or sour cream, vinegar, dill or fennel leaves, and poppy seeds in a large bowl.  Add cabbage, onions, fennel, and cucumbers and toss to combine.  Season to taste with salt and serve.  

Quick Pickled Fennel with Carrots

• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
• 3 carrots, very thinly sliced or grated

Place the first four ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and salt.  Then pour into a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.  When the mixture is still warm, add the fennel and carrots.  Allow to steep for 20 minuets.  Drain and use or store in the fridge for later.  These pickles are great with fish, on burgers or brats, or mixed into pasta, egg, or potato salad.  

Smitten Kitchen's Green Bean Salad with Fennel 

On the Farm

This week seemed to have a lot of potential to get smashed by some harsh weather.  We prepared for the worst and were pretty sure we were getting hammered as we watched an amazing amount of lightning flashing while we hunkered down in the basement.  When we went out to see how things fared, we were relieved to see everything just where we left it.   We were really lucky, though.  We got a text from a neighboring farm saying their sweet corn was all blown over, and another farm whose packing shed was a total loss.  That punched in the gut feeling of defeat came welling up in empathy so easily.  When your livlihood is dependent on the weather, it only takes a couple of years to experience it multiple times.  When a piece of equipment breaks down or a hoophouse gets taken down by wind or snow, our brains translate the loss into how many CSA shares or bunches of carrots worth of dollars was lost.  We ponder what we could have done wrong to deserve the beating from the universe.  We ask a few big questions about The Creator, karma, our place in the world...  Then we mope around and cuss and kick dirt for a while, think about what we can do without to make up for the loss so that we stay out of the red.  Then we take a breath, look at the sky, look at the ground, try not to take it personal, and start cleaning up and getting back to work. We've been hit in the past, and we are so glad that it missed us this go 'round, but we won't take it for granted!  Looks like potential for more weather this weekend... eek!  

And along with the wind came some rain that is making all the crops grow at an incredible rate.  Everything is looking very lush and healthy and the coming weeks look like more delicious and healthy bounty.  We hope that you are enjoying your Summer and eating lots of veggies and that none of you were affected by the bad weather!  

Let us know if you have any questions and thanks for all the nice emails and comments and instagram pictures of your amazing meals!  Keep them coming!  If you have any recipes to share, please do!  

Picture time...

row cover is our pest control

someone made a nest irght on top of a head of broccoli.  Don't worry, we didn't harvest that head!

busy busy busy

can you see the pollen this bee has collected on it's legs?

We love our bees!

Our "Eat like a Farmer" members got the first taste of ripe heirloom tomatoes.

A happy farmer!

fennel!

Sam is on egg washing duty this week.  That's a lot of eggs to wash!

cheese wrapping party time!

this weeks cheese share

found some time to enjoy the glow of a bonfire with Paul and Chris from Foxtail Farm and Juli and Jason from Steady Hand Farm.  Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful summer we are having!

What's in the box? 

medium/full share

• broccoli
• cauliflower
• rainbow chard
• red leaf lettuce
• butterhead lettuce
• summer squash/ zuchinni
• mint
• green top beets
• hakuri or scarlet turnips
• tendersweet cabbage
• spring onions

small/ single share

• broccoli
• rainbow chard
• green top beets
• summer squash
• spring onions
• mint
• red leaf or butter head lettuce

Notes on the box 

Returning members will recognize the tendersweet cabbage from previous years.  It's a favorite of ours and perfect for fresh eating.  The whole head can be stored in your fridge.  Once you cut it, place the remaining portion in a plastic bag in your fridge.  Coleslaw week! 

Some of the broccoli got comically huge, so some boxes have some really large heads.  Did you know that the broccoli stems can be peeled, chopped, and cooked?  Some members say it is their favorite part of the broccoli.  Give it a try if the giant head of florrets isn't enough for you!  If you find yourself with too much broccoli, chop, blanch, and freeze it for winter months. 

The beet greens are edible, though they look a little beet up.  The globes themselves are young enough that you shouldn't need to peel them.  Slice or chop, roast, saute, bake, grill, boil, shred, or.... and eat! Tops of beets and turnips should be removed and roots (and greens if you intend to eat them) should be stored in a plastic bag in your fridge.  Add roasted beets, toasted nuts, and mint leaves to salad for gourmet greens. 

Rainbow Chard is related to beets.  So there's a stand in for your beet greens!  The stalks are edible and you can cut them up and add them first (along with onions or garlic) and then add the greens at the end of cooking and cook until they wilt down (this happens quickly and dramatically). Rainbow chard works well in recipes in place of full size spinach.  Store in a produce bag in your crisper.   Chard is great in quiches, fritatta, or egg tarts. 

Mint and be put with stems in a cup of water in your fridge and will last at least a week that way.  We like to drop a sprig into a glass of water for a refreshing treat.  It's also great in a salad with beets.  Or in cocktails.  Or iced mint tea.  If you don't think you'll get through your bunch, hang it upside down in a dark dry area and you can save the dried leaves for hot mint tea in the cooler months. 

Cheese Share 

• quark - use as you would cream cheese.  It's tangier and lighter.  We like adding it to mac and cheese and using it for cheese cake.  And we like it mixed with herbs and spread on crackers or a sandwich. 
• tomme- this is a simple farmers cheese, with a flavor that is anything but simple!  I read in one book that tomme means "made by the farmer", though I wasn't able to find that information elsewhere.  "Tomme" is mostly described as a generic cheese word that is usually followed by the name of the place where the cheese is made.  So this could be Tomme de Clear Lake or Tomme de Turnip Rock, more precisely!  I am really happy with this cheese and hope that you like it.  I have more aging so there will be more in the coming weeks. 

Recipes 

Salad Dressings:

Favorite Honey Mustard: whisk or blend together - 

• 2 Tbsp. stoneground or dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or your favorite vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. minced herb of your choice (dill or parsley are favories)
• 3/4 cup - 1 cup oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Sesame: (can be used on thinly sliced cabbage as a coleslaw) whisk or blend together

• 3/4 - 1 cup oil
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. toasteed sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1 tsp miso
• if you want to make it a peanut dressing, you can add 1 Tbsp peanut butter

Creamy Herby Dressing:

• 3 Tbsp. minced fresh herbs - basil, dill, parsley, mint, thyme, and/or oregano to your liking (you choose your favorite combination)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche, sour cream, yogurt, or 1/4 cup quark

Cabbage Slaw with Green Onion, Mint, and Parsley

• 1/2 large head green cabbage
• 3/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp chopped mint
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (or more)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar or white vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar, maple syrup,honey, or sweetener of your choice
• salt to taste (I used about 3/4 tsp. sea salt)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp.)

Thinly slice and coarsely chop slices until you have about 6 cups chopped cabbage. Wash and coarsely chop parsley and mint, and thinly slice green onions.
In small bowl or glass measuring cup, stir together the canola oil, white balsamic vinegar or white vinegar, sweetener, salt, and pepper.
Put chopped cabbage, chopped parsley and mint, and sliced green onions into salad bowl and toss to combine. Add just enough dressing to moisten salad, and toss again. (You may not need all the dressing.) Taste to see if you want more salt or pepper, then serve.

Thin Mint Smoothie

• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, tightly packed
• 1 cup milk (or soy, almond, or rice milk)
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped chard (optional but makes it healthier)
• 1 - 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 cups ice

Blend everything together and enjoy.

Cauliflower and Chard Gratin with Ham

On the farm 

Welcome to box 1 for our peak season members! Please let us know if you have any questions! 

big ol'  broccoli!

trying to get a picture of Sadie's head with the broccoli for a scale comparison, but she kept trying to eat it!

Otto harvesting mint

Onions!  with a peek of next weeks carrots

freshly pruned and trellised tomato plants

waiting patiently for tomatoes to ripen

hello beautiful cheese!

photogenic cheese

wrapped up and ready to go! 

Next week 

• green beans
• carrots
• more squash and zukes
• cukes
• lettuce
• more broccoli and cauliflower
• fennel?