WEEK 24 - October 21
Tandy Winter Squash (sweet when baked)
Hakurei Turnips
Beefsteak or Cherry Tomatoes
Hot Peppers
Garlic (enough for a few weeks)
Sweet Potatoes
Mild Peppers
Romaine Lettuce
Baby Choi
Dill
Black Spanish or Watermelon Radish
...and this wraps up the 2021 Weekly Greens CSA season. Thank you all so much!
Tandy Winter Squash (sweet when baked)
Hakurei Turnips
Beefsteak or Cherry Tomatoes
Hot Peppers
Garlic (enough for a few weeks)
Sweet Potatoes
Mild Peppers
Romaine Lettuce
Baby Choi
Dill
Black Spanish or Watermelon Radish
...and this wraps up the 2021 Weekly Greens CSA season. Thank you all so much!
WEEK 23 - October 14
Scallions
Potatoes
New England Sugar Pumpkins
Mint
Watermelon Radishes
Green Peppers
Kohlrabi
Spinach
Dill
Hakurei Turnips
Red Head Lettuce
Pea Shoots
Garlic
WEEK 22 - October 7
Head Lettuce
Arugula
Red Radishes
Green/Sweet Peppers
Yellow Beans
Tomatillos
Spanish Black Radishes
Kale
Red Potatoes
Poblanos
Hot Peppers
Garlic
This is the time of the year that we relish. The hotness of summer is behind us, the mosquitos that threatened to carry us off this year are mostly (but not quite) gone for another season, and the last seedings of the year are in the ground. The task list, while still long, doesn't feel as pressing since some of the activities that are being added to it can be done either next week or next month. We are looking in our mailboxes each day with expectations that 2022 seed catalogs will be arriving soon and the whole planning process will start again.
The lettuce and other greens are really starting to roll in with the cooler night temperatures and we feel like we can work forever in these beautiful fall days. While the tomatoes have wrapped up for the year, the peppers always push later into the fall than any of our other warm season crops. They, along with beans and tomatillos are giving us some of the last tastes of summer sunshine this week. They are slowing down, but as long as they continue to produce we'll include them in future weeks. We are slowing down as well, but are looking forward filling your boxes a few more times this year.
WEEK 21 - September 30
Mizuna
Yellow Beans
Dill
Beefsteak Tomato
Hakurei Turnips
Basil
Baby Pac Choi
Garlic
Mixed Peppers
Kale
White Onion
The sweet, cool season crops are starting to come back with these nights in the high 40s. Those of you that were with us in the spring know that the Hakurei turnips are crunchy like radishes but sweet and tender with minimal to no heat. They are always an early and late season favorite with delicious greens as well. We are hanging onto peppers, tomatoes, and basil as long as we can but the same temperatures that make the cool season crops thrive don't do any favors for the warm season ones. We paired the yellow beans and dill as a side dish with a nice pad of butter with dinner last night and savored those soon to be gone favors. The baby choi are crisp and tender too and love a quick dance in a wok or pan with soy sauce. We spent some time in the last week cleaning out (and cleaning up) the greenhouse and for the first time since early March there is nothing growing in it. We are planning to seed some more micro greens early next week but a cleaned up and organized greenhouse means the end of the season is nearing. We still have three more weeks remaining of the CSA season but we are already starting to think about seed ordering, crop planning, what we have learned, what we will do different, and what unknowns will come with the 2022 season.
Mizuna
Yellow Beans
Dill
Beefsteak Tomato
Hakurei Turnips
Basil
Baby Pac Choi
Garlic
Mixed Peppers
Kale
White Onion
The sweet, cool season crops are starting to come back with these nights in the high 40s. Those of you that were with us in the spring know that the Hakurei turnips are crunchy like radishes but sweet and tender with minimal to no heat. They are always an early and late season favorite with delicious greens as well. We are hanging onto peppers, tomatoes, and basil as long as we can but the same temperatures that make the cool season crops thrive don't do any favors for the warm season ones. We paired the yellow beans and dill as a side dish with a nice pad of butter with dinner last night and savored those soon to be gone favors. The baby choi are crisp and tender too and love a quick dance in a wok or pan with soy sauce. We spent some time in the last week cleaning out (and cleaning up) the greenhouse and for the first time since early March there is nothing growing in it. We are planning to seed some more micro greens early next week but a cleaned up and organized greenhouse means the end of the season is nearing. We still have three more weeks remaining of the CSA season but we are already starting to think about seed ordering, crop planning, what we have learned, what we will do different, and what unknowns will come with the 2022 season.
WEEK 20 - September 23
Arugula
Green Beans
Heirloom Tomato
Kohlrabi
Sweet Potato Leaves
Mixed Peppers
Radish Microgreens
Brussels Sprouts Greens
Sunflower Shoots
Baby Eggplant
Garlic
White Onion
We are officially welcoming in fall with a big share this week that straddles the seasons. The peppers, greens beans, heirloom tomato, and baby eggplant are reminding us that just last week the temperatures were in the high 80s, while the arugula and Brussels sprouts greens (that can be cooked like collards or other hardy greens) are telling us that looking forward over the final four weeks of 2021 shares we will be cooling down and comforting up with more greens and roots. As of yesterday, the last potatoes are out of the ground and will be finding their way into your shares. It feels great to have them tucked away in the walk-in cooler! We also have a rare item this week in the sweet potato leaves. There are a lot of recipes we have found online, most with influence from the Philippines and SE Asia. Many of the ones that we have been looking at include shrimp paste or fresh shrimp and we are definitely leaning towards cooking them in a coconut shrimp curry this week. One of our farm crew tried them last week both sautéed and boiled and her recommendation is to stick to sautéing them instead of boiling. Feel free to send over an email or post a recipe on our Facebook page if you know a dish to make with these already or find something that you really like do make with them this week.
WEEK 19 - September 16
(First Week of Fall Shares)
Beets
Head Lettuce
Potatoes
Baby Leeks
Picnic Peppers
Kale
Fennel
Carmen Peppers
Bell Peppers
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
Shishito Peppers
Heirloom Tomato
Tomatillos
Welcome to the first week of the fall share season!
We are starting to see the cool temperature loving crops coming back into the shares with head lettuce and fennel this week. BUT, the tomatoes and peppers said they aren't ready to be done just yet and have continued to grow and ripen in these still warm days. Those warm season crops are slowing down but aren't quite down and out. We planted the beets with our Paper Pot Transplanter this time around and are really happy with the results with the correct spacing and ease of weeding making for some nice roots. Potatoes and cool evenings have us thinking about stews and the picnic, bell, and carmen peppers have us thinking about weekend chili. Like when the spring moves into summer, these times of transition between seasons are always so much fun for us to harvest and pack since we get to see and share the crops that straddle those seasons as well.
WEEK 18 - September 9
Tomatillos
Cherry Tomatoes
Kale Bunches
Hot Pepper Mix
Jalapeños
Carmen Peppers
Heirloom Tomato
Colored Bell Pepper
White Onion
Poblanos
We are sending out the last weekly share of the summer session with a plan for you to make salsa verde. This is one of our favorite (and simplest) things to make every year and nothing beats its flavor when paired with fajitas alongside a Paloma or Margarita. To make it, peel the papery outside of the tomatillos then roast or grill them with the white onion, the poblanos, and the jalapeños. Once they are all softened add them to a blender and blend until your desired thickness. Add lime and salt to taste and enjoy. You can refrigerate it but honestly, it is so good to eat it when it is still warm.
We are looking forward to the final six weeks of the 2021 CSA season but would like to take a moment here to say "Thank You!" to our summer only (both 12 week and 12 week every other) shares that finish this week. Thank you for joining us for the past few months, trusting us to grow your vegetables, and sharing this season with us. We appreciate you and all of your kind words, your personal emails about what you loved each week, your financial support, and your patience in a year filled with so much rain. We wish you health, safety, and good food.
WEEK 17 - September 2
Cherry Tomatoes
Baby braising greens
Hot Pepper Mix (Serrano, Pasilla, Lemon, Paprika, Cayenne, Purple Cayenne)
German Butterball Potatoes
Garlic
Carmen Pepper
Heirloom Tomato
Kohlrabi
Green Pepper
White Onions
Kale bunches
At times last week it seemed like it wasn't going to happen, but we made it through that heat. Early morning and late evening harvests, a lot of irrigation, multiple bottles of mosquito repellant, and sending our farm crew home at noon/giving them a couple days off helped with everyone's health, well-being, an overall attitude. Now, all of a sudden, it feels so much like fall with the lower temperatures, mornings in sweatshirts, and warm season crops that are all of a sudden visually slowing down over just a few days. We held off over the past two weeks on getting spinach, head lettuce, salad mix, pac choi, turnips, Swiss chard, radishes, and other fall crops in the ground since they really don't like it warm, let alone as hot as it was. Now the plan is dig-in, make a final planting push, and get those crops the ground ASAP over the next three to four days so they will find there way to into the fall share boxes.
WEEK 16 - August 26
Sweet Corn
Poblanos
Green Head Lettuce
Red Bell Pepper
Onions
Fennel
Cherry Tomatoes
Criolla de Cocina Pepper (Sweet)
Cucumber
Shishito Peppers
Braising/Salad MIx
Heirloom Tomato
Radish Microgreens
Jalapeños
Sweet Corn
Poblanos
Green Head Lettuce
Red Bell Pepper
Onions
Fennel
Cherry Tomatoes
Criolla de Cocina Pepper (Sweet)
Cucumber
Shishito Peppers
Braising/Salad MIx
Heirloom Tomato
Radish Microgreens
Jalapeños
WEEK 15 - August 19
Sweet Corn
Green Beans
Heirloom Tomato
White Onions
Mixed Hot Peppers
Cherry Tomatoes
Carmen Pepper (Sweet!)
Baby Leeks
Cucumbers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Zucchini
Garlic
Sweet Corn! Sweet Corn! Sweet Corn!
The harbinger of summer has arrived and, like last week for the beans , we are so excited about the corn! There are more beans this week too along with the summer staples of tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers. With school starting right around the corner and a greenhouse full of transplants, we're also feeling a tinge of fall this week. The baby leeks are the first sign that those months are coming as we roll into what is the best time of year - when summer crops are still producing and the fall crops are just starting to creeping in. These (relatively) cooler nights have us shifting from chopping the garlic for pastas to roasting it whole to spread on crusty bread with olive oil and salt. Sometimes that's the best dinner at the end of a long day before falling into bed on our farms. While we are starting into those tastes of fall we are also enjoying flavors only the summer can bring. With that in mind we're making gazpacho this week (especially since we just got a new blender). We'll blend the cucumbers, white onion, beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes, Carmen pepper, garlic, olive oil and sherry vinegar with a good dose of salt to balance, then top it with a dollop of sour cream of creme fraiche. Let's enjoy peak summer while it's here and while we also start to get excited about fall roots and greens that are coming just a few weeks down the calendar.
WEEK 14 - August 12
Green Beans!
White Onions
Chives
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Heirloom Tomatoes
Bell Pepper
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Garlic
Tuscan Kale
Green Beans are in! After partial flooding in two different plantings on more than one occasion Thread Creek Farm has come through with them for this week's share. This is one of the best parts, on our end, of having our three farms working together as part of Weekly Greens CSA. When one or two of us has issues with a crop, the third one is usually there to come through. We all really appreciate that part (along with many others) of working together. The pepper white onion, and zucchini will make the perfect sautéed or grilled filling. Feel free to add some meat in with that but charring the zucchini and adding it to the peppers and onion adds so much flavor too. Of course, you can't have fajitas without some fresh diced, beefsteak tomatoes! The heirlooms and cherry tomatoes are really producing this year (they produce well each year but they seem to especially be cranking out the fruit in 2021) and we are enjoying Caprese salads while we can. We usually don't seed basil this late in the year but we just put in a late seeding to see if we can push into the fall with it inside a hoophouse. If that works, we are planning to be eating caprese and fresh pesto into the middle of fall. After a challenging year with our first planting of cucumbers in 2020, we're happy to report this year's planting is just continuing to produce week after week. Nothing is quite as refreshing as cucumber water and, if you drink alcohol we've also been known to drop a slice of cucumber as a garnish into a gin and tonic (which is perfect for these hot, hot days).
WEEK 13 - August 5
Zucchini
Collard Greens
Poblano Peppers
Salad Mix
Heirloom Tomatoes
Potatoes
Hot Pepper Mix
Cucumbers
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Garlic
Shishito Peppers
Red Bell Pepper
Jalapeños
Cherry Tomatoes
There is A LOT of summer packed into this week's share! From all the tomatoes (coring and freezing them whole in a ziptop bag is a great option if you don't get to eating all of them and, trust us, your winter meal making will thank you for doing just that!) to all the peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini. The summer fruit is really coming on strong. On our end, these days are some of our best of the year. They are filled with long harvest lists, many hands picking all the different colored crops, and moments laughing about seeding many of these them back in March and April. There are always some dicey times every year where we negotiate too low of temperatures or insect and disease pressure, and while we may have lost some plants along the way this year to too much rain and flooding, we are now at a point where the summer harvests are rolling in and looking plentiful. We still have some new summer crops coming soon but hope that you are enjoying all this goodness while it is in the peak of season. August is shaping up to be a month filled with bounty and we couldn't feel more proud to share it all with you.
WEEK 12 - JULY 29
Potatoes
Cooking Greens
Cherry Tomatoes
Cabbage
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Garlic
Baby Head Lettuces
Broccoli Microgreens
Fresh Shallots
WEEK 11 - JULY 22
Shishito Peppers
Cucumbers
Fresh Garlic
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Mint
Potatoes
Fresh Sweet Onions
Basil
Kale
Heirloom Tomatoes
Parsley
Cherry Tomatoes
This week's share is packed full with summer flavors! We are most excited about the shishito peppers this week. Those of you who had them last year will find the hot ones here (every 1 in 4 to 5 peppers) has a good deal more heat than the 'Mellow Star' ones we grew last year. Last year's were completely mild so we wanted to bring a little bite into them. For those of you who haven't had them before, the most common way to cook them is to toss them in vegetable (or another neutral tasting) oil then either char them on a grill or in a very hot cast iron skillet (or frying pan if you don't have a cast iron skillet). Then top them with some coarse salt and dip them in soy sauce or teriyaki before eating them whole (minus the stem). We were out at a restaurant last night that had a cilantro creama with their's and it was also a nice switch up from how we've had them in the past. They go great as a snack by themselves or with anything grilled. The cucumbers are really starting to come on now so expect them in boxes going throughout the summer. We jumped the gun a bit with some warm temperatures in early May and planted earlier than we usually do. The cucumbers (and zucchini) took a bit of a hit during the three cold nights of around Memorial Day, but we've nursed them back to health and they are finally starting to produce. Watch for zucchini coming soon as too! The onions and garlic are fresh (not cured) so please store them in your refrigerator. We are just starting the garlic harvest and, while we intend you keep you stocked with garlic into the fall, it's still three or four weeks until they are cured enough to be able to be stored on your counter or in your pantry. This will be the last parsley until the late summer/early fall (we are just about to see another round) so we would suggest making chimichurri, our favorite sauce, this week. There are plenty of recipes online to find/try, it's another way to put the garlic to great use, and it goes with all things grilled.
Shishito Peppers
Cucumbers
Fresh Garlic
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Mint
Potatoes
Fresh Sweet Onions
Basil
Kale
Heirloom Tomatoes
Parsley
Cherry Tomatoes
This week's share is packed full with summer flavors! We are most excited about the shishito peppers this week. Those of you who had them last year will find the hot ones here (every 1 in 4 to 5 peppers) has a good deal more heat than the 'Mellow Star' ones we grew last year. Last year's were completely mild so we wanted to bring a little bite into them. For those of you who haven't had them before, the most common way to cook them is to toss them in vegetable (or another neutral tasting) oil then either char them on a grill or in a very hot cast iron skillet (or frying pan if you don't have a cast iron skillet). Then top them with some coarse salt and dip them in soy sauce or teriyaki before eating them whole (minus the stem). We were out at a restaurant last night that had a cilantro creama with their's and it was also a nice switch up from how we've had them in the past. They go great as a snack by themselves or with anything grilled. The cucumbers are really starting to come on now so expect them in boxes going throughout the summer. We jumped the gun a bit with some warm temperatures in early May and planted earlier than we usually do. The cucumbers (and zucchini) took a bit of a hit during the three cold nights of around Memorial Day, but we've nursed them back to health and they are finally starting to produce. Watch for zucchini coming soon as too! The onions and garlic are fresh (not cured) so please store them in your refrigerator. We are just starting the garlic harvest and, while we intend you keep you stocked with garlic into the fall, it's still three or four weeks until they are cured enough to be able to be stored on your counter or in your pantry. This will be the last parsley until the late summer/early fall (we are just about to see another round) so we would suggest making chimichurri, our favorite sauce, this week. There are plenty of recipes online to find/try, it's another way to put the garlic to great use, and it goes with all things grilled.
WEEK 10 - JULY 15
Cherry Tomatoes (!)
Heirloom Tomato (!)
Tri-colored New Potatoes
Baby Lettuce Mix
Hakurei Turnips
Poblano Peppers
Romaine and Red Leaf Lettuce Mix
Jalapeño Peppers
This Week 10 share is popping with color! We are so excited for the first cherry tomatoes and the first heirloom tomato of the year. There are plenty more of both of those coming (with many, many different colors of heirlooms) plus red beefsteak tomatoes soon too. The first potatoes of the year are looking beautiful in their yellow, red, and blue hues and we are loving the sheen coming off the two types of peppers. The Hakurei turnips always make us smile and we're happy to have them back for the first time since Weeks 1 and 2. AKA "Japanese Salad" Turnips, they are sweet and crunchy with a great texture, especially when sliced thin and eaten raw. If you are wanting to cook them, a quick sauté with the greens added in at the last minute is the way to go. We couldn't resist having some lettuce to pair with the tomatoes and are looking forward to sending some basil into your kitchens as more and more tomatoes ripen. Caprese salads are on our weekly meal planning list (usually they show up at least twice a week from late July through mid-September) so you can already be thinking ahead about those starting next week. We are also trying some new-to-us lettuces that we are just planting to fill the BLT menu of August. Lettuce usually doesn't love the heat but with these types showing promise in trials during the heat of summer we're looking forward to getting them in the ground and watching (and tasting) them as they grow.
Cherry Tomatoes (!)
Heirloom Tomato (!)
Tri-colored New Potatoes
Baby Lettuce Mix
Hakurei Turnips
Poblano Peppers
Romaine and Red Leaf Lettuce Mix
Jalapeño Peppers
This Week 10 share is popping with color! We are so excited for the first cherry tomatoes and the first heirloom tomato of the year. There are plenty more of both of those coming (with many, many different colors of heirlooms) plus red beefsteak tomatoes soon too. The first potatoes of the year are looking beautiful in their yellow, red, and blue hues and we are loving the sheen coming off the two types of peppers. The Hakurei turnips always make us smile and we're happy to have them back for the first time since Weeks 1 and 2. AKA "Japanese Salad" Turnips, they are sweet and crunchy with a great texture, especially when sliced thin and eaten raw. If you are wanting to cook them, a quick sauté with the greens added in at the last minute is the way to go. We couldn't resist having some lettuce to pair with the tomatoes and are looking forward to sending some basil into your kitchens as more and more tomatoes ripen. Caprese salads are on our weekly meal planning list (usually they show up at least twice a week from late July through mid-September) so you can already be thinking ahead about those starting next week. We are also trying some new-to-us lettuces that we are just planting to fill the BLT menu of August. Lettuce usually doesn't love the heat but with these types showing promise in trials during the heat of summer we're looking forward to getting them in the ground and watching (and tasting) them as they grow.
WEEK 9 - JULY 8
Snow Peas
Lettuce Mix
Kale
Endive
Scallions
Green Head Lettuce
Cilantro
Garlic Scapes
Basil
Green Bell Pepper
The first of the main summer vegetable is here with the first green bell pepper of the season. These plants are loaded with flowers and growing fruit along side many other types of peppers (some hot, some REALLY hot, some not at all, some in-between, and some smoky) coming on. While lettuce is not a fan of the hot weather, we have chosen some varieties that have been bred for higher temperatures and humidity that are in this week's share as well. We are just about to start harvesting all the garlic (our target date every year is +/- July 15th) so we still have scapes to deliver on that garlic flavor before we start pulling the bulbs in the next 7-10 days. The endive is a "bitter green" and while you could eat it raw (we know plenty of people who do that), we really like it cooked/wilted. As you go looking for recipes for that make sure to search under "curly endive" so that you don't get recipes for "Belgian endive" (which is a totally different, but also delicious, vegetable). It does great with the addition of some fat and most of the recipes will have either an egg or bacon to add that in.
WEEK 8 - JULY 1
Snow Peas
Beets
Parsley
Mint
Radishes
Lettuce Mix
Collard Greens
Iceberg Lettuce
Scallions
Microgreens
Welp, it rained...like we asked it to...and then it just kept coming. We feel fortunate to not have terrible flooding right now on our farms or in our houses. The fields are definitely wet, we have standing water in some places, our potatoes are not overly happy, and a few of the hoop houses had some water flowing through them that has shrunk to large puddles. On the whole, things are alright after the storms this week. We hope you are all safe and as dry as can be. Some friends have flooded basements and others have flooded fields and we hope for everyone that is dealing with that dries out over the next few days and their houses and farms get put back together.
Despite the rain we are really excited for this week's share! A big welcome goes out to the Clarkston and Fenton every other week summer shares that are joining us for the first time this week. The snow peas are a labor of love to grow and pick and we are all huge fans of beets (both the roots AND the greens!). As we head into the heat of the summer months the lettuce will start to fade away (although we are trying a few "heat tolerant" varieties to see how they do in July and August), so they are worth savoring now. We hope to continue to have them and will push them up against the hot summer temperatures as far as we can as long as they taste delicious. We are seeing more and more cherry tomatoes start to turn orange and red this week and more and more cucumbers and zucchini fruit starting to grow too. They have made it through the cold and warm and cold and dry and wet and wild weather in the first half of the year. We are looking forward to continuing to pack herbs and greens on top of the summer bounty coming soon.
WEEK 7 - JUNE 24
(First Summer Season Share)
Lettuce Mix
Cilantro
Radishes
Garlic Scapes
Swiss Chard
Parsley
Red Russian Kale
Radish Microgreens
Welcome to the first summer share for all of our spring share holders the have been with us the past six weeks. Welcome to week one for everyone joining us this week for the first time this year! We are always excited when we hit the beginning of summer shares (week 7) because that also means that Thread Creek Farm joins the production party on our end. They have the least hoophouse space (so less early season crop protection) but the most field space of our three farms, so it works out great for them to come onboard now. They are your amazing sweet corn growers, your fall broccoli and cabbage growers, and also provide the majority of your potatoes (along with crops we all grow like leafy greens, lettuce, peppers, and more). The gang is all here for the next 18 weeks!
Despite the cold on Monday and Tuesday (we had 39 degrees Monday morning!) all the crops are moving forward and seem to grow overnight every night right now. Most of our summer plantings are in with only a few more heat loving crops to tuck into the soil late this week or early next as it dries out a bit. We also reached out longest day of the year this week which is the trigger for onions to start bulbing up. We are growing Walla Walla sweets this year (which have us dreaming about homemade onion rings in late July), along with red, yellow, white ones too in addition to french shallots. We like to look out over the onion field (after we have weeded it, of course) and think about all that flavor just waiting to join your upcoming meals.
WEEK 6 - JUNE 17
Caraflex Cabbage
Red Head Lettuce
Microgreens
Mixed Kale
Garlic Scapes
Cilantro
Kohlrabi
Collard Greens
Welcome to the last week of the spring session of Weekly Greens CSA! We hope everyone has enjoyed all the green goodness that our farms have to offer these first six weeks of the season. We know everyone loves July and August on the farm when what so many people think of as farm produce (tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and more) really start rolling in. We do too, plus we love growing those crops, but we also really enjoy May and the first two to three weeks of June. This week is we start harvest some of the faster, early summer crops that you'll find in this week's share. It's a time when we plan for new types of greens, like Collards, but we also see crops like kohlrabi and the first cabbages too. The Caraflex cabbage (the one with the pointed top) has become a favorite for all of us the past few years as it's quicker to grow than the round cabbages and has a beautiful crunch and flavor. We're definitely thinking of making Reubens with fresh coleslaw this week made from both the cabbage and shredded kohlrabi (the one that looks like a Martian spaceship). We can't say no to tacos when we are harvesting cilantro (we really can't say no to them anytime, but especially when cilantro is in our CSA boxes). This time of the year we say goodbye to spinach until the cool fall weather comes back and a see you soon to the summer crops that are just around the bend.
WEEK 5 - JUNE 10
Beets
Garlic Scapes
Cooking Greens
Scallions
Radishes
Microgreens
Spinach
Arugula
The rain finally came...and wow did it come. We're happy we have some moisture in the soil and are continuing to plant, plant, plant like we always do the first few weeks of June. We get so excited this time of year as we start to see the flowers of the warm season crops turn into tiny fruits that we know we'll be harvesting not too far into the future. The garlic scapes are also a farm favorite that you can use the same way you would garlic, but they have a much more mild flavor. This week and next week will most likely be the only weeks that we get to enjoy this short lived, early garlic treasure. We pulled the first garlic bulbs today to check on how they are doing and are happy to see the cloves starting to divide, which means fresh garlic is only about a month away! This is the last arugula you'll see for a few months but have no fear as we have plenty of other leafy and salad crops planted and growing. In the upcoming weeks you'll see radicchio, endive, loose leaf lettuce, and more baby salad to fill those salad cravings. For tonight, we're listening to some more soft rain fall out our front door and are planning and organizing farm needs and activities for the next two days.
WEEK 4 - JUNE 3
Basil
Lettuce Mix
Scallions
Romaine Lettuce
Green Garlic
Microgreens
Cooking Greens
Spinach
Well, those weekend temperatures were something completely different than what we were thinking about last Wednesday night. The spring greens still reign and proved again how much cold they can take. While those were the coldest Memorial Day weekend nights any of us can remember the lettuce, spinach, and cooking greens just brushed them off and kept right on going until they made it into your CSA box this week. We grow scallions almost year-round but we really can't get enough of them in the late spring/early summer. We've been topping baked potatoes, adding them to scrambled eggs and omelettes (our favorite way is to add them to the eggs before they go into the pan so they cook right into them), and chopping them into our salads all week.
On the other end of the spectrum some of the early warm season crops we had put out didn't fare as well. Nothing died, but the zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, and, especially the sweet potatoes, are not very happy with us. We've been giving them plenty of water the past few days and with the 90 degree days this weekend they should start to bounce back soon. The tomatoes inside our hoophouses are starting to set fruit and we've nibbled on a few of the first cherry tomatoes that are just ripening. We are still a bit off from having enough of those to fill more than a handful, but are so happy that tomato's partner in crime, basil, made it through the cold. Although just a little harvest (don't worry, there will be plenty as the summer comes on), it's the first real taste of summer and makes us want to make some pasta, tear the leaves on top of it, and breath in the Mediterranean.
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WEEK 3 - MAY 27
Red Head Lettuce
Cooking Greens (Swiss Chard and Kale mix)
Lettuce Mix
Arugula
Chives (with blossoms)
Microgreens
Spinach
Green Garlic
Romaine Lettuce
This week's share is what spring (and our Weekly Greens name) is all about. Warm days - ok they have been downright HOT for this time of year - and relatively cool nights make these crops grow. Many of the lettuces seem to go from inches tall to filled out and forming heads in a matter of a just a few weeks. The short season of green garlic is already close to being over (only 1 or 2 more weeks) and this will be the last arugula until later in the year. We kept those things in mind tonight as we made arugula pecan pesto with green garlic and farfalle (bow-tie) pasta along with a red leaf lettuce salad with chive blossom oil for dinner.
For better or worse, this weather and the recent rains really make the weeds grow too. As late May makes its way towards mid-June, we will spend a large majority of our time keeping weeds knocked down with a variety of hand and tractor tools. The mantra this time of year is weed, weed, weed because weeding the ones that have germinated by disturbing the soil or the ones that have just emerged by cutting them off just below the soil line pays huge dividends down the road when most of our time shifts from planting to harvesting. A small weed with two or three leaves is way easier to deal with than a 3-6 ft one with a stem that seems like a tree trunk.
We are also busy planting and seeding away as fast as we can. Red beets, fennel, and cabbage were all planted this week and we are seeing some of the first cucumber, tomato, and pepper blossoms in the hoophouses. We are looking forward to getting zucchini, hot and specialty peppers, and field tomatoes planted outside next week.
WEEK 2 - MAY 20
Red Buttercrunch Lettuce
Salad Mix with Spinach
Green Garlic
Hakurei Turnips
Microgreens
Lettuce Mix
White Radishes
Welcome to week 2 for our every week shareholders and the first week for our every other week supporters with Fenton and Clarkston pickups! The pace on our farms is really starting to pick up and from past experience we know it can easily be 7 or 8 weeks into the CSA season without us blinking. We always look forward to the start of the season and then it always seems to move so fast.
It was a planting party everywhere this week with outdoor peppers, eggplant, zucchini and more going in and sweet potato slips arriving today. Our goal is to get those sweet potatoes in the ground by Friday. We may even have some wishful thinking bouncing around in our heads that they could get in late Thursday night as the sun is setting so they can get established then off and growing when the summer heat really hits. They'll grow all summer long and be harvested just before the cool temperatures of fall settle around our farms. Tomatoes are getting pruned and clipped inside our hoophouses while peas are being trellised as they grow. We should start to see some of the first white pea flowers opening soon. Seeding green and yellow beans is on deck and the fields are quickly turning from prepped tan soil to fields of green. All the spring crops are putting on growth so quickly that even a few employees noticed a difference coming back from having last Saturday and Sunday off.
WEEK 1 - MAY 13
Head Lettuce
Arugula
Radishes
Microgreens
Spring Salad Mix
Scallions
Cooking Greens (Kale and Swiss Chard Blend)
Hakurei Turnips
Pea Shoots
Welcome to week 1 of the Weekly Greens CSA 2021 Season! It is great to see familiar names on our shareholder list and to see many new additions this year too. Each Wednesday (or every two Wednesdays for those with every other week shares) we'll post this list and a picture so that you can see what's in the box, start to plan some meals for the week ahead, and get as excited as we are to eat all this freshness.
This first week is always so exciting for us. All the months of reflecting on the past season, thinking, planning, and planting finally comes down to harvesting and packing. We are glad that you have chosen us as your farmers and we are excited to share all that we have in store for you. Thank you for your financial support (it means the world early in the season when we have many expenses for seeds, labor, greenhouse heat, and equipment repair), your trust in us, and your willingness to believe in local businesses and local food. From our hearts to yours and our farms to your kitchens, we are so excited to get this season started!
