CSA Week 4, 2021

CSA Week 4

This week you may have CORN!!! summer squashes, lettuce, green, wax or Romano beans, cucumbers? blueberries (they’ve been spotty so far but that should become consistent soon), or peaches something green like spinach..

Summer squash varieties to look for: green or golden zucchini, yellow straight-neck (pale yellow), pale green cousa, and the green, yellow or both pattypan/scallopini.

With all the varieties of cucumbers we grow, it’s not that outrageous to wonder what’s what. After all, the squashes and cukes are all cucurbits and share many characteristics! Naturally we grow the regular slicing cucumber, but we also grow the Kirby or pickling cuke, as well as Persian, which are very smooth skinned and almost seedless, and Lemon, which are round, yellow, tennis-ball-lookin’ things. Those are the ones people sometimes think are squash, or baby melons…also cucurbits!!! My guess is this first week you will see regular slicers.

Beans to look out for: Green, yellow/wax, Romano/Italian flat, French green/ hericot vert, Amethyst/purple – basically a purple French bean. They all are “snap beans”, so you can enjoy the entire bean, pod and all…kind of like the snap peas. We grow other beans like favas. limas,  and French Horticultural shell beans but those varieties are unlikely to make an appearance 😉 Don’t forget the purple peas and beans turn green when cooked more than 4 minutes – but raw or flash cooked purple peas and beans are super high in anthocyanins!

If you got  surprise kohlrabi in your bag recently and still have it:

We grow green and purple kohlrabi. Cut off top (where leaves are coming from) and bottom where the root was, careful on that end because it is tougher and requires more force to get through. Give it a quick peel – though the skin is fairly tender this time of year. Enjoy raw as a delicately flavored dipper with your fav dressing or dip, or shred it for some epic slaw, or whipped together potato pancake style.

Gnocchi with Summer Squash, Basil and Feta (from Real Simple)

• 1 pound gnocchi, fresh or frozen
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 yellow squash (about 1½ pounds), cut into ¾-inch pieces (use any summer squash)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 ounces Feta, crumbled (about 1cup)
• ⅓ cup torn fresh basil leaves

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions; drain and return it to the pot.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the squash to the gnocchi and toss to combine. Serve sprinkled with the Feta and basil. Season with pepper

Check out Zucchini Recipes (cake, fritters, pizza, soup…)
Zucchini Pizza

Corn!

Some of you saw some already. Everyone eats corn this week! It is still early for corn in MA and I am pretty sure Glenn picked the first in state again this year. Pretty sweet! You really have to eat it the day it was picked (which is the same day you got it from us). The sugars start to break down to starches almost immediately. Also, fresh, standard corn only needs 4-6 minutes to steam or boil and will get kind of gummy if overcooked. No pressure though, it’s hard to mess up corn. Oh, and corn is absolutely delish and perfectly healthy raw!

Important side not about the corn this summer: As forewarned before the CSA even started, the weather does what it wants and we try to react the best we can. What we are facing the next week is four plantings of corn at once. This means you will likely see more ears of corn in your bag than we would normally put in, and also we will definitely experience a gap in corn production, so there will definitely be weeks you do not see any corn.

The ponds are very full and we could do without huge volumes of rain going forward, as too much is a bad thing. The planting continues with the Fall tomatoes being set out yesterday, broccoli, greens, and I am sure Glenn is hoping to get the last corn planted in the coming week.

My gosh the Bluebirds are having a good year so far! There are fledglings out everywhere and we have two or three pair feeding in the yard throughout the day. While observing one I spotted something foreign moving in the yard. My suspicions confirmed, there was a lovely Painted Turtle making its way toward the pond

Glenn has been thinning the peaches; this is a task done by hand to remove excessive fruit and encourage larger size. Pray for gentle weather as those precious fruits ripen.

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman

Coming up: beans, blueberries…