CSA Week 4, 2023

CSA Week 4

This week you may have any color of summer squashes, snap beans, cucumbers, blueberries? Fennel, lettuce or something green

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!!! I have not seen any lemon cuckes yet, so I doubt that is what will appear in your bag.

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 and I will warn you if I think that is happening 😉 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! I love to use them for dippers with our favorite garlic cheese from Hancock Farm…and the kiddos may like the sweetness of raw beans alone or with their favorite dip.

This weather calls for cucumbers in water! Stay hydrated people 🙂

 

I cannot remember, but did I write about salting your cucumbers when making specifically a cucumber salad? Now, I do not do this for a mixed salad, or even when I make cucumber-radish salad (which is almost a daily thing here – they are just marinated/marinating in cider vinegar, a little oil, and S & P). Anyway, like their summer squash cousins, they are full of water, so if you do not remove some of the water before covering it with salty dressing, eventually the water will come out and make your salad possibly unappetizing (runny sour cream anyone?)

Fennel is ready! The bottom bulb part is choice, the stems and leaves can be used for flavoring, they tend to be tough. Delicious raw, roasted, soup, stir fry…

Fresh Summer Squash, Cucumber and Fennel Salad

Cool Cucumber Soup – Taste of Home

• 1 pound cucumbers, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups fat-free plain yogurt
• 1 green onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh dill
• Additional chopped green onion and snipped fresh dill

In a colander set over a bowl, toss cucumbers with salt. Let stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze and pat dry.

Place the cucumbers, yogurt, onion and garlic in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. Stir in dill. Serve immediately in chilled bowls. Garnish with additional onion and dill.

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From member Jordan: Hi! I thought this recipe might be useful to anyone looking to use up some summer squash in a delicious way. I have been using an InstantPot for a lot of my cooking because it doesn’t heat up my kitchen on hot days.

Zucchini & Summer Squash Soup

• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ pounds any combination of zucchini and summer squash (2-3 large), halved and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 2/3 cup vegetable stock/low sodium broth
• 1 ½ cups water

Stovetop directions:

1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter in the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a simmer; cook until the zucchini is very soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Working in 2 batches, puree the soup in a blender until it’s silky-smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Alternatively, blend in the pot with a stick blender and season to taste with salt and pepper.

InstantPot directions:

1. Place butter, olive oil, chopped onion, chopped garlic clove, slice zucchini, vegetable stock, and water into the instant pot. Cook on high/manual for 3 minutes and quick release the steam.
2. Puree the soup with a stick blender or in batches in a tabletop blender until silky smooth and return to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve it either hot or chilled, with suggested garnishes of drizzled olive oil, extra julienned zucchini, or a spoon of crème fraiche/sour cream.

Check out

Zucchini Pizza
Zucchini casserole
Cucumber Salads

Cucumber Drink

The grass and weeds on the farm suddenly became out-of-control! Glenn spent almost the entire day mowing; not just the parts of the lawn I did not mow the other day, but the roadsides, around field entrances, etc. It was a gross day for such a job, but it looks real nice now 🙂

We’ve had plenty of rain, so please stop saying helpful tings like, “But we need the rain.” We don’t. It. Can. Stop. We’ve probably had 6 inches of rain in the past week. Tis weather is prime for fungus and disease, so we will have to be diligent about protecting the crops. There are some very useful chemicals out there -yep, they are on the OMRI list, and I bet you all have the makings for it in your kitchen or bathroom cabinet. And while I am on the topic of chemicals, no, we do not spray our apple orchard with glyphosate. Get a grip guy at the farmer’s market; do you know what would happen if we did? We would kill it. Deceased. I don’t believe there are any “Roundup Ready” apple trees on the market, but if there are, we don’t got em. In fact, there is nothing on this farm we could spray with glyphosate and not kill. No GMO here. It kinda irks me to have someone asking such a question, clearly lacking the basic understanding of the mode of action or mechanism with which such a chemical works. Okay, rant off.

Hey, if you ever have any real questions about how we grow or what we do, please do ask. Clearly he wasn’t a CSA member, LOL. I promise I won’t write about it too! LOL. Also, a visit to the farm is always the best way to learn!  Did I forget to mention, this is the right time to come pick some raspberries for yourself! The shrubs are loaded. Do wear sensible shoes 🙂

 

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman

Coming up: corn, beans, blueberries, fruit and tomato CSAs starting soon…