In this serious heat and lack of rain, we are irrigating daily. Spring has been quickly switched to summer. The lettuces in your box should be eaten in the next couple days as they won’t keep as well in the heat.

This weeks’ share contents: 2 heads of lettuce (one romaine of normal proportions and one summer crisp), 1 bunch of carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, 2 pounds of “Satina” new potatoes, 1 bunch of lacinato kale, 1 bunch of heirloom “Ailsa Craig” sweet onions.

These onions are our favorite for raw eating and are delicious in a cucumber salad.

This is the last kale you will get in the CSA this summer. This variety makes great kale chips. It is also great steamed and cooled and marinated in a vinaigrette and eaten as a side or added to potato salad.

Last night I sliced some sweet onion and zucchini into thin rounds and sauteed in olive oil with s&p and a little marjoram. When it was done cooking I added some cows’ milk feta from 3 Graces and let it all cool a bit before serving over pasta. It was yum.

This weeks’ share: 2 pounds of cucumbers, 1 bunch multicolor carrots, 1 bunch of torpedo onions, 1 bunch of basil, 1 bulb of garlic, 1 pound of green beans, 2 pounds of broccoli, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 pint of blueberries.

The summer heat is on! We are moving irrigation around daily to keep things growing well and quickly saying good-bye to spring crops that can’t take the heat; like kale and broccoli.

The basil is here! This is the first picking from the plants. There will be more to come. We really enjoy roasted cauliflower and broccoli with pesto on it. In this heat though, maybe turning on the oven is not what to do… It’s also yummy to steam broccoli and cauliflower florets and then chill them and dip in pesto and/or hummus.

The garlic crop is in from the field and laid out in the barn to “cure” (dry). The bulbs in your box today are not cured and so you can use them now but if you’re not going to use them in the next few days, store it in your fridge.

1 bunch of swiss chard, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 kohlrabi, 1 head of green bibb lettuce, 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of garlic scapes, 1 bunch of Italian parsley, 1 pint of strawberries, 1/2 pint sugar snap peas.

The garlic scapes and Italian parsley make a great pesto with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice.

The scallions sliced into thin coins and soaked in red wine vinegar for 30 minutes and added to olive oil and salt n black pepper make a great dressing for a bibb lettuce salad with julienned kohlrabi.

The garlic scapes can also be chopped and soaked in olive oil for Caesar salad dressing over romaine and sugar snap peas.

Share contents: 2 pints of strawberries, 2 heads of bibb lettuce, 1 bunch of kale, 1 kohlrabi, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of garlic scapes, 1 bunch of hakurei turnips, 1 bunch of radishes.

The berries are ripe and need to be eaten today or frozen. We pick them ripe for optimal flavor but with the recent rain they aren’t keeping very long at all.

It is salad and/or fermenting time! The scapes, turnips, radishes, scallions and kohlrabi all taste great together in a slaw or ferment. The bibb lettuce makes every sandwich better, makes a great simple salad with vinaigrette dressing, makes great roll ups or spring rolls.

coming soon are: peas, beets, new potatoes!

Share contents: 3 pounds sauce tomatoes, 1 celery, 1 bunch parsley, 1 bunch purple basil, 2 garlic bulbs, 1 pound yellow onions, 1 pound sweet “Jimmy Nardello” frying peppers, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1 pound okra.

The pasta sauce that we most love is made by dicing into as small as possible chunks equal parts celery, yellow onion, and carrot and letting all this stew together in a generous amount of olive oil in a covered pot for 30 minutes to an hour. In the meantime I peel the tomatoes and chop crudely. I add the tomatoes, chopped parsley, and several basil leaves to the pot when the celery onion carrot mixture is well caramelized. I also add salt and black pepper to taste as well as some crushed red hot pepper. I let all this cook on medium-low heat so it is bubbling a little but not boiling.

The peppers in your box this week are sweet though I know they look hot. We have encountered one plant that has more spice so out of an abundance of caution, de-seed them if you don’t like hot peppers. Our favorite way to eat these is cut into slices and slowly sauteed with yellow onions and salt. It’s great with eggs, on bread, as a little side, over pasta.