To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: zucchini, spinach, lettuce, radishes, leeks, rainbow carrots, sweet corn, edamame soybeans, Napa cabbage, baby bok choi, choice of an herb and ornamental gourds.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: Jonagold apples and Devoe pears
  • Flowers: not mentioned in this week’s update
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• This week’s email from John starts as it often does — with an update about the rain at the farm — but what I didn’t expect was for John to be worrying about our first freeze. It looks like we’ll be fine, at least according to my weather app, but I was surprised to see the forecast show us dipping below 40 degrees one night next week! Sounds like soup weather — good thing we have leeks and corn coming. Here’s a recipe for a soup that I’d be glad to warm up with next week.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: Lettuce, beans, zucchini, kale or chard, choice of arugula or broccoli raab, salad turnips, broccoli/cauliflower, yellow onions, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, colored peppers (this week or next), and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: paused until more apples ripen
  • Flowers: TBD
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise

For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include:

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, radishes, garlic, beets with tops, zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower, bok choy, peppers or eggplant, white acorn squash and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: starkrimson pears & hardy kiwi berries
  • Flowers: TBD
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• One crop that typically returns in volume once the warmest weather passes is garlic. For the first time in forever I recently roasted a bulb and was happy I did. I didn’t have a use for it immediately in mind so I saved it in the fridge. A few days later I was doing a clean-out-the-fridge stir fry and decided to throw it in. It added a nice touch that I may not have noticed without having cooked the dish myself but knowing it was there I could find the flavor. I decided to click around to a few food blogs for other ideas to add roasted garlic to, some are obvious while some are inspiring:
  • Pizza (I’d probably mix in the sauce so it’s protected a bit by the cheese)
  • Mayo (quick aioli)
  • Homemade salad dressing (shake up some oil, balsamic, Dijon, roasted garlic, s&p)
  • Hamburgers/Meatloaf/Meatballs
  • Cream cheese (for a deeply flavorful bagel schmear)
  • Softened butter (either use right away or put back in the fridge rolled in parchment for a sliceable compound butter)
  • Potato salad (a very easy way to spruce up a store bought tub)

John also shared information about the Hardy Kiwi:

Hardy Kiwi (actinidia arguta) also known as Siberian Kiwi is a
native of Northern China, Korea and Russian Siberia. It is similar
inside to the fuzzy tropical kiwi, but has smaller seeds and a smooth
green skin with only a bit of vestigial fuzz on the blossom end.
It is super nutritious being 5 times higher in vitamin C than oranges
and with twice the vitamin E of avocados. It is also rich in potassium,
B-6 and B-2. The fruit we have comes from Dave Jackson of Kiwi
Korners, Aka, Kiwi Organics in North central PA. A retired Rock
drummer, Dave has been working with Kiwi for over 30 years and
developed his own varieties. The fruit is eaten like a grape with the
skin. You may pull out the previously noted bit of fuzz before popping
them into your mouth. You will receive them in a fairly hard unripe
state and will need to keep them out on the counter to ripen for a day
or two. They are best and sweetest when they are very soft and the
skin begins to darken and get a little wrinkly. In the refrigerator
they will continue to ripen but very slowly. You may want to leave
some out and keep some in the fridge, and you should return ripe ones
to cooler if you are not ready to eat them right away. They are quite
delicious but avoid the temptation to eat too many at once as they
are also quite acidic.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: beans, salad turnips, leeks, red-skin potatoes, choice of tatsoi or arugula, lettuce, zucchini or delicata squash, green cabbage, eggplant or peppers, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: on hold while more apples/pears ripen
  • Flowers: none this week
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestion:

• This week we may get our first delicata squash of the year. I couldn’t help but see flashbacks to one of my all-time favorite CSA dinners that I shared here in 2018. You may not have all the same ingredients on hand that I did, but that’s kinda the point: halve them and fill up with whatever you have lingering in your pantry.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, carrots, shallots, red fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, shishito peppers, radishes, Napa cabbage and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: hardy kiwi berries and gala apples
  • Flowers: sunflowers
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• This week, John ended his update declaring “it is feeling like soup weather.” As I write this, watching Monday Night Football with the windows wide open, I couldn’t agree more! Yesterday I made a big batch of potato soup with the CSA potatoes I had collected the last few weeks. You could easily adapt to add or subtract whatever you have on hand. Here’s my basic “recipe” I follow each time I make potato soup…
  • Crisp some pancetta or bacon in a big, heavy pot. Use a slotted spoon to remove it so you leave behind the fat.
  • Sweat some chopped onions (and/or scallions whites, leeks, shallots) in the fat, adding olive oil if needed. Add some seasonings — I keep it simple with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
  • Sprinkle in some flower to make a roux with the fat, let it cook two minutes until the bottom of the pot dries.
  • Deglaze with a cup of water/broth, stirring and scraping vigorously. You will literally see the starches gelatinize. Don’t use too much liquid or you won’t be able to stir aggressively and you won’t get the right effect. It’ll look separated for awhile, keep stirring until it comes together.
  • Add 2/3 of your chunked potatoes before adding the rest of your liquid, that way you’ll limit splashing. (I don’t bother peeling them but definitely rinse them, CSA potatoes have a lot of dirt!)
  • Add the rest of your liquid, 4-6 more cups worth depending on how many servings you are aiming for.
  • Cook until your potatoes are soft and mushy. Use an immersion blender to buzz the soup until smooth. Add your reserved potatoes and cook in the pureed soup until soft, about 20min. This would be a good time to add anything else you want to stay bite-able in the final soup, like carrot chunks. If you want to add something quick-cooking like corn, wait until the final few minutes.
  • Serve topped with the reserved crispy pancetta/bacon, sliced scallion greens, sour cream, shredded cheese, or whatever else you like to pair with a baked potato.

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: swiss chard, beans, red onions, beets, spaghetti squash, shishito peppers, bok choy, red-skin potatoes, sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: Sweetie apples and Santa Rosa plums
  • Flowers: sunflowers
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• Looking back through old CSA posts, I believe this is only the 4th time in the last 5+ years that we received shishito peppers. One of them was earlier this year but it was a “B” week so those like me with a half share missed them. I’m looking forward to give them a try since they are not something I have much experience cooking. I plan on keeping it very simple… Toss them with oil, throw them in a fully preheated heavy skillet, cook until they blister and have some dark splotches, sprinkle with some crunchy finishing salt. Sounds like a great chef’s treat while dinner cooks!

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: beans, kale, rainbow carrots, garlic, melons, sweet corn, colored peppers, tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, zucchini, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: ginger gold apples & nectarines
  • Flowers: mixed varieties that dry well
  • Mushrooms: *** note: this week will include enoki mushrooms which the grower reminds us need to be cooked and not eaten raw! ***
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• Last year I stumbled on this NYT Cooking recipe for a Carrot Tart with Ricotta and Feta. I had just received a batch of rainbow carrots from the CSA so it was perfect timing. Even better, I had puff pastry in the freezer (always keep one on hand!). Since the recipe is behind a paywall, here it is broadly…
  • Roll out your puff and score a border around the rectangle so as it bakes you get a bit of a crust.
  • Thinly slice your carrots (or other veg) lengthwise, toss in oil, s&p and any other seasonings you want to try.
  • Roast the puff and the carrots separately for about 20 minutes until you have some color on both and the carrots are starting to get tender.
  • Pull them out of the oven and stir together a 2:1 mixture of ricotta and feta cheese with some garlic and herbs. The recipe calls for a food processor but that feels like unnecessary dishes.
  • Spread the cheese over the puff pastry, then layer with the carrots. Put back in the oven for another 20 minutes until everything is nicely golden, the edges of the pastry are shatteringly crisp, the carrots are very tender, and you get a little browning on the exposed parts of cheese.
  • Cut into rough squares, top with some olive oil and flaky salt

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: sweet corn, beets, Swiss chard, tomatoes, gold potatoes, scallions, lettuce, beans, melons, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: peaches & apples (fruit was not available in time last week, this week’s fruit is a makeup for last week)
  • Flowers: no flowers this week
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• I often find that I struggle with using the CSA melons. They aren’t a big hit with my family and there’s only so much honeydew I can do so I went looking for some new ideas…
  • Something I am sure I saw in old cookbooks and forgot all about: wrap some prosciutto around a piece of melon for a sweet and salty nibble (kinda like Summer’s answers to bacon wrapped dates?)
  • The Kitchn combines melon ribbons (hopefully you have a mandoline) with some tender herbs and roughly chopped nuts for a summery side
  • We all have bananas in the freezer right? This recipe combines them with melon and yogurt to make a smoothie

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: beans, cukes, eggplant, carrots, red skin potatoes, leeks, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, melon or sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: peaches & zestar apples
  • Flowers: sunflowers
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “B” week.

Serving Suggestions:

• John said that groups will continue getting ground cherries on a rotating basis until the crop runs out. In our house we usually end up eating them raw, either out of hand or topping salads. In case I want to cook up the next batch I found some good-looking recipes to share:
  • Ground Cherry Salsa (would be a great place to add some tomatillos if you have too)
  • Ground Cherry Jam & Marinade
  • Ground Cherry Coffee Cake

To view Farmer John’s latest update, click here.

This week’s share will include: 

• Veggies: squash, cukes, red cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beets, kale, white onions, fingerling potatoes and choice of an herb. Some groups will receive ground cherries, and/or melons or corn as available.
• Add-on shares:
  • Fruit: peaches & blueberries
  • Flowers: no
  • Mushrooms: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
  • Eggs: expected every week unless we hear otherwise
• For those with half shares, this is “A” week.

Serving Suggestion:

• Over the years I have shared my favorite ratatouille recipe from America’s Test Kitchen a few times. This is our first delivery of the year that has everything you need! (Although, I suggest saving your tomatoes for fresh/raw applications and use a 28oz can of whole tomatoes instead.)