2024 CSA Farm Update: Week 4
From the Farm: Tomato Flower
Hello everyone and welcome to Week 4 of the Katchkie Farm CSA. Our harvest is starting to bring in some of the summer flavors. Our first carrots will be harvested this week share as well as fennel and Napa cabbage. The zucchini and patty pan squash are producing well, and cucumbers are just around the corner. Our cherry tomatoes are going to be a little later this year with the construction of the caterpillar tunnels pushing their planting date back a few weeks, but they are looking very happy, showing a good fruit set. We also have a beautiful summer escarole in the shares this week, which will make a perfect pasta e fagioli.
July has many faces on the farm. It is the month of summer harvests, the month of fall plantings, the month of the garlic harvest, and the month of the Sylvia Center’s Farm Dinner. With so many different directions, keeping things manageable can be tricky at times. Sometimes I just have to live into the expansiveness of the month and remind myself that what goes up must come down.
Looking at what the plants are doing is a great way to live into the expansiveness of this month as well. There are so many plants blooming or getting ready to bloom right now. Our tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and winter squash are loaded with flowers and buzzing with pollinators. Jen’s flower garden is just about to reveal all of its wonderful blooms.
At the moment of flowering, one can only imagine what the next phase is for the plant. I see a flower, but what will it turn into? In some of our crops, it turns into the seeds that we harvest, dry, and use for the next year. In other crops those flowers turn into delicious tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, or squash that are enjoyed at the table. Many of those fruits will not be ready for a few more weeks and we must just bask in the unknowing and wonder that is July.
Until next time,
Farmer Jon
WEEKLY HARVEST INCLUDES*
*We try our best to provide the most accurate CSA list in the newsletter! However, there’s always a chance of last minute substitutions in some bags if we don’t harvest enough of a vegetable.
DELICIOUS RECIPES TO TRY
Kale and Lentil Salad with Pickle Juice Vinaigrette
Recipe from Embrace: Wellness
Enjoy the last bite of pickles knowing that the leftover pickle juice will be used in a nutritious kale and lentil salad. Pickle juice vinaigrette is tangy and mouthwatering. Add other chopped veggies such as carrots, radishes, cucumber or tomatoes plus other flavor boosters such as cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds.
Serves 6
Put 2 chopped bunches of curly green kale in a large bowl. Make the pickle vinaigrette by whisking 2 Tb pickle juice, 3 Tb olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 tsp Dijon mustard and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Pour vinaigrette over the kale and massage into the leaves using your hands. Add 1 15-oz. can of black lentils (drained and rinsed) to the kale and mix to combine.