July - CSA Box #3

Summer is here! Garlic is harvested. Corn is shoulder high. Onions are swelling and potatoes are on the cusp of coming out of the ground. The garden is booming but also on the verge of being overrun with weeds this year. Farming really is a full-time job! We hope to welcome some of you to the garden soon for some fun events and volunteer days. See below for a list of updated dates!

• Cabbage - Caraflex

  • We grew these last year and loved their compact cone shape. They’re incredibly reliable to grow. We were slightly concerned the hotter temperatures wouldn’t be favorable but they triumphed. Someone remarked how these would be perfect for Gołąbki (also spelled golumpki) which are a classic Polish dish of stuffed cabbage rolls that are filled with minced beef or pork, rice, and onions. Definitely going to have to make an attempt at some point. Cabbage stores incredibly well so you should have plenty of time to put this to good use.

    • Buttermilk Green Goddess Slaw

• Cauliflower

  • More of these are still getting going in the garden, so if you didn’t see this in your basket, we will be sharing these with you next time! It was a delight to see some big heads forming. We gave them a rinse but be warned: little green caterpillars like to hide in the crowns. Soaking them in water usually dislodges the unwanted protein snacks.

• Garlic

  • This year’s garlic harvest was nothing compared to last year, but we wound up with too much in 2023 and a crate went unused and ended up in the compost. So although we scaled back, we are sure there will be enough to carry us well into 2025. This was the first year we experimented with some softneck varieties: Chesnok Red, Inchellium Red, German Red. The same old favorites (Music and German Extra Hardy) are colossal and we look forward to keeping you supplied for the rest of the year. We are planning to braid some as well! Wish us luck (and the time to accomplish the task).

• Zucchini

  • Last year our summer squash had a slow start so we doubled down to ensure our plants had a fighting chance. We have been squashing cucumber beetles by hand left and right as they like to feast on tender stems and imbed themselves in the vines. After some rain and extra watering, we were pleased to see many blossoms. If you are interested in using these flowers please let us know! Squash blossoms are a delicacy but don’t last long, so we don’t plan on sending these in your boxes unless you express an interest in cooking them up ASAP. More green and yellow varieties should be in our boxes for weeks to come.

• Beets - Golden, Detroit Red, Chioggia

  • Our cherry trees grew leaps and bounds this year. Good news for fruit lovers in the future but they shaded out our Detroit Reds and stunted much of their growth. This week we peppered in some candy striped (Chioggia) and golden which are two of our favorites. See some of our posts from last year’s July and August boxes for some ideas for using these up!

• Carrots

  • Pleased to see we had some larger yellow and orange ones this time around. We just roasted some up with our baby beets for a nice root veggie side.

• Kohlrabi

  • It was delightful to hear how some of you wound up using this strange looking veggie! These are likely the last of these to be harvested this season but a few stragglers may surface when we go to clear the remaining plants in these rows. We couldn’t help ourselves and gave these out to all our subscribers whether you were interested in the basics or taking a culinary adventure so thanks for playing along and putting it to use. Kudos for trying something new!

• Peas - Snow

  • We pulled these plants from the raised beds they were growing in but they produced heartily for us up until the end. Next year we hope to get an earlier jump on peas in our hoop house. We had a cover crop variety that went absolutely gangbusters in there this spring.

• Lettuce

  • This was the final harvest until cooler temps return. Luckily we will have plenty of other summer staples popping off soon.

• Spring Onions

  • Hoping next box we will have some full sized onions to send you way! We have such an insane amount and wide variety growing that we can’t wait to see what the harvest continues to yield.

• Turnips

• Green Onion

Herbs: Dill, Cilantro, Mint, Sage

• Giving you some inspiration to help you use up the dill and green onions we supplied this week!

Bonus Surprises: A few lucky subscribers received kale, mushrooms, broccoli, or blueberries. Unfortunately the broccoli bolted with this summer heat and won’t make another appearance until this fall (fingers crossed). The blueberries are actually from our neighbors patch, as our baby bushes are still struggling to recover from being mowed down this spring. We hope there will be more to go around soon!

This week’s bouquets featured:

Sunflowers, Zinnias, Calendula, Dianthus, Spider Flower, Snapdragons, ‘Blue Monday’ Sage Salvia

Upcoming Events in July:

• Saturday 7/13: Volunteer Day - 10am until 5pm

  • Please reach out if you plan to attend so we can be prepared.

  • We will have some refreshments to keep us motivated but bring a water bottle to stay hydrated as well!

• Sunday 7/28: U-Pick Happy Hour - Flowers - 4pm until 6pm

  • Cost $20

    • BYOV - bring your own vase!

    • A small bite and mocktail/cocktail will be offered so you can nosh before or after you build your bouquet.