Another week of progress here on the farm.  We are super closer to having tamed out of our outdoor tomatoes that are just loving this heat, our eggplants look fantastic and the onions are almost ready!  

The big drama on the farm last week was our pump (what pulls our water out of the pond/creek up to our fields) broke so we couldn't get enough pressure to any of hydrants in the fields.  That meant almost zero water during a week in which you definitely want to be irrigating everything, at least twice.  Irrigation is such an important part of farming and effects everything from flavor and texture to vegetable size, germination and more.  For example, we had just direct seeded a lot of carrots and carrots need really consistent water in order to germinate which suddenly they weren't getting.  We were so stressed but at the same time couldn't do a thing besides experimenting with different fixes until we finally called the big guys out and had to patiently wait!  Luckily we got it fixed on Friday at noon and were able to get water on most everything before the hot weekend!  

STRAWBERRIES and BLUEBERRIES: I am SOOO excited to be sending out Albion strawberries.  We've had a weird, slow year with these guys and I've been watching them slowly pick-up in numbers with such anticipation. Hopefully we'll continue to have them up until November, what a great ever-bearing variety!  And of course, blueberries because they are so fleeting!

PURPLE MAJESTY NEW POTATOES:  The first of the potatoes!  These purple flesh, purple skin potatoes are great for cooking, chips, salads and roasting as they stay firm and moist even after being cooked.

MIXED BEETS: Gold, red, white and chioggia (the candy stripe, pronounced key-oh-jah) all with their greens on (everyone gets a different assortment).  These beets are sweet and earthy.  The greens can be cooked much like chard is (same family) and roots have a ton of versatility...beet salad, pickled beets, roasted beets, shaved beets, candied beets and more.  Our kitchen loves to make beet hummus!  Beets store really well so if you decide to keep them longer than a couple days just trim the stems off!

DEEP PURPLE BUNCHED ONIONS:  Little bigger than a typical scallion, these bunched onions are a striking purple color and tasty.  Great cooked or raw in a salad or as a topping to most things, including farm nachos!

CILANTRO:  There aren't many things more summer than cilantro!  Just a versatile garnish.  Just don't forget to keep the cilantro in water in you fridge for best longevity (to keep the stink away just change the water 

DAZZLING BLUE KALE:  We love this beautiful kale from Wild Garden Seed - the colors are just amazing and the flavor is great.

NEW GIRL TOMATO: Early tomato with great flavor.  Can be used for slicing or cooked down!

HINONA KABU TURNIP:  These turnips just don't stop giving.  I had them in a curry stew last night and they were fantastic and hold up to cooking so well!

SQUASH: An assortment for your squashy needs.

SILVER SLICER CUCUMBER:  Mild flavor, juicy texture and thin skin.  Love the color these add to a salad.  Recently made a cucumber salad to go along with lamb kebabs and yogurt sauce.

FENNEL:  Farmer Elise's favorite vegetable.  Probably mine too.  Often overlooked.  Fennel is fantastic.  You can enjoy it raw, shaved into a salad, roasted, grilled, in a bake..the list goes on.  A fennel and citrus salad can be mind-blowing.   The fronds are great for garnish too!  

LETTUCE: Romaine or a crisp head lettuce called Falstaff.  The romaine is a more of an open head with no heart as it is the best kind of romaine for summer growing.  Both are big leafed and tasty!

CARROTS:  They are on the smaller side because we've been at war with gophers and wanted to harvest them before they eat them all.  So sweet and crisp!

CANDELA DI FUOCO RADISH:  This is one of the cooler radishes I've grown.  I love how long they get and without getting pithy!  Some got one or two big ones, others got a bunch of small. I would suggest cooking these guys (yes you can) as opposed to fresh eating unless you really like heat!  Here is a recipe from Food52 for pan-braised radishes, you can also roast at 450 degrees until caramelized.  

NEW GIRL TOMATO:  The first of many tomatoes!! WOO!  A little later than last year but not bad!  These new girls are a lovely slicer and are great on BLT's, sandwiches and more.  We generally have just been eating right out of the field though!

SCALLIONS:  Nabechon green scallions.  Great as a garnish for most everything or even grilled on their own.  Use in slaw and salad!

GREEN or PURPLE CABBAGE:  Finally, cabbage!  Nice sized heads for all your cabbagy needs.  I love this vegetable because it stores SO well that you can literally just cut what you need and put the rest back in the cooler. Cabbage is great for slaw (who doesn't love slaw), tacos, roasted and in stir fry.  Ryan, one of our kitchen chefs who farms with us one day a week loves fermenting with cabbage.  Here is my personal favorite slaw recipe (from Bakesale Betty's in Oakland) which is a vinegar slaw that goes oh so well with fried chicken.

Blueberries, cucumbers and squash also!

We've hired some new crew in the last couple of week because we've felt so short staffed and things are finally starting to come together.  We harvested our garlic and it looks fantastic, the best it has looked in years!  Excited for it to cure and to start sending it out in CSA.   We are also slowly tackling our weed pressure and can look out on some of our fields without the overwhelming feeling of chaos (read SOME of our fields, hah).  Our winter squash is looking fantastic.  We are having a lootttttt of gopher pressure so we've lost a lot of our melons, fennel, parsley, dill, cilantro and carrots but we continue on and re-seeding after re-seeding we'll hopefully get back to where we want to be.  I'm hoping to have some carrots for CSA next week!

FAVA BEANS:  They are here!  Some love 'em, some hate 'em.  I hope everyone will at least give them a chance! These ancient beans with a nutty taste are often overlooked for the added labor element but in my opinion so worth it...a treasured early summer treat.  I enjoy using a small number of them at a time as it doesn't seem overwhelming. There are a number of ways to prepare these big beans.  Drew Herman, our best un-paid farmer likes to dry-toast the beans out of the pod in a skillet for about 3 mins (keep them moving in the pan) and then drizzle with olive oil and a nice finishing salt – you could even add some garlic to the pan.  You can also blanch the beans before cooking with them: boil the shelled beans in salt water for 2 1/2 mins until they turn bright green and then dunk them in cold water and pull the thick outer skin from the bean. I've also read that you can boil the whole pod in heavily salted water until it falls apart, but I've never tried it myself.   If I'm not feeling the work I like to rub the whole pod in olive oil and salt and just put them on the grill...when done they'll just pop right out and the whole thing is delicious.

HAMPTON LETTUCE:  A nice, crisp, frilly lettuce.  Would go great with some of the arugula!  Can definitely hold up to dressing and toppings!

PINK BEAUTY RADISHES:  Some radishes without the tops!  Use them for salad, toast, tacos and more.  The last of these until fall. 

HAKUREI TURNIPS:  Last of the season.  These fresh little cuties are fantastic!  Absolutely delicious fresh, these are great on toast, in a salad, with hummus, roasted or munched on alone.

SQUASH:  A couple different types of squash this week!  Everyone got yellow patty pan and then a rotation of tromba d'albegna, zephyr (green & yellow) and zucchini!  With all of these different varieties I like to cut them all up and use them in enchiladas, pasta, quesadillas, nachos and more!  Even just alone with some olive oil is delicious.

CUCUMBERS:  Everyone gets two cucumbers, of three varieties this week!  We have our seedless socrates which you should all be familiar with as well as marketmore (green slicer) and silver slicer (yellow).  Try a cucumber salad with mint and berries!

BLUEBERRIES:  Two pints this time so you have some berries to work with!  Great for muffins, crumbles, pies, just plain snackin', yogurt...

ARUGULA: (Sorry bi-weekly folks I know you got this last time also but we just have a lot of it!).  This arugula is grown outside so it doesn't have tooooo much heat and is still tender.  We left the stems long so you can have the option of doing different things with it.  If it is too spicy for you cook it down or make pesto with it!  

Hope ya'll had a great 4th of July!  I'm running around like crazy today so hopefully I can come back on later and fill in some things!  We kept this share on the lighter side because of the holiday weekend but know that tomatoes and strawberries are coming!!!

RAINBOW CHARD:  Beautiful bunch of rainbow chard! Don't forget to use the stems as well as the greens!

FRESH CIPOLLINI ONION:  Cipollinis are on the sweeter side and are great for roasting or caramelizing. You can use the greens also much like you would on scallions.  Because they are fresh (and not dried for storage remember to refrigerate!  "Their name literally means "little onion" in Italian, and indeed they are! Cipollinis are about the size of a golf ball with a slightly flattened appearance. They're thin-skinned and have translucent white flesh with more residual sugar than your average yellow or white onion.  Roasted whole in the oven or cooked in a little butter on the stove top, cipollinis become soft and practically melt in your mouth. Those residual sugars caramelize and concentrate, leaving behind none of the astringent raw onion flavor." - The Kitchn

HINONA KABU TURNIPS:  Without the greens this time!  I've been loving this pickled turnip recipe!  Also, roasting them is delicious!

Lots of ROMAINE:  Nice big head of green romaine plus two different gem romaines (red and green).  I wanted to share the experience of comparing varieties of the same type of lettuce.  It is amazing the difference between the three in flavor, texture and growth!  A lot of what we do in the winter is research to find the best of the best!  Here is a video from Bon Appetit on how to make an amazing Caesar salad and here is a vegan Caesar recipe which is also delicious!  These romaine is also fantastic grilled!

BLUEBERRIES:  Yay!  Maybe throw in your salad with the cipollini onions too!

SUMMER SQUASH + CUCUMBERS:  Sick of these guys yet?  No way!  Our field cucumbers and squash are just now getting ready to pop so look forward to some awesome varieties!  Can you believe that what we've had up until now just came from a couple of beds in the hoop house?



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