This week Ranger brought a new friend home, the ice-shredded field is recovering, and I no longer squish the potato beetle larvae; now I pick em & drop them into a bucket of soapy water that I wear on my belt. It feels more like foraging than hunting, which is pleasant.

It also, and moreso, feels good that last week’s tentative optimism was likely justified. Sure, it’s hot and muggy – but yesterday we took a Waterfall Day, and it was ridiculously perfect: the bad storms skipped by just north of the Magic Waterfall, and the heat dome stayed just south of us … the serendipitous vortex there worked its magic, made our day, and massaged our souls, which we perhaps quite needed.

inside Box 3

Otis took photos at today’s CSA harvest (he was mostly interested in being allowed to take the “aerial” shot from atop the semi trailer.)

• Bok Choi – the older leaves tell the take of the last week’s drama . Since the stems are the main event, we left some on even though the leaves have been through hail n back.
• Kohlrabi – to know it is to love it. I like it chilled and sliced, sometimes salted and peppered.
• Sunflower Microgreens – Grandma Deb puts them in salads, sandwiches, and scrambled eggs, when not eating them plain.
• Cabbage – we removed the brunt-bearing outer leaves.
• Sugar Snap Peas – don’t eat too many handfuls without anything else. Turns out they contain a ton of fiber and something called Galacto-oligosaccharide, which is a complex carbohydrate chains that humans lack the proper enzymes to fully break down. They pass into the large intestine, where gut bacteria ferment them, producing significant amounts of gas. Don’t ask me why I know. And don’t tell Kristin I’m writing about this in the farm newsletter.
• Snow Peas – stir fry favorites
• Salad Turnips
• Mint (Peppermint & Apple Mint) – one has fuzz and one doesn’t. I don’t remember which is which but they smell and look different …. make a muddle mix in your mojito. Or tea. Or infused water, that’s a thing. Wait, isn’t that just tea?
• Green Onions
• Garlic Scapes – How About Garlic Scape Pesto
  • Ingredients:
  • 1 cup chopped garlic scapes1/2 cup toasted nuts (walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts)1/2 cup olive oil1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Juice of 1 lemon
  • Directions: Pulse scapes, nuts, and cheese in a food processor. Slowly drizzle in olive oil and lemon juice until it reaches the desired consistency. Toss with pasta or freeze in ice cube trays for later.

And Jasper took field pics today:

We came into today’s harvest renewed, and hopefully some of that will show in your food this week.