In the share this week:
1 head napa cabbage
1 bunch beets
1 fennel bulb
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bunch sweet onions
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch herb (parsley, cilantro or basil)
2 kohlrabi or 1 head cabbage
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
We got a second planting of zucchini and summer squash (pic above) along with a last succession of tomatoes planted with the crew yesterday. We planted the squash straight into some beds that had previously had a winter cover crop growing. We mowed that crop in May then put tarps over the beds to fully terminate those crops. To plant yesterday, we simply moved the tarps off the beds and we were left with a perfect mulch to help keep weeds down around these new plants. I'm excited to see how well this works!
We are starting to really feel the summer humidity here on the farm even though we've continued to have a lot of rainy and cloudy days. While it is nice that I've barely had to turn on the irrigation, we are certainly noticing the downsides to all of the rain we've been having. Disease pressure is much higher on many of our veggies when we have too much rain. So far, it hasn't been a problem, but we are noticing that the beet greens aren't looking quite as nice this week as they are developing cercospora leaf spot (these are still fine to eat if you like the greens, just not so pretty). The turnip greens however are the biggest and most beautiful that they've been this season, so they would be awesome for cooking with this week. Maybe you could use them along with your napa cabbage in an Asian noodle soup or saucy dish, something like this recipe below:
It is wild that we are still picking such pretty turnips and radishes this far into June. The turnips this week are a little elongated, which I think is caused by the hotter temps. They are still quite beautiful and almost easier to cut into rounds this way. It's cool to see how plants respond to different conditions! Our main brassica family veggies aren't having the best spring, but happily we do have some kohlrabi or cabbage to share with you this week. If you haven't tried kohlrabi before, it's something of a mix between broccoli and turnip. I prefer to peel them, chop into 1 inch cubes, coat with oil and salt and roast. They are so sweet and delicious roasted and I think it brings out their broccoli flavor. It's also fun to roast a mix of veggies together, so this week you could make a beautiful mixed roast of beet and kohlrabi and throw some fennel in as well. Here's some more details and inspiration if you want to give that a try:
One tip about the fresh herbs: if you aren't sure what you'd like to do with them this week, you can easily freeze them for later. My favorite way to freeze herbs is to blend them with a bit of olive oil, enough to make a paste, then scoop into a zip top bag and flatten to freeze. You can then break off a little chunk of oily herb to add to various dishes when you need it!
Hope you all have a great week! We are looking forward to hanging out with those of you who can make it to our Solstice Party on Friday!