In the share this week:
1 bunch beets
2 green kohlrabi
1 lb broccoli or 1 bunch turnips
1 bunch spring onions
1 bag sugar snap peas
1 bag salad mix
1 bunch parsley

Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
Welcome to the first share of the new season! Since we waited until June to start, you have some pretty bomb shares coming at you right away, with lots of substantial crops like beets, kohlrabi and broccoli. The farm is exploding with late spring crops that were planted in the early days of April. May was a very unseasonably dry month and now in the first week of June it feels like drought conditions. We have a pretty good irrigation system with a combination of drip tapes and sprinklers, but it's tough to keep up when we haven't had significant rain in weeks. Let's all hope for a good soaking rain soon! It's been such a whirlwind in the past few weeks here - it always is from mid-May to mid-June. We are starting to harvest more and more crops, while still finishing up all of the major spring planting of warm weather crops like squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and beans. This year we also moved into the house we've been building for the past year and are moving our wash and pack operations up to the new pack shed. It's a lot. We don't stop most nights until our heads hit the pillow. It's a beautiful kind of full though. Our new house is steps away from our farm fields vs. a trek up the hill. I can easily walk over and switch the irrigation. The kids have been coming over to say hi while I'm working during the day and sometimes I can convince them to pick sugar snap peas with me as the sun is setting (see above photographic evidence). We feel so lucky to have this land and to do this work of growing good food for our community!
I really love the vegetables of spring. I'm pretty excited about the broccoli (that was a bit of a surprise as we starting harvesting before I thought we would) and the kohlrabi (related to broccoli and tastes like a combination of that and turnips) as brassicas are my favorite vegetable group. I'm thinking about making a broccoli peanut sauce stir fry for our farm lunch tomorrow. You could definitely chop up your kohlrabi and throw in the sugar snap peas to the mix too. Maybe something a bit like this:
The beets are also looking quite fabulous this week. One benefit of the dry weather is that the beet greens are looking very healthy. If you like greens, these are excellent for cooking and taste very similar to swiss chard. We often eat our beets roasted and then added to a grain bowl with lots of onion, nuts, and feta cheese (your parsley could be a good addition here too) or used to top a salad. If you want to prepare your beets with their greens in a simple and tasty way, this recipe looks perfect:
We'd love to hear what you are making with your share items this week. If you feel inspired, leave a link for us in the recipes section of the forum! Happy cooking and have a great week!