In the share this week:
1 bunches broccoli
1 head cabbage
2 lbs summer squash
1 cucumber
1 bunch salad turnips
1 bunch sweet onions
1 bunch dill
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
Heat and kittens! That's what is on my mind this week. We've actually been very lucky so far this season, with some very mild temperatures in May and June. But it looks to be crazy hot this week, peaking toward the end of the week and looking a little better to start the next week. It's going to be tough to stay on top of the watering since we'd already been experiencing a bit of a dry spell before the heat wave. Fingers crossed for some pop-up thunderstorms during the week. This weather means that we'll be harvesting out of many of our late spring crops fairly quickly. Sometimes we are lucky to spread the broccoli harvest over three weeks, but with this heat we'll probably be picking everything left this week. That means everyone gets double the amount of broccoli this week, which is nice because it will be enough to actually cook something broccoli-forward. Or maybe you'll decide not to cook and have dips for dinner with fresh broccoli, cucumber, and salad turnips paired with hummus and ranch (with fresh dill!). Yum- I think we may have to do this!
So now you are wondering about the kittens? There has been a sweet female cat hanging around the farm for the last few months (see above pic with the kale and tomatoes. She had been lounging under the shade of the kale just before and popped up when I tried to take a pic :). She's very friendly and is a bit of a community cat. Well, she had a litter of kittens at our neighbors house a few weeks ago and just this past weekend she decided to bring those five kittens to our house. They are maybe near 4 weeks old and pretty darn adorable. We are helping to care for them and make sure the kittens are socialized so they have a chance of being adopted or just being an army of awesome farm cats helping keep the voles under control :) I'm a little worried about how they'll handle the heat this week, but they have a nice shady spot of the east side of our house under the deck. We already have an appointment with a local org to get mama cat spayed (so we don't end up with an actual army of cats on the farm), so I'm feeling good about that. She's a sweet girl and such a good mouser!
The veggies in the share this week are solid! In addition to the broccoli, everyone will be getting the first summer squash of the season - including zucchini (green or yellow) and yellow crookneck squash. One last spring planting of the salad turnips is on this week as well, and they have beautiful roots and greens! We love to make veggie fritters at our house and I found this recipe with turnips and zucchini and using a waffle maker instead of frying them. All of those crispy caramelized edges! Fritters are always more delicious that is seems like they have any right to be :)
The cucumbers are just coming on this week so there is only one in your share. If you don't decide to eat them with your 'dips for dinner' menu plan maybe you could try this creamy cucumber salad that one of our farm team members, Carley, shared with me:
Hope you all stay cool this week! We are going to try to get work done in the AM and PM and take mid-day breaks as much as possible. Cross your fingers for just a bit of rain to help us out!