Summer CSA 2023
Happy CSA week #13!
I hope everyone is having a lovely week! Fall is certainly in the air. Just a reminder to check your inbox and read the email I sent yesterday about the vacation days and purchasing extra CSA boxes. Let me know if you have any questions, or need me to re-send the email your way.
This week on the farm was lovely. We felt a real dip in temperature last Wednesday and it is SO welcomed. I’m sure you’ve realized by now, but farming is HARD. And even though I take a few months off in the winter to rest, the summer grind is so real and raw. Sometimes our energy rides high from big farm wins, but sometimes our energy lags from the sheer amount of work we do to keep our operation running. August is when we really feel the burnout. We can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel quite yet and the farm season is still turned on full blast. As September sinks in, the light begins to glimmer. Three more weeks. Not that we’re counting them or anything, we love to grow food… we just crave the respite fall brings. Last Wednesday I was able to mow down sections of the field where the crops have finished producing and honestly, it felt so good. Just knowing that those sections of land had their turn to feed us and now it’s their time to rest just means that my time to rest is coming soon too. Those sections of land will be planted with a fall cover crop of winter rye that will keep the soil secure and planted during the windy winter months and the early rains of spring, before the planting season hits.
Thanks for sticking with us through the thick and thin this season. We couldn’t do what we do without you! Every time I drive the big red van through the cities, my heart always feels warm fuzzies knowing that the food we produced is nourishing families in our local community.
We had an AWESOME pepper harvest today, thanks to our little farm crew! You’ll find lots of pepper varieties in your share this week.
In your box….
Here are photos of what you’ll find in your box this week!
Large CSA
Cherry tomatoes, arugula, gold potatoes, eggplant, jimmy nardello peppers, lunchbox peppers, red onions, garlic, hot peppers, heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro.
Small CSA
Lunchbox peppers, cilantro, jimmy nardello peppers, tomatillos, arugula, red onion, garlic, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, and hot peppers.
Some inspiration…..
It’s salsa week!
This week, the box just screams “make me into salsa!” If you’re a fresh salsa fan, you could honestly just dice up all the tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, garlic, cilantro, peppers, and some hot peppers and mix together with some salt, lime, and pepper for a MEAN garden salsa.
The best part about fresh salsa? There are NO rules. You can literally throw in any fresh salsa-like ingredient into your batch.
I made salsa yesterday and took it a step further and fermented my salsa! Fermented salsa is SUPER easy and it takes the flavor of the salsa to the next level. Not to mention that it’s super easy and the fermenting process adds tons of probiotic benefits.
For my fermented salsa, I diced up tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, hot peppers, and garlic and pressed into my fermenting jar. It is currently fermenting in the pantry for a few days, then I’ll pace it into the fridge. Here is a recipe for reference to guide you in your fermented salsa making endeavors:
The most important thing with fermenting is to remember to submerge all the vegetables under the juice/liquid from the salsa. Use fermenting weights or a fermenting jar to make this happen.
The peppers in your share….
This week you received 3 different types of peppers in your CSA.
-Sweet lunchbox peppers: These are the small yellow, orange, and red peppers. You can eat them whole and fresh, dice them up for salsa, toss them in a soup or stir-fry, ferment them, you name it!
-Sweet jimmy nardello peppers: These are the long, curly red peppers in your share. They are an Italian sweet pepper named after Jimmy Nardello. They look spicy, but they are really sweet and delicious!
-Spicy mixed hot peppers: The hot peppers in your share are the ones in the paper bag. There is a blend of a few different varieties, and everyone received different ones. You might find some jalapenos, red jalapenos, poblanos, cayenne, or wenks hot peppers. Feel free to play around with them!
These are the Jimmy Nardellos, for reference.
Here is Milo in the field, with the jimmy nardellos!
Finally, everyone received a small amount of eggplant. Eggplants make really great dips, ratatouille, Here is a link to the Eggplant page on the Dishing up the Dirt website. There are some really great recipes for eggplants here:
Chips and salsa,
Eleanor