Hello and welcome to week 14 of the Wellspring CSA.  The heat has returned this week with a vengeance.  After the slowdown from last week the beans, peppers, eggplant, and basically everything else is growing great.  Courtesy of the heat wave we now have the beautiful and delicious Dragon Tongue beans for your enjoyment, some very nice green bell peppers and of course, a plethora of tomatoes.  The red peppers and the eggplants are a short ways behind but should be making an appearance next week.

Even with the heat wave we have to always think about the coming winter to make sure we have plenty of great vegetables for the late season shares as well as the winter shares.  This week you are getting Brussel sprout tops in the shares. To ensure a uniform harvest come October and November we must break off the tops of the sprouts now.   The sprouts start growing from the bottom so if we let the plants keep getting taller by the end of the season we would have a number of large sprouts at the bottom but tiny ones at the top.  By breaking off the tops the plant will put all of its energy into the sprouts ensuring they are all a relatively uniform size so they come out looking like the swords of vegetables everyone knows and loves.

The added benefit of this is you all get to enjoy not only Brussel sprouts but also the delicious tops.  They are the extremely tender part because they are the youngest leaves on the plant.  I enjoy using them like I would use collard greens, sautéed with garlic or added to beans and greens or used as a wrap filled with quinoa, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese.

As always, I hope you enjoy the share as much as we enjoyed growing it for you.