Greetings!   

Sorry the email is a bit late.  What was available this week changed about 10 times!  The cool weather has slowed quite a few things down (thankfully) and I've had to adjust this week's bag a little.  

Anyhow, I just got back from a few of the farms.  The kale is looking really nice this week.  It has a few holes in it from some hale that showed up this past Sunday in Homerville, but other than that it looks very nice.  The grapes for the large customers are ultra sweet and burst in your mouth.  We'll have more of these coming on over the next month so we'll try to spread them out further.

I'm most excited this week about beans and cherry tomatoes. A few weeks ago I discovered something quite tasty.  I took a hot skillet, added a few tablespoons of olive oil, and tossed in some cherry tomatoes (cut in half).  I cooked them until they started to stick some and brown up.  I then added some blanched green beans and continued to toss them until they started to brown some.  I hit them with a few pinches of salt and served them hot.  Wow were they good!  

Also, this week we have some tasty fruit.  This week and next week will be the last big weeks for blackberries, so we'll rotate blackberries and cantaloupes (depending on which route you are on).  We also have some red fortune plums coming in a little early.  I was expecting them next week, but some need to be picked now.  So half of the group will get plums this week and the other half next week.  I'll factor that into the budget for the next two weeks so in two weeks. 

Finally, one of the centerpieces this week is our rolled oats.  These organic rolled oats are grown and harvested in Holmes County by horse drawn reapers, similar to what we saw at the Threshing Day event earlier this month.  The oats are cleaned (dehulled) and cracked (rolled) at Stutzman grains.  These oats are an "untoasted" oat.  That simply means that the oats haven't been roasted before packaging.  Many companies roast their oats to kill off bugs that may be living in the oats and extend the shelf life.  The bad part about that is that roasting them kills off the good enzymes and nutrients that we want to ingest!  Like any whole grain, oats are most nutritious when eaten soon after cracking.  These oats were just rolled this week so enjoy the freshness and nutrients packed in these little guys! 

Larges 

This week the large share is a little light on variety in anticipation of a special treat next week.  Stay tuned...

Summer Week 12: 

1 bag of oats, 1.5 lbs

1 bunch red russian kale

Either 1 bag (approx 1 lb) mixed sweet and hot baby peppers or 2 ct zucchini/squash

1 lb beans

1 bunch French Breakfast radishes

1 pint blackberries or 1 cantaloupe 

1-2 Candy onions, depending on size

2 green peppers

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 package (1.25 lbs) green onion bratwursts, made from Berkshire pork

Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:

1 piece grassfed swiss cheese from Heritage Grass Farms (12 oz)

2.5 lbs San Marzano roma tomatoes

1 bunch carrots with tops

1-2 cucumbers depending on size 

Vegetarian Share

In Place of sausage

1 bunch "vitamin" greens

1 lb grapes, mostly a seedless variety called reliance

1 head broccoli 

2 count red italian frier peppers (sweet stuffing style pepper)

Vegan Share

Small contents, items below in replacement of beef.

Same as Vegetarian