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Dear Common Thread CSA Members,
We've been enjoying the less rainy and mid-70's weather of the past week or two. The summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc.) would really like some more heat but other crops (lettuce, beets, cabbage, kale) are doing great in this weather. We still haven't (I guess, won't entirely) catch up from the set backs of the non-stop rains of June, but we are mostly caught up with the fall plantings now, so that feels good. We never did manage to plant the basil, unfortunately, so we'll have to hope for better basil years in the future. It feels a little like the summer that never was, but though some of the crops we grow like the summer heat, luckily, many of them are perfectly happy with cooler weather.
We have been distributing early onions, starting with Bridger, an early yellow variety, and now Red Marble, a red Cippolini onion, and Red Long of Tropea, an early red variety. The Italian heirloom Red Long of Tropea (or Rossa Lunga di Tropea) is named after Tropea, in Calabria near the southern tip of Italy, the site of a famous onion festival every August. Elongated like torpedos, these are thin-skinned glossy maroon bulbs with lighter interiors that slice easily into even rings. They are described as "sweet, mild and delicious" and great for grilling or braising. Asher and I sliced them into rings, tossed them in a little oil, and baked them in the oven and found them absolutely delicious.
We've been harvesting some nice beds of carrots, including orange, white, yellow and purple varieties. We've been enjoying lovely multi-colored carrots (grated or julienned) in our salads. We've also had some delicious Indian food with carrots, broccoli, zucchini and a few other vegetables, made from a prepared sauce made by our own Phoebe Rotter's aunt, Maya Kaimal. Three different sauces are sold at Hamilton Whole Foods. More information on the sauces can be found at www.mayakaimal.com
We hope you are eating well!
Yours in the field, Wendy and Asher
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