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Dear Common Thread CSA Members,
Another busy day at Common Thread! Asher, Ethan and Serena transplanted our fourth round of cucumbers and zucchini, the third round of watermelon, the last of the flowers and a fall broccoli planting. Wendy prepped beds and seeded green beans, dill, cilantro, spinach, arugula, turnips, and radishes with the tractor. Alice helped Packard set up at the Clinton Farmers Market then came back to collect a round of boxes to deliver to the Syracuse area while Holly delivered boxes to Norwich. Tomorrow we'll irrigate the structures, harvest for Saturday CSA and Hamilton Farmers Market, cultivate carrots, spinach, herbs and fall brassicas before the thunderstorms that are predicted in the afternoon. Hopefully we'll get to finishing last week's greenhouse seeding (rutabagas) and trellising tomatoes once the rain has started. Everyday is a puzzle with more to do than time to do it but it is satifying to get done what we do get done and to work with good people and the good land and most satisfying to be harvesting and distributing lots of good food.
We are donating vegetables to the Samaritan Center in Syracuse and to the Rescue Mission in Utica this year. Both seem glad for the food for their kitchens as fresh veggies are not always plentiful to work with. We now have fourteen CSA members who have sponsored shares, thanks to the generosity of our CSA members, including a few recent donations that allowed us to invite a few more households to participate.
We're still hoping to add about 25 more CSA members this summer and we are pro-rating for those who start late. If you love your Common Thread veggies, please tell a friend! Thanks to all of you who have been spreading the word!
The zucchini and summer squash have come in, which marks the beginning of the "summer vegetables" for me, along with cucumbers. My dad always steamed discs of zucchini and summer squash and then melted cheddar cheese on top so that is a staple in our house too this time of year. Zucchini and summer squash are very versatile though...delicious stuffed, grilled, in stir-fries, soups, quick breads, pasta dishes, quiche, etc.
Mini-onions are in! These small onions are ready before the full sized onions. They can be used just like regular onions as long as you don't need a huge quantity of onions and their green tops can be used like scallions.
Kohlrabi is a crazy looking vegetable and not well known but very tasty. It is peeled and the inside can be diced small or grated to be added fresh to salads, or it can be stir-fried or added to soups. I descibe it as being similar to the inside of the stem of a broccoli but sweeter and more crisp. Common Thread member Jen told me that she cuts it up with a french fry cutter to make raw sticks and her kids eat them up quickly. Eastern European friends have told me that they are traditionally made into soup. I was excited that kohlrabi was discussed on the podcast "Surprisingly Awesome" as a relative of broccoli that doesn't contain a bitter element that broccoli contains (that only some people can taste).
Chinese (or napa) cabbage is ready! More tender than cabbage, chinese cabbage works in a lot of cabbage dishes like coleslaw, added to fresh salads, and in soups. It is used in kimchee and stir fries. The leaves can be blanched and stuffed with beans, meat or rice fillings. Our friend Judy makes a delicious fresh salad out of Napa cabbage and I don't have the recipe but it is similar to this one from food.com:
Napa Cabbage Salad with a crunch
INGREDIENTS
SALAD
DRESSING
DIRECTIONS - In a small saucepan, combine the soy sauce, cider vinegar, sugar, canola oil, pepper and ground ginger and simmer for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and refrigerate.
- In a small saute pan, heat oil over low heat and add noodles, sesame seeds and garlic; stirring frequently, cook until golden brown.
- In a large salad bowl, toss the noodle mixture and sliced cabbage together.
- Add dressing and sprinkle with almonds
Yours in the field,
Wendy and Asher
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