Week Two

June 23rd, 2021

Bunching Onions

5 oz Salad Mix

Spinach Bunch

Beet Greens

Snap Peas

Head Lettuce

Garlic Scapes

Summer Squash

Broccoli

Hello All,

It’s only the second week of CSA delivery, and the first week of Summer, but the farm is in full swing! We are just finishing up a great day of harvesting in the sunshine. This morning we had four fabulous workshare members here to harvest full pints of snap peas for you, and our farm team harvested the rest! This time of year seems to be most intense - the greenhouse is still humming with seedlings, the fields are being planted and a lot of food is coming out and being packed each week and we still desperately need rain. It’s a delicate balance keeping it all together. Dan works on the harvest crew and also carries the weight of the planting, irrigation, and bed prep. He’s working pretty non-stop. I make sure the harvest gets to your homes and (obviously) I handle most communications as well. There are some exciting stunners in the box this week that I’ll talk about, but I first I want to remind you of our farm open house this Saturday, June 26th. We’ll be around from 1-4 to give tours of the fields (also feel free to wander on your own). We have a natural dying with marigolds activity for kids and adults to partake in as well. We’ll have water available and snap peas to harvest and munch on. Feel free to bring drinks or snacks of your choosing. Afterwards, stop by our local town festival, Sauerkraut days in Henderson - just 5 miles down the road for more good food (brats with LOTS of sauerkraut) and fun.

In addition to salad goodies, we have our first round of broccoli in the share. This, plus the snap peas made me think of a recipe I made many, many times this winter from Laura Wright’s cookbook, The First Mess. I included it here, because I think a lot of what is in the share could be added to this dish. It calls for broccoli and snow peas, but I’d sub the snap peas (if they make it out of your car on the way home from picking up the share!). I’d saute and add the spinach to this dish as well and maybe even the green onions. It’s healthy in the best possible way.

The other two exciting and new veggies this week are the beet greens and garlic scapes. Garlic scapes come but once a year and are the sweet bi-product of growing garlic- one of my favorite early season delicacies. Here’s a nice article from Bon Appetit about what to do with scapes. We grill them, sautee them in butter and add to any variety of dishes. Beet greens are a nutrient dense green, high in antioxidants and very delicious. We end up harvesting beet greens as part of our beet thinning regimen. Although there may be some tiny beets attached to the greens, this offering is intended for the greens. Like scapes are a bi-product of growing garlic, these sweet, mild greens are a bonus to growing beets. Here’s an epicurious article with more information and some nice recipe ideas.

Think of this summer squash like a little cherry on top. They just started coming along, so this is just a taste of what’s to come there.

Please remember to return your box from the first week to the pick up site tomorrow. In the email specific to each drop site I included information about where to put your collapsed box. When in doubt, you can simply start a pile at your pick up site - out of the sun and rain. We will pick up these boxes next time we deliver. Here’s my “how to collapse a box” video one more time.

As always, reach out with any questions and we hope to see you on the farm this Saturday!!

For more photos and news, follow us on Instagram @little_big_sky_farm!!!

-Jenny & Dan