It’s week 17 of our CSA – only 1 more week left!

Some years we are almost out of vegetables by now and the boxes reflect this.

But this year we are still picking a lot of stuff! In fact, there are 5 new vegetables in the share this week! We’re pretty excited about that.

What’s in the box?

Carrots, corn, squash, shallots, baby kale, peppers, arugula, lettuce, garlic.

• Carrots are not something usually found in our CSA box. We have not grown them in years. But we tried them again this season – and they turned out great. And they taste even better!

• We grow 1 planting of corn each year. This season we got it in quite late and weren’t sure it would mature in time. But it has! Enjoy some fresh corn-on-the-cob in your share this week. I’ll give the same warning I do each year – the corn is not sprayed so don’t be surprised if you find a few worms. In the past, most CSA members have said they prefer to cut out a worm or 2, rather than have insecticide on their corn. Please give us your opinion on this.
• We began to cut the squash today and pile it up in the field to cure. It felt wrong to be harvesting a fall vegetable in such hot & humid conditions (high 30’s C.). It also felt wrong – or at least disappointing – to have such a poor harvest. We planted 27 varieties but picked only about a dozen kinds, and very few squash in total. Butternut squash is one that turned out ok. It is also one of the more popular kinds. It is a delicious squash with a thick, orange flesh, somewhat sweet and nutty. It is very versatile and can be used for roasting, stews & casseroles, and baking (pies, muffins, bread …).

• Instead of onions there will be shallots in your box this week. Shallots are similar to an onion but perhaps less pungent & a little sweeter, with a hint of garlic. This makes them excellent to use raw, perhaps in salads or dressings. When cooking with shallots, you will notice a finer, smoother texture well suited to sauces, quiches & custards.
• Baby kale – small leaves & stems that are especially great raw, in salads.
• There will be both bell peppers & shepherd peppers available again this week. The bells come in more colours, the shepherds only in red. You will notice that many of our peppers are not completely coloured – there is often some green along with the red, yellow or orange. It seems we are not the only ones who enjoy sweet peppers. Mice (and maybe rabbits too) find them tasty! If we leave the peppers on the plant to completely turn colour, they are very often chewed & eaten. As it is we are losing probably a third of our peppers to critters & spoilage. Both peppers taste great but shepherd peppers are a bit sweeter and have a thicker flesh making them the better choice for roasting.

• Arugula, lettuce & garlic round out the CSA basket this week.

Last week’s CSA box.

Remember – next week is our last week for CSA!