There were puddles on the farm last week.

While they didn’t last long it sure was good – for us and especially the vegetables! We had 2 decent rains over the last week totaling just over 30mm, enough to benefit the crops immensely.

The precipitation was followed by heat & humidity – great growing weather, and then strong, drying winds – not so beneficial for the crops or us!

What’s in the box?

Salad greens … green onions, salad turnips, baby broccoli,

(and snow peas by Thursday or Friday?)

Salad greens – there are lots of different kinds this week. Your share could include any of the following – lettuce mix, salad blend, spinach (yup, we saved some from the leaf miners!), mustard, mizuna, arugula, bok choy, baby kale … Everything is freshly picked the morning of your pick up and everything is delicious! Enjoy these abundant spring salads!

The green onions are small & tender – we have so many planted there’s no reason to wait for them to get larger. Let’s eat them now!

Salad turnips are small, round, white turnips that resemble radishes, but without the bite (usually)! Mild in flavour, crisp, and quite tender, they are best eaten raw – simply wash, cut off the tops and enjoy! They can also be stir fried, sautéed, or steamed – both the turnips & the green tops.

Broccoli is a crop that is very sensitive to the weather – especially heat. There are specific varieties to grow in early spring when the weather is cooler, and some for later that can handle the heat of late spring/early summer. Fall broccoli grows best when the days get shorter and the nights cooler. Unfortunately our spring broccoli seed did not arrive on time. (While there is no shortage of seed generally this year, the seed companies were overwhelmed with orders during the winter & early spring. Much seed is on back order & some of our seed – especially broccoli & peppers – arrived too late to plant or never arrived at all.) So we used what we had on hand which was fall broccoli. It is still several weeks away from harvest – if it gives a crop at all during this hot weather!

But we do have baby broccoli or mini broccoli. Same taste (maybe better!) but instead of big heads it forms lots of shoots with tiny little heads. This is great for food prep as they are already the right size for eating, but they are a lot of work to pick. There will be some in your box this week – maybe not a large amount but enough to try. Enjoy them raw or lightly steamed or stir-fried.

The snow peas are just about ready to harvest. Expect them in the box on Thursday or Friday. CSA members who pick up on Tuesday will have to wait until next week to enjoy these delicious peas.

Around the farm this week …

We hope you enjoyed your 1st CSA share last week.

Please remember to return your box this week, and exchange it for another –

filled with more delicious, healthy, fresh vegetables.