first week of the csa!

watering in tomatoes


garlic looking great!

unusual though not completely out of the normal last frost range for our area, there was a frost warning last night for after 2 am. So we went to bed the last day of may hoping to not have a frost on the first day of june, as i said, not totally out of our historic frost window, but it has not been the norm the last 7 years to have a frost so late. After "heated" debate about how cold it could really get on the last night of may, we spend several hours covering the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, hot peppers, beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, and basil. ironic because i was just thinking how we would have to brag in the newsletter about how we are ahead in our planting compared to any past year. In the end, we didn't have a freeze last night, and it took us a few hours today to clean up the row covers, hoops, rocks, and what not today. a wasted effort, but better than losing all our plants at this point in the year. "its all in the game", so its cool.


covered up for the "frost" last night



we installed this bee nesting block this spring, its for orchard mason bees to nest in, they are supposed to be great native pollinator bees, especially for blue berries. the instructions said to hang the block facing blue berry plants, so we did. and have seen several holes with bees in them. Hard to say if they are orchard mason bees, as all i can ever see is a tip of the bottom or a little yellow on the top. i keep waiting to see one fly out, but am a little nervous of having my face too close when it happens. I'll have to break out the insect book and look them up to satisfy my curiousity.

Its the first week of CSA pick ups! Here are some things that you may see in your share:
beet greens
lettuce heads
lettuce mix
bok choi
spinach
baby carrots
potatoes (last year's)
cherry or regular tomato plants

As we start off the season, please remember, if you are happy with us, please tell your friends, but if you are unhappy with something please tell us (you can of course tell us when you are happy,too). every year we do a survey at the end to make sure our share is sized appropriately, that people are getting the produce they want and in general how we can improve the CSA experience, and it never seems to fail that someone will say that at some point they recieved a bummer of some sort, yet we didn't hear about it until october! We can't fix it, if we don't know, so if your share contains a soft tomato, bitter cucumber or some such thing, please do let us know so that we can fix it right away!

Basic Beet Greens:
Beet Greens
Olive Oil
Garlic
Sunflower seeds toasted in skillet or oven

Put olive oil in pan, crush garlic and add it, cook 30 seconds. Rinse beet greens and add them slightly wet to the pan, cook 2-4 minutes until tender. Serve hot with sunflower seeds on top.

a simple easy to make dressing, that is tasty!
Honey Mustard Dressing:
Whisk together:
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup Dijon Mustard
¼ cup honey
2 cloves crushed garlic
Pepper, freshly ground

we're planning our next CSA day for Sunday, June 28th. We will start at 3PM. Details to follow. last year we had a scavenger hunt planned for our june event, but alas, did not get to do it. Maybe we will pull together another one, or maybe we will make garlic scape pesto, at any rate, put it on your calendars now!
hope your week is good!
liz and matthew