This week your basket contains: red, white, & blue new potatoes, snap peas (full shares), SNOW PEAS (half shares), broccoli, summer squash, fresh garlic, cabbage, and beets.

Well, THAT was no fun!  We spent the 3 days of excessive heat scrambling to keep things alive (including our plants, chickens, cats, dogs, and ourselves!)  In the process of watering three to four times more than usual, we were amazed at how resilient the plants can be.  We are incredibly grateful for the infrastructure we’ve been able to set up over the years.  Having computerized drip irrigation in all the gardens has been a lifesaver.  Keeping deep moisture on the garden beds allowed the crops to draw up the water they needed as the heat and wind evaporated it at an unprecedented rate.  All in all we hare happy with the way things came through.  Having a walk-in cooler also allowed us to pre-harvest and store to a greater extent than we usually do.  We took advantage of that and waited until 9:00 last night (the time we were able to get the sorting barn temperature under 80 degrees) to start packing baskets.  Polly & I have never packed baskets until 11:00 before.

Most of all, we are grateful for our amazing crew!  Joe, Gorgonio, and Tabitha all went above and beyond, coming in early and working into the heat of the day to harvest and clean today’s harvest.  There is no way we could have come through so well without them!  We are also grateful to you.  As we did our work and worried about what was going to happen to the crops and our farm, we had in the back of our minds the confidence that, no matter what, you would have our backs.  It is a confidence built up over the years as you helped us weather cold snaps, snow-collapsed hoop houses, and the various minor disasters that have befallen us.  It was also bolstered by the messages of support, concern, and encouragement we received over the past week.  That community support is at the heart of Community Supported Agriculture and we have never felt and appreciated it more than we have during this heat wave.  THANK YOU!

We ate one of the cabbages yesterday (we had to do quality control, of course) and were very happy with how well it weathered the heat.  We were concerned that it might have been “cooked” internally, but found no damage.  It is possible that you might find some browning of the leaf edges inside.  If so let us know.  We can replace any damaged cabbage next week.  It would also be helpful to know what variety did well (or not).  In any case, this is a good cabbage salad for this week.  If you have kohlrabi or turnips, you can use them instead of radish.

SAVOY CABBAGE SLAW WITH APPLESAUCE VINAIGRETTE AND MUSTARD SEEDS

For the vinaigrette:

    1 tsp Dijon mustard
    1/2 tsp salt   
    2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

    1 Tbsp applesauce
    1/3 c olive oil

For the salad:    4 c savoy cabbage, sliced as thinly as possible
    1 large bunch red radishes (optional)
    3 or 4 Granny Smith apples
    1 lemon, juiced
    1 tsp mustard seeds
    1/2 c walnuts, toasted and chopped
    salt and pepper to taste

1.) Make vinaigrette:  In a bowl, mix together mustard, salt, vinegar and applesauce. Slowly whisk in olive oil a little at a time until the dressing emulsifies. Set aside.  2.) Make salad:  Put shredded cabbage in a large bowl. Shred radishes until you have 1 cup. Add to bowl. 3.) Core apples and shred to make 2 cups. Put shredded apples in a bowl filled with lemon juice and 2 cups water, to prevent apple from browning. 4.) When ready to serve, gently squeeze water from apple, add to cabbage and toss slaw with vinaigrette. Add mustard seeds and toss again. Sprinkle walnuts on top of slaw. Season with salt and pepper. Yield: 6 servings

Every year we like to give red, white, and blue new potatoes just before July 4^th.  This year we grew All Blue for our blue element.  They not only have blue skin, but are blue all the way through.  They are of a size that they can be steamed (or boiled) whole and then cut into cubes after they are tender to a fork.  This will help keep a truer blue color internally (they can tend toward a greyer color when cut then cooked).  Dress with a bit of butter with garlic and you have a winner of a dish!

Polly’s flowers did well in the heat.  If you want a beautiful bouquet (one time or as a standing order) just shoot us an email and we’ll include one in your basket for only $10.