This week your basket contains: spring onions, snap peas or snow peas, lettuce, zucchini, broccoli or Asian broccoli, kale, garlic scapes, red, white, & blue  new potatoes, and kohlrabi).

Somehow, Fourth of July has snuck up on us, but we did remember in time to get you the red, white, & blue potatoes you need for a real celebration of our Independence Day! 

Since the fourth is almost upon us, it also means that July 10^th is not far behind.  Why mention the 10^th?  It is the date of our FIRST SUBSCRIBER DAY POT LUCK ON THE FARM.  We will be hosting subscribers from 11:00 to 3:00 as well as giving farm tours and serving up pizza from our wood-fired pizza oven.  Bring you favorite dish to share, come explore where your veggies are grown, get to know us and connect with other subscribing families.  We look forward to seeing you!

One great way to use the potatoes, peas, and lettuce would be the recipe below which is infinitely customizable to your taste and the veggies you have on hand.

SALAD NICOISE

Steam the new potatoes until you are just able to penetrate them with a fork (this will be quite quick) and let cool.  Make a regular vinaigrette (see the recipe on our web site), but add 1-2 Tbs. of soy sauce.  Add chopped scallions, 1 tsp. dill weed and any other herbs you might like.  Drain one can of tuna and mix into the vinaigrette.  Add snap peas, capers, shredded carrots, chopped black olives and/or hard-boiled eggs and stir.  Add the potatoes, along with lettuce and/or spinach, toss well and serve.

Zucchini loved the heat over the weekend.  This is one of my favorite ways to use these early zukes.

GRILLED SUMMER SQUASH MARINADE

3-4 Tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

chopped fresh herbs (oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary etc)

dash of Worcestershire sauce

½ cup olive oil

Place garlic and salt in bottom of a bowl and mash together with a fork.  Add vinegar, Worcestershire and herbs, mix well.  Whisk in olive oil.  Cut squash lengthwise (1/4 inch thick or less) and toss in marinade.  Let sit at least 20 minutes.  Grill over hot coals until browned on both sides.  Place grilled squash back into the bowl containing the remaining marinade before serving.

Summer kale can be less sweet than winter kale (the sweetness is an effect of cold temperature).  However, this makes it perfect for this marinated salad.  Take your time massaging the oil into the kale as this improves flavor.

KALE SALAD

1/8 cup flax or olive oil

1/8 cup lemon juice

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 bunch kale

1 small onion thinly sliced

shredded carrot

¼ cup  sunflower seeds

sesame seeds

sprouts (optional)

sliced mushrooms (optional)

Mix oil, lemon juice, and soy sauce.  Add the thinly slice onion and set aside to marinate while preparing salad greens.  Wash and coarsely chop the greens and place in a large bowl for easy mixing.  Add carrots, seeds, and any optional ingredients to the greens and mix gently by hand.  Pour dressing and onion mixture over greens and continue mixing by hand to insure even coating and aiding absorption of the dressing.  Let sit for 20-30 minutes before serving.

This week’s garlic scapes are from our regular garlic.  Over the past 5-10 years we have been having storage problems with regular garlic.  We’re experimenting with varieties and also growing some in a hoop house in hopes that we can get back to a good winter supply of garlic.  One interesting way I heard of for using your scapes is to whiz them up into a paste in a food processor and them dehydrate it in a food dehydrator.  When dry it can be crumbled into a green garlic powder that can be used on popcorn, avocado toast, or just about anything you want.