CSA 2014 Week 5

Greetings from a far less tropic Dancing Hen Farm! And welcome to Week 5 of the CSA!  And Week 1 of the Dallas Back Mountain Library Market.

So nice to see the weather break and have a few days of cooler breezes to contend with.  Hopefully no severe storm warnings for a few days as well.  Everyone, humans, animals and plants, appreciate these days of lower humidity.

A word on crops.  Mid July and I think we can finally say our peas are starting to wind down!  Next year we are thinking more shelling peas and fewer snow peas.  We will plant the same number of sugar snaps, but hope the harvest is a bit more prolific than this year.  Zucchini and summer squash are still coming on strong.  These are some beautiful plants and they are producing nicely.  Our cucumbers are also still producing heavily and we are starting to harvest a few lemon cucumbers.  These are an heirloom cucumber which produces a round yellow fruit, looking a bit like a lemon.   These lemon cucumbers will be available in very limited quantities.  We were able to harvest a few tomatillos this week and we anticipate a much larger harvest for the next few weeks.  Big news for us is that our tomatoes are starting to ripen!  Always a time to celebrate!!!!

A word on pick up sites.  For most sites pick up time is from 4 pm until 6 pm.  If you are running late or are unable to make a pick up, please notify your site host.  We are asking site hosts to keep boxes available until noon on Wednesdays.  After this time all boxes will be donated by the site host.  Please also note, site host's are not able to refrigerate boxes for you.  I your box is left at the site overnight, it will not be left at room temperature.   If you pick up Thursday, on farm, your box will be kept in our cooler and will be available until Saturday morning, at which time we will donate your box.  Remember if you are going out of town, you can always arrange to pick your box up at our farm or at one of the markets we attend.

A word on markets.  This Saturday, July 19, is the first week for the Dallas market on the grounds of the Back Mountain Memorial Library.  We are excited for the opening of this market.  Market hours are from 9 am until 2 pm, but we do sell out of items quickly, so come early for the best selection.  We will be featuring not only our organically grown produce, but also our pasture raised chicken.  As always, if  you come to market, please stop by our table and say hello.  We love to meet our members!!!

A word on buying clubs.  If you are a CSA member and opted into our buying club, extra items are available for you to purchase when you make your CSA choices.  Our other, pay as you go, buying club is temporarily on hold as work out some logistics.  We encourage you to visit us at one of our markets.
A word on using the items in your box.  We are posting recipes to our pinterest site (http://www.pinterest.com/dancinghencsa/).  Now that tomatillo season is here, we have to share a farm favorite for Tomatillo Bread Salad  (http://www.tucsoncsa.org/2009/07/tomatillo-bread-salad/). With the addition of the beans, this salad is easily a meal!

On farm we are in preserving mode.  Last week we pickled garlic scapes and are struggling to wait 2 weeks to taste them!  Stay tuned for how they turned out.  This week we will pickle some cucumbers and make some zucchini spread (http://food.visitphilly.com/zucchini-spread/).  Zucchini spread is something new for us, if we like it we will make more for freezing.  Pickles are a real treat on farm.  Even if you aren't up for all the fuss of canning, you may want to try some refrigerator or freezer pickles.  These can be made in small batches with cucumbers or zucchini.  Here are some recipes:  For freezer cucumber pickles:   http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/freezer-cucumber-pickles;  for freezer zucchini pickles:  http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/quick-pickled-zucchini-recipe.html.  If you would like bulk zucchini or cucumbers for preserving, please contact us at the farm.

As we draw to an end.... Be Safe, Be Well and enjoy the veggies!  And don't forget CSA choice begins Thursdays at 6 pm and ends on Sunday at 6 pm.