CSA: Week 18

In your share this week:

• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Zucchini - nearing the end
• Squash - could freeze in the next week, if not, the plants are loaded with new tiny squash
• French filet beans
• Tuscan Kale
• French Fingerling Potatoes
• Italian Parsley
• Broccoli - watch out for green caterpillars!
• Walla Walla Onions
• Head Cabbage

We dug up one more row of potatoes this week, only one more to dig next week.  This week's variety are called French Fingerlings.  They grew very well for us and are a real treat to eat.  Fingerling potatoes are the type of potato you sometimes see at the store that are smaller in size and a lot more expensive.  Why the increased cost?  For starters, the certified fingerling seed potatoes are very expensive, the conditions to grow them well have to be just right (we tried growing some last year with low yields and small potatoes, they liked this warm summer much better), and it takes twice as long to dig them up.  We grew two varieites of fingerling potatoes this year, kind of as an experiment and kind of because Shain loves them so much and is determined to figure them out.  So, you get to enjoy his little experiment too!

Our broccoli didn't quite turn out as expected.  I have been watching it carefully these last few weeks, peeking under the row covers to see how things are growing.  Last week, I only saw smallish, compact heads with a yellowish color.  So I left them to grow another week.  Then I pulled off the covers this week and was surprised to see that so many heads had seperated (started to bolt), and curiously, the color isn't turning the dark green that I'd expect.  So, I'm calling this "Soup Broccolli", the kind you will cut into smaller pieces anyways to make a wonderful broccoli soup.

Meanwhile, the cucumbers are going gang-busters.  The zucchini are just about done.  I didn't find many full grown squash this week, just enough for everyone to get one, but the plants are still loaded with very small squash, so I'll keep covering and picking them.  

It's good to see a good crop of head cabbages!  There will be a lot more cabbage in the weeks to come.  And the fillet beans are also growing faster than we can pick them.

So much great food to eat and cook with.  Shain has been making us some delicious recipes, including this White Bean, Carrot, and Kale Soup (click for the recipe).

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies.

Tara