Summer #5 CSA Newsletter June 29 - July 5, 2025

Stacey Feiner
Jul 2
8 min read

Sunflower just about to open. photo by Marlee

VEG SHARES - "A" week for EOW

(Photo of the "Default" FULL Share. See info, guides, recipes below for vegetables in the Default share as well as vegetables available for the Design My Share option below photo.)

LETTUCE MIX (¼ lb) - Store in a plastic bag in your fridge. Often considered a “1st Priority Vegetable” with a shorter shelf life than the other vegetables in your share, however if you put a paper or cloth towel in the bag to absorb moisture, our freshly harvested lettuce will often lasts more than a week! Guide & Recipes

SNAP PEAS - Snap the top and pull down to remove string, then eat pod & all! Guide

SPINACH (½ lb) - This green is very versatile (and YES! You can eat the stems, in fact they are very tasty too. ;) It can be eaten cooked or raw, requires little prep, works with sweet or savory ingredients, stands up to other hearty ingredients, and pairs well with rich, fatty foods such as cheese, butter, bacon, and cream. Raw is popular in salads with, or without, pecans, dried fruit such as cranberries, chunks of cheese, sunflower seeds, and roasted beets. Other possibilities are steaming, boiling, stir-frying, or sautéeing with butter or olive oil. Known as a longer keeper than lettuce, store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a week or more. Note - Cooks down in size considerably. Guide & Recipes

MINI BROCCOLI (1 lb green & purple) - More tender with a milder flavor than standard head broccoli, all of the parts of the mini broccoli, also called baby broccoli, in your bag is edible. It can be steamed, sautéed, roasted, stir-fried, or even puréed into a sauce. And while it makes a good side dish when cooked, broccoli can easily be used raw in salads and crudités. Store in your fridge in a plastic bag for a week, although spears will go limp (still edible!) the longer you keep them. You can often revive them by soaking in very cold water for 10 to 20 minutes. Guide & Recipes

SALAD (Hakurei) TURNIPS (1 bunch) - These popular white golf-ball or smaller size roots are juicy, sweet and less starchy than an average turnip, with a texture that deserves to be eaten raw or barely cooked. Hakurei turnips have the tender, almost creamy texture of a spring radish, but without the sharp heat of a radish, their more mellow turnip flavor shines through.They are crisp and tender. Use them in salads, sandwiches, stir frys, sautes, scrambled eggs or sauces. Remove the edible tops (use in salads or lightly sauteed) and store them separately in a plastic bag in the fridge (or the root will get soft). Best used within 3-4 weeks but will keep a long time! Guide & Recipes

SWISS CHARD (1 bunch = Full Shares only) - Put it in a bag to store in the fridge. Use within a week. This crop technically falls into the category of “First Priority Vegetables” or ones with a short shelf life - use it within the week for maximum efficiency. To revive limp chard, cut a sliver off the bottom of the stems and soak in very cold water for a few minutes. Guide & Recipes

KALE (1 bunch) RED RUSSIAN (FULL ONLY) - Store in a plastic bag (a Debbie Meyer Green bag if you have one) keep it in the fridge. Use within a week. This crop technically falls into the category of “1st Priority veggies” If you can’t use them in the next few days, freeze them you can use the stalks too! Every part of the leaf is edible, though really thick ribs take longer to cook, so they're often discarded. The kale can be cooked whole, cut into thin strips, or chopped, depending on your recipe and use. Store in a plastic bag (a Debbie Meyer Green bag if you have one) keep it in the fridge. Use within a week. This crop technically falls into the category of “1st Priority veggies” to be used in the next week. If you can’t use it in the next few days, consider freezing it. Guide & Recipes

RADISHES with greens (1 bunch) - Separate radish from leaves for storing! Keep the greens in a loosely wrapped plastic bag in the crisper bin of your refrigerator and eat them soon. Store the colorful roots in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a week or so. Eat them raw with a sprinkle of salt, slice into salads or on sandwiches for added crunch, pickle or roast with carrots. Guide & Recipes

GARLIC SCAPES - (1 bunch) These are the curlicue curiosities in your box. Store them in a plastic bag in your crisper. They’ll last about 2-3 weeks. You can trim off the bottom inch of the scape (if it’s woody) as well as the flowering tip (although that is also edible if you want to try it). Steam, saute, or grill them whole or chopped in pieces, similar to green beans, with some olive oil and salt/pepper. Or finely chop as a garlic substitute. Can also be sliced and included in fresh dishes - like you’d use green onions. Can also pickle or chop and freeze them in a Mason jar or Ziplock bag. Then you can use them all summer/winter as needed.

KOHLRABI - (1) - Store in a plastic bag for up to a month. 6 Ideas for Use: 1. Slice in rounds or sticks for veggie platters, 2. Eat plain with a light sprinkling of salt, 3. Grate into salads or slaws, 4. Steam slices 5 to 10 minutes and drizzle with oil, lemon juice, and dill weed, 5. Slice or cube and add to stir fry or to a hearty soup/stew, 6. Grate and saute in butter with herbs or curry.

ASPARAGUS (1 lb) - Can be eaten raw or cooked many ways—roasted, grilled, steamed, boiled, pan-roasted, fried and can be added to pasta, salads, soups, and stir-fries.Steam with butter or hollandaise sauce, blanch and chill with a vinaigrette, herbs, or other dressing. Generally speaking, thicker spears are better for roasting, grilling, and stir-frying, and thinner stalks are traditionally left whole so their tender, meaty texture can be appreciated. Trim before cooking by holding the ends and bending the spear until it breaks somewhere in the middle; everything from the middle up will be tender enough to eat easily. Store in the fridge either in a vase of water (cut a sliver off the stalk ends first if they are dried) or store them in a loosely wrapped plastic bag in the crisper drawer. Just remember that the sooner you eat it, the better the flavor. Asparagus can also be blanched and then frozen although it will be more mushy when thawed - perfect for soup! Pickling is another option.

CILANTRO - Snip the bottom of the stems off and keep in the fridge or on the counter in a glass of water, with, or without, an upside down plastic bag over the tops. Refresh water every few days and your herb will last for weeks! For an even more low-maintenance way to store cilantro, give your leaves a wash and thorough dry, then chop them up to freeze in ice cube trays with a little water or oil. Once frozen solid, transfer them to freezer bags and add to sauces, soups and marinades as needed. Or use now in salads, salsas, tacos, slaws, rice, stir fry (sprinkle on as you remove from heat), and pesto.

BEETS (1 lbs) - Store in the fridge in a plastic bag for months. Guide & Recipes

RUTABAGA (1 lb or more) - Nutritious root vegetable with dense sweet-tasting flesh also known as Swedish turnip or neep. When you buy at the store, rutabagas are often coated in wax so they need to be peeled before cooking. Since these are organic and not waxed, peeling is optional. Can be used in hearty soups like beef barley or chicken noodle, stew, and casseroles, boiled, mashed (with potatoes and/or cauliflower, or on their own), and are excellent roasted, either alone or, with other root veggies like carrots, radishes, turnips, potatoes, onions, etc. This long storing veggie can be stored in the refrigerator, in the crisper drawer. Or if you’ll be using within a week or two, these can be stored like potatoes and onions in a cool, dark place on the counter.

PETER WILCOX POTATOES (1 lb) Blue skin with gold flesh these add nutrition because of their blue color and are very versatile. Firm, but not waxy, they can be roasted, boiled, grilled, sliced or fried. A NY Times food editor has said they posses "a full earthy flavor with hints of hazelnuts." We're not sure on that but agree they taste great! from Mythic Farm - organic Guide & Recipes

DAKOTA RUBY POTATOES (1 LB) - Red skin, white flesh. from Mythic Farm - organic Guide & Recipes

DAKOTA BLACK POPCORN (1 lb) - This richly flavored popcorn has a deep purple kernel that pops into a bright white and tender treat. (from Meadowlark Organics)

BLACK ECLIPSE BEANS (1 lb) - A classic, inky black bean, perfect for soups or as a stand alone dish. Eclipse beans are more of a Cuban or Brazilian style bean than Mexican, but you’ll love them however you choose to prepare them. These beans have been cleaned and sorted, but it’s a good idea to pick through and give them a good rinse before you get cooking. (from Meadowlark Organics)

MES SHARES - Home deliveries on Olin. Bridge & Valley Stream

EGG SHARES - all Weekly & appropriate Biweekly

Recipes:

On the Farm . . .

Kohlrabi

Can you see the teeny, tiny baby cauliflower just starting to form?

We're just a couple weeks from cauliflower harvest now. 👏

Pole beans climbing, climbing, climbing!

Besides our regular green bush beans, we have several - green, Roma, yellow, and red noodle - pole beans planted.

While bush beans typically have a couple week harvest window, pole beans keep producing as long as they are picked. So we grow them in an attempt to have beans available for most of the summer and into fall.

The bush beans have started flowering so those will be available in just a couple short weeks also.

Here's just-germinated squash plants amongst the dried down rye cover crop I told you about last week.

The onion plants are doing great. This is the most impressive stand of onions we've ever been able to grow ourselves!

This is our first year growing sunchokes. They're looking good! When they get a little taller, they'll put out yellow, daisy flowers.

I can't wait for those!

Then in the fall and next summer, we should be able to dig sunchoke tubers for us all to enjoy.

We're dealing with the hot temps by taking midday breaks and doing some of our harvesting and fieldwork in the cooler early morning and evenings. Here's a recent pea picking with the sun dropping low in the western sky.

Last weekend was a great art fair for Liam.

He won one of the eight awards, sold a bunch of pieces, made lots of connections, and got to come home and put his 2025 masterpiece, Rex the dragon, in our front yard.

He was secretly hoping to put it there as a display piece.

Below are the only 2 "pole" dragons he has left until he makes more.

Popular lawn ornaments at the fair, these guys are gracing our flower beds for the moment. (And hopefully distracting from the weeds I haven't gotten around to pulling! Lol)