Summer #8 CSA Newsletter July 20 - July 26, 2025
- Stacey Feiner
- Jul 23
- 8 min read
VEG SHARES - Weekly + "B" week for EOW
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
GREEN BEANS (3/4 lb) - Also called Snap Beans. Store these in the fridge and use within a week or maybe a little longer. Try trimming the ends off and then steam them for 6 minutes, dunk in an ice water bath, and serve with butter, salt and pepper. 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
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.
SWISS CHARD (1 bunch) - 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 (1 bunch) - 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
FENNEL (1 full-size or 2 baby) - Remove the stem and fronds from the white bulb. Store the white bulb in the fridge crisper in a plastic bag. Use within 2 weeks. The fronds have a licorice taste, and can be chopped and frozen for later use in seasoning. The stem is also edible. Chop it up finely for cooking, or flash freeze it. Guide & Recipes
GARLIC (1 fresh, not “cured” bulb) - Keep your garlic in a cool, drafty place, ideally out of direct sunlight. A porch, kitchen or garage are all possibilities. You can eat your fresh-pulled garlic whenever you want, but if you’d like to store it for longer than a week or so wait until the stalk is dried down and, you’ll have a “cured” garlic bulb that you can store as normal garlic.
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.
PARSLEY (1 bunch) - Snip the bottom of the stems off and store on the counter in a glass of water. Or if you plan to use it in the next day or so, you can store the bunch in a plastic bag in the fridge.
BASIL - I’ve found the best way to store basil is to pretend they are cut flowers. Cut the bottoms of the stems off and put in a glass of water on your counter or table. (They make a pretty centerpiece until you are ready to use them!) Basil is great in pesto - - which can be frozen.
CHIVES (1 bunch) - Chives, with long, pencil-like, thin edible leaves with hollow centers and also edible purple flowers, belong to the allium family, making them relatives of onions, leeks, scallions, and garlic. They are typically chopped and are most often used as a garnish but are good on just about anything. Their flavor pairs well with any savory dish. and the bright green color adds visual appeal as well. Note: if added to a dish too early, they will wilt easily. Chives will keep a few weeks in the fridge in a plastic bag although quality will be better if used within a week.
GARLIC CHIVES (1 bunch) - Garlic chives look similar to chives, but their leaves are broad and flat instead of hollow. Their garlicky flavor enhances cooked dishes, particularly ones where the food is slowly simmered in a sauce, such as red-cooked stews or soups, or in stuffing. Use them also to add flavor to stir-fries. They go particularly well with eggs and seafood—you’ll often find them paired with scrambled eggs or prawns.
CHIOGGIA BEETS with Greens (1 Bunch) - Pronounced kee-OH-gee-uh after a town in Northern Italy, and also known as “Candy Cane” or “Bullseye”, Chioggia have an especially sweet and mild earthy flavor—and don’t ‘bleed’ as much as regular beets. You can use them just like red beets. Often put in salads to showcase their eye-catching stripes. If boiling, add a little bit of lemon juice or white vinegar to prevent the stripes from fading! Remove tops and store separately from the roots otherwise the beet roots will soften. Store in the fridge in a plastic bag for months. Guide & Recipes
BEETS (1 lbs) - Store in the fridge in a plastic bag for months. Guide & Recipes
ADIRONDACK BLUE POTATOES (1 lb) - Blue flesh and skin with a slight purple tint. Great flavor, hold color when cooked, and contain lots of healthy anthocyanins. This variety is good for boiling, baking, and mashing, and can be used for brightly coloured salads. Store in a paper bag in your pantry or on the counter for a month. Guide & Recipes (from Mythic Farm - organic)
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.
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)
SMALL RED CAYENNE BEANS (1 lb) - These beans are small, plump, and creamy and are great for soups and stews. We call them the “everything” bean, as they’re a good chili, soup, salad, refried, baked bean. (from Meadowlark Organics)
RAW ROLLED OATS (1 lb) - Packed with flavor and nutrition because, unlike those on the grocery store shelves, they haven't been heat treated. Use as you would traditional rolled oats, in porridge, granola, cookies, crumble toppings, breads, and more. Store in the fridge or freezer. (from Meadowlark Organics)
ALL PURPOSE BOLTED FLOUR - Best applications include but are not limited to cakes, crackers, pizza dough, and breads.PROTEIN CONTENT= 10.5%. (from Meadowlark Organics)
MES SHARES - at LEUCC
EGG SHARES - all Weekly & appropriate Biweekly
Recipes:
On the Farm . . .
While harvesting green beans for market, Marlee was distracted by a stunningly large gorgeous Queen Anne's Lace with ants.
She took all the photos and short video below.
It prompted us to wonder why the ants were there? Was it an unusual occurrence or common for ants to be attracted to Queen Anne's Lace?
Our best guess was that they're pollinators.
Later looking at the photos inside, Marlee and I decided to look it up and found the following AI information.
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Yes, ants are attracted to Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota), and this phenomenon can be explained by multiple factors rooted in the plant's biology and the behavior of ants.
The attraction is primarily due to the plant's nectar and its association with aphids, which ants actively farm for their honeydew secretion.
Nectar Accessibility
Queen Anne's Lace has small, shallow flowers that make the nectar at their base easily accessible to ants.
Unlike flowers with deep corollas that require long proboscises to reach the nectar, the structure of Queen Anne's Lace allows ants to directly access the nectar with their short mouthparts.
This accessibility makes the plant particularly appealing to ants, especially species such as Camponotus (carpenter ants), which have been observed feeding on the nectar of Queen Anne's Lace.
Aphid Farming and Honeydew Production
Another significant factor is the plant's indirect attraction of ants through aphids.
Queen Anne's Lace often hosts aphids, which feed on the plant's sap and excrete a sugary substance known as honeydew.
Ants are highly attracted to this honeydew, which serves as a valuable food source.
In return for this sustenance, ants protect aphids from predators and parasitoids, such as ladybirds and lacewings, effectively "farming" them in a mutualistic relationship.
This behavior has been documented in various ant species, and fossil evidence suggests that this form of insect husbandry has been occurring for up to 20 million years.
Pollination and Ecological Role
While ants are not the primary pollinators of Queen Anne's Lace, their presence on the flowers can contribute to pollination to some extent.
The plant is known to attract a variety of pollinators, including bees, wasps, flies, and beetles, all of which have short proboscises or mandibles that can access the nectar.
Although ants may not be as effective as bees in pollination, their frequent visits to the flowers can still play a minor role in pollen transfer.
Invasive Nature and Caution
It is worth noting that Queen Anne's Lace is considered invasive in some regions, particularly in the United States, where it can outcompete native flora.
While the plant itself is not toxic to ants, there is some confusion regarding its safety for other animals.
. Queen Anne's Lace is often mistaken for poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), which is highly toxic, but Queen Anne's Lace is actually edible and is, in fact, the wild ancestor of the domesticated carrot.
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