Last week, we had friends coming over for dinner and decided that we absolutely could not eat inside during this beautiful summer weather. We live in a tiny rental house in town with a tiny yard (really, tiny), but it has just enough room for the rickety, old picnic table that had been sitting unused at the farm.
So, we hauled the table home on the top of our little Honda hatchback, added some more screws for security, covered the peeling surface with a tablecloth, and finally began enjoying the full pleasures of summer dining: eating fresh seasonal vegetables with friends in the cool evening breeze.
As we ate our fennel and summer squash frittata last Friday, I truly relished the things that we only have for a brief two months of the year: hot days, cool nights, and summer vegetables.
We hope that you too have been as aware of this season’s delicious pleasures. And, we are happy to report that the pleasures are just going to keep growing as we enter what some of our friends call ‘High Summer’—late July, August and early September. These are good months for eating and enjoying food, in general.
You’ll see that this week’s share includes many of this season’s extra special flavors: basil, green beans, cucumbers, and eggplant. More of these are on their way, along with melons, peppers and tomatoes (we ate our first ripe cherry tomatoes this week!).
Meet this week’s vegetables
Cauliflower—Great fresh for salads and dipping (or try our curry recipe!).
Eggplant—We grow the long Japanese eggplant because it is more reliable and can be used almost exactly the same as the Italian version in recipes (except that it doesn’t have the large pocket of seeds that need to be scooped out—you can use the whole thing and you don’t need to salt it!). We’ve included some cooking suggestions with the recipes.
Cucumber
Basil
Radishes
Cabbage—For the summer, we are growing our cabbages closer together so that they will be smaller when we give them out. We have also chosen varieties that are better for fresh eating (rather than the large cooking cabbages so beloved in winter months). While they are yummy cooked too, we recommend eating the cabbage fresh or barely cooked. Slaws would be a yummy choice—try mixing sliced cabbage, grated radishes, green onions, and your favorite slaw dressing.
Lettuce—Two kinds: a red Romaine and a Greenleaf. Big Green Salad time!
Green beans—A mixture of a few varieties. The smaller beans are tender enough to eat fresh in a salad or as a snack, but we especially love our beans steamed or roasted.
Green onions—“Why all the green onions?” you may be wondering by now. We’ve been trying to balance each share with different kinds of vegetables: fresh eating greens, cooking greens, brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi), etc. And, we find that alliums (onions, garlic, shallots) are essential in our own cooking, thus part of the balance we’re trying to achieve. Until the bulb onions, leeks, and shallots are ready, we’re giving out their faster growing cousin: green onions.
Summer squash
Mixed flower bouquets—(for the flower shares)
Enjoy your vegetables!
Your farmers,
Katie & Casey Kulla
Oakhill Organics
Hi guys
You should post the fennel fritatta recipe….it was delicious!
Rich