CSA Basket Journal #9
July 8th
What Genus Specie Varieties your basket contains:

1.) Indigo Radicchio Head
2.) Batavian Escarole or Large Leaf Italian Escarole
3.)Golden Swiss Chard, Pargo, or Argentata Chard
4.)Bulk Detroit Dark Red Beets (no tops as the very hot summer
   weather is upon us)
5.) Carrot Bunch of Snowwhites and Orange Danvers
6.)Florence, or Perfection Fennel Bulb and Fronds
7.)Onaway, Purple Caribe, or Butte Russet Potatoes
8.)Summer Savory and Genovese Basil in Bulk
9.)Edible Borage, Arugula, and Marigold Flowers or Arrangement of Zinnias

CSA Basket Journal #12; Volume 2
August 5th

What Genus Species your basket contains:

1.)Bulk Cucumbers: English Green Finger, Marketmore 76, Poona Khera, and Crystal Apple
2.)Royal Burgundy Specialty Bush Snap Beans (turns green upon cooking, sadly enough)
3.)Gladstone Yellow Bulk Carrots
4.)French Breakfast Radish Bunch 
5.)Zefo Fino, Perfection, Florence Fennel Bulbs and Fronds
6.)Pearl Onions of Velincia and Rosa di Milano
7.)Lime Basil


Matthew and I continue to be amazed at how much rain we have had totally for this whole year thus far and in some ways it has been great and in others not so much.  The time is drawing near for fall crop planting and for continual summer crop cultivation and this is the first time I can remember in a while that we have even had trouble finding the dry times to plant fall crops and to cultivate summer crops.   The summer time is generally a lot easier to plant than in the early spring, but not so much for this year.  Most of all, we are hoping that the continual wetness does not alter the taste of all our wonderful melon crops that are coming along thus far really well.  In fact, we are thinking next week, if they ripen enough, you will see your first harvest of the orange fleshed french sweet melons!  I know you are also thinking of the good summer tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and summer squash and do not fear they will be here, late as normal which is normal for our farm's harvest cycles. Speaking of the weather conditions, we have heard a lot of friends saying that it has been difficult finding good tomatoes this year do to the weather,  so we are hopng our's will fair to be better.     Also, Matthew has called this the year of the field mice, so if you notice some nibbles on your radishes or cucumbers they are the culprit, but as the radishes and greens were so nice I had to still include them as it would have been very wasteful to let a whole row of radishes not be distrubuted becasue of the marks.  Just slice/trim your radishes right under the bite and then it is if it was never there. 

I know that Matthew told everyone of the great cucumber and fennel cold soup that I have been making in different alterations lately, as it is great to make a large batch and chill and have when you ever so desire.  Cold soups in the summer are so very refreshing,  so I will be posting that recipe on the Arugula's Star Farm Recipies section. 
The cold soup was great with a chopped salad that consisted of the lime basil, radishes, pearl onion, carrots, and sunflower seeds and then all tossed with a mixture consisting of olive oil, cream cheese, pear juice, and salt and pepper.

We will be seeing you next week.

CSA Journal Basket #13; Volume 2
August 12

What Genus Specie Varieties your basket contains:

1.) Summer Squash and Zucchini:  Possible varieties would be Yellow Scallopini (yellowish green), Benning's Green Tint Scallopini (whitish green),  Reve Dark Green Scallopini (dark green), Cocozelle Italian Striped Zucchini, and Golden Zucchini

2.)Cucumbers: Normal Sized Poona Kheera and English Green Finger's then small sized Poona Kheera, Marketmore, Green Finger and Crystal Apple

3.)Tiger's Eye Dry Bean (to be shelled and prepared like a dry bean)

4.)Dragon Langerie Wax Snap Beans

5.)Petit Gris de Rennes Sweet Summer Melon....... Grey-green rind that takes 
    on an orange cast when ripe...if the perfume doesn't tell you its already ripe!

The sweet melons are here as we were hoping!  They started vine ripening just in time for us to pick our first round for this week's delivery.  There are so many wonderful varieties of melons that many never get to see as the most common that always shows up in the grocery is the netted muskmelon type.  So here we try to grow unusual varieties that maybe you have never seen nor tasted.  The flavor has proved to be way above average we would say, which I am very pleased with considering I was concerned because of the rains.  These Melons are French in origin, as they were noted in the garden of Bishop of Rennes nearly 400 years ago.

More than just the melons being French in Origin your basket reaches most broad this week, which inclues the Tiger Eye Dry Beans origin being Argentina and Chile; the Crystal Apple Cucumbers from New Zealand, the Poona Kheera from India; and the Dragon Langerie emigrating from the Netherlands.  Very Global here at Arugula's Star Farm!

This week we purposefully picked some of the cuccumbers at a very small size in order for you to have some great cucumbers for some pickling.  The skins of the smaller crystal apple cucumbers I noticed last night for dinner were a little bitter, so those I would for certain try to pickle or just peel before slicing.  Sometimes though, it is a hit or miss with the skins being bitter, so the best method I would say, would always be to taste before decing what to do with them, or how to use them and keeping in mind that the tip ends should be discarded and not to be tasted, as the tips always have a little bite.
The small Poona Kheera's or Green Finger's genarally are never ever bitter, so it also has to do with variety. 

I over viewed last year's Archived CSA Basket's to find which ones talked about melons, cucumbers, dry beans, and summer Squash and they were the Arhchived Basket Journals numbered 11, 12, 14, and 15, so you might enjoy looking over them as well, as last year I talked about a vegetable of the week and knew for the years after one could always refer back to those vegetable references.  

Enjoy your French Sweet Melon and be on the look out for Watermelons next week!

CSA Journal Basket #14; Volume 2
August 19th

What Genus Specie Varieties your basket contains:

1.)Petit Gris de Rennes Sweet Melons

2.)Crimson Sweet Watermelon

3.)Mix of French Sorrel, Red Opal Basil, and Water Mint

4.)Sugar Dumpling Large Teacup Winter Squash

5.)Summer Squash and Zucchini:  Golden Scallopini, Benning's Green Tint Scallopini, Reve
    Scallopini, Cocozelle Italian Striped Zucchini, and/or Ronde de Nice Zucchini

6.)Cucumbers: Lemon, Crystal Apple, Poona Kheera, Green Finger and/or Marketmore


Hello to everyone on this great basket day of sweet summer melons!
I am sure you all had your melon from last week eaten up in a day or so, as melons are very easy to eat a lot of in the summer, especially if they are coming straight out of the field! 
There are really all kinds of great things to do with melons...

you can eat them plain by just slicing them up(oh so very good and simple);
        
   you can make a delicious orange fleshed melon salad by tossing some chopped
   sorrel, red opal basil, diced lemon cucumber (seeds scooped out, just leaving the
    flesh and crunchy golden skin), olive oil, golden balsamic vinegar, walnuts, blue
     veined cheese, and pepper;
                      
                   try making a cool melon and cucumber soup with olives and mint, 

                        ...and as you can see the options are endless, as is the same with
                             all vegetables and fruits. 

All of our winter squashes have really done well this year and are lookin pretty great laying out in the fields as the vines have started dying back. In the next month, they  will all be harvested and put up for storage and used slowly for your CSA baskets for the rest of the season.  The Sugar Dumpling Large Teacups were the first to be harvested and are a sure treat to have baked.  The size of these allow for perfect individual servings; meaning they can just be rinsed, cut in half, seeds scooped out (try saving the seeds that then can be dried out and roasted with your favorite seasonings), rub with olive oil (both inside and out), and then bake with yellow flesh faced upwards at 400 for about 35-40 minutes, only covering for the end 10 minutes or so.  After they are baked, you can serve them up on the dinner plate to be eaten and I find that the skin can be eaten too if desired.  Of course you can top with herbs, spices, honey, and cheese before serving.  The other night we had blue veined cheese, honey, cinnamon, summer savory, and pepper on ours, and oh it was very very good. 
All winter squashes can also be stored and used at a later time, that is if kept in a darker spot at room temperature and preferably in a non-damp area.  You can expect to see more of these sugar dumplings, plus Butternut Squashes, Delicata Squashes, Acorn Squashes, Spaghetti Squashes, and a Beautiful Fall French Pumpkin that can even be eaten raw...how about that?

Over the last couple of weeks here at the farm we have gotten almost all of our fall crops direct seeded in the ground, which is a great relief as it has been slightly difficult with all the rain.  As we are just barely over half way through the season the end half always is our favorite, as I love Fall the most.  The Summer and Fall crops always combine to be great baskets.  The tomatoes have started to ripen, but only a handful so hopefully next week there will be enough to include in your basket. Then for the rest of the season there will be more summer crops like sweet melons, lots of peppers, eggplant, summer squash, snap beans, and dry beans and then there will start being the wonderful greens again, root vegatables like beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes, and in finale the star of the fall scene the brassica crops of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, and rutabagas.  So as you can see with all these coming together the end half really is looking full. 

Thanks for being apart and Please Enjoy,

Allison and Matthew