Beautiful tomatoes again this week! Your choice of heirloom or romas with big beautiful bunches of basil to go with them.

Today at the pickup Terra Farma will be selling eggs and Portland Wine Co will be here too!

If you want to have a pesto party next week you can pre-order Extra Basil & Garlic and pick it up next Tuesday 9/14.

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• So many different things to do with Eggplant!
• More than 53 recipes use Basil on the Cook With What You Have website.
• Red Tropea Sweet Onions would make a delicious Quick Pickle or combine them with Cucumbers to make this refreshing & tasty Quick Sweet Pickle.
• Need a few more ideas for Anaheim & Poblano Peppers? You can use them in more than Mexican food. Check out all the recipes at Cook With What You Have.

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season – or get signed up for our Winter/Spring CSA just about to start – at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

The sweet corn surprised me today! I thought we were at least a week away from harvest, but all that hot weather over the weekend kicked it into high gear. The corn has had some challenges so the ears are a bit smaller than usual and some have slightly uneven pollination. That said, they are delicious with terrific sweet old fashioned corny flavor!!

The Red Tropea Onions are also a tasty treat. These fabulous onions originate along the coast near Tropea in Calabria. They are naturally sweet, but not because they have a higher sugar content. In fact, they have less pyretic acid which makes them less harsh and pungent and lets the sweetness shine through. They are delicious in salad, on burgers, and on pizza. They are also traditionally used in antipasto or marmalade. The Italians have even been know to make gelato with them?! I’m likely going to use them with the Binje yellow potatoes and flowering dill to make my grandma’s potato salad

Some of the things we’re working on at the farm recently…

• The crew transplanted & fertilized all the winter cauliflower & cabbage.
• Later this week we’re transplanting Purple Sprouting Broccoli!
• Lots of weeding and more watering!

This is the 1st week of the DAHLIA BOUQUET CSA shares. Bouquets will be available at the end of the driveway as you exit the CSA pickup. Prorated flower shares are still available and we will have a few single bouquets for sale.

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• So many different things to do with Eggplant!
• More than 39 recipes use Dill on the Cook With What You Have website.
• Red Tropea Sweet Onions would make a delicious Quick Pickle or combine them with Cucumbers to make this refreshing & tasty Quick Sweet Pickle.
• Summer Squash is going strong. There are more than 3 dozen recipes for zucchini, crookneck, Patty Pan and all the other kinds of courgettes at Cook With What You Have

Coming Soon: Tomatoes!!

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

With more hot weather coming our way this weekend, it might be a good time to prep some summer slaw! These little savoy heads make a great salad which holds up well the next day too. Potato salad with the delicious new Chieftain red potatoes would also be a great way to beat the heat. And this tasty Salad Nicoise would also be a good one to make this week.

Some of the things we’re working on at the farm this week…

• The tomato trellis is looking good! Getting the fruit off the ground makes a big difference when it comes to harvest quality. There is lotsa green fruit on very vigorous vines so we’ll likely have plenty of tomatoes later this summer 🍅
• Most of the fall broccoli & cauliflower has been transplanted. It will be delicious in a few months.
• Watering and more watering!!

Coming Soon: Red Tropea Onions!

This is the 6th week of the FLOWER BOUQUET CSA shares. Prorated flower shares are still available and we will have a few single bouquets for sale.

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• So many different things to do with Cilantro!
• Cucumbers & Onions this week would make a refreshing & tasty Quick Sweet Pickle.
• Summer Squash is going strong. There are more than 3 dozen recipes for zucchini, crookneck, Patty Pan and all the other kinds of courgettes at Cook With What You Have (unlimited access included for shareholders!)

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

It was fun to dig the first summer carrots of the season this week! They are tasty, tender and sweet and we hope you enjoy them.

We also dug the first new potatoes this week. This variety, Chieftain, is very versatile as it makes a delicious new baby potato and also a terrific storage potato.

Some of the other projects on the farm this week…

• Flame weeding ahead of the next round of crops that we are seeding ie. carrots and transplanting ie. lettuce.
• Flaming with a backpack and wand kill the weeds on the surface without disrupting the soil and bring new weed seed to the surface.
• Stacked up hay in the loft for the horses
• Weeding the summer squash & basil!

Coming Soon: Cilantro!

This is the 5th week of the FLOWER BOUQUET CSA shares. Bouquets will be available in the tent as you exit the CSA pickup. Prorated flower shares are still available and we will have a few single bouquets for sale.

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• Almost 50 ways to use Rainbow Chard on the Cook With What You Have website (free access for shareholders – one more reason to join us mid-season!). Or try my grandmother’s recipe for Chard Bisque
• I think of Italian Parsley more like greens than an herb. To me, herbs are meant to be used sparingly and sprinkled on top of a dish. Whereas I chop heaps of greens and sauté them to be used in quiche, over pasta or with polenta. Try the “green” approach to parsley and let me know what you think?
• Summer Squash is going strong. There are more than 3 dozen recipes for zucchini, crookneck, Patty Pan and all the other kinds of courgettes at Cook With What You Have

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

We have a special surprise in the share this week – a bonus box of Umi Organic Ramen Noodles. Yum!! Make sure and get them into your fridge and plan to cook them in the next two weeks. We are very excited to partner with Umi because we sincerely believe they are a wonderful foundation for a heap of delicious seasonal vegetables. Combine the noodles with sautéed kale & spring onions, add roasted broccolini on top and and you have an easy delicious ramen meal!

Some of the other projects on the farm this week… the crew was busy weeding the leeks, sweet corn, green beans & beets. We hilled tomatoes and put them on drip irrigation. Also transplanted more basil and have been keeping potatoes and other crops well watered.

Coming Soon: New Potatoes & Silver Slicer Cucumbers!

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• Traditionally fava beans are double shelled. First you remove the beans from the pod and then you remove the waxy white coating from the bean. I cook them that way sometimes, because they are delicious. More about that here. However, if I don’t have enough time for all that, then I just roast them in the shell and eat them pods and all – delicious! Here is the link to my favorite recipe for Grilled Fresh Fava.
• Beets and Dill make a great combo! Don’t forget to sauté the beet leaves as they are delicious too.
• Summer Squash is going strong. There are more than 3 dozen recipes for zucchini, crookneck, Patty Pan and all the other kinds of courgettes at Cook With What You Have

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

Nice to be back to our reasonable summer temps! That definitely made everything on the farm a little easier this week. We are still suffering a few repercussions from the heat wave. The main onE is that our sugar snap pea season didn’t last nearly as long as it usually does. That is the sad/bad news. The good news is that fava beans are ahead of schedule and we picked lots for you this week.

Traditionally fava beans are double shelled. First you remove the beans from the pod and then you remove the waxy white coating from the bean. I cook them that way sometimes, because they are delicious that way. However, if I don’t have enough time for all that, then I just roast them in the shell and eat them pods and all – delicious! Here is the link to my favorite recipe for Grilled Fresh Fava.

Some of the other projects on the farm this week… lotsa weeding the onions, sweet corn, cucumbers and green beans. We put drip irrigation on the winter squash and made what is probably our final pass through that field. The squash vines are huge and almost touching across the rows. Tomatoes are looking good too and will hopefully start building the trellis in that field soon.

This is the 3rd week of the FLOWER BOUQUET CSA shares. Bouquets will be available in the tent as you exit the CSA pickup.

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• The Sprouting Fioretto Cauliflower has been a big hit the last few weeks. It is related to regular cauliflower but has even more of those delicious sweet crunchy stems and just a few little florets at the end. They can be roasted whole, or chop them up and sauté.
• So happy to have the collard greens back in the mix. They are traditionally cooked, but also make a great raw salad which is nice this time of year
• Romaine Lettuce is still sweet and crunchy in spite of the crazy heat. Time to make your favorite Ceasar Salad recipe!
• Summer Squash is going strong. There are more than 3 dozen recipes of zucchini, crookneck, Patty Pan and all the other kinds of courgettes for members at Cook With What You Have

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!

It has been a hectic few days with the crew starting at 5-6am in order to get the harvest in before it was 100 degrees. We did it! The newsletter this week will be slightly abbreviated, but I did want to let you know that because of the heat, you are getting Hakurei Salad Turnips without the greens, and none of the usual cooking greens this week. The heat also took the summer squash from tiny to plus size over the weekend.

That said, still lotsa great stuff in the share and three cheers for the farm crew who busted it out to make that happen 👏👏👏

Highlights from the CSA box this week…

• Sugar Snap Peas hardly need a recipe. They make a great snack on the way home, or you can add them to salad or try one of these recipes at Cook With What You Have.
• Make sure and use the greens with your Spring Onions! They are delicious and can be used just like scallions.
• The Fennel Bulb are delicious thinly sliced in salad or roasted. It is delicious by itself or on Fish Tacos.

Not a shareholder? Come on board for a prorated Summer CSA season at one of our two pickup locations (SE Portland or Lake Oswego) and take home fresh, local, sustainably-farmed produce like this every week!