With nights routinely in the 40s, it’s hard to deny that summer is quickly coming to an end. We’re covering our heat loving crops (eggplants, peppers, basil and such) at night to help keep them from getting too cool at night and things are growing more slowly. Some crops that I had given up on early keep chugging along: winter squash is still looking healthy in the field, and onions are still green in the field. (When onions stop being green, they’re ready for storage, but their leaves aren’t any good to use anymore. Last year, the last week of August was the last share to get fresh onion.) On top of those, our hoophouse tomatoes are still producing well, although they’ve produced so well that we’ve just about picked all of the fruit that’s in there. (In the past three years, I don’t think we’ve ever picked all of the fruit off of a tomato plant.)

It’s late, so I won’t write a whole lot, but keep an eye out for another post with some farm pictures.

Detailed share information, notes about the veggies, storage tips and recipe tips are all inside the full post.

All shares contain:

• Braising or Stir-fry Greens
• Fresh Onions
• Salad Turnips
• Celery

“Full” shares also contain:

• Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• more Braising Greens

Bread shares: no bread this week

Veggie Notes

Braising Greens – You can eat these raw, but they will very spicey. Even a very light cooking will tame that heat. Use these in any stir fry, or see below for a simple ginger sesame greens recipe.

Salad Turnips – Forget what you know about turnips. These are sweet and tender, unlike those purple-top things your grandmother put into the boiled dinner. We prefer not to cook them, instead just slicing them over salads or lightly salting them and eating them as crudites. The tops are edible and can be added to the braising greens, or cooked on their own.

Zucchini – These aren’t exactly exotic, but I’ll just mention that we like to slice them and salt them for a while to draw out some extra moisture. We then saute them with some onions. Yummy.

Storage Notes

Store onions, greens, turnips, celery, and zucchini in a plastic bag in the fridge, tomatoes are fine on the counter.

Recipe Ideas

Braising Greens – from last year’s CSA, here’s a recipe for Ginger Sesame Stir Fried Greens

As always, we welcome your feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or problems. Also, please send along any recipes you’d like to share.

We hope you enjoy the share!