CSA week 6

It is August and the garden is beginning to shrink. The giant spent broccoli and cauliflower plants have been pulled and brought by the wheelbarrow load to the compost pile. There they will mix in with the manure and other scraps to form compost for next year’s gardens. We pull the plastic off the now empty beds and replant to fall greens like arugula, mizuna, and radishes. I freed the peas from their metal trellis, cutting the strings that held them up. They dropped off down the row, plopping to the ground, where I turned them into the soil with the disc harrow. Summer Squash plants are on next week’s list to remove. They produce an enormous amount of fruit in a short window, we have harvested hundreds of pounds from them each week for over a month now. Their leaves once dark green and reaching upright are now yellowing and drooping, looking tired and worn out. They will go back into the ground along with a cover crop of oats and buckwheat. The cover crop is meant to protect the soil from wind and water erosion as well as adding a bulk of green matter back to the soil when turned under. But just as that early produce is ending, the long season crops are coming into their own. The sungold tomato plants are over 8 feet tall, the sweet peppers are just beginning to turn color, and the eggplants are chest high, loaded with dangling purple fruit. Beans planted in successions are flowering and producing in turn, row by row. We were down in the potatoes of Lower Hosac on Friday, harvesting the first couple crates of this season’s tubers. There is still plenty of season left to go, but the shift in the garden indicates we have turned a corner, and are headed on a gentle glide into the fall.

In the Share:

• New Red Potatoes

• Broccoli

• Green Onions

• Green Beans

• Curly Kale

• Carrots

• Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Green Bean Salad

• 1. 1 bag green beans (about 2 lb or around 48oz)

  2. 2 celery stalks (diced)

  3. 1 pint cherry tomatoes (halved)

  4. 1/4 cup slivered almonds

  5. 1/2 green onion (diced)

  6. 1/8 teaspoon pepper

  7. 1/4 teaspoon salt

  8. 2 teaspoons mustard

  9. 1/4 cup olive oil

  10. 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

  11. 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• in a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil. remove the tips of the green beans if not pre-tipped.

• add the green beans to the pot and return to a boil. cook for 5-7 minutes, then immediately rinse with cold water and let sit in cold water with ice to blanch.

• while the green beans are cooking and cooling, finely dice half of a red onion. place in a bowl or jar and add the pepper, salt, mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. whish or shake until well combined. taste and add more salt, oil, or vinegar if desired.

• cut the celery stalks lengthwise to form four thin slices. dice finely, then place in a large bowl.

• halve the tomatoes, and place in the bowl.

• add the green beans to the bowl, and stir to mix. shake or whisk the dressing once more, then pour in and mix until well coated. top with the slivered almonds