Main Season Harvest #5 (Week A) should include garlic scapes, mini lettuces, romaine lettuce, kale, escarole, endive, radicchio, kohlrabi, scarlet turnips, hakurei turnips, zucchini (hopefully), cucumbers (hopefully), fennel, celery, strawberries, basil, parsley, dill, and cilantro. Some items will be a choice. U-pick should include peas, strawberries, and herbs.

Predictably the pendulum swings the other way: sun, wind, heat, and dry conditions are here. Irrigation has been turned back on and needs to be double checked and fixed since it hasn't been used for more than a month. Summer officially commences this week according to some folks and daylight breaks around 5am now, waking me up on Father's Day, a Sunday, an 'off day'. I get out the door by 6am, hop on the tractor, and resume where I left off yesterday afternoon around 4pm chiseling (primary tillage) various fields that have been resting this season until now. Before chiseling, compost was spread for about 6 hours yesterday, invigorating fields that will accept our fall crops like broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, and celeriac. Prior to adding compost cover crops were mowed.

The ground hasn't been this dry since...October? So, we are already thinking/always thinking months ahead because ground can't just be made ready overnight, unless maybe one uses a rototiller, but we don't because we like to make things harder for ourselves. Or, perhaps, we like to think that by not using one we're preserving the integrity of the soil and allowing our farm to be more 'sustainable' by improving soil chemistry, biology, and physical properties by using 'reduced tillage' techniques. We also like to prepare soil for planting into in stages to allow weeds to germinate then be killed by subsequent passes with the tractor. A typical ready bed is a month in the making.

Back to food: additional spring crops will be on their way out of shares after this week and early summer crops will trickle into the pick up room. Romaine, kale, escarole, radicchio, and endive will be absent until the fall. Celery, fennel, zucchini (green and yellow), and cucumbers should arrive this week. Cabbage, scallions, and outdoor beets should be ready next week. A few weeks later we'll welcome fresh garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.

Thanks for growing with us.

Workshifts scheduled for this week:

Workshift sign-up instructions may be found here.

Workshifts typically meet under the large red maple just outside of the pick up room. Please wear appropriate clothes and footwear for working outside and bring your own gloves and water.

Thank you!

Garlic and onions are the most common members of a large plant genus called allium (in the Amaryllidaceae family). The goal of Anchor Run is to provide its members with some type of allium each week of the season - a task that takes a lot of planning and expertise. A typical allium season for us looks something like this:

Weeks 1-2: chives and green garlic; weeks 3-6: garlic scapes; weeks 6-14: scallions; weeks 9-12: fresh garlic; weeks 11-14 fresh onions; weeks 14-26: semi-cured onions; weeks 17-26: leeks; weeks 16-26: cured garlic. Cured garlic doesn't require refrigeration but we recommend refrigerating everything else. Cured onions on the farm are passively cured in the field then put right into cold storage.

Why do I put you through all this reading? If a recipe calls for onions and you only have scallions, don't worry about it - use the scallions - just don't cook them for long or you will lose the flavor. I made a recipe calling for leeks this past week and I used my scallions and a bit of green garlic I still had. The same with garlic - don't run out and buy garlic - instead, use the scapes, just account for the fact that scapes will lose their flavor when cooked for long.

If you are a new member of the farm, you may be wondering how to use the garlic scapes. First of all, they store for at least 2-3 weeks in a plastic bag in the fridge. They can be used in place of garlic in most recipes, with the exception of long cooking ones like soups and stews - their flavor will be cooked out. I love using them raw in things like guacamole, bruschetta and salad dressings. I use them in stir fries, but add them at the end with the greens. On this site we have a few recipes for them including Garlic Scapes and White Bean Dip and Garlic Scape Pesto (yes, almost anything can be made into pesto). After receiving scapes for all these years, I learned a new way with scapes this year - grilling them! As I described recently in grilling the heads of romaine lettuce, do not walk away! Method is simple - place scapes in a bowl and drizzle a bit of olive oil over. Add a bit of salt and mix well. Place scapes on medium heat on grill for about a minute. Turn over and cook for another minute. That's it! They taste nutty and slightly garlic-y. Even better, grill along with scallions, then eat as a side dish or chop up and add to salads and/or sauteed snow peas. So, so tasty!!

Greens are being intermingled with other tasty farm treats, including peas, scallions and garlic scapes. Here are a few things I did this week with my harvest - please share how you are using your harvest by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net. Please put Anchor Run in subject line so I can find your email.

Scallions, green garlic, herbs, Hershberger flat iron steak - flat iron steak is a delicious cut but requires some attention. I found a recipe for marinating it for about 24 hours using chopped onions and garlic, so I used scallions and green garlic. The process was to coat meat with olive oil and salt and pepper both sides of meat. Thinly slice lemons and place a layer of lemon slices in bottom of a nonreactive baking dish. Place meat on top then top the meat with chopped scallions and scapes, ginger, and cilantro (you can use whatever herbs you like). Place a layer of thinly sliced lemons on top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours - mine went about 12 hours. Grill till medium rare - it was delicious.

Peas, scallions, garlic scapes, mint and basil - made a pasta dish incorporating all of these ingredients. I often search for recipes and then improvise based on what I have on hand. In this case the recipe called for leeks and frozen english peas. So, I used scallions, garlic scapes and snow peas. I just adjusted cooking times for the veggies we have. As a note for all pasta dishes that include greens or veggies, I have found my taste is to prefer a much higher ratio of veggie to pasta than most recipes call for, so I typically add twice as many veggies as recipe indicates.

Beets - I roasted all my beets the other night - it is simple to do. Placed a few of same sized beets on foil, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and salt and closed up foil packet. Placed in 425 degree oven until beets are tender - time varies based on size of beets, but start checking at 45 minutes. Peel when cool enough to handle for easiest skin removal - I learned this is the hard way when I was too lazy to peel when they came out of oven. Now I have a pile of beets I will add to salads, or make into Beet Risotto with Beet Greens (using other greens we have).

I heard from 2 of our members this week, sharing how they are enjoying their harvest. Please share your thoughts/ideas on the harvest with the rest of the membership by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net and please put Anchor Run in subject line. Thank you to Alice Maxfield and Lisa Miernicki - their comments and recipes are now part of our community!

Alice Maxfield sent me the following email and I am adding the recipe for the Creamy Lettuce Soup she sent to me as well. Thank you Alice!

"I like soups, particularly blended cream soups. I found a simple lettuce recipe last year and have used it a couple of times already this season. Even sharing a share three ways, with only two of us, we just can’t keep up otherwise. Especially because we have a small garden plot at home with lettuce and tomatoes.

This week I used the chard in a scrambled egg dish with a little cottage cheese and some chives. Kale I made into my usual kale quinoa craisin slivered almond salad. Boiled the beets and added balsamic vinegar for salads. Added spring mixed greens to morning smoothies. Ate the peas raw. Blanched and froze beet greens. Made lettuce soup with remaining greens and froze a quart leaving a quart for now. Added red and white radishes to every salad. My husband cooked thinly sliced kohlrabi with tofu.

Feeling virtuous for successfully using so much and then it was Monday yesterday and I started all over again!"

Lisa Miernicki sent me the following "I feel compelled to share this recipe with you. I found it by following the Chicken Chick. This recipe find was SO timely! I had to improvise by switching out fresh squeezed oranges for the lemons. And I used rice flour instead of corn starch. I think for this next batch I will get some new corn starch. Overall, the bars were a hit! I personally left off the glaze - I did not care for it."