Harvest #7 (Week A) should include beets, cabbage, celery, chard, kale, escarole, radicchio, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, scallions, garlic scapes, fennel, cilantro, basil, dill, and parsley. Some items will be a choice. U-pick should include snap/string/green beans, flowers, and herbs.

As we brace for another round of heat we've begun running through the irrigation iterations and thankfully have hopefully received just enough rainfall to quench the thirst of the bare ground crops. High 'value', long term, sensitive, needy, thirsty, hungry crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, watermelon, winter squash, cantaloupe, husk cherries, tomatillos, zucchini, and cucumbers are all grown in raised beds that are covered in products derived from ancient creatures found underground between layers of sedimentary rock that have been exposed to heat and pressure and when these products are applied a tube also derived from aforementioned transformed lifeforms is simultaneously applied in the soil to distribute water when needed. We strive to responsibly and minimally use these nonrenewable products but alas there is no renewable and sustainable equivalent available at this time. That said, using these products to produce healthy organic food seems to have struck a reasonable balance tipping on the positive side of the overall scale.

It's hard to believe we exit the month of June this week. Summer's in full swing. We'll transplant the final round of zucchini and cucumbers and busily prepare for incoming 7,000 strawberry plants that will make up the 2022 harvest. Seeds are being sown for fall harvest, spring crop areas and residue are being cleaned up and turned into the soil to feed beneficial lifeforms found there, and we plan for the big carrot and garlic harvest. If conditions allow we'll probably begin harvesting carrots the first week of July and garlic Sunday July 11.

Good luck enduring the heat wave!

This week's workshift schedule:

Please bring gloves, water, a hat, and sturdy shoes!

We meet under the large red maple at the end of the barn by the pick up room.

Workshift Guidelines. Workshift Sign Up Instructions.

Pat McGowan has the distinguished position of being the most veteran member of the our crew, having farmed here since 2017! He is involved in every aspect of production both in the greenhouse and in the field.

Pat grew up in Churchville and has been a part of the farm’s community since childhood, as his family has been members for many years. Pat has always had a love for nature and outdoor activities. His interests eventually led him to gain growing experience at Easterly Link Landscapes. While landscaping, he also developed skills as a stone mason, which he puts to work around the farm as well. He is concurrently pursuing a degree in Landscape Architecture from Temple University.

Pat currently lives at the farm and looks forward to continuing to learn about sustainable agriculture.

Hosted by longtime member Gia Yaccarino on Saturday, July 10th at 12 pm, and Sunday, July 11th at 12 pm.

Maybe you are a new member, maybe you’ve been a member for a while. Either way – this workshop is for you!

In the barn, everything made sense while you were putting your share into your bags to bring home. At home, it suddenly became very overwhelming once you began unpacking! We have all been there; it is part of the CSA learning curve.

Let us help you make the most of your farm share!

Being a member of a CSA opens the door to so many topics! At this workshop we will talk about:
- Resources: books, websites, Anchor Run CSA website (Recipes and Veggies 202 – it has pictures)
- How to keep your veggies as fresh as possible once they are in your refrigerator.
- The pros and cons of different preservation techniques (freezing, fermenting, canning, dehydrating).
- “Tools of the trade”, which I find invaluable.
- Before you compost: radish greens are edible!
- Composting, composting at the farm; what and what not to include in a compost pile, vermicomposting.
- Solar Cooking

We will share recipes based on farm produce that our families love. And by share – I mean taste and provide copies of the recipes. Pestos - don’t limit yourself to Basil. What to do with all those greens? Veggie Hash! The list goes on! This is a casual, enlightening event that will enhance your experience of the CSA. Hope to see you there!

This week brings us so many new veggies - a couple notes on each are below:

Cabbage - everyone knows cabbage; it is a member of the same family that brings us kale, broccoli, turnips and many other veggies so is very nutritious. It is obviously used in cole slaws - a good use for the current heat wave. Mix the cabbage for your cole slaw with chard, kale, scallions and even garlic scapes. Cabbage is also delicious as a stir fry component. As with lettuce, cabbage does not like to sit it water, so if when you bring it home it is wet, place a towel in the bottom of whatever container you store it in. We have lots of recipes for cabbage on this site, some slanted to the veggies we are receiving now.

Fennel - is a very versatile veggie - delicious raw, roasted, braised and even grilled. It stores quite well in plastic in the fridge. Two ways of enjoying it for me is slow cooked with lentils (and then place a nice piece of grilled or roasted fish on top), or in the perfect summer dish Shaved Fennel and Parmesan Salad. There are a lot of summer friendly fennel recipes on this site.

Celery - you all know about celery, but this fresh, organically raised celery will not store as well as the product you get at the grocery store, so enjoy it within the week you receive it - perhaps with the Fennel and White Bean Dip! Don't throw the leaves away: add them to salads, or put in the plastic bag in the freezer with your other soup greens.

Cucumbers and zucchini - everyone has their favorite ways of enjoying the two of these. As I say with so many of the farm veggies, since they are just washed and still wet when we get them, make sure your dry them before placing in fridge - they will start to get bad spots fairly quickly if they sit in water.

The variety of veggies is really broadening, making cooking mostly from the farm a simpler thing to do. How are you enjoying your harvest? Please email me at lindadansbury@comcast.net and please put Anchor Run in the subject line so I can easily find your message.

Snow peas, scapes, scallions, cilantro - made a very simple stir fry. Put peas and scapes in fry pan with a bit of sesame oil. Kept them moving in the pan until getting a bit soft, added the scallions, just to warm them a bit. Took it all out of the pan and topped with rough chopped cilantro.

Snow and snap peas, scallions - made a vey simple salad by blanching both peas (placed snap peas in boiling water for 1 min and added snow peas and boiled for another minute. Drained them all and immediately placed in a bowl of ice water). Placed in large bowl chopped scallions. Made a simple dressing with sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar - served this for friends and they loved it.

Chard, scape, radicchio, parsley - on one of the cooler nights made "creamed spinach" to serve with a nice pastured raised beef steak.

Lettuces, radicchio, scallions - prepare salads nearly every night varying the combination and dressings with what we are eating as our main course. If it is Asian, I use rice vinegar; steak, normally a Caesar or balsamic dressing. Get creative with your dressings, it is so much fun.

Zucchini - one of the tastiest and easiest ways to enjoy zucchini is to grill it - just half or quarter and brush with a little olive oil. Place on grill and watch carefully so they don't burn. I like my zucchini fairly well cooked, so we do them on indirect heat. We ate them right away and then I added the rest to a pasta salad a couple days later.