Harvest #3 (Week A) should include kale, lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, chard, salad radishes, hakurei turnips, bok choy, head lettuce, and green garlic. Some items may be a choice. U-pick should include herbs and strawberries (see below for additional u-pick information).

- Check the u-pick board in the hallway for u-pick crops and amounts before picking. Amounts listed are per share (so if you split a share, you also split the u-pick allotment).

- Check the map in the hallway for the location of listed crops and follow the signs pointing you in the correct direction.

- Only crops listed on the board are available for u-pick.

- U-pick crops and weekly allotments can be harvested any day of your pick up week, 8am–8pm Monday through Sunday. So if you can’t do your u-pick on your scheduled pick up day, feel free to come back any other day that week.

- BYO scissors for herbs and flowers.

- We provide half-pint, pint, and quart u-pick baskets for members to measure and harvest into. Please save these and reuse them as much as possible. If you have some that are still in good shape at the end of the season we'll gladly accept them back.

Apparently we weren't safely beyond the last frost of the spring season when we began transplanting warm season sensitive annuals outside two weeks ago. Temperatures plummeted to the mid-30s on Thursday morning, our latest frost in 15 seasons. It feels especially late this year since spring basically arrived in February. We got very lucky; our crops hardly sustained any damage. But we have a lot of experience with our only method of dealing with this kind of weather: floating row cover. Unless it's elevated above crops with hoops and is of a heavy enough grade it can actually create more damage. I think due to its white color it warms up less slowly than plants' leaves and that added amount of time of frost actually causes more damage. Luck was the location of the cherry tomatoes; they receive the very first rays of the morning sun. Almost the entire crop survived unscathed. The ones that had damage to their leaves were on the upper ends of the beds and sat in the shade of some high grasses for too long. A tray of leftover tomatoes outside of the hoop house, further down the hill and in shade until mid-morning, sustained the most damage. So it's not only the temperature and frost but length of time of exposure. The other sensitive crops, peppers, beans, and basil, appear fine. The peppers and basil are short in stature so perhaps the warmth of the ground saved them. Some beans got burned by the frost but not many. Overall we feel very fortunate and can hopefully now assume frosts are over until October.

Bring gloves, water, a hat, sturdy shoes, and a pad for kneeling (if necessary for you)!

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

Workshift Guidelines - Workshift Sign Up Instructions

U Pick will start this week with strawberries and hopefully some herbs. Make sure you only pick your allotment and be gentle with the crops. For the herbs, just pick small stems, leaving the plant to continue to grow for the next several weeks. With the other crops, again, be gentle and use 2 hands to pick, rather than pulling off the item.

Strawberries - everyone knows how to enjoy them, but a couple notes on storage: don't wash them until right before you eat them. As with a lot of other crops, water causes rotting, so keep them dry until you want to consume them. If you need to preserve them for use later, slice the green off and place on a cookie sheet and place in freezer. Once frozen, the berries can be placed in plastic bags for longer storage. Enjoy!

Dill - you know that dill is good when used for pickling. But do you know how great it is with fish - salmon was made to go with dill. It can be poached with dill added to the poaching liquid and/or chop it up and sprinkle the fish after cooking. Dill can be added to your favorite dips (such as tzatziki), and it makes a delicious Ranch Salad Dressing. Add it to tuna, shrimp, chicken and potato salad. And these are things to enjoy before the cucumbers are available!

Cilantro - enjoy cilantro even before tomatoes are ready! Add it to yogurt or sour cream for a topping on chili and stews. Add to rice along with a squeeze of lime. Add to your favorite vinaigrettes to kick up your salads. Combine it with salt, pepper, and a little oil and add to chopped veggies for a yummy cole slaw. Bok choy is great this way. Pasta salads are also great with cilantro.

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!

- 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!

I hope you are enjoying your first harvest(s). I made a couple of yummy dishes this week to share with you - please share how you enjoy your harvest by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net. Please put Anchor Run in subject line so I can find your email. I will share your dishes with the rest of membership.

Kale, green garlic - made a dish that has been one of my week night staples, although hadn't made it in awhile. Kale Rice Bowl is simple to make and delicious. In addition to the kale that is listed in the recipe, it is also great with bok choy and peppers - I list peppers here because I still have some in my freezer from last summer and they are great chopped up and added to this dish.

Radishes - I love Radish with Goat Cheese Dip. It is great with any veggies including bok choy, turnips, soon to be snap and snow peas and of course radishes. I may try to substitute or add dill if I make it again this coming week. Yummy!