Summer CSA Week One | Welcome to summer!

10th St. Farm & Market
2 hours ago
5 min read

Week 1: June 18th - June 21st

The current cool spell might not make it obvious, but we’re finally here: it’s summer! This week marks the first week of the 10th Street Farm & Market Summer CSA! To those of you who are joining us for the first time, welcome! For those of you who have been members in the past, or are continuing on from spring, welcome back!

On the farm, summer is starting to arrive in full force. We’ve started harvesting carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, broccolini, cauliflower, and other early summer treats. Tomatoes aren’t far behind! We’ve wrapped up the bulk of our planting, other than our ongoing salad successions, quick-maturing crops, and a few fall storage veggies. With most of the beds filled and the veggies growing, our time has shifted to mostly harvesting and weeding - trying to maintain order and give the veggies the best chance to grow!

We’ve got some fun projects going on this summer as well - we’re in the midst of building a new walk-in cooler, which will give us more flexibility with our cold storage space on the farm. We’re trialing some new varieties, continuing to experiment with ways to enhance soil health in our fields, and trying a few new planting methods (like a new potato mounding technique, seen above). Just today we seeded some red clover, oats, and cow peas in our permanent hoophouse, as part of a cover crop study being conducted by the U of M. And on Tuesday we hosted some farmer friends for a learning potluck, to hear about what other like-minded farmers are trying out in their operations this year. It’s the busy season for sure!

About the Summer share

If you were with us as a share member in the winter or spring, you know that we’ve shifted to a “market-style” CSA pick-up. The feedback has been unanimously positive, and we’re really pleased to be able to offer you more choice in your share. Rather than packing a predetermined bag for you, we’ll be laying out vegetables in our walk-in cooler for you to fill your own bag, often with some items for you to choose between. For example, this week you’ll have the option to select broccolini or cauliflower as one of your veggies, and you have a choice of microgreens - flavor mix, micro arugula, or pea shoots.

We stock these choice bins based on available produce and our best guess of what people will be interested in - and whenever possible we try to maintain the choice throughout the entire pickup period. Since this is a relatively new system and we’re still figuring out exactly what people will choose, there may be times where a “choice” bin only contains one item for people picking up their share later in the weekend. Even in that case, our hope is that this new system will result in bags that are more tailored to your tastes than a completely pre-packed share. Please get in touch if you have any questions or suggestions, and let us know how you like it!

Also, some quick housekeeping:

If you didn’t receive our welcome email, with instructions on how to pick up your bag and other relevant details, please let us know. That email should answer most questions you might have about the pick-up process!
If there’s anyone else in your household you would like to add to this newsletter distribution, please let us know and we can add them to the CSA email list.
Please be sure to bring your bag back every week so we can re-use the bags throughout the season. This helps us keep costs down!

Thanks again for your support - we’re so excited to share the bounty of summer with you.

Have a welcoming week,

Chris, Ashley, and the 10th Street Farmers

In Your Share This Week

Carrots: Spring carrots are sweet, crunchy, and oh so addicting! Remove tops and store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Cucumbers: Crunchy and refreshing, chop up for a salad, add to sandwiches or just eat raw! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Farm Mix Salad Mix: A diverse mix of tasty red and green lettuces. Delicious with just olive oil and salt, or dress it up! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Choice:

Cauliflower (green-stemmed): This early, green-stemmed cauliflower variety has a looser “curd” than traditional cauliflower, but stems that almost resemble broccoli. Tender and sweet, the whole thing is edible! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Broccolini: Tasty tender broccoli shoots - eat them leaves and all. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Choice:

Bok Choy: So versatile! Use in Asian-inspired dishes like soups and stir fries, or just chop and add to anything for a bit more flavor and nutrition. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Kohlrabi: These alien-like roots are a cousin of radishes and salad turnips - mild and delicious. Peel and eat raw or cooked! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Head Lettuce: Beautiful full lettuce heads. Great for everything from lettuce wraps to salads and sandwiches. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Choice:

Scallions: The white and green parts of these beautiful green onions are both edible - use the white like an onion, chop the greens as a garnish or hit of flavor in your dishes! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Garlic Scapes: This loopy fella is the flowering part of a garlic plant - chop it up and use it just like garlic. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Cilantro microgreens: Zippy micros to add a little flavor to whatever's on your plate! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Choice:

Arugula microgreens: Peppery micros add a little punch to pizza, salads, pestos, sandwiches, eggs, and more. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Pea Shoots: Sweet and crisp, these make a great addition to sandwiches, wraps, salads or can be lightly sautéed as a side dish. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Flavor Mix microgreens: Mild and tasty, these make an easy salad on their own or can add some color to any other salad. Try them on eggs or sandwiches – or anything, really! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Full Share Choice:

Beets: These earthy beauties are good in sweet and savory roles alike. Boil, roast, or grate into baked goods! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Sugar Snap Peas: So tasty we can't keep them around for long. Easily added to anything for crunch and a bit of sweetness. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge, if they make it that far.

Full share only: Double Carrots!

Kitchen Inspiration

It was all the rage last summer to make a whole cucumber into a meal through a few “slice and shake” recipes. This asian-inspired recipe was the one that started it all, but this one with pistachios and greek yogurt looks pretty darn good too. Simple, and delicious!

Speaking of simple, whether you choose broccolini or cauliflower, roasting can be an easy and tasty way to go. This roasted cauliflower recipe couldn’t be easier, and this roasted broccolini with lemon and parmesan is always a hit in our house.

If you’re a new member and you haven’t had our microgreens before, think of them like a versatile seasoning - a sprinkle on top makes almost every dish better! We love our micro arugula on pizza with a little oil and salt, or micro cilantro on tacos or nachos. But it’s also super easy to just toss them (or flavor mix or radish shoots or power greens) into a salad or onto a sandwich for a little more flavor and texture.

If you've found a recipe you're loving, please send it our way. We're always looking for new things to cook and share with other members!

Please remember to bring back your Purple or Blue bag!