Also new this week will be Red Romaine, Cabbage and Garlic Scapes.  Cabbage I’m sure everyone is familiar with.   We grow a nice smaller variety in the Spring.  We’ll grow more again for the Fall season.  As for garlic scapes… this is another one of those CSA share specialties!   These are the immature flower pods of the garlic plant.  We pull them off the plants early so the garlic puts all of its energy into growing as big a bulb as possible.  Bonus for us… the scape can be diced up and used like you would fresh garlic!  Here is a picture I dug up from a few years ago with the garlic scapes used a little artistically!
There is one crop I’m not sure at this time whether or not we will have enough for the week… the Broccoli.  We will certainly have more in the share, whether it is this week or the next though, is a tough call.  The first variety we grow was in the share this past week.  It produces a small to medium main head and then once that is cut, it starts sending out a whole bunch of side shoots, pictured below
It might be tough to see, but the main head of this plant has been cut and now less then a week later it has 3 smaller but still very nice side shoots!  We will be cutting these as well as some of the main heads coming in from our 2nd crop of broccoli very soon!
Mushrooms this week will be Portobello, Shiitake, and Lion’s Mane.  Soon we will have the beloved oyster mushrooms.
We will also have a couple new cheeses including Ricotta and a spreadable Tomme de Harvest!

Herb & Flower Garden

We are once again closer to opening up the entire herb garden.  This week light cuttings are available in the cilantro, dill, basil, and cutting celery patches.  More flowers have started to bloom.  I saw that the phlox are in as well as a few wisps of flowers in the gazania, dianthus and a few others.  Anything that is in bloom can be cut, just be mindful that the only flower that can be cut at the very base are the Stock flowers.

Herb of the Week: Lavender

Lavender is both a beautiful cut flower and a great herb! The flowers are edible and can be used in a ton of ways. Lavender pairs well with apples, berries, cherries, lamb, meat, orange, peaches, plums, potatoes, and walnuts, as well as herbs like oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme. Lavender flowers also can be incorporated into a dough for baking or infused in cream or milk. (PSU herb pairing guide)

Cutting Instructions: Trim the whole or part of the stem from multiple areas of the plant, right above the leaves.

Drying Instructions: Best to cut the lavender right before the flower buds open and are bright purple. Loosely bunch the lavender sprigs (~10 stems) and tie the base together with twine or string. Hang bunches upside down in a cool and dry location without direct sunlight.
Lavender Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 6 sprigs lavender
• 2 cups fresh lemon juice 6-10 lemons, depending on size
• 6 cups cold water
• Ice cubes

Make the simple syrup: In a pot, combine sugar, water, and lavender, stir and bring to a boil over high heat.

Remove from heat and allow to cool completely, steeping about 30 minutes after cooling.

Strain and discard lavender.

In a pitcher, combine the simple syrup, lemon juice, water, and ice.

Serve with lavender sprigs for garnish
(Original Recipe)

Recipes

We love hearing from CSA members who want to share their recipes!  Another great way to get yummy recipes out to others is by posting in the TFF Community Facebook group. You can request to join this group by clicking here.

Garlic Scape Pesto

10 garlic scapes

1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts

1/3 cup Parmesan (optional)

1/2 lemon juiced

1/3 cup olive oil

1/8 teaspoon salt

a couple grinds of pepper

Trim the tails of the scapes off, keeping the bulb. Roughly chop the scapes into chunks. In processor, add scapes, nuts, cheese and lemon juice. Pulse blend until the food begins to break down. Scrape sides down and add oil, salt and pepper. Process for another minute. Can be kept in the refrigerator for a week.

Helpful tip!
Pesto can be eaten on pasta, pizza, toast and sandwiches, and as a dip!
To keep pesto longer you can freeze it in ice cube trays or freezer friendly containers (pesto will expand in freezer). After frozen in ice cube trays you can pop them out into a container or zip lock to be kept in the freezer, able to be used small amounts at a time.

Kohlrabi Coconut Fritters

• 2  kohlrabi, outer peal removed, grated (need about 4 cups of grated kohlrabi)
• 1-2 inches ginger root, grated
• 1-2 small to medium carrots, grated
• 2 small to medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup bread crumbs (or flour, or cornmeal, or gluten free flour)
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBSP high heat cooking oil (and some extra to oil the baking sheets)

  Mix everything together in a bowl. Lightly oil a baking sheet, preferably with edges so the oil doesn’t spill off into the oven as they cook. Scoop a small ball of the mixture together, about 1/4 cup worth and place on the baking tray. Continue making balls for the baking tray until you have used all the mixture. Put a drop of the high heat cooking oil on the top of each fritter ball. Bake at 400. As they lightly brown, take the tray out and flatten all the partially cooked balls to about 1/4 inch thick patties. Let them cook a little more, then remove again to flip each fritter. Keep cooking until they are a crispy, light brown. Enjoy with your favorite dipping option!