My dad helped load all the bounty into the car! That's a full load.

Yes, it’s true.  Yesterday’s harvest had the worst mosquitoes I’ve ever experienced at the farm, and this has been a bad mosquito year on the whole–probably the worst overall according to Farmer Anne.  Fortunately your brave harvest crew, aided by plenty of citronella (and NO “Off”, thank you…!) managed to bring in a bountiful harvest.  We had a number of member-volunteers to help us, including my dad! It was fun having his help with the harvest.  The good news is that the heat and humidity that make for great mosquito weather also make for great summer crops.  The sweet corn, melons, and tomatoes are about as juicy and amazing as you can imagine.  We finished up the harvest in time to weed and thin a crop of fall carrots.  It’s amazing how quickly a job like that can go with a big crew working on it! I’m happy because this means that if all goes well the fall carrots should be really plentiful and delicious–a thorough weeding/thinning is the difference between a good carrot crop and a bad one.  If you’re thinking about getting volunteer hours in, consider coming this month and helping out with thinning and weeding our fall root crops!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to watch this 2-minute video from our friends at Real Time Farms.  They filmed most of it at beautiful Community Farm! (Also, it’s hilarious!).

Ed chopping our golden potatoes

In the kitchen, we’re hanging in there with the heat. You may have noticed our extensive fan set-up which is our heat-survival mechanism.  It’s always a joy to work with this beautiful bounty–one of the nicest things about working in the kitchen is the high quality food we get to use.  Hooray!

So, to see exactly what that bounty is this week, click “more”….

For every full share, this is what we got from the farm:

Potatoes – 1 box

Hot pepper – 1

Canteloupe – 1

Carrots – 3/4 lb

Chard – 3/4 lb

Basil – 1/4 lb

Cucumbers – 1

Summer squash – 3

Tomatoes – 1 1/4 lb

Leaf celery – 1 bunch

Corn – 3 ears

Sweet peppers – 2

And we’re going to make:

Curried Chicken Salad with Leaf celery – Rumor has it that everyone loves the light dishes in this heat.  Well, there’s nothing like  a delicious chicken salad on a hot day, especially when it features incredible Old Pine Farm chicken!

Zucchini-Basil Soup – This soup can be served either hot or cold and is simply the essence of summer. A member brought this recipe in from Gourmet magazine a few years ago. Mmm!

Lamb Kefta – Spicy lamb meatballs are a favorite from Veronica–bound to be a hit.

Roasted Carrots with Rosemary – A standard favorite from my days in the Pendle Hill kitchen.

Nitya’s Dal with Chard – Last year we were honored to learn some south Indian cooking from one of our members.  One of the biggest hits was this flavorful dal.  One of the ingredients is “Nitya’s mom’s spice mix”, so you know it’s going to be good. If you love the Ann Arbor restaurant The Earthen Jar, this dish is for you.  We’re going to top it off with cooling and creamy Cucumber Raita, a traditional Indian condiment. Yum!

Potato Salad – We usually make this amazing potato salad with lots of tomatoes, arugula, and a vinaigrette dressing.  Well, this year the flea beetles ate the summer arugula crop, but I bet that this salad will still be amazing. The original recipe is in Greens Glorious Greens.

Stay cool, everyone!

Mary