Tag: salad

In the Box

August 26, 2025

Hey all – sorry time disintegrated on me yesterday! I got the box out the door and delivered in good time, but zero time til now to write you anything. At the very least, I need to let you know what’s in the box if you’re wondering about things. My apologies.

The only news worth noting is about this most recent study on the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/well/mediterranean-diet-diabetes.html Kind of validates my advise to just go with a whole food diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables – hopefully what we’re all getting through this CSA.

In the box:

  • Watermelon: I think most got our orange variety, New Orchid, but don’t be surprised if it’s yellow or red inside – the patches blend into one another.
  • Sweet Pepper Mix: All these peppers are sweet. About half are Shishito peppers, which are good sauteed aka frying pepper and the others are just straight up snacking types. See picture of cooking idea below.
  • Cherry Tomato Mix
  • Sweet Corn: This first patch is getting mature but certainly still has sweetness. Some really like corn at this stage, while, for those of you who don’t may consider a succotash situation (see below) or try it grilled. A lot of the grilled corn I’ve had seems mature – maybe that’s just how my Mexican neighbors like their corn? IDK. Pelican people – I don’t know if that corn is going to hold out til Friday -I’ll substitute something if it doesn’t.
  • Cucumber
  • Cilantro
  • Arugula: Tall oakleaf green. You can use in a salad with the lettuce, but this is standard arugula (not baby) so certainly lends itself to cooking. Think something like this https://www.sipandfeast.com/lemon-arugula-pasta/
  • Salad Mix
  • Radishes
  • Green Onions
  • Regular Tomatoes: Boy, these have taken forever to ripen and these are still the early small varieties.

This time of year I get tired of corn on the cob and try other things, such as this succotash I made for breakfast. I don’t do recipes…I typically just start sauteing things 🙂 I first did the shishito peppers on high heat with olive oil for a bit, followed by the corn cut off the cob (the picture is 4 peppers plus corn from one cob). After those got some color, I added in a clove of garlic and one tomato for the last couple of minutes and finished with a salt. Ate with toast. Could certainly add some feta or other cheese.

Veggies, Ahoy

June 17, 2024

We’re setting sail on a new season to ports unknown. It takes faith each year to launch and hope all the necessary pieces line up well enough to make for a solid 16 weeks of CSA boxes. This is season #20, which is hard to believe. For 20 years we’ve been assembling a crew, putting seeds in the ground, and hoping for the best. We’ve had super rocky starts, terrible weather, and a range of farm mishaps, but we’ve also seen glorious harvests, perfect rains, and near flawless vegetables.

Each year, it’s difficult to know what’s in store. I do think of it like a voyage, but not like a cruise in the Bahamas, more like a whaling expedition circa 1750. We push off shore and labor on the ship for days on end. Some days are boring where we’re handweeding for hours in the sun. Other days we see some action, batten down the high tunnels and hope the hail stays north or reel in a huge harvest of potatoes. To take this stupid sailing metaphor a bit further (honestly, where am I going with this?), I know we have a very capable chief mate in Mason Berube, who has two seasons of farming under his belt. The family crewmates have dropped off since Sylvia’s gone off to college. This summer she’s working at a music camp in Wisconsin and the boys are not much for farming.

Lots of things are on the verge of getting ready, but not quite there yet – makes for a box lighter than I like, but that seems to be the nature of the first box of the year.

In the box:

  • 2-3 garlic scapes: These are shoots that come off the top of hardneck garlic -chop up and use wherever you’d use green onions…got a mild garlic flavor. I put in eggs.
  • Radishes
  • Mizuna: Red-banded green with frilly leaves. See recipe below.
  • Cilantro
  • Arugula: Red-banded greens with oakleaf shape. Commonly used in a pasta or as a salad – think Italian with parmesan.
  • 1-2 Sprigs of Basil
  • Fresh mint: Mojitos?
  • Bunch of kale: Big bunch of greens with a blue band. This is young and especially tender as the first kale of the year, so maybe try your hand with kale salad.

SIMPLE MIZUNA SALAD

from https://dishingupthedirt.com/recipes/simple-mizuna-salad/

PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES    COOK TIME: 0 MINUTES    SERVES: 2-4

  • 1 large bunch of mizuna
  • 2-3 radishes, very thinly sliced
  • 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice + additional to taste
  • flakey sea salt
  • 2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds, lightly toasted on the stovetop for  a few minutes
  • a few thin slices of fresh Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • a few pinches of micro greens (optional)

Preparation

  1. In a large bowl toss the mizuna with the radishes and drizzle in the olive oil and lemon juice. Toss well. Sprinkle the salad with a few healthy pinches of flakey sea salt, the toasted sunflower seeds, shaved parmesan (if using) and micor greens (if using). Serve immediately.

Notes*Use this recipe as a guide *Adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary