Good morning!
We've been enjoying beautiful skies during our field work this week. When we weren't rained out from the tropical storm, our focus was on weeding and setting up trellising. We will be mulching our tomatoes this week, trellising peas, and planting our fall brassicas. Harvest is beginning to ramp up, with the lettuces loving this weather. Salad mix, mini romaine, and butterhead lettuces are bountiful this week. Strawberries are making fruit, and the garlic scapes are on their way.
Hidden Valley Mushrooms has a diverse array of mushrooms available for purchase as an extra this week: fresh white button, shiitake, crimini, portobello, and oyster mushrooms, dry mushrooms (great in soups, casseroles, chili, and gravy), and pickled mushrooms (for pasta salad, relish trays, cocktails, and sandwiches).
In our kitchen, we've been eating bountiful salads with most meals. I've been dressing them the Italian way - very little vinegar, the ‘right’ amount of salt (not too much, not too little) and a generous amount of oil. I follow Marcella Hazan's advice - she tells you to start with salt (a pinch!), then the oil and the vinegar only at the last, saying that the vinegar wilts the lettuce, so it needs the oil as protection first. I usually add shredded carrots, dried raisins or cranberries, and a toasted nut/seed (we love pepitas in our house!).
Your farmers,
Craig and Lauren
