Sorry for the delay... at long last, share basket #6

 So, I have been sworn to begin by telling you all: this was an ABNORMALLY full share basket. That's a good thing, right? Well, Doro told me I was supposed to hold onto the butternut squashes as insurance for any future 'thin' basket we might have... instead I crammed so much stuff into today's basket, that I had to give you the last of it in a separate bag!

Without further ado:

    - Cucumbers -- sorry, one of your two or three might have a bit of yellow... we're having a hard time knowing when to pick, vs. leave, the funky-shaped ones

    - Peaches -- some are about ripe, some need a couple of days (or, one day, in a paper bag with an old banana). We picked a bunch of our two little trees, as while we're gone for vacation next week we're pretty sure a bear will have his/her way with the rest of them

    - Tomatoes -- again, one might need a day in the bag with a ripe fruit, but they're mmm good and only going to come more and more as we go!

    - Beets (remember, greens are nice briefly pan-fried or steamed)

    - Butternut squash. These are the ones I wasn't supposed to squeeze into the basket! Che stupido!

    - Kale (siberian variety, I believe... again, only the hardest-of-core vegetarians, even thinks of eating the central stems!)

    - Zucchini (either yellow or green)

    - either broccoli or cauliflower head

    - Mixed peppers (three relatively tame varieties, and one jappy)

    - small onions

    - a nice mix of large and medium Kennebec potatoes

    - a little bag with a bit of sage and a flower head of dill (great for use when pickling)

    - staghorn sumac mature seedheads -- these are coated with a lovely sour substance, and can either be steeped in hot water (nice hot, sour beverage) --OR-- steeped in cold water for a few days (for a cool, lemonade-like beverage once sugar is added)

    - (OPTIONAL) There were some turnips that were grab-if-ya-want, as well

My general rule for the staghorn sumac is that however much you use is crammed into the vesicle (so, a coffee mug takes a palm-crushed handful; or you can stuff them all in a big enough container or jar and submerge in water for a few days for the cold variety). Seeds are not to be eaten, only steeped to have their sour and other fruit-like flavors come out into the water.

Its always a blessing, to bring tasty and healthy stuff to your table. Chime in with a picture of something sublime you ended up making -- or a few lines that give us an outline for a great recipe you realized!

- M and the gang

Il chestone numero cinque... per piacere!

It's a "cestone" because its loaded with yummy early potatoes of ours... :) Have you ever had potstoes this fresh? Literally umearthed two days ago! OK, maybe I should've just stuck with cestino. Here's your weekly yumminess, good people:

Homegrown Kennebec early potatoes (ok, not early in the traditional sense... but sooner than usual! =P), kohlrabi, yellow and green zucchini, basil (green and purple; both sporting the trad basil mix of aromatics), cucumbers, onion, mild and semi-hot peppers, a few tomatoes (about to really pop as a crop, trust me ;), and swiss chard.

Recipe tip w/ the potatoes: if you have a pressure cooker, cut into 0.75-1" diameter chunklets, then pressure cook at standard (10 psi, I believe) pressure cooker for eight minutes. Put an inch thick of high-smokepoint oil (ex - coconut) in a saucepan that can tolerate frying things, and on high heat. Now back to the pressure cooker... thats five coming to temp from a half-inch of hot water in the pot, and another three at full pressure and hissing... then take it off heat and let it simmer in water vapor for another five. Then, pull top to let last of water vapor exit, then pour off remaining water.

Place cooked potato chunks in a bowl or tray of powdered either potato or other starch and toss. Finally, dump potatoes into the hot oil in one, two or three rounds, toss with spatula for a few minutes, and when appropriately brown, remove from oil. Will take five minutes to cool, so be careful... and enjoy! I like to add olive oil at end, and either fresh dill or rosemary minced and mixed in. Chef's kiss! =)

And I'm sorry, I had hoped to share some of my homemade apple cider vinegar, but that will have to wait until next week... :) Please hug your Doros, everybody -- they are pulling double-duty this week!

- M and D and J and Y (and birds of three sorts)

Introducing your 4th basket

Greetings lovely people. Here is what is good and in your basket for the days ahead:

Onions, English and regular cucumbers, peppers, beet, zucchini, bagged lettuces, mixed bag o' herbs, kale, and (not pictured) half a small jar of basil-infused evoo. The olive oil was steeped in the surplus of leaves and flowers that we had last fall.

Some tips: beet greens are deliciously edible; most ppl dont enjoy the texture of kale ribs, and you should use up to but no more than half your basil-oil, together with salt, to enjoy some homemade popcorn this summer. No more than half, because then when I give you some of our homemade apple cider vinegar in a future share, you can combine half of that with your remaining basil oil and have an amazing vinaigrette at hand ;) ;)

Some sadness was felt earlier today, it should be noted... as Doro opened up the basement fridge today only to find that the lettuces she had recently picked, cleaned packaged and stored in there had all gone a bit bad / brown None of these could go in the share, and for that we were a bit upset. Other than that, we've been working hard to bounce back from the share-related issues we've run into so far. We hope you're having fun on this adventure, as we are!

Until next week!