The trees are a dark and sleepy sort of green, the crickets start their conversations before the sun goes down. Annie’s Tiger lilies are blooming out the kitchen window. Lambsquarter and pigweed reach up through the cover-crop in the race to the sun and tiny grasses try to hide behind carrots in their row hoping the crew won’t see them as they crawl along weeding immaculately. On work days, I want a cold meal and hot coffee. It is August on the farm.
This month tends to be a busy month for people. Obligations and summertime desires 
come crashing together in a scramble for attention in the last fleeting days. Summer feels like the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky: gentle late-May days, storms, sultry evenings, hammocks, carrot weeding and the whirlwind finale. Of course, this isn’t what it was written for – but if the song fits, wear it.
Harvesting the first of the carrots and potatoes from the field is a treat and it also marks a seasonal shift for us here on the farm. The crescendo of harvest doesn’t happen for another several weeks, but the tune of the finale starts now. We’ll finish up the last of the weeding in these next couple of weeks and then move to harvesting all of the time.
After four seasons on this farm I am still amazed at how much food gets harvested in a short amount of time –and it starts with these first buckets from the field.
For the gearing-up farm crew,
Karin
P.S. Dave would like people to know that the cucumbers you are getting are from our outside plants. Yay! A lot of work goes into getting things like carrots and cucumbers growing in the greenhouses- and it allows us to push the season earlier. But we get excited when things come from the fields this time of year.
In your share this week:
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Cilantro
- Cucumbers
- Dill
- Green onions
- Peas
- Hot wax peppers
- New red-gold potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini
Carrot Greens Chimichurri
- 1 cup finely chopped carrot greens (preferably organic)
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- a few grinds of pepper
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil (a good fruity one)
- Wash and dry your carrot greens well.
- Roast carrots in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes (or until tender but not mushy).
- Finely chop your carrot greens and mix them with all of the dried spices and minced garlic. Stir in the vinegar and olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings. (tip: taste it with a carrot or a piece of bread rather than by the spoonful)
- Serve with roasted carrots (or other veggies), toasted bread, or over grilled fish or meat.
New Potatoes
New scale and new potatoes!
I cannot bring myself to put a recipe in for the new potatoes. They are so wonderful when they’re young and fresh. The skins are thin and delicate, and they’re the best kind of potato you’ll eat all year. New potatoes are called new because they’re harvested while the plant is still green. Storage potatoes are harvested once the plants have died, and the potato skins and flesh have hardened a bit.
Since they’re so tasty and so fleeting, I would just steam them (10-12 minutes) and smash them with butter or olive oil and whatever herbs you have sitting around. Keep it simple!
Food Farm 
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