CSA #3 - June 15, 2011

In the box this week: cardoon, garlic scapes, mint, sorrel, green onions, baby fennel.

I promise I won't complain about the weather. . . but remembered the long-standing patch of cardoon (http://honest-food.net/2009/04/10/contemplating-cardoons/) at the top of the garden and added them to fill out the boxes this week. They're related to thistle and artichokes and were popular in Victorian days. Italians love them! They usually wilt so quickly in summer heat so today's cooler weather is a blessing. Please don't eat the leafy bits, just the stem - I've added a link above with recipes. Last year a friend blanched them in lemon water and added cheese to make an oven baked gratin. Finally got some summer crops planted. Tractors couldn't enter our flooded fields until last week and we cultivated then last night laid down plastic-covered hills with irrigation tape inside. On that I planted sweet peppers (Marconi and a few multi-colored mini bells), Pintung eggplants, a few thousand Beefsteak, Rutgers, Celebrity, and Early Girl hybrid tomatoes, Persian cucumbers. A lot more is going in over the weekend.