week 4

I picked my first tomato a week ago. That’s so early! What’s going on with this year?! I picked my first tomato and my first summer squash on last Tuesday and by Friday pickup, the squash plants had surged into production and were again loaded.

I’ve been picking them with their blossoms still on so if you come up with a good fried squash blossom recipe, let me know.

There’s a few different types of summer squash including the familiar zucchini along with some striped zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, and some flat odd shaped squash called patty pan that look a little like the ghosts in the pac man game. They all can be cooked the same, however some find the skin of older crookneck and patty pan squash to be distasteful and so they peel them. I eat them either way, finding the skin to be just fine.

I love the flavor of the little pattypans and often just cut them in half, scoop out a little of the seeds and put a scoop of sausage and spices in there and bake for about a half hour and then drizzle with some maple syrup.

Those are not grapes, they’re little tiny asian plums. Mmm. Watch for seeds. Peaches are next along with giant blackberries. The red raspberries and black raspberries are almost done. I didn’t get a chance to make it back to the blueberry bushes at my bosses house this week.

The odd vegetable in your baskets this week is kohlrabi. It reminds me of 1950s movie space orbs with it’s bulbous swollen edible stems and antenna like leaves. It’s often used in German or Thai cuisine, but quite a few old time Ohioans remember cooking up this member of the cole-crop family straight out of their victory gardens. Remove the leaves and cook them up like spinach. The orb shaped swollen stem can then be peeled and roasted or added to a salad for a little extra zing. It’s usually described as a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, or a brussel sprout and a parsnip, or a little bit of a radish mixed with… well, you’ll just have to taste it and let me know.

I like to peel it and then take my veggie peeler and make long ribbons to add to salads. Or it can be sliced and roasted using the recipe from last week. Once you smell it when you start peeling, you know exactly what it’s going to taste like. Eat it fresh if you like the zippy smell of it or tone it down by roasting it in the oven with garlic and olive oil.  

Here’s a great recipe for coleslaw… or more appropriately named kohlslaw.

Kohlslaw Recipe

- 1-2 kohlrabi

- 1 carrot

- 2 tablespoons vinegar

- 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste salt

Peel and chop carrot and kohlrabi into match sticks or grate finely.  Toss with vinegar and sugar salt to taste and refrigerate for a half hour for the flavors to meld before serving.

Anyway, I finally got all the melons in the ground, I’m still planting some shelling beans, the potatoes are all in the ground and we’re assessing all the seeds that are left and determining how many growing days are left in the season. Eek, is the end of planting time near? Is it really the middle of July? Soon the grass will turn that midsummer shade of burnt light brown and I’ll start dreaming of curling up by the fire and decorating the Christmas tree. But right now, I’m enjoying  playing in the dirt in the hot sun and then jumping in the pool to cool off while picking squash bugs and squash from the beautiful gardens about to reach the height of their production. Ohio is really beautiful sometimes.  -janeé

week 3

Now begins the epic battle to keep the bugs off the cucurbits; the cucumbers, squash, melons, and zucchini.  

We have squash bugs. We have squash vine borers. Then we have the cucumber beetles that my sister calls Steeler’s beetles for their nice black and white stripes. The cucumber beetles spread cucumber mosaic virus, which of course kills the plant. Or if it’s hot and dry, they get powdery mildew. Or the deer hop the garden fence and eat the whole plant…

We keep one step ahead of the pests with rotational planting. I used to try spraying organic controls, but it’s of no use. These little guys are really tough, so we hand pick in the early morning and hope we get a decent harvest before the plants succumb to the pressure.

We’ve got cucumbers coming on – pickling cukes are the earliest. Then we’ve got some burpless and some straight 8s that take a bit longer. The squash are blossoming and I haven’t looked at the back garden in a few days, but we might have a couple summer squash already. So prepare thy zucchini recipes. They’re coming.

Berry picking has to be one of the most time consuming harvests of the season. Beans are a close second, but that’s offset a bit by the fact that raspberries have massive thorns and I always say I’m going to clean up the patch and make rows…. But I still haven’t gotten around to it yet. Which means long pants wearing as I dive into the thorns to find the berries as they’re turning the perfect colors. I pick a few and then eat one to remind myself why I’m getting my tshirt ripped up like I’m a cat’s scratching post. I almost stepped on a turkey setting a nest while in the red raspberries. Amazingly enough she wasn’t eating the delicious red berries that were framing her nest.

That also reminds me, wash your berries before you eat them.

There’s only a cup or so per basket, not enough to make a pie, but sure enough for fresh eating in season. I’m just happy to see my patches starting to produce that I’ve put in the past few years. I get to compare varieties for flavor and watch things grow, which is one of my favorite pastimes.

Anyway, I’m sneaking beets in your baskets. I love beets. I like to roast them in the oven to soften them and then throw them in whatever sautéed onion dish I’m cooking.

I’m also slowly harvesting our radish patch. I’m not too fond of radishes. I found that if I slice them up in half inch slices and wrap them in tin foil with a pad of butter and some salt and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes, it takes their bite away and they’re not bad. If you like the bite of radishes, do not put them in the oven. My grandma just eats them with bread and butter, which I never really understood.

So for the beet newbies, make some beet chips if you’d like. We’re also pulling up new potatoes soon as they’re just starting to flower now. This recipe works for both. I’m going to try it with turnips too and see how it goes. I’m sure it will work for kohlrabi, which should be ready in the next few weeks too.

Oven Roasted Veggie Chips

1      Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2       Using the slicing blade of your food processor if you have one. If not, take a sharp knife and cut a slice out of the end of a beet to make a flat surface on one side. Then put the beet flat side down and slice as thin as you can.

3       Spread evenly on a cookie sheet, spray with nonstick spray and season with salt.

4       Roast 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning halfway through, until crisp. Check often to make sure they don't burn. You may need to roast for a shorter or longer period of time depending on your oven and how crisp you want them - so keep an eye on them.

Another option that a lot of people like for beets is to use brown sugar along with the salt to sweeten them up a bit. Keep this recipe for sweet potato chips, turnips, kale greens, apples, maybe zucchini? The possibilities are endless.

Herb people, don’t forget to take herbs. Take as many as you can use each week. ~janeé

week 2

I completely forgot to say last week, please bring back your baskets week to week. We reuse them.

Anyway, welcome to week two. After pickup last week, we walked the gardens and scratched our heads. Um…. Hmmm…. The chard is just still kinda little. The cucumbers are coming slowly. There’s some berries kinda starting, the lettuce is dying in the heat and I really need to plant more kale.

So that left us with, hmm, beans aren’t quite big enough, potatoes aren’t even flowering yet for new potatoes. We actually started to consider green tomatoes already. Sheesh. Weird year.

So I ran into my seed bin and found some organic lentils and radishes and thought, sprouts!

Seeds are completely amazing. They contain the energy needed to catapult a dormant little cocoon into life with just a little water. When seeds are sprouted, the nutrition content has some of the highest vitamin and mineral count.  And they’re tender and delicious as well.

We sprouted organic lentils. They should be very small in order for best flavor so take these home, rinse them and then put in the fridge and use within the next week or so.

The organic radishes are a bit zestier and are amazing on salads, like the recipe for the week.

So, here’s a little recipe for the lentil sprouts and tender spring veggies in your baskets. If you were lucky enough to get peas (they don’t produce for as much as I plant) then throw those in this salad too or garnish with the edible flowers as well. You can use the same dressing recipe as before or add the middle eastern twist in this one. By week three, you will be a salad dressing making mad chemist, mixing different spices in with your own homemade salad dressing. Let me know what you come up with.

Sprouted Lentil Salad with Super Herbed Yogurt Dressing

Herbed Yogurt Dressing:

1 bunch High Mill Park herbs

1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt or sour cream

1 squeeze fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon spicy mustard (optional)

1 teaspoon sugar or honey

Salt & pepper to taste

1.       Prepare dressing by washing and setting out your herbs. Smell each herb to determine which ones would best fit your taste. Fennel smells like black licorice. Lemon balm smells very citrusy and can be overpowering so use sparingly. Mint… well, smells like chewing gum. Thyme smells like an Italian restaurant. And cilantro is the whispy one that smells either fresh or like soap depending on your smelling palate. Use only the herbs that you like out of this bunch and it’s totally up to you on creativity. I threw them all together, with only a pinch of fennel to my taste.

2.       Remove herb leaves from stems, dice fine and whisk together with yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and mustard.

3.       Cut up a couple of cucumbers or whatever other fresh veggies you have in your basket like radishes, green onions, garlic scapes, peas, beet leaves or thin sliced beet roots.  You could add lettuce if you have it.

4.       Rinse and throw the lentil sprouts with the veggies in a bowl.

5.       Toss dressing on the vegetables and chill for a half an hour to let the flavors meld.  

6.       Swear off all other salad dressings as you enjoy the delicious fresh herbed dressing on your favorite salads.

Send recipe ideas on or other creative ways you’ve used these fresh, early summer vegetables. Enjoy this  beautiful weather… the calm before the 90degree days. ~Janee

weeeeeeek 1.START!

Cooking in Season
Week 1

Welcome to High Mill Park’s 4^th CSA season. I can’t believe it’s our 4^th year. Anyway, for the next few months, we’ll follow the crazy Ohio weather through our short and sweet growing season. And what a start it’s been so far. We were pummeled with rain so much during the spring that we’re a bit behind on planting, but that’s what CSA is all about. You really get to experience eating at the peak of freshness no matter what the weather throws at us.

A few rules before we get started.

1.       Bugs happen. If there aren’t bugs or rabbits or deer trying to eat your food, then you should question whether or not you want to eat it. We don’t spray harsh chemicals, which makes it safer for you, but there will be bugs.  Which brings me to my next point….

2.       Wash everything. Twice. Just because we grow organically doesn’t mean that you don’t have to wash your fruits and veggies. We integrate raising animals with plants for the best ecosystem and farm sustainability and we do not triple wash with a chlorine finish like your bagged lettuce so it’s up to you, your strainer, and your sink to get your vegetables and fruits rinsed.

3.       If you cannot make it for pickup, please find someone to pick up your basket in your place. Vegetables don’t keep week to week and we plant for how many members we have and so there’s a limited number of vegetables, especially in the beginning, slow part of the season.  Or email me and we can setup another time.

With that being said, wow, it’s been quite an odd spring. The good news is that none of our fruits got frosted so we’ll have some plums in a few weeks. The bad news is that we couldn’t work the soil for a few critical months and now we’re starting really behind. The root crops didn’t like the wet and the lettuce didn’t like the heat. It felt like the gardens were an unruly class of second graders where no one could agree and all hell was breaking loose – the beans refused to sprout, the potatoes hated the wet soil, the lettuce and kale was going to seed, and the tomatoes set little green tomatoes in their pots before we could get into the garden to plant them

So we’re starting out with the perennial crops. They are the old reliable friends of the garden. The rhubarb came back with it’s big, beautiful, poisonous leaves held up by deliciously tart and zippy, edible stalks. They’re a bit green by this time in the season, but still hold all that powerful rhubarb flavor so many love to slip into fruit pies.

The garlic is really thriving. In your baskets this week are the secret deliciousness of garlic – the garlic scapes. Garlic sends up seed heads in the spring, which zap the plant of it’s energy that should be put into making big, delicious bulbs. So we go through and cut off these seed head “scapes.”  They are delicious! They’re light with garlic flavor and a bit like green onions. You can use them in this recipe, or just chop them up and sauté them as you would regular garlic.

Another star of your perennial spring basket is horseradish leaves. And yes, they kinda taste like horseradish so chop them up really fine and mix them in with a lettuce mix.

We’re going to start out with a nice, light, Gourmet Salad.

1.       Wash and chop up your horseradish leaves fine and add them to a lettuce mix in a large bowl and set aside.

2.       Mince up the rhubarb from your baskets, which should be about ½-1 cup and sauté in a sauce pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. While that’s simmering, chop up the garlic scapes really fine and add them to the saucepan as well. When the rhubarb begins to lose it’s color and turn amber yellow, remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of honey and stir well.

3.       Take the rhubarb mixture and put into a small bowl. Add ½ cup white vinegar, 1 cup of olive oil, a squirt of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

4.       Let the rhubarb salad dressing cool in the refrigerator before tossing on the lettuce mixture.

5.       Add edible flowers on top of the salad along with any fresh spring fruit and serve.

The edible flowers in your baskets are chosen based on taste. Some roses don’t have a nice flavor, but these petals from rosa rugosa have a nice light flavor with a slight fragrance. Remove them from the stem and toss them in your salad. There are also small edible violas and tiny blue flowers, which is Borage. The flavor is bright and kinda like a cucumber. You can remove the petals or eat the whole flower if you don’t mind the fuzzy texture.  The leaves are a bit fuzzy and can be enjoyed in salads or sautéed like spinach.  Anyway, this is the fresh, albeit timid start of the season. We’re looking forward to more things to come as we begin cooking in season.    ~Janeé