Dear Country Valley Farm Community,
This is week #17 of the 2023 season and our first share of September. Time is flying by! We’ve been enjoying these cooler nights, and are looking forward to the upcoming hot days to help the crops keep moving in the right direction.
Thank you for your support and participation. It means a whole lot and makes a big difference.
This week’s shares contain the following, some preparation inspiration is below:
- Garlic – 3 bulbs from our farm. We forgot to pack the garlic in the shares the week before last, so we included it last week and are again this week and are not counting it as part of the shares.
- Yellow Slicing Tomatoes – 1 quart from Cinzori Farm of Ceresco, MI
- Red Radishes – 1 bunch from Cinzori Farm
- Cousa Summer Squash – 1 quart from Cinzori Farm
- Honeyrock Cantaloupe Melons – 1 nice one from Cinzori Farm
- Slicing Cucumbers – 3 from Cinzori Farm
- Purple Wax Beans – 1 pint from Cinzori Farm
Medium shares contain the above listed items, and:
- Purple Wax Beans – 1 extra pint
- Red Radishes – 1 extra bunch
- Yellow Slicing Tomatoes – 1 extra quart
Some preparation inspiration: Remember to wash all produce thoroughly.
- Hard Neck Garlic – as we dry farmed the garlic this year, and it was a drought Spring, the flavor is very concentrated. You can eat it raw, the flavor mellows and develops when cooked. Even the cloves in the small bulbs are a good size and easy to work with in the kitchen.
- Yellow Slicing Tomatoes – these have a nice sweet flavor and a meaty texture. You can use them any way you would use a red tomato, raw or cooked, and add some bright color to your plate.
- Red Radishes – these are nice sized radishes with a juicy texture and good flavor. We like to eat the tops also, they are a healthy green. Radishes are usually eaten raw, but are served cooked in many places around the world. A simple miso soup with radish roots and tops is delicious and very healthy. A salad of radish roots and tops, along with cucumbers and tomatoes is a wonderful summer treat.
- Cousa Summer Squash – aka grey zucchini. These are small and tender. We recommend eating raw or cooking at a high heat for a short time. Air fry, grill, sear in a skillet. They pair especially well with cooked onions and tomatoes with olive oil.
- Honeyrock Cantaloupe Melons – yay for local melons! While we wait for pears and apples to start, it is nice to have some fresh melons to enjoy. These take me back to when I was a kid and my mom used to get so excited when Honeyrock season started and we would buy them from roadside stands on 9 mile road in Southfield!
- Slicing Cucumbers – a summer favorite, cucumbers don’t like cool weather and usually finish up before the first frost even. We are giving thanks for fresh, local, organic cucumbers as long as we can get them. If you are seeking a different way to use cucumbers, have you tried making a yogurt cucumber dish (raita or tzasiki come to mind); one of the chefs that we work with grilled cucumbers and then pickled them!
- Purple Wax Beans – a slender and crisp snap bean like a french bean/haricot verts. You can use them any way you would use a regular green bean – we recommend not overcooking as these are super fresh and tender and you want to retain those qualities. While sometimes we like to cook beans with other veggies, we also like to do a simple garlic and bean dish and let the beans speak for themselves. They also go great in a salad.
What is going on at the Farm: We will include a detailed farm update next week.
Here is the plan for deliveries:
Route:
8-10AM Ypsilanti and Milan
9AM-1PM Ann Arbor
12PM-2PM Canton, Plymouth, and Northville
1PM-3PM Farmington, Farmington Hills and Bloomfield Hills
2PM-5PM Troy, Hazel Park, and Detroit
We understand that there may be weeks that folks want to skip their share. That is okay so long as you confirm with us at least 7 days in advance of the skip week. In those cases, you can let us know if you want to add a share to the end of your season, or receive double shares some weeks etc. We encourage members to find a friend, family member, or neighbor to pick up your share from your porch and share the bounty of the harvest, instead of skipping weeks – if that is a viable option for you. Some members opt to notify us of skip weeks and ask that we donate the shares – we are happy to do that. We don’t donate to a food bank in those instances, we give the food directly to our neighbors or folks in the community that would benefit from it.
Email is the best way to communicate with me. My phone number is (831) 706-1237. You can call or text if it is the day of or day before delivery if you have anything urgent to communicate. I don’t usually check emails much over the weekend but I do have my phone on me if you need to touch base.
There is lots of good info on our website www.countryvalleyfarm.com
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions at all.
Thank you for sharing this message and our contact info with anyone who you know who may be interested. We appreciate the community support.
Kind regards,
Adam Mitchel
Country Valley Farm
Follow us on Instagram @ countryvalleyfarm