week 7

Hola CSA,

We write from the big apple, having just picked up Oliver's brother Max who's been in Israel for the past year. We welcome Max back and invite all to stop by and get to know him. It's the first time we've left Vermont since firing up the greenhouse this Spring. We've also procured 24 gallons of extra virgin Kalamata olive oil from the Greek mafia in Astoria, Queens. Most of our prepared foods products are made with lots of olive oil and we have found that using really good oil makes a big difference. So now its back to VT and all the projects back home. We have been using the walk in cooler and its working great but we still need to build a roof over it (to keep it working great).

In our absence the woofers have (hopefully) harvested carrots for this week's pickup. Our carrots are truly baby carrots unlike the machine milled water logged mini fingers at Shaw's. They do not need to be peeled, only washed right before crunching (they'll keep longer with their greens cut off, unwashed, stored in a plastic bag). We're not including a recipe for them because we hope you'll savor them raw- they are truly good as gold. Some folks have been enjoying the pick your own green beans, scallions and kale. There is plenty more to pick. Just a reminder, the pyo herbs and flowers do not count as a point, but the veggies do.

Just a few storage and handling suggestions/reminders:

-Don't refrigerate tomatoes

-Don't tie your bags of salad greens closed- they need to breathe too

-Keep herbs at peak freshness in a loosely closed Tupperware with a damp paper towel inside.

This weeks veggie joke:

What did one snowman say to the other snowman?

Something smells like carrots!