Farm News for the week of August 8th   

Reminders & Announcements

• Final Early Summer Shares. This week, we deliver to weekly Early Summer Vegetable and Fruit Share members.  
• Late Summer Shares start next week (week of August 14) We look forward to delivering your first share of the late summer harvest!  Please check our CSA Delivery Calendar for the delivery schedule.  We will also send an Late Summer CSA email later this week sharing details on your CSA share pickup.

  This Week's Vegetable Harvest

• Broccoli 

• Eggplant (Grayslake farm members)

• Sweet Peppers

• Rainbow Swiss Chard

• Green Cabbage

• Tomatoes

• Garlic

• Kohlrabi

• Cipollini Onions

• Sweet corn (from Didier Farms in Prairie View, IL)

This Week's Fruit Share

• Tango Peaches
• "Pristine" Early Summer Apples
• Red Haven Peaches
• Blueberries

Farm Photo Journal Seasons are changing around the farm!  Sunsets are coming earlier, tomato scents fill the air and our work days look a little different. Here are few other signs of the transition from Early Summer to Late Summer on the farm. 

Several of our summer crew members are heading back to school next week, including our farm kids!  Our summer crew is an essential part of our farming season.  They've provided helping hands when we needed them most, so we're grateful for their contributions to this growing season. 

Our farmers' market season heats up as the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and brassicas (kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli) make their grand entrance! This weekend, our loyal market customers began to buzz with discussions of canning, pickling and preserving the summer bounty. We tend to get so inspired by our customers' ideas that after the market, we all go home and start cooking! This weekend's market was an especially nice one with 70s, sunny skies and friendly smiles from Shulamis and Charlotte. 

Our preparations for fall and winter take center stage at this time of year.  For example, this morning we're busy with the all-hands-on-deck project of uncovering and recovering one of our hoophouses. Our hoophouses are protective structures that sit over the soil and allow us to extend our midwest growing season from early spring through the early winter. By adding a new, sturdy layer of plastic, we can provide our crops with better protection from the cold temperatures and wind.  While these large projects can be equally as exciting as they are unnerving, we confidently working on a sunny, calm day with team of trusted, talented crew members to get the project done. I'll share a picture when its complete!

As the seasons change, we want to thank our farm share members for making us your local family farmers for early summer farm vegetables, fruit and eggs. We hope you've enjoyed the early summer harvest, and that you'll also enjoy the goodies we have planned for late summer!  
~ Jen, Jeff and the farm crew   

Making the most of your share   

Cipollini onions are smaller and flatter than regular sweet onions. Their name means "little onion" in Italian and that's exactly what they are!  This week's white cipollini onions are fresh so their skins come off easily, and they are best eaten within a week or two. They are wonderful caramelized or roasted.

This week's fruit shares include two varieties of peaches -- Red Haven and Tango Peaches.  The Tango peaches are donut shaped, however they are much healthier than a donut!  They are mellow and sweet in flavor with hints of citrus and honey. I've enjoyed eating them raw, however I plan to combine the two peach varieties in back-to-school fruit salad I'm making this weekend. Use them wherever you like to use peaches -- salsas, pies, jams, cobbler and beyond!   

Farm Kitchen Recipes

Easy Roasted Cipollini Onions
Simple Cabbage and Apple Salad
Ratatouille - Feel free to modify this recipe with what you have on hand -- its flexible and delicious!
Swiss Chard Salad with Lemon, Parmesan & Breadcrumbs   

Next Week's Harvest (our best guess)... carrots, poblano peppers, tomatoes, basil, nectarines and more!