Our apologies for the light posting ’round these parts — and to anyone who’s had a hard time reaching us — over the last week or so.  Half this farm family was out of town for several days.  The other half, along with our wonderful crew, had their hands quite full under early July’s blazing sun: picking, washing, sorting, picking, loading, mowing, picking, irrigating, staking, picking, weeding, seeding … and picking.  All hands are back on deck, so check in here at the farm blog often for news and recipes and a couple new features as well!

And now, the last week (or maybe two) in pictures!

Afternoon, y’all!  79° and breezy and a long lunchtime nap — we’ll take it!  We hope the eatin’ has been good where you’re at.  Here at the farm, we’ve been eating lots of salad, lots of homemade pizza, and lots of tomato sandwiches.  Those three things could keep us fed and happy for a very long time!  But sometimes we manage something new.

Down below the photos, we’ve listed a few recipes we’ve been loving lately.  Some CSA members have also been sharing recipes via email, the comments sections here on the blog, and over at our Facebook page.  We’ll try to highlight some of those soon as well.  And plans are still afoot for adding forums to this website, so you can share your recipes and cooking adventures directly; we’ll keep you posted!

Here are some tasty ideas for working through these early summer CSA shares and farmers market finds.  Most of them would be fantastic fare for your Fourth of July BBQ!  Lots of these posts link to other great recipes too.

Ginger Scallion Sauce at Chocolate & Zucchini

Red, White & Blue Roast Potatoes and Firecracker Potato Salad (two recipes) at Babble

Fondant Fennel from Edward Schneider at Mark Bittman

Raw Beet Salad at Just Braise

Quick Sauté of Zucchini with Toasted Almonds at Smitten Kitchen

Chard, Onion, and Gruyère Panade at Orangette

101 Fast Recipes for Grilling at The Minimalist

Soon, it should be easier to search recipes we’ve posted or linked to here on the farm blog.  In the meantime, you might enjoy just browsing the posts with recipes.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!  What will you be eating?

Oh, yes, we do.  They make so much of the work on the farm so much easier … including digging potatoes.  Here you can see the potato plow, or middle buster, attached to our Kubota’s 3 point hitch, doing exactly what it was designed to do.  After Ali did passes down a few of the beds, Claire and Shannon came behind with bins and strong backs to harvest the spuds.

That’s fifty pounds of gorgeous Kennebec potatoes right there.  Farm work will make you think everything is beautiful and also give you muscles of steel.

Have we got a treat for you!

These are the first potatoes of the summer.  (And how wonderful is this sun??) We dug them up this morning and into the Week 3 shares of the CSA they’ll go!  They’re a little larger than typical new potatoes but just as fresh and delicious.  The skin is delicate and thin, and doesn’t need to be peeled.  They make a wonderful potato salad.  Try tossing the potatoes in a pesto or basil vinaigrette made with the basil from your share!  And consider substituting shaved or finely chopped fennel in place of your normal celery!

If you’re feeling adventurous, try your hand at potato gnocchi.  We made it for the first time last week using this recipe, and topped it with summer squash, diced and then sautéed in brown butter.  It’s not difficult, but it does take some time.  We used one large baking potato and a handful of new potatoes and it was amazing.

This year we’re growing Red Pontiacs, Kennebecs, and Yukon Golds.  We’ll leave most of them in the ground till late summer, but we couldn’t resist digging up a few this week.  Try them!