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Week 10 from Valley Flora!

Beet Box -

Week 10 from Valley Flora! Eggplant! Hot Peppers!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
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What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • The Weekly Dance
  • Order Your Bulk Basil!
  • Pickling Cukes Are On!
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What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Walla Walla Sweet Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Head Lettuce
  • Strawberries
  • Broccoli
  • Rainbow Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Basil
  • Zucchini
  • Fennel
  • Hot Peppers
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Eggplant
  • Heirloom Tomatoes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Walla Walla Sweets
  • Broccoli?
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Kale
  • Lettuce
  • New Potatoes
  • Strawberries
  • Zucchini
  • Tomatoes
Eggplant, Hot Peppers and Rainbow Carrots
Tuesdays and Fridays are a form of performance art on the farm. It starts early morning, each of us performing our various solos bunching greens, logging broccoli, cutting lettuce, and digging carrots to a soundtrack of birdsong. We come together as a strawberry-picking quartet mid-morning and once all the berries are harvested we migrate to the barn where - depending on what time it is - the choreography gets crazy. Stacks of produce roll in and out of the cooler, hoses blast, dunk tanks work overtime, scales are tared, boxes, bags and totes are filled brim-full, orders get labeled for stores and restaurants and the farmstand, the boom box blares. The crescendo builds as everything coalesces for CSA pack-out. Your weekly share - which until that point was something theoretical in my notebook - becomes tangible as we lay the tables with heaviest onions and broccoli at the top, and delicate tomatoes and basil at the end.

As that moment approached yesterday I began to get excited, realizing that it would be a beauty this week: the rainbow carrots, the deep dusky eggplant, the broccoli as big as dinner plates. We settled into the rhythm of pack-out, strategically layering  produce into each tote (the ultimate goal always to create a soft nest for those tomatoes at the end!). 

After the final tote is packed, every zucchini accounted for, the cooler organized and stacked to the ceiling, the tables put away, the floor swept - then, finally, there is a collective exhale and we exit one by one, stage left and right. Lights out until dawn when the next scene begins: farmstand set-up and deliveries.

This week you'll be eating all the colors of the rainbow, thanks to 5-hued carrots, dark purple eggplant, and more tomatoes. There are two hot peppers in the mix, a serrano (hot) and a big fat jalapeño (less hot). And you have all the ingredients to make a small batch of one of my favorite dishes: Finocchio. Happy Summer!
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Bulk Basil Available
If you'd like to order a bulk quantity to make your winter stash of pesto, email us your name, pickup location, phone number and the number of pounds you would like. It's $16/pound - all gorgeous tops with no stem.
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Bulk Pickling Cucumbers Available!
Our pickling cukes are going full throttle! Whether you love a good, tangy dill pickle or are fond of bread and butters, now's the time to put some up! We typically have three sizes available, priced as follows:
  • Small: 3-4" long, slender, ideal for pickling whole, $3.50/pound
  • Medium: 4-6" long, ideal for pickling whole or making spears, $3.00/pound
  • Large: 6-7" long, ideal for cutting into slices for bread and butter pickles or making large spears, $2.50/pound
To order, email me your name, pickup location, daytime phone number and quantity you'd like. We'll confirm with you before delivering to your pickup site.

For any Bubbies pickle fans out there (that's me!), I discovered this recipe a couple years ago that makes an incredible Bubbies-esque lacto-fermented pickle. I've never canned a pickle since!
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The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
9 am to 2 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


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