Week 10: August 9th
 
What’s in your Share This Week?
 
Head lettuce
Strawberries
Broccoli or Cauliflower
Carrots
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Dill
Cilantro
 
The New Stuff: How to eat it, cut it, cook it, and keep it:
 
Red, White and Blue Potatoes
Better late than never! We had hoped to send out our usual distribution of red, white and blue potatoes for the 4th of July, BUT here we are in the second week of August finally enjoying them. Our cold, wet spring and delayed summer slowed these early potatoes down considerably and also reduced their yields, unfortunately.
 
We did manage to “dig” them with the help of Maude and our new horsedrawn potato digger – a semi-kamikaze event on Monday evening that left a wake of drunken, swervy furrows and scattershot potatoes across the field. I’m hoping to refine our technique for the next dig!
 
The red variety is Red Pontiac; the blue is Adirondack Blue; and the white/yellow potato is Yellow Finn.
 
Potatoes store almost forever in the fridge. We usually put ours in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer. That said, there is nothing like a freshly-dug potato – they usually have much more flavor and juiciness than those that have sat around on the store shelves for months.
 
Some spud trivia for you:

• Potatoes are the leading vegetable grown worldwide, produced in 130 countries, from below sea level to above 14,000 feet.
• They are native to the Andean mountain region of South America where they have been cultivated for over 5000 years.
• Potatoes belong to the Solanum family, along with tomatoes and many deadly nightshades.
• Americans eat an average of 75 pounds of potatoes per year – mostly in the form of French fries and potato chips.

 
Dill & Cilantro
In a perfect farming world, these two herb crops would have come on a week apart, but no, we don’t get to control these things at Valley Flora. Instead, it’s an herb party this week in your harvest baskets! The potato-dill combo was entirely intentional….steamed potatoes with a little butter and dill…..yum. And then, fire up a meal with Latin flair the next night: huevos rancheros with homefries, smothered in cilantro.
 
Store your herbs in the fridge – either in a plastic bag, or in a glass of water with a plastic bag over the top. They’ll keep for up to a week.
 
On the Farm…
We are still looking for help on the farm. Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to start work for us on Monday never showed up. If you know of anyone hard-working, reliable and good-natured, please let us know!
 
Back to the fields I go!