Buckets of Rain, Buckets of Greens

 Check out 8th Street Greens' new Facebook page! There are some great photos of the farm in action!

A greenhouse at Yonder Farm houses some succulent heads of lettuce.

Cress is the lighter green plant on the right.

Shannon shows Hayley the ropes of harvesting those delicious greens.

Kale soaks in the morning dew on 8th Street Greens.

Crew members working in the wet fields. Photo credit: Shannon Gilbert

 Greetings from this rainy 6 a.m. morning, coffee beside me, wondering if the crew and me can pull out of the eastside of the mountains attitude of being like cats, regarding working in the wet. . .

The weeds don't stop growing and they've doubled their size since last Thursday.  Super tall sugar snaps are in bloom and awaiting more trellis for all their fine tendrils to grab onto.  Saw some baby peas yesterday, white blossoms contrasting with bright hot pink red radiant seed buds of the bolted Bordeaux spinach.  

Tall sugar snap peas, grabbing onto their trellis.

Seed buds on bolted Bordeaux spinach. Photo credit: Shannon Gilbert

 I worked in the cloud gift of down pour yesterday, pleasantly geared up in gortex and plastic, tractor rototilling  perfectly not dusty soil, integrating the bee-loving bolted crops back into the earth, “field composting” I call it.  Dang it, if I didn't get too close to poly-line irrigation and instantly let the tines wrap it up in half a heart beat!  Cut, pull, cut, got it unwrapped and out of there.  Just when irrigation's all set up for the season now there's a repair to do. . . .You know, Shannon, Dad always says, “the hurrier you go the behinder you get!”

Week #3 Box. Photo Credit: Shannon Gilbert

 This week's box may not be all the splendor of last week's but there's some darn good eats in there (so long as harvest goes as planned.  I'm skeptical of  whether the sunshoots will be tall enough for harvest).  8^th Street Greens' herb salad blend hits the streets this week!!!  There is basil afoot, and we're gonna eat it and be aromatherapy-d!!!  It's an anti-depressant, you know.  The only place for the herb salad this week is the CSA and the Okanogan Bakery.  Speaking of, if you're about Okanogan and needing an awesome sandwich, check it out and mention the yummy-ness of our salad on their sandwiches.  They're under the impression that folks around here don't care what's on the sandwich, iceberg or whatnot.  It'd be a good morale boost for some of us to say otherwise.  I was really excited, thinking we'd have super early tender carrots from Yonder Farm in the box, alas they did not grow well and most of us must be patient for a few more weeks. Large shares DO get some carrots, tho! 

Week #4 Full share box. Photo Credit: Shannon Gilbert

 So everything is from 8^th Street:  a bag of Sunflower Shoots (if there's not enough you'll get Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress), rinsed twice;  a head of Bok Choy rinsed once;  a bunch of Dill, dunked once;  a bunch of Radishes, rinsed;  half of you get garlic scapes (already!? It seems early to me), and half of you get a Japanese Broccoli bunch (2 types per bunch: the deep red is Hon Tsai Tsai, the green is Happy Rich).  Next week, we will switch so you'll each get the other item.

Please visit Edible Seattle, May 2012, “Demystifying the Mysterious World of Asian Greens” for an awesome read and some recipes.  It was confidence boosting for me to read this article, as there's only a couple of growers I've met around here who dabble with the Asian greens and try to sell them.  I love the greens, but it's a pathway in public education I'm leading.  The journalist actually wrote about Hon Tsai, “It has small compact sprouts that are often sold just as it begins to show yellow flowers, when the plant is at its sweetest. The entire plant is edible.” Mizuna, Yukina Savoy, Pac Choi, etc.    

To use the garlic scapes, chop fine or leave long, saute or stir-fry.  Or, puree and make a little pesto or dressing by drizzling olive oil and sprinkling salt.  Maybe add some balsamic vinegar.  I like keeping them in a jar with a little water, on our kitchen counter.  The sunshoots are to top a salad, eat plain as a snack, garnish a soup, or use on a sandwich or wrap. We've been enjoying the early broccoli shoots raw.  They've been sweet.  Last night we had them as a last addition to miso soup and the night before, in a stir-fry with rice and local grass-fed bison meat.                                   

Best.  ~~Shannon                                                                                                                                                                                  

Spring Preparations

Hello Blog Visitors!~~

Today is March 27^th.  We're feeling springtime real strong now and are excited for this 2012 season!  A big part of this time of year for 8^th Street Greens is anticipating CSA sign-ups.  

An 8th Street Greens full share box with cheese option and extra fruit option from Fall 2011.
Photo credit: Phoebe Webb

To receive a printable CSA brochure/sign-up form by email, or to receive a paper brochure in your mail/post office box  please contact me at eighthstreetgreens@yahoo.com or by phone at (509) 422-1620.  I have just blanketed the Okanogan County with brochures, so you might see one about town.    Also, I'm letting everyone know that I can take food stamps this year!  Our listing at localharvest.org has a thorough description of the CSA, including pricing info.  The Local Harvest site is an excellent tool for us farmers and customers.

Shannon tills the soil with her Ferguson tractor.

We started planting seeds for starts in the greenhouse in early March.  That was a glorious winter day, snow falling and hundreds of robins singing about it, whilst I in the greenhouse planting sweet peppers, spicy peppers, tomatoes, shallots, leeks, eggplant, and sweet peas.  Those are all up now and some are ready to be transplanted into bigger pots!

Photo credit: Shannon Gilbert

The photo below show the fields planted with seeds of sugar snap peas, 4 kinds of spinach, myriad green and red lettuces, hardy greens like chard, kales and bok choys, and the spicy mustards and some herbs.  They are all tucked in  under their blankets, looking forward to the rain that'll happen this week!   Yes, folks, delicious salad greens will be in their glory in a handful of weeks!!!

Photo credit: Shannon Gilbert

Many more flats have been planted in the greenhouse.  Several types of cabbages, Happy Rich greens for broccoli florets, Shanghai Green for a baby type of Pac Choi, cilantro, dill and basil, De Cicco broccoli, and more flats yet to seed. Their sweet little heart shaped leaves reach out to the sides like a hug to the sky and sunshine that they love.  Their roots are warm, resting in the heat boxes and their leaves are enjoying the cool spring air.

Photo Credit: Shannon Gilbert

Photo Credit: Shannon Gilbert

Photo Credit: Shannon Gilbert

We'll  post again in about a month.  Thanks for visiting and we'll see ya around!  Best for You  in These Spring Time Months!                                                                            ~~Shannon

CSA sign up for 2012

An 8th Street Greens full share box with cheese option and extra fruit option from Fall 2011.

Today is January 26^th of the new year!

Greetings blog spot visitors and potential 2012 CSA Shareholders!  Thank You for taking the time to check out our farm via this interweb tool!  

Our 2012 brochure/sign-up form will soon go to the printers.  If you're interested in receiving it when it's done, please email me and I will put you in my 2012 contacts.  When the new form is done, I will email all of you a pdf version that you can print.  If you prefer, send me your USPS info for classic mail and I will mail you the brochure mailbox style. Unfortunately, this blogspot does not permit pdf versions of printable matter.  We are patient with this flaw that we did not foresee! :)

As you scroll through our 2011 posts you will begin in October, with our last photo shoot and 23^rd box, the farm mascot of the week being Sugar Pie Pumpkins.  You will finish in Springtime, with our 1^st box of the season touting Greens glorious Greens!

Thanks Again and please feel free to call me!  I still enjoy conversations and handshakes more so than any other communication!                   

Best for your New Year!  ~~Shannon

Your farmer, Shannon Gilbert, and her daughter, Iris,  in 2011.

Week 23: Pumpkin Time

Sugar Pie Pumpkins rest in a wheelbarrow at 8th Street Greens.

Hello CSA Shareholders!  Wow, the end of the CSA season. . . what to focus on for this newsletter?  It's been a quick growing season this 2011:  I feel uncertain that it's really done.  Of course, it's not actually.  There's seed garlic to pop and plant, cloves to plant close for green garlic this spring, Barter Faire to pack for-attend/vend (garlic, pumpkins, leeks and J. Chokes)-and unpack from, discing the fields and cover-crop to plant, things to clean-up and put away, and strawberries to keep picking!  I still need to clean the tool shed that I never got to this spring!  Yes, it's raining on Monday again, interesting. . .I heard cranes flying overhead at 9 pm last night, Eisa and I gazed up into the full-moon light to look at their silhouettes, alas, we only heard them.  They sounded very different than the daylight call, I think it was just a few cranes, cold maybe, looking for the rest of the flock already hunkered down for the night.

Photo by Shannon Gilbert

This week's box:  will also be heavy to deliver!  The fall bounty it contains:  medium-baby leeks and a pumpkin from 8^th Street Greens.  I planted a succession of leeks this early summer.  It's my 1^st year ever growing leeks.  I now know that to grow big leeks we will plant early successions only!  They are yummy and a new treat for the CSA this year.  The Small Sugar Pie Pumpkin has excellent meat for baking.  Turn the oven on 300 d.  Put a pan in the oven on the rack under it, so as to catch any overflow. Prick it with the tip of a knife or a fork and bake it for about 1 ½ hour.  Push it to check for tenderness. Let it cool.  Gut it and scrape the squash meat from it's skin.  Or, carve the skin from the flesh.  Mash it.  Add a little water if necessary. Now you have pumpkin puree ready for soup, cake, bread or pie! Go savory or go sweet with it.

Go sweet with it! Tis the season for perfecting your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

Field crew member Heather helps her son, Colin, heft the pumpkin he picked out at 8th Street Greens.

The parsnips are a delicacy to be savored.  It's their first ever appearance in our CSA, though Watershine is a long-time grower of them.  On me-n-my-kids' electric golf-cart farm tour with her last week, she demonstrated trying to dig one up and achieve getting the whole thing!  Holy Cow!  It's like 2 feet long, with a tail tapering off into the depths of the lush, rich soil it's been growing in since spring.  And the tops!  Their about 2' tall as well!  They're out there digging hard this week, unearthing the sweet parsnips.  Parsnips are sweet fried up with butter, maybe adding apples too.  Maybe a little brown sugar or syrup drizzled at the end to make sweet crunch in the pan.  Or they're good baked or roasted, as in the chicken recipe from last week.  The cabbage is also from Yonder Farm, sweet and crisp fall cabbage- a wonderful success for this area.  It's hard to start cool-weather starts in the August summer heat – but they did it! Thank-You Yonder Farm!!!  

Watershine hangs out with her chicken friends one summer evening on Yonder Farm.

It's been a great season.  The apples are small fancy Liberties from Filaree Fruit.  Those Tiny Fancy Spartans from last week are so delicious – and it actually took me 12 bites to eat one, so they're not just  the 2 bite apple that one might think:)  The fruit shares:  receive extra apples, pluots again (Dapple Dandy) and Red Sterling Grapes from Bartella's Orchard.  I think it's so cool to be providing table grapes in the CSA.  And that they're being grown in the Okanogan. 

Some more friends, Thea and Stella,  stop by to pick out their Sugar Pie Pumpkins.

My Mom and Dad just attended Mary Lassila's memorial.  Paula, of the Breadline Cafe, provided a reception and my Dad was raving about the little egg-salad sandwiches with grapes (cut in half) on them!  Wow – what a combo – egg salad and grapes.  Sounds yummy.  And Mary was such a supporter of local foods.  She was one of the first lovers of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes back in 2003 when I first brought them to the Okanogan Farmers Market.  I had to convince people they were ripe.  She believed in me and took them home.  The next week she raved about them, giving me her classy smile and sharing with me that she ate them all like candy while watching a movie at home.  She bought 2 pints that week, a regular Market grocery shopper!  Cheerleaders are an important part of our life and she was one.  Thanks, Mary.  The Okanogan Market Customers are a tough sell, but getting better from what I hear! The more we educate about health and quality, the better for us all. We might join the F. Market throngs next year, we'll be growing so much food. . .  Look for my brochure in the mail 'round March.  I'll be sending an email as well, around April. 

Shannon's breakfast table filled with all local bounty!
Pumpkin pie from 8th Street's pumpkins, sausage from Larkhaven Farm, bread from the Okanogan Bakery, and eggs from a neighbor's chickens.

 A big THANK-YOU to all the stores and restaurants for their support.  Also, the drop-off locations who all generously donate their establishments to help their community and my business:  CCC of Tonasket, Main Street Market, The Breadline Cafe, Reinbold Law Office, Thomson's Meats and The Winthrop Community School.  They all deal with our boxes so kindly:)

Well, folks, Best to You and Yours!  In Good Health for the winter season. . . 

~~Shannon and Family and                                                                                                                                                                                             the 8^th Street Crew    

Week 22: Rainy Days

A rainy, cloudy day on 8th Street Greens.  Photo by Shannon Gilbert.

Hey there, everybody!  This is our 2^nd to last box for the 2011 CSA season!  It's a rainy Monday again.  Used the morning for paperwork.

photo by Shannon Gilbert

This week's box:  is gonna be heavy to deliver.  We got some salad in there and Jerusalem Artichokes from 8^th Street Greens.  The sunchokes are in bloom right now, but we're going to dig them for you tomorrow anyways.  We might be digging through mud—it'll remind me of my days farming on the Olympic Peninsula.  I've given you each 1.5 pound of the chokes.  They have an incredibly distinctive flavor.  A couple years ago a friend made choke-beet soup with some broth and milk or coconut milk.  There may have been sauteed onions or garlic in there.  It was more beets than chokes.  It was a pureed soup that was delicious.  I tried to find a recipe of it but, alas, didn't.  Epicurious.com does have several Jerusalem Artichoke soup recipes that you could look up. 

Shawn digs up Jerusalem Artihokes, which go well in the recipe below. Photo by Shannon Gilbert.

Roast Chicken with Parsnips, Golden Beets, and Jerusalem Artichokes with Beer Pan Juices

Bon Appétit  | October 2010

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Active time: 1 hour, Total time: 4 hours 10 min

The secret to a roast chicken with crispy skin and tender meat? Salting the chicken and letting it sit for at least a few hours.

Ingredients:  1 4-to 4 1/2-pound chicken

4 large fresh sage leaves plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, divided

3 fresh thyme sprigs plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, divided

3 fresh rosemary sprigs plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, divided

2 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

3 2 1/2-inch-diameter golden beets, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch wedges

4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 pound parsnips, peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch pieces

8 to 10 ounces Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes), scrubbed, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

1 cup lager or pale ale

Preparation:  Tuck wing tips under chicken. Starting at neck opening, gently loosen skin from breast of chicken. Slide 2 sage leaves, 1 thyme sprig, and 1 rosemary sprig under skin of each chicken breast half. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt inside chicken cavity and insert 1 thyme sprig and 1 rosemary sprig into cavity. Sprinkle outside of chicken all over with 2 teaspoons coarse salt. Place chicken, breast side up, on plate. Let stand uncovered at room temperature 2 hours or cover and chill overnight.

Position oven rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 450°F. Coat large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Place chicken in center of prepared sheet. Place beets in medium bowl. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon chopped thyme, 1/2 tablespoon chopped rosemary, and 1 teaspoon chopped sage; sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Place parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes in another medium bowl. Add remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon chopped thyme, 1/2 tablespoon chopped rosemary, and 1 teaspoon chopped sage; sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange all vegetables around chicken on sheet. Roast chicken and vegetables 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°F. Roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken thigh registers 165°F and vegetables are tender, turning vegetables occasionally, about 50 minutes longer.

Shannon roasted tomatoes and garlic, then pureed and froze the sauce. A great way to preserve heirloom and slicing tomatoes! Photo by Shannon Gilbert.

Using tongs, tilt chicken to allow juices to drain from main cavity onto baking sheet. Transfer chicken to platter. Arrange vegetables around chicken. Place baking sheet over 2 burners. Add beer to baking sheet and boil until pan juices are slightly reduced, scraping up browned bits, 3 to 4 minutes. Season juices to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer juices to small pitcher. Serve chicken and vegetables, passing pan juices alongside.

Also in the box is Cylindrical Beets and a Red Kuri “kubocha type” winter Squash from Yonder Farm.  The apples are from Filaree Fruit.  The Fruit Share gets extra apples, pluots and more Concord Pears.  I'll hand write the variety of apples when I find out! 

All the Best!  ~~Shannon    p.s.:  parsnips (never before in this CSA), will be in your box next week!!!

Week 21: Pine Stump Farm

Carey Hunter leads her milking goats from pasture to their evening pen at Pine Stump Farm.

It's a Beautiful rainy Monday morning here at 8^th Street Greens.  The weather is finally matching the time of season.  The smell of dampened sage and dust is lovely.  My kids are so cute in their rain coats.   The salad has really slowed its growth.  The lettuce misses the longer days of sunlight.  I planted extra for the fall season but it still isn't enough.  The quail ate my last planting of greens.  There's some little stubs re-growing, but it's sparse.  Those little buggers!  We are cutting the salad for the stores and restaurant orders only, yet again going light on the little plants.  However, the field is abundant with chard, kale, and the bok choy family of greens.  Providing the CSA with stir-fry greens instead of salad gives the plants time to grow for next week, in the hopes of putting it in your box once more.  Also, we must not be hard on us harvesters.  When we are “scrounging for greens”  it stretches into a very long morning and can feel tough on the knees and backs. 

This lucky doe got to keep her glamorous horns.

Thanks to all the harvesters this year.  We've gone through several crews this year, due to their own life schedules they come and go.  But they've all been wonderful folks with strong bodies and good smiles and a love of healthy clean food!  I've survived training, and training again, and training again.  I think it makes the business less economically sustainable and gives me stress from uncertainty, but at least we're staying reliable.  A Big Thank-You to Heather!  She wins The Stead-fast Harvester Award of 2011.  She's been here, without fail, every Wednesday morning by 6 am or so, since early May.  And thanks to all the box-packers, who so intelligently work the “rubiks cube” that is packing, every Thursday morning.  They figure out my lists, I ask how I can help, then they get it done and then I go zooming off on deliveries – to Tonasket then Mazama, yee hah!  There's actually only ever one packer, plus me, but yes, we've been through a few this year because of college and stuff.

Carey noticed this doeling kneeling too much, and promptly trimmed it's hooves to make the goat more comfortable.

So, I tried to find Eggplant but didn't find any farmers with enough so you get tomatoes one more time.  I'll be planting lots of eggplant next year.  Along with many other crops.  Summer squash, even!   I miss growing all the pretty food.  Eggplant makes such an amazing flower and fruit.  It is Truly Captivating in its appearance. 

This week's box:  braising greens (rinsed 3 times) and garlic from 8^th Street Greens; carrots, #2  tomatoes and sweet peppers from Yonder Farm; and Dapple Dandies from Bartella's Orchard.  

Fruit Share:  extra Dapple Dandies, Concord pears from Bunny Laine and Canadice Sweet Grapes from Bunny Laine.  The cheese this week is from Pine Stump Farm. 

This week's chesese from Pine Stump Farm: Aged Gouda.

I've sure been enjoying my kale bunch.  It sits as a bouquet, on the kitchen counter in a canning jar of water, all perked up and crisp.  I use a few leaves as needed in a fry of potatoes, leftover rice, or bowl of soup.  It's quite convenient and watches sentinel over our good health.

Pine Stump's herd is a mix of many different breeds of goats. 

Phoebe, the photographer for the blogspot, went on a tour of Carey and Albert's farm (Pine Stump).  She took photos of and visited with the goats who give the milk to make the cheese.  So if you wanna see cute pictures of cute goaties, check it out!  And a “thank-you so much!” goes out to CSA shareholders Kathy and Parker for hosting a sweet and savory dinner for myself, Chuck and Samantha (also shareholders) and Phoebe.  Parker chef-ed up a delicious meal from his and Kathy's  ½ share produce CSA box and Chuck's full share box with fruit and cheese.  Phoebe took photos.  Kathy made a delicious pear and apple tart.  I was wishing I had brought crackers from the Okanogan Bakery for the black pepper and garlic chevre.  Then we would have had a 100% local meal, the wine was even from Lost River. I'm hoping the blog will help enlist CSA members for the 2012 season, as they'll be able to see the radiant food on display via the pictures.

This goat gets her evening meal after working so hard to give us cheese. She eats fresh hay made by Albert, Carey's husband, under the farm's namesake trees.

Well, folks, I hope you're all doing well.  The pumpkins are looking good and Watershine says the Red Kuri squash will be ripe for next week's box.  AND, you might just get beets one more time! :)

Best  ~~shannon

Carey is not only a goat herder and cheese-maker, but she also teaches therapeautic horseback riding classes. She is standing in front of some artwork that is built into the side of her home.

Week 20: Fete your Farmer!

This week, CSA members Kathy Larsen and Parker Parsons generously hosted a dinner party for Shannon, our wonderful and hardworking farmer.  Below are photos and descriptions of the delicious meal Parker prepared with the food from this week's CSA produce. Friends Chuck and Sam (also CSA members) came to lend a hand and the fruit and cheese from their full share box.  We are so grateful for Shannon, and the opportunity to celebrate her good work and good food.

Shannon points out Okanogan on the Washington State map, where all of the bounty on the table was grown. (See newsletter at the bottom of this post for list of this week's produce).

Leeks from 8th Street Greens are chopped up in preparation for a sauteed leek, cilantro, and sour cream sauce.

Parker made a rich salad with corn from Yonder Farm, onions, lentils, and morel mushrooms that he and Kathy foraged themselves.

The cold salad of the night was a corn, peach, tomato, pepper, and onion salsa with a habañero sauce that was to die for! I will try to pry the recipe off Parker for you all.

Simple roasted Viking potatoes with Sunny Pine's chevre was the perfect dish for an evening on the cusp of fall.

Shannon enjoys the mild evening with good food, good friends, and good wine.

Kathy made a rustic tart with Cortland apples and pears, and of course, whip cream. 

NEWSLETTER:

Hello everybody!  This weeks box marks the seasonal change into fall. . .  potatoes, kale, and leeks.  Included is some delicious sweet corn from Yonder Farm.  I'm so thankful she offered it to us and that it's so tasty with potatoes.  I can taste the blend already:  steamed and smashed potatoes, a bit of chopped kale that you add at the end, creamy leeks sauteed in there, spicy peppers chopped to tiny bits and a sprinkle of cilantro at the end.  If you've got remnant sweet pepper from last week, throw that in there too.  Especially  red peppers for their beauty which compliments the green kale.  Any sliced steak, mushrooms or some hamburger in the fridge?  Yum!  Dinner!!!  And good lunch the next day, too!

The leeks, kale (or mizuna – good with fish and stir-fries), serrano and super chile peppers, and cilantro is all from 8^th Street Greens.  The huge Viking Potato (it's possible you'll only get one) is from Bunny Laine.  The other purple potatoes are from Sky's Field.  I hope they cook similarly. The Bartlett Pears are from Bunny Laine.  Fruit Share:  Sun Jewel Melon (thin, edible peel like cucumbers) from Yonder Farm, extra pears, Cortland Apples “the salad apple” cuz doesn't brown easily, from Filaree Fruit and a German Stripe Heirloom Tomato from 8^th Street (I claimed fruit status for tomatoes this week :))

I'm curious what will turn up in next week's box.  We're hoping for eggplant, tomatoes one more time, carrots, pluots and salad.  There's only 3 more weeks of our CSA so I wanna make sure to get all the crops represented!  We're so thankful for the extended summer we've had!

Happy Fall Equinox!!!

Salsa Mexicana

Bon Appétit  | May 2003

yield: Makes about 2 cups

Variations of this fresh tomato-based salsa show up on restaurant tables all over Mexico, where it is called pico de gallo.

Ingredients:  1 1/4 pounds plum (or cherry or any) tomatoes, cut in half (or quartered or chopped)

1/3 cup chopped red onion (or cipollini or walla walla)

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 serrano chiles, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

1 cup (loosely packed) coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:  Seed and dice 10 tomato halves; transfer to large bowl. Place remaining tomatoes in blender; add onion, lime juice, chiles, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. Add cilantro. Pulse just to mix in cilantro. Pour tomato puree into bowl with diced tomatoes. Stir to blend. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

The serrano peppers are dark green, some going to red,  and smooth.  The super chile are yellow, some going to orange and red.  The super chiles are spicier than serranos.

The leeks have been growing since March.  It's my first time with a farm who grows leeks. . . a learning experience that went pretty well.  Some are small so we put 2 in your box.  Most of them sized up well, however the succession, still growing, is still small and we won't do a late succession next year.  But you will get baby leeks in your box in a couple weeks!  We love farm class!                 Best  ~~shannon