July 5

Storage notes:

NEW: Washed and unwashed: Some crops don't wash well or don't store well when wet, and those will be delivered OUTSIDE the big plastic bag. Basil and cilantro and peas, for instance, will be in a small bag OUTSIDE the big plastic bag, because I think they will keep better this way. Rinse before eating. 

Basil and cilantro keep best outside the fridge with their stems in water, like little bouquets, I find.

Everything INSIDE the big plastic bag has been triple-washed and drip dried before packing. Root veg should have their greens taken off; all greens like being cool and humid but not sitting in water. Potatoes need to be kept in the dark. 

Basil kept in a vase long enough will root and bloom. 

"Royal Snap II" purple-podded snap peas

This week's harvest:

NEW: Purple snap peas. The seed descriptions said these would ripen after the green ones, the weather said It's Time! for all the peas. Eat like the green ones, raw or lightly cooked. 

Basil! The first basil plants in the ground are finally big and bushy enough to provide tips for everyone. 

THE LAST: turnips. 

Recipe suggestions:

Repeating:
Serious Eats, ways to fancy up your snap peas

Smitten Kitchen spring veg salad including both new potatoes and snap/snow peas

Getting ripe for next week:

We're going to have a couple weeks of the same stuff until summer crops size up. The first green tomatoes are on the vines, there are blossoms and tiny fruit on the cucumbers and summer squash, but it will be a while for them.

I'm worried that this sudden switch to very hot weather could finish the spring crops before the summer ones grow to size, but I have one or two tricks to keep something good in the deliveries.