Week Eight: Buried Treasures

What a lovely and much-needed rain shower we got in Ann Arbor this morning! I don't know how much rain they got at the farm, but let's hope it was plenty!
We did a lot of digging this week: potatoes, garlic, and carrots are all coming out of the ground like buried treasure. Digging for potatoes is a challenging but fun job--after forking through the dirt and removing the withered potato plant, you have to dig carefully all around to ensure that you've got all the potatoes. Each one emerges like leprechaun gold--a delightful treasure! The garlic is another job--you can tell where they are from the stalks, but it's a trick to loosen them with the fork without impaling them. I'm getting better at this all the time! The carrots were tough to get out of the dry ground, but we had a big crew to work on that on Wednesday and the carrots themselves are real rewards for our hard work.
We also did the last major planting of the year on Tuesday: broccoli for fall harvest will be settling into the fields well with this rain. The summer crops like tomatoes and peppers don't like the cool weather we've been having, but other crops like beans and carrots are thriving. Hopefully the heat will come soon to bring on our summertime treats.
This week's bountiful harvest is:
Green Beans - 1 lb
Potatoes - 1 box
Cucumber - 1
Tomatoes - 4
Radishes - 10
Greens - 1 lb
Carrots - 1 bunch
Summer squash - 4
Garlic - 1 bulb
Lettuce - 2 heads
Parsley - 1 bunch
Arugula - 1 bunch
Basil - 2 tips

Menu
Pasta with Summer squash, Arugula, and Herbs from Greens, Glorious Greens p. 13 This dish is so light and summer-y, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Spicy Green Beans from Laurel's Kitchen p. 181. This is a new one for me, but I love the sound of green beans with cloves and cinnamon. Should be tasty!
Carrot Soup from Laurel's Kitchen p. 159. Well, while we're in the cookbook, let's use this recipe which should show off our orange beauties
Radish Cucumber Salad I was puzzled about these until I found this recipe!
Chard and Zucchini with Almonds Another web find, I'll be doing my own adaptation from these two sources.
Beauty of the Rain Salad with lettuce and arugula and maybe some carrots and radishes.

That's the lot! See you Friday!
peace
Mary
Photos: 1. Megan, Ricardo, and Helen washing carrots 2. Luscious cucumbers 3. Colorful Pure July Soup from last week--yum!