Greetings CSA Members! It’s been a brutally hot week, followed by what might *finally* be the first wisp of fall and cool weather….and some very helpful rain, finally!

With a few more hot days looking at the weather ahead, our summer crops will still be pumping out some produce yet! Cherry tomatoes, heirlooms, and sweet peppers are still going strong. Okra is flowering abundantly (we’re excited about that) and it does still look like we have the summer phase of vegetables for a few weeks out, at least!

Get a taste of it all in this week’s share:

• PLENTY of tomatoes! (Heirlooms, slicers, cherry tomatoes)
• Eggplant
• Delicata squash
• Lemon cucumbers
• Anaheim peppers
• Large head green cabbage
• Garlic
• Onions (1 red, 1 white)

Yet again it’s a GREAT week for tomatoes! We’re excited to say that we’ll be able to get you some of ALL the varieties we are growing this year into your share: Green Cherokee, Brandywine, Martha Washington, cherry tomatoes, and many others.

We’re excited to share our Anaheim peppers with you, too. They’re beautiful, though not quite a spicy as we’d hoped – but they still make up for it with some pretty impressive flavor. This harvest reminds me a bit of shishito peppers, though not quite!

Wellness Spotlight: Cabbage

Greens are great for you– and you hear a lot about them, especially ones like kale, spinach, and arugula, and all the health benefits they have. People have become especially enamored with kale over the years. And it must be because it’s the healthiest of all greens! Right? Well…

Enter cabbage, which is a close relative of kale. And when you break it down, cabbage has all the same good stuff that kale has…and you can have it last you much longer in your fridge!

All those fancy antioxidants you hear about being in kale (like sulforaphanes, etc.?) Yep, they’re all in cabbage, too….and quite a bit of them.

Not to mention, you get plenty of fiber, plant-based proteins, vitamins, and minerals with cabbage too, regardless of it being in a coleslaw or cooked!

Get to Know Your Onions! | Red and White Onions

You’ve probably noticed over the last few weeks that you’re starting to get onions (and garlic) in pretty much every weekly share.

Onions are used so much in cooking, we figured that having a few in each box every week is something that wouldn’t wear out our members at all! Plus, garlic and some onion varieties last pretty well in storage if you don’t get around to them right away.

This week, you’ll be getting red onions and white onions. While not always, red onions tend to be sweeter and gentler flavored (though they’re by far not the sweetest variety of onion). They’re best used raw and on sandwiches etc.

White onions, on the other hand, are meant to be cooked! (Unless you’ve got an iron stomach, you love heat, and got a strong constitution). They’re pretty common in Mexican cuisine but are also great in Italian dishes, and are very uplifting of meaty flavors. They’re on the hotter side with a slightly longer storage time, though not as long as yellow storage-type onions.

If you EVER have questions about items in your CSA or farm share box, please let us know! Whether it’s how to use them, what they are, or anything that might make you curious.

We love to talk food! | – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Thank you for choosing us to be your farmers!

Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm