What''s in the Box May 22-24

I truly wish the interweb had smell-0-vision or scratch & sniff capabilities. There is just so much in bloom! The landscape and plant life changes everyday. Between plums, apples, and lilac scents blowing in on the breeze, I am in heaven.

In this week's CSA box: Overwintered Parsnips, Asparagus, Rhubarb, Green Garlic, Egyptian Walking Onion, Radishes, Spinach or Sauté Mix, Nettles, Sorrel & Garden Herb Packs.

Besides the trees & fields bearing fruit, so are the forest floors. Richard took us out to an amazing dead elm where we gathered all these morel mushrooms! All in one evening's trip. It was my first time mushroom hunting and Chef Nichole has prepared them for a couple evening meals - as a deep fried appetizer (fried in safflower oil) with a blue cheese/dill dipping sauce, in a red wine sauce with flank steak, and creamed in risotto with ramps. She also dried some for later. Yum. Well worth the slogging up hills & risking ticks.

Anna and the field crew have a new toy - the new Salad cutter. It does the cutting that people otherwise would have had to do (backbreaking work, no?), runs the greens up the conveyor & into the totes. Then they bring it back to the farm for a cool wash, dry & it gets bagged. But don't worry, we're not replacing people and going automated or to all machines. As you can see in the background, we still do a lot of weeding by hand. Big ups to all our hardworking crew!