What a tough month in the gardens – the heat made our spring crops bolt and the water made the grass grow faster than the seeded-in crops. For both reasons, we’ve spent a lot of time on our knees in June! Weeding and praying. I’m pretty darn glad it’s about over. The payoff for the rain and heat will soon be in tomatoes and peppers, though, so we don’t complain too much. Plus, who can be miserable with a little guy like this to keep us company out there?

Our very own garden gnome! This is actually an elephant garlic scape – now turning into a flower. You can’t tell from the picture, but the stalk is about 3 feet tall and the bloom itself is about 3 inches around.

Here are some more of our favorite things on the farm this week:

We found this little nest in one of our hanging baskets on the front porch. The mama flew off into my face when I took it down to water the plants! But she came right back when I left. She is a very tiny bird – I think a wren. Anybody know?

Chickens! These are our meat chicks, now happily graduated out of the barn into their “tractors,” which get moved to new grass every day.

Here’s what’s in the box:

Snap Peas – Really one of my favorite tastes of spring. These took a while to grow in the heat, and we thought we’d lose them, but the short little vines are covered in pods. We hope the cool temperatures of this week will bring us lots of snap peas. You actually have some snow peas in there, too, which are just about flat and don’t get as sweet. For the fat snaps, zip off the string by grasping the little stem and pulling, then pop the whole thing in your mouth. These are best raw, we think, but you can saute in a stir fry, too.

Green Cabbage – So fresh and crisp. We recommend enjoying this flavorful head in a coleslaw.

Royal Oakleaf Head Lettuce – Such a pretty, robust plant! We planted this in the shade of our potatoes and it’s amazingly bright and green next to the dark, matte potato leaves. We grew these in a cool spot in the hopes that we’d be able to bring you lettuce in the heat, though we didn’t expect the heat so early. Lettuce (and lots of other crops we planned for your first few boxes) “bolts” in the heat and starts to create flower heads and go to seed. We did lose a lot of our head lettuces (and bok choy and broccoli – don’t worry, we grow it in the fall, too!) to the crazy-hot spring, but these troopers have stayed beautiful. Fedco, my favorite seed co-op (order a catalog just to read, if you love veggies), calls this the “Rolls Royce of Oakleaf Lettuces” and a customer wrote in to say “looks like a lettuce with a bad hair day.” Fun and sweet. Some of you also got a pretty pink Butterhead lettuce if your Oakleaf was small.

Arugula – This baby arugula is obviously very popular with the flea beetles! Still tastes great, though. We don’t have a lot this week, so enjoy this as a garnish on pizza or mix into a salad for a nice zippy change.

Fennel – These fennel bulbs are so young and tender I’ve just been eating them raw. Slice over your salad, shave and enjoy as a tiny appetizer tossed with lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Or roast and slice over whatever meat your eating this week. Try the amazing Fennel Bruschetta recipe below. And don’t forget to save the feathery greens to use as an herb over fish or potatoes.

Scallions – These pretty young onions and leeks are meant to be used all the way up the green stalk. Slice and toss in a salad with your fennel! Or add to an omelet or Asian-flavored soup.

Elderberry Flower Heads – A fleeting seasonal treat we hope you’ll make it a tradition to enjoy! Elderberry Flower Fritters are a treat you absolutely must try making in the next day or two. Trust me! The recipe is below, but you can also follow this link for a more in-depth description.

Herb Bouquet: Chives, Lovage, Sage

Living Basil - Bonus! A neighbor market farmer had a surplus of basil this week – he needed it out of his beds so he could plant the next crop. So we’ve got “living basil” for you – you could try to transplant it, but it probably will struggle at this size. Instead, put it in a vase in your house, but not in the fridge. Pick leaves off to use for several weeks.

Rhubarb – We got so many nice recipes from you all the last time we put rhubarb in the box, that we are pleased to bring you more. Try Mindy’s Rhubarb Iced Tea and Sam’s Rhubarb Cream Cheese Bars below.

Wildflower Bouquet: We had so much fun hunting for elderflowers and we found so many neat things growing in the woods, we decided to forage for your most of your bouquet, too. You’ve got baby cattails, a super fragrant hayfield flower, yellow cottage yarrow, black-eyed susans and garden alliums.

Mindy’s Amazing Rhubarb Iced Tea
2 quarts of water
4 stalks of rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
2 tea bags

Chop the rhubarb into 3-inch or smaller chunks. Fill a pot with 2 quarts of water and your rhubarb chunks. Bring the water and rhubarb to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour. Put tea bags in the pot and simmer for 5 more minutes. Strain out the rhubarb and tea bags. Put the liquid tea in a pitcher. Add sugar to the tea and stir until dissolved. Cool and serve over ice.

Sam’s Rhubarb Cream Cheese Bars
3/4 c butter (room temp)
2c flour
3/4 c old fashion oatmeal
3/4 c brown sugar
Spread ½ in 9×13” baking pan; set the rest aside

3 c rhubarb, diced (I would use more next time, maybe 4 or even 5 cups)
Place rhubarb over the crust

8 oz cream cheese, room temp.
½ t cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/4 t nutmeg (I added more nutmeg and some other spices)
1 ½ c white sugar
Mix (Trust me, use an electic mixer, I tried it first with a spoon, and If I hadn’t switched, I’d still be trying to get the lumps out). Pour mixture over rhubarb. Place reserved crust mixture over the rhubarb mixture. Bake 40 min. at 350 degrees. These are great warm (even reheated in the microwave) with cold milk poured over.

Elderflower Fritters
This recipe come from the London Sunday Times.

Oil for frying
1 cup flour
1 cup cold sparkling mineral water or soda water
1 organic egg
Pinch of sea salt
Powdered sugar, to serve

Inspect the elderflowers for insects and other nasties and remove. Heat about a 1 inch depth of oil in a deep frying pan. Beat together the flour, sparkling water, egg and salt in a bowl. Holding by the stem, dip the flowers once in the batter — they should not be thickly coated but thinly veiled, so you get a lacy, crisp result rather than a stodgy cake — dilute the batter with a little more soda water if too thick. Place the flowers batter-side down in the hot oil and fry until golden. Drain on kitchen paper, snip off the stem, flip over onto a plate and dust generously with icing sugar. Eat pronto.

Fennel and Asiago Baguettes
from Farmer John’s Cookbook
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt
pepper
1/3 c olive oil
2 fennel bulbs, tops removed
1 baguette
4 oz. Asiago cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler.

Combine lemon juice, zest, garlic, mustard and a dash of salt and pepper in a food processor. While running, drizzle in olive oil until combined. Preheat oven broiler. Cut fennel bulbs in half and then slice each half as thinly as possible. Combine with 2/3 lemon dressing in a bowl. Slice baguette and brush with dressing. Arrange on baking sheet and broil just until toasted and golden. Arrange fennel mixture over the top and top with shaved cheese.