Dear Farm Members,
This week we begin the process of harvesting our spring onions from the field and they make their way into all the vegetable boxes this week. These beauties are fresh from the field and there’s something about them that is truly special and beautiful to behold.
Onions have an incredibly long growing season (we start seed for our spring onions in September) and require quite a bit more weeding and upkeep in the field than most crops. On top of that, we‘re obligated to harvest and cure them during peak season, when our workload is already quite heavy. But year after year, we continue to grow them because we absolutely adore these stinky, delicious gems. Reliable and steadfast, they add an incredible depth of flavor to every dish, and never fail to remind us of how beautifully complex even the humblest of vegetables can be. Enjoy this ‘Ode to the Onion’, an annual Mountain Bounty newsletter tradition!
Ode To the Onion
By Pablo Neruda
Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.
You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone
and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.
Enjoy your share this week,
Grace
THIS WEEK'S CSA CONTENTS
REGULAR BOX:
Napa CabbageTatsoiDillBroccoliCucumber or ZucchiniLettuceCarrotsFresh OnionsCauliflowerRed Russian KaleSMALL BOX:Napa CabbageTatsoiDillCucumber or ZucchiniLettuceFresh OnionsBasilSUMMER FRUIT SHARES (provided by Frog Hollow Farm)
Please double check the delivery list to confirm you are signed up for this share. You can sign up for shares starting next week here:https://mountainbounty.csaware.com/summer-fruit-share-wnc-C23344
Please do not take a Summer Fruit Share if you are not signed up for one.
Sierra Rich or June Honey peaches
Candy Pearl or Ruby Diamond Nectarines
Goshen Gold Apricots ( This brightly colored late season fruit hangs well on the tree, allowing sugars maximum time for development. Brixing higher than any other apricot variety on the farm (24), it is our new favorite in flavor. Last week for apricots!)Santa Rosa Plums (Red-skinned with a purple bloom, the Santa Rosa's amber flesh gets flushed with red as it ripens. This fruit is plump perfection with a bit of tartness in the skin that balances out the sweet and juicy flesh. This will be the last week for these plums.)
SUMMER FLOWER SHARES are available now and you can join here. These shares will start in early July.
RECIPES
Tatsoi Greens with garlic, sprouts and sesame