After reading Tony's newsletter this week, I'm thinking of our experiences with the week's rain. Last night, we watched the storm roll in while stirring risotto on the stove. As the winds picked up, the flames on the stove started to flicker and the mason jar of mint clippings fell from our window sill. A few closed windows later, we resumed cooking and debriefing about our days at work. I paused for a moment to wonder how the new cherry tomato plant was faring in its pot on our back porch.

Last week we were paddling in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness in northern Minnesota. It's backcountry camping, but that doesn't stop us from eating veggie-filled foods.

Dela said it best, this is a delicious time of year. So much beautiful color and so many delicious varieties at our fingertips this week. And, tomatoes! I love tomatoes. Of all the produce I yearn for in the summer, red, juicy tomatoes are the ones I miss most. Maybe it's because there are all those insipid grocery store tomatoes and pale greenish slices on restaurant burgers sitting there, reminding me of what I'm missing. In any case, summer tomatoes are here now and until they're gone, we'll be celebrating them with fresh, perfect BLTs, beautiful panzanella and caprese salads, and French tians.

Over the last two weeks we've been pretty busy, but we've found time for some creative CSA eating along the way. A couple weeks ago I wrote about adapting the radish pizza recipe that I shared to fit other veggies. Upon the arrival of the first summer squash, we did just that, subbing roasted patty pan and zucchini for the radishes and adding a basil garnish to the top.

This Friday Blake and I stepped away from our day jobs to put in a bit of volunteer time at the farm. What started as a drizzly grey day in Madison became a welcome cool day on the farm. After greeting Dela and meeting Elise, Scotch Hill's intern for the next few weeks, we headed to the gardens to begin work for the day.

Heading to bed on Tuesday night, we knew to expect rain, maybe a little thunder overnight, but we weren't at all expecting the storms that rolled through our neighborhood around 1am. Soon after the rains started, lightening flashed outside like a strobe light gone amok and punishing 70 mph winds whipped through the trees surrounding our home. 

A lightly sprained ankle brought a quick end to last weekend's 30 mile backpacking trip, but it quickly became a weekend of appreciating the goodness of strangers and embracing the unplanned. 

The birds are signing outside my window as I type this blog post, drawing my attention away from my computer and outside into the cool afternoon. Soon I'll be packing up the car and heading out for a backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail on the Lake Superior shoreline in northeastern Minnesota. Soon I'll be climbing up the ridgeline surrounded by birch and aspen, then descending into the canyons of the powerful rivers that run into the lake. 

It's another cool Thursday in Madison as I write this week's post. I, for one, am grateful for the brief reprieve from the 90 degree heat. With the rains this week, our farmers are expecting a surge in weed growth, so if you find yourself with nothing to do this weekend or a few hours to spare, consider giving them a hand! Freeing young vegetable crops from the invading weeds is a surprisingly satisfying task.

It's a cool, rainy day here in Madison, but the forecast promises summer temperatures for the weekend. I'm sure the little Iglheart cherry tomato plant we added to our tomato garden last week has appreciated the sunshine and now the gentle rain. This week's parsley will get potted up and join the other herbs on our porch soon.

I can't believe it's week 7 already! Time always seems to escape me during the summer months. Our recent shares have brought with them glimpses of summer's peak bounty: cucumbers, green beans, the first summer squashes.

Spring has arrived! And with it comes some beautiful produce courtesy of our dear friends at Scotch Hill Farm. It is such a joy to see fresh, local produce return to my kitchen after the long winter months. Now it's time to enjoy the delicate, fleeting flavors of spring before they cede to the heat of summer. Although I am a fan of bold flavors, spring provides an opportunity to reset our palates. I love bracing vinaigrettes and pungent sauces, but for spring produce milder ingredients shine.  After the heaviness of winter cooking, I see spring as a time to shorten ingredient lists and use a lighter touch in my cooking. With that idea in mind, I've collected some recipes for the items in our shares thus far.