Tuesday, May 31, 2011

2011 CSA Week 1

So the CSA begins this week!  Welcome everyone!  We've had a great spring so far.  The weather up until now has been great.  Now the heat is on and we're irrigating several hours a day.  Once we get everything set up for each field, irrigating is fairly simple.  There is a filter that has to be cleaned every couple hours and gate valves are opened and closed according to where we want the water to go. 
  For those of you who have done the CSA before, this will be repetetive and for the rest, informative.  The wax box you recieve your veggies in each week needs to be returned empty the following week when you come to pick up.  It needs to be kept out of direct, hot sun as the wax will melt and render the box fragile.  We try to use as few plastic bags as possible.  Most things requiring a bag will be in muslin bags we made.  These need to be returned each week as well.  We will wash them before using them again.
   The first week's box contains:  1 head of napa cabbage, 1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 bunch of scallions, green garlic, 1 bunch of mix color beets, 1 bulb of fennel, 1 bunch of chard.  The full shares get additionally 1 pint of strawberries, 1/2 lb spinach, and a head of cauliflower.
   Green garlic is simply uncured garlic.  At this stage, you can use it any place you would use cured garlic AND you don't need to peel each clove.  It is milder in flavor than cured garlic.  It needs to be stored in the refrigerator and will last a couple weeks.
   Napa cabbage is great for stir-frying and makes a good slaw.  The beet greens can be cooked like any other green.  You can steam them and freeze for adding to a soup in the winter.
Napa Cabbage
Asian Cabbage and Fennel Slaw

1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
1 bulb fennel, julienned
1 grated carrot
3 scallions, diced (green tops too!)
fresh mint and cilantro, minced
2 T rice vinegar
2 T peanut oil
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Beets
Green Garlic Spinach Chard Fennel Napa Cabbage and Beets

Sunday, May 15, 2011

CSA Shareholder Meeting May 22

Come on out to the farm at 5 on the 22nd.  We will be discussing the upcoming season, our decision to move with the Wednesday market to the Chamber of Commerce, and listening to comments from the shareholders.  We look forward to meeting everyone and receiving your imput.