CSA Pickup May 23



PLANTING TOMATOES with the WATERWHEEL TRANSPLANTER
into black bio-degradeable mulch made from corn

Please return your empty wax box, berry pint container, and cloth bags when you come for this weeks' box!
CSA box week of May 23
The box contains:  1 bunch curly kale, 1 bunch swiss chard, 1 bunch arugula, 1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 head of oak leaf lettuce, 1 green kohlrabi, 1 bunch of red scallions, 1 yellow onion, 1 pint strawberries.  The regular shares also get:  1 head of napa cabbage, 1/2 lb. spinach, 1/2 lb cauliflower, and 1 bunch of green garlic.

The arugula still has its roots on to keep it fresh longer.  You'll want to cut them off before eating it.  The yellow onion is a somewhat hot onion.  The green garlic can be cut like onions and used up the stalk until it becomes hard to cut.  It has a milder flavor than cured garlic.  The napa cabbage is an excellent addition to stir-fries and makes a great slaw.
We hope you are in the mood to eat greens this week!  It seems to be what we have.  All the rain has made them grow leaps and bounds!

Chard with Sweet-n-Sour Sauce
1 cup stock or water
1 bunch of chard, stems removed, and leaves torn into small pieces
4 scallions, thinly sliced
salt and black pepper
2 T vinegar
1 T brown sugar
1 T finely chopped or grated ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Bring stock or water to a boil  in a large skillet.  Add chard and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 1 min.
2. Drain chard, saving the cooking liquid.  Transfer the chard to indiv. plates and sprinkle with scallions.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3.  Pour reserved cooking liquid back into skillet and bring to a boil over high heat.  Boil it until reduced to 1/3 cup.  Add the vinegar and brown sugar.  Stir in the ginger and red pepper.  Boil for 30 seconds more and remove from heat.  Spoon the mixture over the chard and eat immediately.

This recipe is from Farmer John's Cookbook
It takes about 20 minutes to prepare.

We transplanted all the tomatoes this week which means you should be getting the first ones in your box in mid-late July.  We are using a bio-degradeable mulch made from corn as a weed barrier and to keep soil from splashing up on the plants in the rain.  Our hope is to lessen disease pressure.  We planted several varieties of cherry tomatoes, an early hybrid red tomato called "New Girl" and several heirloom slicing and sauce tomatoes.  We also planted peppers, melons, and eggplant this week.

The boxes next week should have butterhead lettuce, spinach, beets, maybe broccoli.

If you need/ want more info than you're getting via this blog, please email us and we'll try to give you what you're looking for.