June 25 or 28 CSA

CSA boxes lined up for filling

Small boxes this week:  1 bunch of carrots, 2 sweet "Ailsa Craig"onions, 2lbs new potatoes, 2 lbs zucchini, 1 1/2 lbs cucumbers, 1 almost full pint of blueberries, 2 tomatoes, 1 bunch dill.
Regular shares:  1 bunch of carrots, 3 sweet onions, 1 head of romaine, 1 bunch of parsley, 3 lbs of new potatoes, 3bs zucchini, 1 1/2 lbs cucumbers, 1 almost full pint blueberries, 4 tomatoes, 1 bunch of dill, 1 head of garlic.

The offer still stands for pickling cucumbers!  We will pick again friday morning around 9:30.  It looks like they'll still be going strong next week as well.  Come and pick and you can have as many as you want.  Or you can get 1/2 bushel for half price.  (1/2 bushel makes about 15 quarts of pickles).
The early tomatoes are starting to come in!  We are in a race with a racoon who has a taste for the reddest, most perfectly ripe tomatoes.  When I went to pick them yesterday, a little taste-tester had gone along and eaten the best part out of all the best fruits.  Kind of funny and cute but also not so funny or cute.  Anyway, if all goes well there will be a symphony of tomatoes coming your way over the next 5 to 6 weeks. 
For breakfast yesterday morning I had zucchini hash browns.
I sauteed some onion in olive oil and added shredded zucchini right on top of the onion and let it cook about 5 minutes, flipped it and cooked about 5 more minutes then salt and peppered, fried 2 eggs in the same skillet and put it on a plate with some diced tomatoes and cucumber slices.  Twas a lovely breakfast!
We make quick pickles a lot at this time of year:  slice cucumbers into rounds.  Place in a glass bowl and cover with some lemon juice, ume plum vinegar (or salt), apple cider vinegar, and fresh dill and cover and refrigerate overnight (or longer).

We will be harvesting the garlic crop this coming Monday and putting it in the barn to "cure".  The melon patch is starting to make little round, fuzzy, green canteloupes that will ripen in 2 to 3 weeks.  So exciting for the melon lovers!  Lettuce is all done for awhile.  We've started another round of it that you'll see in your boxes mid August.  Beans and okra are sprouting.... you'll see them in 4 weeks or so.  Peppers are sizing up.

Harvesting carrots Tuesday morning

ODE TO BEETS

I know many folks who love beets anyway they are presented.  I know some folks who deeply dislike beets mostly related to a childhood experience.  I urge you to give them another try.  Yes, they are very good for you! 

Check this link below for an abundance of information related to nutrition.  I was going to list a lot of the content in my entry but I think that checking it all out for yourself will be more useful.
nutritional content and facts about beets

I will now give you some recipes:

Spicy Beet Bloody Marys
makes 4 cocktails
preheat oven to 400
wrap 3 halved red beets (any color will do) in foil and roast until tender, 45 minutes
remove from oven, open foil, and let cool
in a blender or food processor, blend beets, 3 cups tomato juice, 2 T pepperocini juice, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 T freshly ground black pepper, 2 tsp worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp prepared horseradish, and 1/2 tsp garlic until smooth
fill 4 glasses with ice and 1 1/2 ounces of vodka (or not) and fill to the top with the beet mixture and garnish with celery

Beet Slaw
(I do not peel the beets but if you want them peeled, do that first)
shred 4 large beets using a hand grater or food processor
cut 1 torpedo onion into thin rounds; use the green part of the onion too
slice 3 cucumbers into rounds
chop 1/4 cup fresh dill or parsley
combine all the above in a bowl
make a dressing:
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T dijon mustard
dash of salt and black pepper
pour over vegetables and let sit up to an hour before serving

Roasted Beets and Potatoes
heat oven to 450
cut the beets and potatoes into wedges
toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary or thyme
spread out in single layer on a baking sheet
let cook, stirring once or twice for about 30 minutes ( until a fork easily goes in)
transfer roasted veggies to a bowl and crumble blue cheese over them and eat hot or cold.

Cyril taste testing gold and chiogga beets

June 18th or 21

Small boxes this week:  1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 head of green bibb lettuce, 1 bunch of beets and carrots, 1 bunch of red torpedo onions, 1 pint of snow peas, 1 1/2 lbs of cucumbers, 2 lbs of zephyr and patty pan squash. 
Regular shares have all the above.  You have 1 bunch each of carrots and beets, 3 lbs of cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 2 lbs of new potatoes, 2 tomatoes and a sprig of basil!

If anyone is interested in making pickles, we are in the cucumbers for the next 2 weeks.  You can come and pick your own with us on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday morning and help us pick and you can have them or you can buy them for $22 a 1/2 bushel box (this is half the price we charge non-CSA customers).  Email if you are interested.

For dinner this week:
Beet, cucumber, and onion slaw
Grilled or roasted squash with goat cheese either hot or with romaine lettuce
New potatoes and snow pea hash
Cucumber, bibb lettuce, and butter sandwiches

 

 

your beets and carrots in the wash room

 

 

 

June 11 or 14

Freshly made beds for sweet potatoes with garlic and onions in the distance

An overview from up in the cow pasture of pepper rows and eggplant under the white fabric

All boxes this week contain:  1 pint of sugar snap peas, 3 small heads of deer tongue lettuce, 1 fennel bulb, 1 kohlrabi, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of garlic scapes, 1 bunch of beets, a handful of baby squash and zucchini.  The regular shares also have:  1 lb of small cucumbers, 1 head of treviso radicchio, 1 bunch of carrots!

Try oven roasting the kohlrabi and beets together with salt, pepper, and olive oil and after they've cooled, add them to a salad with the deer tongue lettuce.  A good dressing for this salad is:  1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard.  The roasted beets and kohlrabi are also good eaten warm with cannellini beans, scallions and parsley.

Glamor shot of beets in early morning light.

June 4th or 7th

"Red Maria" potatoes hilled and blooming

Your first box of June contains:  1 bunch of multicolor beets, 1 pint of snow peas, 2 small bok choy, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, 1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 bunch of garlic scapes.  "Regular" boxes also contain:  1 pound of baby squash, 2 sprigs of basil, 1 bunch of lacinato kale, 1 fennel, 1 pint of strawberries.

Garlic scapes are the unruly green vegetable in your box.  It is the flower stalk of our garlic and we remove it so the plant will develop a bigger bulb.  You can eat it!  The flavor is mildly garlic and you can use a scape anywhere you would use garlic in cooking.  They also make a nice pesto.
The bok choy is a bit holey as you probably noticed last week.  We are not the only ones who like to eat it.  The holes are from a tiny insect called the flea beetle.  We choose not to spray anything to deter them because the only things out there to use in organic agriculture would harm any beneficial insects and honey bees that happen to be in the field at the same time. 

What's for dinner this week:

• Stir-fry with snow peas and bok choy.  Try using a different grain besides rice like barley or quinoa or wheat berries.
• Pesto made with garlic scapes and flat leaf parsley for a mild and delicious pizza topping, spread, or pasta sauce.
• Roasted beets with beet greens for a salad.
• Caesar salad.

The potato field in early morning light looking good!

May 28

It is hard for me to believe, when I look at a calender, that it is almost June but when I see what we are working on it is definitely getting on toward summer.  All the tomatoes are trellised with their first row of string holding them up.  The peppers and eggplant are in the ground.  The onions are growing.  The strawberries are slowing down.  Beds are prepared for sweet potatoes and winter squash and melons.  The first summer squash planting is starting to bloom which means squash will quickly follow.  The blueberries are starting to blush.  The potatoes are blooming which means little potatoes are forming under the ground.  Aaron is hilling them as I type this so that the potatoes have plenty of room to grow without encountering direct sunlight (which turns them green).
Small shares this week:  1 head of "bambi" lettuce, 1 bunch of kale, 1 bunch of green garlic, 1 green kohlrabi, 1 bok choi, 2 pints of strawberries.
Regular shares this week:  1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 bunch of kale, 1 large bunch of green garlic, 1 green kohlrabi, 2 bok choi, 3 pints of berries, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 bunch of baby beets.

several kale salad ideas
The pictures alone on this link are lovely.

To prepare Kohlrabi cut off the leaves and peel it.  You can eat it raw by slicing it very thin and drizzling with olive oil and salt.  It is crunchy and taste something like cabbage and broccoli.  It can also be added to soup, roasted with other root vegetables, steamed and eaten plain or added to other veggies like carrots and potatoes.  The leaves are pretty tough but can be added to soup and cooked awhile to soften.
Several of you have gotten tomato and pepper plants.  If anyone is interested who hasn't gotten them yet, we will have them for about 1 more week.  Email me what you'd like and I'll get it to your pick-up location!

MAY 21 CSA

This weeks' small shares contain:  2 pints of strawberries, 1 head of curly endive, 1 bunch of either kale or collards, 1 bunch of mint and parsley, 1 bunch of green garlic, 1 small fennel bulb.
Regular shares contain:  3 pints of strawberries, 1 head of curly endive, 1 bunch of kale or collards, 1 bunch of mint and parsley, 1 large bunch of green garlic, 2 small fennel bulbs, 1 purple kohlrabi, 1 head romaine lettuce.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING BACK YOUR EMPTY BOX, CLOTH BAGS, AND PINT CONTAINERS!  WE WILL RE-USE THEM!

Springtime Tabouli
first, cook 2 cups brown rice in 3 cups of water with a dash of salt
while it is cooking, prepare this dressing:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup ume plum vinegar (or use red wine vinegar and salt to taste)
1/4 cup lemon juice
black pepper to taste
when the rice is done and still warm, pour the dressing over and stir thoroughly and let cool
while the rice is cooling, prepare the vegetables:
1 fennel bulb sliced thinly ( i use up to where the leaves begin)
2 or 3 green onions (or a shallot, red onion, or several chives)
3 carrots cut into thin coins
all the mint and parsley in your box
some asparagus or peas if you have them
add the vegetables to the rice once it has cooled and toss well;  add more dressing if you think it needs it
serve cold

Endive is a bitter green.  It can be eaten raw in salad by itself or with lettuce if you like the bitterness.  It becomes less bitter when cooked.  We like it this way:

cut the head of endive into small pieces and wash.
cut 1 green garlic and saute in oil or butter
add the endive and salt and pepper
when the endive is wilted but still bright green, add 2 cans of cannellini beans and stir til warm
serve right away with some crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese

The green garlic can be used in cooking anywhere that you would used cloves of garlic.  It is milder than cured garlic.  You cut it just like a scallion and use up to where the leaves begin.  (the leaves can be used in soup or stock)

Kohlrabi is in the cabbage family.  It needs to be peeled.  It's a good crunchy addition to salad and is good boiled with potatoes and mashed together.

We have planted all the tomatoes we plan to and have lots of extras.  If anyone would like 1 or 2 or 50, we'd love to give them to you.  Please let me know if you're interested!  We have pink and yellow brandywine, amish paste, juliet, black cherry, sweet 100, cherokee purple.  Today and tomorrow we are planting the peppers and eggplant!  We will have extra pepper plants too if anyone wants some.  Hope you have a great week!   Sorry there is no picture this week...I find myself technologically impaired.