CSA May 30 2012

CSA box May 30 includes: 1 bunch of dill, 1 head of napa cabbage, 1 head of romaine lettuce, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 bunch of garlic scapes, 2 lbs combined of cauliflower and broccoli.  The regular boxes also contain: 1/2 lb of spinach, 1 bunch of beets, red and yellow onions, as well as having 1 head of buttercrunch lettuce instead of romaine.

My current favorite salad is the napa cabbage chopped thinly with fresh dill and the typical slaw dressing of mayonnaise, mustard, cider vinegar and salt and pepper.  It is also good with a scallion chopped up and addded.

The purple cauliflower loses its purple when cooked and taste just like the white.  I most enjoy cauliflower divided into small florets and steamed with some butter on it.  It is also a fine addition to a risotto and great roasted or mashed.  It was exciting to harvest enough cauliflower to be able to put it in the CSA boxes!

Purple and white cauliflower and broccoli

Napa Cabbage

As I type this, a soft rain is falling and its really nice to hear and to think about the vegetables soaking it all up.  It had actually gotten pretty dry here and we 've been irrigating so its great to have rain.  The first variety of garlic is ready to harvest and cure.  We hope to get it out of the field this week.  This is about 3 weeks earlier than last year.  The first summer squash will be harvested tomorrow morning and hopefully by next week there will be enough for the boxes.  Cucumbers should be close behind.

Next week's boxes will have beets, broccoli again, maybe peas as well as more lettuce and arugula.

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.

1st CSA Pick-up of the 2012!

PURPLE KOHLRABI

 The first box of 2012!  Today we harvested in fog, sun, and rain and got muddy through and through!  All the boxes contain kohlrabi, scallions, collard greens, garlic scapes, cippollini onions, 1 head of red leaf lettuce, 1 head of "bambi" lettuce, and strawberries.  The regular (large) shares also contain 3/4 lb of de cicco broccoli, 1 bunch multi--color beets, and 2 fennel bulbs.
   The kohlrabi has a cabbage-like flavor and is a good addition to any green salad and tuna or chicken salad.  Its also good in soup or added to mashed potatoes.  It does need to be peeled and the greens can be cooked too. Garlic scapes are what would be the flower of the garlic.  We remove them so that the garlic grows a larger bulb.  They have a milder flavor than garlic bulbs and can be used in anything you would put garlic in.   The large onions in your box are a mild, sweet onion and are good raw or used in cooking.  The "bambi" lettuce is a very dense mini-head lettuce that has a romaine flavor.  It is crisp and delicious.  We hope to have strawberries for a couple more weeks and hopefully in more abundance so that you get more. 

GARLIC SCAPES

A RECIPE FOR COLLARD GREENS

1 bunch collards; washed, chopped, and steamed for 5 minutes

1 onions, thinly sliced

olive oil

tamari or soy sauce

cider vinegar

1. saute the onion in olive oil over med. heat for a few minutes

2.  add the steamed collard greens to the skillet and combine well with onions

3.  add 1 tsp of tamari and 1 to 2 tsp cider vinegar

4.  mix well and let saute all together for a minute or 2

BAMBI LETTUCE

ADDIEBELLE WITH TULIPS

CSA Closed for 2012!

We have sold out of farm shares for the season.  If you are still looking First Blossom Farm has shares available. 

CSA Shares Available

We have been filling up fast, but still have shares available!  The greenhouse is in full swing, and the brassicas have already moved out to harden off.  Carrots and beets are sown, and potatoes are in the ground.  Beginning to harvest over-wintered spinach.  Please see below for CSA details.

2012 CSA Sign Up Begins!

Feel free to call or email with any and all questions! 828-545-2362

CSA

Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, is a way to buy your weekly produce directly from the farm.  You pre-purchase a share of  the season’s harvest.  Your early financial commitment allows us to buy the inputs we need to grow the crops.  Then, each week mid-May thru mid-October, you’ll get a box containing a wide variety of  freshly picked, organic produce. 

Pick Up:
Weekly boxes can be picked up at the Montford Market (at the Chamber of Commerce) on Wednesday  afternoons 2-6pm or at the farm on Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Share Types:

Full Season Share:  22 weeks, May thru Oct.

Height of the Season Share:  8 weeks, mid– July thru mid-Sept.

Extended Fall Share:  4 weeks, late Oct thru Thanksgiving

Flower Share: a bouquet for each of the 22 weeks

Egg Share:  1 dz eggs from our free-range chickens each week

Full Season Share:

There are 2 share sizes; “regular” share intended to feed a small family (2-4 people depending on your eating habits).  SEE SAMPLE BOXES BELOW  The “small” share is great for individuals and couples.

Share Price:

Down payment due upon registration.  If you pay in full by March 15, receive a $20 discount for regular shares and $15 discount for small shares.

Regular Share:  $525

Small Share: $325

Flower Share: $125

Egg Share: $82

Season Length:

Pick-ups begin May 16  and continue weekly thru October 10 (22 weeks).  Because you pay up front and essentially “buy in bulk”, you enjoy a considerable discount compared to buying our produce at market.

Peak Season Share:

This share is great if you want to just try the CSA out or if you’re planning to be gone early summer.  Also less of a financial commitment and boxes will contain more of the vegetables you’re “used” too.  This share goes mid-July thru mid-Sept. (8 weeks).

Share Price:

Regular: $250

Small: $175

Extended Fall Share:

This share is 4 additional boxes from late Oct until Thanksgiving.  Enjoy a wide variety of fall crops like carrots, turnips, beets, leeks, kale, collards, potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, garlic., celeriac.   Most of the crops in these boxes will store well into the holiday season.

Share Price:

Only 1 size: $120

Gaining Ground Farm grows  a multitude of vegetables including:  onions, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, cauliflower, escarole, celery, strawberries, scallions, herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, parsley), tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, tomatillos, peppers, leeks, potatoes, edamame, green beans, wax beans, kohlrabi, fennel, turnips, radishes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, shallots.

Sample Boxes from 2011– Regular Share (small shares receive smaller amounts)

Early June:

1 bunch kale, 1 bunch scallions ( 8 to 10 indiv.), 2 bulbs green garlic, 1 lb. spinach, 1 head escarole, 4  yellow crookneck squash, 1 bunch fresh dill leaves, 1 lb. broccoli, 1 bunch beets, 3 zucchini squash

Mid-July:

1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch beets, 3 sm—med red onions, 2 heads garlic, 3 lbs. slicing tomatoes (about 9), 1 bunch baby leeks, 8 small cucumbers, 4 yellow crookneck squash, 1 melon, 1 lb. new potatoes, 1 pint cherry tomatoes

Mid-Sept.:

1 red onion, 1 yellow onion, 1 lb. green beans, 2 lb. Nicola potatoes, 2 pints edamame, 1 lb. fresh black eye peas, 2 red bell peppers, 4 heads garlic, 1 lb. okra, 1 bunch white turnips

Feel free to call or email with any and all questions! 828-545-2362

To secure your share for the season email us, then send a check to:

sluderbranch@yahoo.com

Gaining Ground Farm
298 Sluder Branch Rd
Leicester, NC 28748

Aug 24 CSA

Opalka Tomato  (a Polish heirloom paste tomato)

Late summer is setting in with these cooler nights and foggy mornings. We can tell the days are getting shorter because things are growing more slowly...the okra doesn't need to be harvested everyday anymore.

We are planning an "open farm" day for September 17 from 2pm to 6pm.  We'll prepare lots of food and be available to show folks around the farm and hang out and talk.  I'd love to know if you think you can make it or if we should choose another date.  Please let us know at market or by email.

this week's box has:  2 lbs of heirloom paste tomatoes, 1/2 lb jimmy nardellos sweet italian frying peppers, 1 lb. onions, 2 garlic, 2 italian eggplant, 1 1/2 lb cucumbers, 1 lb. green tomatoes.

Full shares get in addition: 1 melon, 2 more lbs. tomatoes, 1 1/2 lbs. more cucumbers.

The tomatoes this week are by far my favorites of the year.  They are great for eating raw, make delicious salsa, and the best sauce.  Their flavor is incredible and the texture is meaty.  The green tomatoes are small but thought they'd make good fried green tomatoes or good for pickling.

A delicious salad I had last week at "The Junction" restaurant was:  green tomatoes cut into chunks and battered and fried sprinkled over cold black eyed peas and a sliced red tomato.  The dressing was balsamic vinegar, black pepper, olive oil, parsley. 

The peppers this week are incredibly sweet and best enjoyed sauteed with onions and eaten with ANYTHING!    

Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper