In the Share: Week 1
LETTUCE (F/P) Two big heads for the partial shares, three for the full shares. **Please wash well – there are aphids
ASPARAGUS (F) The full shares get slightly less than a half-pound this week. Next week it will go to the partial shares. It’ll be in the shares alternating between the two for another few weeks.
LEEKS (F/P) We have enough from our over-wintered patch for this week only
TATSOI (F/P) Bring on the Asian spinach!
GREEN GARLIC (F/P) So young and tender…
SORREL or FLOWERING CHIVES (F): tangy and tasty or pretty and edible
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Mint, lovage or tarragon or a dried herb. Partial shares will have a choice of the flowering chives too.
Also this week: Bread of Life delivery
Welcome all to the sixth CSA season at Fair Share Farm. We are truly looking forward to sharing many a harvest with our community of eaters. We anticipate seeing many familiar faces this year and meeting many new folks as well
Reminders: Since this is the first week of the season, we ask that you take extra care when you pick up your share. If you are a veteran CSA member, give yourself time to get back in the habit of reading all my scribbled labels. The distribution teams will be on hand to walk everybody through the process. We are forever grateful to these folks who take our place at the table so that we can stay on the farm and get done what needs to be done.
Either Tom or I will be at the distribution sites for this week only, just to give you all a big welcome and lend a hand if necessary.
Weather: Last year was one of our toughest due to soggy, cool weather and our region’s heavy soils, but so far this year we have missed the deluge that has hit many of our neighbors. The water has only stood in the fields one day this season. We thank our lucky stars every day that the sun shines upon us.
The Fields: Tom, Kara, Lori and I (rebecca) are keeping on schedule for the most part. The spring crops have been planted as well 1,000 row feet of tomatoes. The potatoes are up and looking good – a happy sight after last year’s sad rotten mush. In many areas we are piling on straw and hay and the plants seem to be responding. To be done this week: plant more leeks, all of the peppers, seed the okra, mulch and trellis the tomatoes. Here’s the lovage with a nice layer of mulch around it:
Links: Some of you may already be hooked on Emily Akins’ blog ‘Everything begins with an E’. She and her hubby, Sergio, did some very informative and fun videos last season on freezing greens. This season she plans to blog about cooking up her share from us each week. We’ve added a link to her on the right-hand side.
Next week: More big spring lettuces, the slow-growing cilantro and dill should be ready, more green garlic or perhaps green onions, the first baby radishes, some arugula perhaps, bok choy. Parker Farms will begin distributing their meat and egg shares.
… and don’t forget to scroll down to Tom’s posting on how to cook your veggies each week.
Until next harvest, farmer rebecca
Looking forward to picking up our share!
I love what you guys are doing!!!! Is it to late to get involved for this year? My email address is Mindy.ward@live.com
Thank you!
Great updates Tom and Rebecca. Sounds like things are moving along. I’m impressed by your expansion projects — bees, sheep and grafting, on top of the usual stuff. Good work!!!
Mindy,
You can get on the 2010 waiting list by going to our website and submitting a request from our contact page. In mid-Jan next year we will open up the list to new members.
Thanks for visiting the site.
Tom
What to do with sorrel:
make some Shav.
Shav
Shav: also spelled Tshav or Tschav.
Shav can be described as a cream of sorrel soup.
In my family it was served cold-in a glass and mixed with sour cream.
It is an eastern european / russian / jewish concoction- probably passed on from the peasant countryside to the ” shtetl” and now mostly a distant memory to me as a food of my forefathers.
My Grandpa Charlie- on my mother’s side- and my Dad, they would both drink shav on hot summer days.
You cook the sorrel into a leafy, yet watery broth, seasoned with light herbs and refrigerate.
Pour some into a glass- add some sour cream, stir it up and drink it.
Back when I was a child in NYC, they sold bottles of Shav at our neighborhood supermarkets. It was on the shelf, right next to the Borscht. They both came in quart bottles, marked ” refrigerate after opening”.
I used to love the beets left in the bottom of my glass after drinking a class of borscht with sour cream.
A glass of Shav would leave the sorrel leaves at the bottom of the glass as well.
That is why when you had a glass of borscht or shav, after stirring in the sour cream, you would keep the spoon. You would use the spoon to eat the beets or sorrel left in your glass after drinking the liquid.
Just like Borscht, Shav can be elevated into a meal- cooked with additional vegetables to add more flavor, served in bowls, garnished with boiled potato and then topped with sour cream.
My wife, Jan, makes a fabulous sorrel custard- much more civilized- rich and sumptuous- than shav.
Maybe I can coax her to post the recipe.