It is already July. Hard to believe the season is so far along. We have fields packed with garlic, onions, carrots, and potatoes that must be harvested before the month is out. We are hoping to pull and dig everything at its peak and look forward to clearing out the fields.

A favorite of mine, the Tropea onion is at its peak right now. We are happy to be able to get everyone a good bunch of this unique onion. We used it last night as the main topping of our pizza. We sliced the onion thin, sauted it in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes, and then turned down the heat to slowly carmelize them before using on the pizza. A hefty topping of Goatsbeard chive cheese, as well as some anchovies, olives and olive oil made for a delicious white pizza.

Our dinner treat tonight was sauted zucchini noodles. Member Heather Gibbons posted her incredibly simple recipe and a photo of the finished product on Facebook. It has been shared to the Fair Share Farm CSA closed group page. Join if you have not already so you can stay up-to-date on CSA happenings.

Our chickens have been happy this year, as they see greener pastures every several weeks. Part of the answer to the question of “what do they eat” is shown in the video below. The seed heads are from oats we seeded as a spring cover crop. They go right for them.

For most fruits that we pick during summer harvest we can see them at a distance. Not so for the cucumber though, as it spends its day hiding under the shade of a cuke leaf canopy. Today’s harvest was an optical challenge, and a stimulating way to start the day.

Cucumbers on the grow

The ingredients for this week’s recipe came together on their own. I was out to make some pasta sauce and was looking for some veggies to combine with a jar of tomato sauce. I needed to look no further than the fridge.

Zucchini Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
2 medium onions, sliced fine
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper or one eggplant, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 large zucchini cut into chunks
3 garlic scapes, chopped (optional)
1 @ 32 oz jar of tomato sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large leaves of basil, chopped

Method

• Saute the onions, garlic and pepper in the olive oil over high heat for 3 minutes. Turn down heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes.
• Add the zucchini and garlic scapes and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add the tomato sauce, bring to a boil. Turn heat on simmer and let cook for 20 minutes or until desires thickness.
• Serve over pasta, rice, bread, or grain of choice.
• Garnish with chopped basil.

Meanwhile, in the fields the soils are getting a feeding of oats and peas. We caught a 1 day window on Sunday when the fields were finally dry enough to spade. We prepped many a bed and turned under our mowed down cover crops. Looks like a healthy meal.

View while mowing down the oats and peas

Summer is in our sights right now. Its first fruits are being harvested this week as zucchini makes the scene. These transitional times are always a unique overlap of two seasons’ harvests. A time when you can snack on spring peas while you are grilling up some summer squash.

Believe it or not we do have members that actually ask for kohlrabi. And right now they should be pretty happy, as the second planting has produced a bulb with the blush of a cherub. We suggest that your peel and slice them as the main ingredient of your kohlrabi stir fried with garlic and egg dinner. This recipe was suggested on the Fair Share Farm CSA group page. It is open to members so join if you have not already.



Walla Wallas in the field sizing up.

I am often asked what my favorite vegetable is. While I do not think that I could name any one item, I do believe that I would not want to live in a world without onions. It seems that every savory dish I cook fundamentally relies on them. This week marks what we hope is a long supply of these alliums. We start out sweet with the young Walla Wallas, will later harvest the Tropeas and other reds, and finally move on to the dense and strong storage type.

Saturated describes the farm right now, as even our dry ground cannot absorb over a half foot of water as quickly as it has come. We are hoping that gravity carries the excess away and warm weather returns soon.

We feel the broccoli harvest this spring has worked out well. We plant 3 different varieties at two different times. This staggered and diverse planting is our insurance plan and this year it worked, with a steady stream of this delicious brassica.

Tonight we took some advice from a blog last fall and enjoyed broccoli stem. I prefer to think of them as broccoli hearts right now, as they are incredibly tender, and need little more than salt and pepper to accent the flavor. A real treat.

June 5th lettuce harvest

Or you could get caught up on some of your lettuce with a tasty braised lettuce suggested by member Emily Akins. Her blog post from May 2012 calls the same ingredients as this week’s shares. Instead of shelled peas you can simply string your sugar snap or snow peas and chop them into big chunks.

The field is producing at a high performance right now and it is difficult to keep up with. Our need to care for the growing plants is balanced with the need to harvest. It is a grand list, with broccoli, strawberries, garlic scapes and peas leading the way. We are happy to be able to provide such a diverse, local taste of spring to the CSA.

A must this time of year is to make that unique dressing for your salads and dips-garlic scape and strawberry dressing. It is fascinating to see how their harvests coincide every year…short though they both are, and discover how well their flavors meld. It’s one of the reasons we do what we do.

There are lots of other wonderful dishes for this time of year, including kohlrabi radish salsa,
lettuce heart salad with creamy garlic dressing,  and curried hakurei turnips. Everything is good raw too, so you can’t go wrong right now.

The fields are ready for another feeding too. We will soon be turning under the field pea/oats cover crop we planted this spring. We got some good stands of this cool weather mix and the blocks look great as the peas flower and the oats head up. We look forward to their vigor being transferred to our fall crops.

Things are happening quickly this week. The strawberries have kicked into gear, the potatoes and tomatoes look strong again, and the greenhouse is emptying fast. It is a significant annual benchmark when the summer planting is done, and we move into the tending and harvesting phase.

One crop that has just peaked is the frisee endive. The slender leaves of this salad green are mild and tender. The center of the heads are especially fine, blanched a beautiful white and light green. The summer heat ruins them, so enjoy them now.

Frisee in the field

We recommend having your butterhead lettuce and frisee over several meals. The first time you make a salad peel and use the outer leaves, leaving the hearts. Your next salad use the tender centers. Tough to duplicate.

A staple dish the last couple weeks have been greens and pasta. Mark Bittman got us using this dish after we made his Spaghetti and Broccoli Raab recipe. Below is a recipe for a recent slant on the dish where we used kale. You can use about any combination of greens, spring alliums, herbs, cheese and pasta.

Kale, Green Onions, Bow Tie Pasta and Goat Cheese

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of green onions
bow tie pasta, cooked
goat cheese
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

Method
Chop the kale leaves and stems separately. Chop the bottom half of the green onions. In a sauté pan heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and cook the kale stems and green onion bottoms for 3 minutes on high heat.

Add kale tops and salt, stir and cook for 2 minutes more. Turn down heat to medium and cook 10 minutes, adding liquid if it burns. Push vegetables to one side of the pan. Fill the other half of the pan with pasta, toss to warm. Serve topped with goat cheese and green onion tops.

As a farmer you have the type of nightmares that revolve around waking up in the morning and finding all of your crops dead. While we certainly did not have that, we woke up to some scary stuff on the 16th and the 17th. As Rebecca filled you in, we are sticking to our game plan and moving forward.

The shares this week are literally heavy with lettuce. We have honed in on some spectacular varieties over the years, and we savor their appearance in the shares. Enjoy this peak season.

Our favorite thing is to make a good dressing, assemble some veggie, carb and protein items, and mix them all together. The salad below of beets and lettuce is topped with Goatsbeard cheese and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Salad

Tonight we took advantage  of one of our other partner vendors, Parker Farms for a filling salad. To make the meatballs mix one egg and 2 tbsp. of ground herbs (a mix of mint, rosemary, thyme, fennel seed, oregano, or other savory herbs). Fry them in 2 tbsp. olive oil and drain on paper.

Fill your salad bowl with rice and lettuce. Top with the meatballs, broiled asparagus, pumpkin seeds, and the dressing of your choice. Tough to beat.

All in all it has been a crazy few days. Here are a few more scenes.

Rebecca hilling the potatoes before the frost

Newly planted tomatoes in a 30 mph wind

Welcome, and welcome back to everyone. We are happy to be starting the 2014 season and beginning the harvest. We have been busy seeding, planting, irrigating, cultivating, row covering and mulching this season’s crops, and now is the time to eat. We are looking forward to a good season.

The bad news this spring is that the leeks did not fare the winter well and we do not have enough for everyone. The good news is that we finally had some of our rhubarb plants produce and we are having it as a choice. Someday we plan on having enough of both for everyone.

The leeks did not survive the winter nights, as 27 were in the single digits and 9 were subzero. A tough end of the season after a hot and dry summer. They were double-whammied.

The rhubarb has also faced more than one scorching summer, not ideal for a plant that thrives in Anchorage. But this year it came up well in the cool spring and we have a chance to enjoy it. One easy way to do that is to make a rhubarb crisp. This is a simple and somewhat old-fashioned dish that can’t be beat when you have fresh rhubarb. It is also a great way to get acquainted with its taste.

Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

The spring high tunnel season is wrapping up, just as it feels as if summer is here. A cool down is coming, but the last few days have brought on the feelings of a strong sun and hot day. Time to change gear.

The asparagus puts out more the warmer it gets, and right now you can practically watch them grow. It won’t be here forever, so have that favorite recipe a second or third time. Or try something completely new.

Last night the Asian greens were the perfect ingredients for a curry. Fresh spring vegetables, coconut milk, and curry powder were about all we needed for a restaurant quality dish.

Curried Spring Vegetable Stir Fry

2 medium or one large bok choi, stems and leaf chopped separate
3 hakurei turnips, cut into half-rounds
turnip greens, chopped
2 tbsp. ginger root, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can organic coconut milk
2 tbsp or more curry powder
2 tbsp sesame oil
cilantro for garnish

Clean, chop and prepare all of the ingredients. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute. Add the bok choi stems and turnips, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bok choi and turnip tops and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry powder, stir and then add the coconut milk. Stir and cook for 2 to 5 minutes until desired tenderness. Serve over rice with a garnish of cilantro.

Eggs for Sale
Do not forget, there are eggs for sale and you can order them by emailing us. At $5/dozen they are a bargain. We have begun to really see that, as the costs associated with managing a flock of laying hens has become more apparent.

The organic feed bill for the year is estimated at over $2,200. Add in about 2 hours per day of labor to feed them in the morning, collect, clean, grade and store the eggs, keep track of their well being, move them every month or so, and close them up at night and you are looking at another $5,500-$6,000 per year.

Our hens do not lay enough eggs for this math to work. They do poop though and that is counted in their favor. We are hoping that we can utilize them so that our vegetable income goes up. We are still learning and have them here for more reasons than one.

Morning parade

Feeding and Caring for a High Tunnel
This is our second spring where we have offered an extended season. I hope that you don’t mind that it continues to be a learning experience. It has been interesting growing fresh produce in a man-made, semi-controlled environment. One big thing we have learned though, is that the soil has not being fed enough yet.

The soil in the high tunnel started out not much differently than a parking area. We had to cut and fill to create a somewhat raised and level bed that drained well. The growing area was driven and walked on creating a compact surface of topsoil and subsoil.

Two plantings of cover crops, compost, organic fertilizer and minerals are not yet enough to satisfy the high tunnel’s appetite. Providing enough nutrients for both fall and spring crops is a challenge that time will help solve. We will continue to build up the soil and create a healthy environment for growing food.

Asparagus Carbonara
As pasta eaters we look for more ways than tomato sauce to enjoy it. Carbonara, a traditional combo of pasta, egg, cheese and bacon, is a perfect vehicle for vegetables too. Asparagus and gai lan are two examples of this.

Ingredients
1 lb of aparagus
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt

1 lb pasta, cooked
3 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
cracked pepper

Method
Trim any tough bottoms off the asparagus. Toss whole spears in a bowl with the olive oil, vinegar and salt. Broil until tender and browned, 10-15 minutes. When cool enough, chop into one inch pieces.

Mix the eggs, cheese and cracked pepper in a bowl. Toss with pasta while hot, add asparagus. Serve with garnish of garlic chives.

Gai Lan
One apparent success for the high tunnel has been the gai lan. Also known as Chinese broccoli, the idea for the vegetable came from Jan and Gary Glauberman. We tried growing it numerous times over the past 3 or 4 years, but have never seen it thrive.

This year, however, we have some beautiful plants. We are trialing this planting, so we will make sure everyone gets some to try. We like it when the members like something we can grow well. And it is a delicious vegetable.