It’s week 6 of the CSA already, and things are slowly changing toward summer type shares. We still have some wonderful Asian greens (keep that wok on the stove), prime Hakurei turnips and the last of the strawberries making it feel like Spring. Some of the delights of Summer are creeping in, with the first of the carrots and onions bulking up the share.

A few notes on these items. The tall, celery size Asian green you may find in the share this week and next is Komatsuna. Treat it as you would bok choi, enjoying the crunchiness of the stem and tenderness of the leaves.

All of you might not be familiar with the herb choices either. Fennel is the ferny herb that looks like dill, but with a slight licorice taste. We use it a lot when making creamy yogurt salad dressings. Tarragon (thin, narrow leaves) has a similar flavor to fennel and is often used to flavor vinegars or for the classic tarragon chicken. Summer savory is similar to thyme in flavor, with a sweet and savory aroma. Use it with meat or vegetables.

Summer savory

Since farming has kept us extra busy this week, there is no from the farm recipe. But… my teaching colleague Emily Akins has written an epic blog on strawberries called Strawberry Weekend. From picking berries at the farm, to teaching a jams and jellies class at the Bad Seed, to preparing strawberry dumplings, it is a flavorful read.

Finally, our heartfelt thanks go out again to Keith Stubblefield who took up his Friday night to help put Grandpa (the tractor) back together. He is officially running again as millions of blades of grass have found out over the last 3 days. Once this rain stops and the beds dry out our next step is to catch up on our tilling and get the remaining summer crops in the ground, followed by our fall plantings.

Keith adjusting the valves

Cherry tomatoes reaching for the sky (look, they’re already taller than our silo!)

STRAWBERRIES (F/P) Last week of these beauties – 1 pint for everyone
CARROTS(F/P) First week for these. We keep their tops on for looks, but you should cut the tops off them when you get them home for best keeping.
LETTUCE (F) Just enough for the full shares this week. The last of the spring varieties until a few crunchier summer heads make their appearance.
HAKUREI TURNIPS (F) The best turnips ever just keep giving. The second spring planting is kicking in right now – order extra off the bulk list if you can’t get enough of them.
KOHLRABI OR BEETS (F/P) Partial shares get a choice that includes the Hakureis.
GREEN ONIONS (F/P) The onions are still green and growing, but we like to pull a few while they are still green and fresh.
CHOICE OF STIRFRY GREEN: (F/P) Bok Choi, Tat Soi, or Komatsuna. The komatsuna is a crunchier version of the asian green variety. Chop up the stems in a salad and they remind you of celery. Also good in stirfry like it’s cousins, bok and tat.
SUGAR SNAP PEAS (F) The peas are slowly ripening. This week we think there’s only enough for the full shares, but it’s hard to say until we pick them tomorrow.
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Fennel, tarragon or summer savory.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms delivery

NEXT WEEK: More peas, turnips and komatsuna. A return of the kale/chard choice. New will be cabbage and summer squash.

The last days of spring find the farm crew busy juggling the many jobs that the season brings. On Friday we turned our attention to the compost pile.

Emily turns the pile while Matt screens the finished compost

All of the trimmings and discarded vegetable matter from the washing area along with leftover plants from the greenhouse and the farmer’s household kitchen scraps goes into the three-bin system. The first bin takes the fresh stuff, layered with a generous amount of leaves. Once the first bin is full it is forked into the second bin, that action adding the oxygen it needs to get cooking. By the time we fork it into the third bin it is close to done. Given a little time and a final screening it is ready to grow new plants in the fall greenhouse.

Yes, it is time for the fall greenhouse. This is the time of year when all three seasons: spring, summer and fall are calling for our attention. Do we weed the onions today? Or should we tie up the tomatoes? Or plant the fall broccoli? We’ve managed to do all three this week, although there are still alot of onions to weed! We’ll be getting to them with whatever time we have with the membership this week after the harvesting is done.

All sorts of vegetables are maturing now, some in large enough quantities to give to everyone, and others in amounts that require choice. We have been enjoying the Romaine lettuce and endive. Rebecca has become a Caesar salad expert, getting one together in no time flat.

Tonight we searched the web for a wilted frisee (aka endive) recipe. Sauteed Lemon Maple Frisee from epicurious.com is what we chose. It was excellent. Very little bitterness remained in the endive after the cooking and addition of lemon juice and maple syrup. Dried cranberries or other dried fruit would have been a great addition to this dish. A nice way to try out endive during one of the few times a year you will get it.

One other addition to this week’s share choices are several new dried herbs. Too big to fit into tins, these herbs are served up in small bags. We have bay leaf and hot peppers, along with mint in a more “tea size” serving.

Along with the cooking and farming, we have been working to get “Grandpa” tractoring again. We now have a new radiator (thanks Avondale Tractor) installed on his front. Next step is to reattach the head of the engine with its new valves courtesy of Liberty Auto Machine. The only thing missing is a head gasket. Our initial search proved futile. Since then we have found two possible sources, and have bought from both to make sure we satisfy Grandpa’s specific needs.

The Asian greens are all coming in at once, and are prime for harvest. Bok choi and tat soi are great additions to dishes you can preserve, like kim chee.

Bok Choi or tat soi: Large head or bunch: $3.00/head
Strawberries (ther are a few quarts available this week): $5/qt
Fresh herbs (sage, oregano, lavendar flowers, fennel): $3.00/bunch
Dried herbs: $2.50/tin

FORELLENSCHLUSS LETTUCE (F/P) The ‘Troutback’ is a prettily-speckled and melt-in-your-mouth tender romaine.

The strawberries keep coming, as does the lettuce and herbs.

Lettuce: $3.50/hd
Strawberries $5/qt; $3.50 u-pick
Fresh herbs: (mint, fennel, galic chives, oregano) $3.00/bunch
Dried herbs: $2.50/tin

Quite a mix in this week’s share, from broccoli to strawberries. For most all of the ingredients, I’m sure you know what to do. But sometimes, you just have to listen to the share, and come up with something new.

One option is lettuce wraps. A great recipe from our friend Heather Hands is here. We made some for Sunday brunch that was simply leftover stir-fry with some fresh greenery added. Simple.

Another option is this week’s main recipe. I originally wanted to do a garlic scape dressing, and then thought that a few strawberries might be a good addition. I think it was a good idea.

Garlic Scape and Strawberry Dressing (over Endive)
One of the things that made this especially nice was the homemade yogurt. It is also a great dressing on the endive. You can adjust you dressing proportions to suit your taste.

Ingredients
3 garlic scapes
3 strawberries
1 to 1-1/2 cups plain yogurt
1-1/2 tsp sugar or 2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Method
Coarsley chop the garlic scapes and place in a food processor or blender. Chop fine. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
Chop endive coarsley and add dressing to consistency of a light slaw. Let site 5 minutes to 1 hour.

As promised in a recent email, here is a great strawberry jam recipe.

Strawberry Jam
5 lbs strawberries
8 to 10 cups sugar or organic evaporated cane juice

– Clean strawberries, removing leaves and white hulls
– Place berries in 6 to 8 quart pot.
– Crush berries with a potato masher (crush in separate layers)
– Add sugar and cook to boiling, stirring often
– Skim occasionally
– Cook until mixture thickens to desired consistency, about 3 to 4 hours over medium heat
– Fill canning jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your elevation.

Pooped. Not the best word to start a food blog, but one that applies this week. Our overtime work to catch up on planting, along with taking the engine block head and radiator out of our main tractor has been a bit exhausing. We borrowed a boroscope from a local shop and Keith Stubblefield spotted Grandpa’s burnt valve problem. I took out the radiator and found a shop in North KC where they said it was 80% plugged. As we speak they are getting ready back East to rebuild the whole thing. Hoping we don’t have any leftover parts when we put it back together.

But through it all we have eaten well, enjoying a wonderful Parker Farms leg of lamb. A main ingredient in the sauce was mint jelly. I made some in preparation of Bad Seed’s Food Preservation Class series. Fellow member Emily Akins and I are teaching a series of 4 classes on how to do everything from making mint jelly, to pickling a cornichon, to making catsup/ketchup, to fermenting sauerkraut. The details are here, at http://www.badseedfarm.com/.

I have heard from more than one person that the stir fry recipe from last week’s blog is good. Between this week’s and last week’s share you should have all the makings for an incredible fresh stir fry. Make sure you take advantage of the Asian greens, green garlic and turnips.

While we are lettuce heavy this week, it needn’t be a bad thing. The Romaine lettuce is perfect for a Ceaser salad. You can add things like chicken or tofu to make it a meal. I searched on Google, and found videos for “tasty,” “most bitchin,'” “delicious,” “crispy,” “killer,” and “real” salads. Take your pick.

Lettuce: $3.50/head
Green garlic (the last of it til next year): $3.00
Fresh herbs (mint, fennel, garlic chives, cilantro, oregano) $3.00/bunch
Dried herbs $2.50/tin

Lettuce $3.50/head
Green garlic $3.00/bunch
Fresh herbs (mint, fennel, garlic chives,
oregano, lovage) $3.00/bunch
Dried herbs $2.50/tin