This week the fare of the share is familiar items—carrots, chard, summer squash, broccoli, cukes, and a true harbinger of Summer—basil. The busy week and energy zapping heat has precluded us from creating a new dish this week, so we refer you to some past treats from the blog and newsletter.

Broccoli and Pasta…with Baby Meatballs
Classic Pesto
Crudites
Cucumber and Summer Squash Marinated Salad
Ranch Dressing Kohlrabi Salad
Summer Squash with Lemon, Butter and Cream Sauce

Enjoy !

Bulk Order List (week of June 22)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Oregano, mint – $1.75/bunch
Basil – $2.oo/bunch

We are happy that the last several weeks we have had the maximum number of items in your share. We hope to keep the shares robust this year as we head into the summer, and plan for the fall.

Kohlrabi
Making its first appearance of the year, kohlrabi is no longer the unknown vegetable it used to be. For you first timers, try the kohlrabi pan au gratin, or eat it fresh. To clean it simply pull off the leaves and peel off the tough outer skin. The cleaned bulb can be cut into half-rounds and eaten with your favorite dressing or dip.

Thai Basil
A lead in to next week, when you will get Italian basil, the Thai basil is known for its purplish tint and licorice flavor. It is one of the must have ingredients for spring rolls. Check out The CSA Chef’s blog for the spring roll how-to. It also is an excellent garnish for cooked Asian greens.

Recipe-Mashed Hakurei Turnips with Garlic Scapes
This is a recipe is one of many that seem to appear to us in the field, after a day of picking turnips and pulling garlic scapes. Our intern Kara tried it last week, and tonight we tried our hand at it. Here’s our version.

Ingredients
1 large bunch hakurei turnips
3 to 4 garlic scapes
pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup water

Cut the tops off the turnips, save the greens. Cut the turnips into a medium dice (see photo), chop the garlic scapes, and coarsley chop 1/3 to 1/2 cups of the turnips greens

Saute the scapes and greens in the olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the turnips, mix. Add the water. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tender.

Add butter and mash with a potato masher. Serve hot.

Bulk Order List (week of June 15)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Sugar snap peas – $2.00/half pound
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Hakurei turnips – $3.00/bunch
Lettuce – $2.50/head
Green onions – $2.50/bunch
Oregano, mint – $1.75/bunch

In the Share: Week 5
SPRING CARROTS (F/P) The first of the season, young and tender.
STRAWBERRIES (F/P) 1 quart for everyone
TATSOI (F) Makes a darn good stir fry with some of those peas, radishes or turnips.
PEAS (F/P) Remember, you can eat the pod. Check Tom ‘s blog out for a tangy spring pea salad recipe.
LETTUCE (F/P) 2 heads for the full shares and a choice with chard for the partials.
SWISS CHARD (F/P) My favorite cooking green. Tart and earthy.
RADISHES OR HAKUREI TURNIPS (P) Love those Hakurei’s – no need to cook them, just ‘eat em like an apple’ as Bad Seed Farm says.
BROCCOLI OR SUMMER SQUASH (F) The first real offerings from the struggling broccoli patch. The first of the sunny summer squash planting.
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Oregano or parsley or a dried herb.

Also this week: Bread of Life bakery delivery

Next week: More peas, lettuces, broccoli and summer squash. Beets perhaps and kohlrabi.

Girl Scouts in the Pea Patch 6/3

Weather: We sure felt lucky to miss the hail and tornadoes to our north. Today’s .7 inches of rain fell gently and did not pool. While we always wish for more dry-weather days for getting the fieldwork done, the rain has been very pleasant. We were a bit caught off guard by a 30% chance in the forecast that ended up as an all-day affair. The cool mornings and evenings keep suprising us too. Where did I put my warm hat???

The Fields: During the rain we prepared the upper barn for the onion and garlic curing that will begin in a few weeks time. The old tobacco barn is a perfect setup for allium curing. Once cleared of a season’s worth of detritus. We found a brown recluse, collected items for Stacey’s yard sale, vacuumed up the winter dust and debris, and organized the various piles of salvaged lumber, old windows and doors. We left the back corner that is piled high with assorted farm junk. That will have to wait until the next rainy day. When it hasn’t been thundering and lightning overhead, we lay out irrigation tape, weed and mulch. The newly sprouted okra was thinned to a foot between plants.

Links: This past Sunday afternoon, the FSF CSA Core Group met under a shade tree surrounded by lush green fields of Clay County. We mulled over the mid season survey, reviewed the Spring Signup, had a crop report from the farmers and discussed fundraising projects for this season. As always, Tom and I enjoyed meeting with a group of such dedicated and creative folks. We appreciate their work to organize the community around which our community farm depends. Look for notices regarding surveys, fundraising for the Veggie Voucher program, and the Harvest dinner in the future. If you haven’t already done so, mark Oct 24^th on your calendar for the best potluck in town.

Bulk List
This week we are starting the 2009 bulk list — a price list for extra produce items that you can buy. For many items we have planted enough produce for a CSA of 125 members (we have 105 this year). This extra will hopefully be available throughout the year.

For now, scroll to the bottom of the blog for this week’s offerings. If you wish to purchase any items, please email me your order. Orders are filled on a first come, first serve basis and are subject to availability. Your order will be delivered to your distribution with a payment ticket. You can leave your money with the distribution coordinator.

Swiss Chard
As Rebecca said, our favorite green. There are many recipes for it out there, a favorite of the CSA being Stuffed Chard.

Herbs-Oregano and Italian Parsley
Unfamiliar to many as a fresh herb, oregano is a great addition to many cooked vegetarian dishes. It adds a savoriness to a dish. It is especially good with greens like chard. Italian parsley is good as a flavoring for soups and stock when cooked. It’s sweetness and fresh flavor are best appreciated when added as a garnish, or cooked at the very end of a dish.

Snap Peas
We have to say that this year is a good year for peas. Despite sitting in the cold, wet ground ground for several weeks before germinating, they did not rot and produced as good a stand as we’ve had in awhile. They are great fresh, just string them and eat them.

An alternative is the recipe below, created by our intern Lori Watley. It is very simple, fresh and crunchy. Highly recommended.

Julienne Snap Peas
1/2 lb snap peas
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (sunflower and pumpkin are good too)

Put the sesame seeds in a small pot or skillet over high heat. After they warm up, shake the seeds around to prevent them from burning and toast them to a golden brown. When you can start smelling them you are close

String the peas (see photo) and then cut lenghtwise into thin strips. Mix with seeds and remaining ingredients.

It is good right away, or after a couple hours of marinating. We also added some julienned hakurei turnips.

Bulk Order List (week of June 8)
Kale – $3.00/bunch
Swiss chard – $3.00 per bunch
Sugar snap peas – $2.00/half pound
Spring carrots – $2.50/bunch
Hakurei turnips – $3.00/bunch
Lettuce – $2.50/head
Green onions – $2.50/bunch

Garlic Scapes
One of the delicacies of the season, garlic scapes are a treat and a necessity. We need to pull these flower buds from the hardneck garlic so that their energy goes into making a head of garlic underground, instead of a flower top. In the process we get a tender garlic green with a beautiful white base, that shades to light green, and is topped by a long, pointy bud.

Its uses are many. Our annual treat is to make a pesto with it. It is also great chopped and added fresh to salads, as a garnish for soups, or as an addition to homemade salad dressing.

Fresh Strawberries with Homemade Yogurt
As homesteaders, we are always looking for ways to become more self-reliant, especially when it comes to our food. One way to do this is to become more and more proficient with food biology ie, fermentation. From bread making to wine making to kombucha, you can tap microorganisms to do your bidding.

One thing we’de been talking about doing for awhile is making yogurt. Lori heard us and bought us some yogurt starter the other day, and we are hooked. Now we can turn our local Shatto milk into a tangy and tart fresh yogurt. The yogurt is the perfect accompaniment to fresh strawberries (with a little mint for garnish). Our next project is labneh (yogurt cheese).

To make the yogurt take 1 quart of milk (you can use an old yogurt container to measure it into), and heat it in a saucepan to 180º F. Let it cool to about 110º F. Pour a small amount back into the yogurt container, add the starter culture, stir, and then add the remaining milk.

Stir again, cover, and place in your oven with the light on for 4 to 6 hours, or until yogurt is set and you can see liquid (whey) separating around the edges. Refrigerate to stop the fermentation and to cool.

Place 1 cup yogurt in a bowl, add 1 cup strawberries and top with chopped mint. You can also add granola, almond slices or other garnish.

In the Share: Week 3
STRAWBERRIES (F/P) About half a pint for everyone to begin the hopefully month-long harvest.
LETTUCE (F/P) Two for the full shares, one for the partials
ASPARAGUS (F) Just a few more weeks worth of the tender shoots before we let them make their ferns for the summer. Partial shares will get them next week.
RED RUSSIAN KALE (F/P) The only kale we grow in the springtime – hearty and so healthy. Full shares get both greens, partials get a choice of the two
VITAMIN GREEN (F/P) In the ‘Asian green’ category. Great fresh or stir fried. Check out Tom’s blog for our new favorite super-simple greens recipe.
GREEN GARLIC or RADISHES (F/P) The radishes that survived the sogginess are less than perfect, a bit pithy and spicy, but still very edible. This will be the last of the green garlic.
GREEN ONIONS (F/P)
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Cilantro or dill or a dried herb

Also this week: Bread of Life delivery

Next week: More luscious strawberries, lettuces. A new planting of radishes should be ready as well as arugula and perhaps finally Hakurei turnips. The peas should debut as should the garlic scapes.

Weather: The rain today was just what the crops needed. It was of a gentle, soaking variety that we seldom see in our parts. Now with a little sunshine the crops should start reaching for the sky.

The Fields: We are feeling pretty good about how the fields are at this point. All the tomatoes are mulched and have either their cages or the first string of their trellising. Over the years we’ve built up our capacity to mechanically cultivate (i.e. weed with the tractors) to the point where now we usually only need to weed right around the plants. Last week the membership helped with just such a task and cleaned up 1200 feet of the onions. A few more beds of onions, beets and carrots are still to be done before all the crops are tidy for the summer.

Links: This week we have a featured writer, Lori Watley, one of our two 2009 farm apprentices. Lori has been living and working on the farm since mid-April. She is always game for whatever farm task is at hand with a quick wit that keeps us smiling. Here she is in her own words:

I am a foodie and average human being who wants to help educate my community on living healthfully and conscientiously. Since this includes knowing where your food comes from, I figured it would be pretty neat-o to work on a local farm and see first hand just what is entailed in the growing of sustainable and organic food.

In addition to working at the farm this season, I will be instructing four classes on home canning and preserving as part the Urban Homesteading series offered by Bad Seed Farm. (http://www.badseedfarm.com/) The class is a hands-on introduction to home canning for folks who have an interest in learning and keeping alive the practical and artful way of food preservation.

I am looking forward to meeting all of you (yes you!!) as I enjoy my time at the farm this summer. (it’s the low down, BTW, that I am always up for a game of Yahtzee or Scrabble. Or Pictionary. Or…games! Yes, I do indeed like a good game. ahem.) Oh, and if you happen to see a white and orange cat slinking about, feel free to say hello to my fellow companion and partner in crime, a one Mr. Romeo T-Bone.

Here’s to a great season!
Lori Watley

Today I left the farm to help the Parker’s out with a chicken house improvement project. Tom recently broke his collarbone and has a brace on his shoulder until it heals (couple months.) If you are interested in helping out, give them a call at 816-470-3276. With the help of Tom’s friend and professional welder Shan, we built a new sled for their chicken coop out of heavy duty pipe. We then, with the help of leverage and an ATV, took off the old rotted wood sled, raised the coop, pulled the new sled under it, dropped it and welded it in place. It was a full day’s work.

While I don’t have any photos of it, I do have some taken before my batteries ran out.

Heading out to move the sheep.

The sheep

The chicken coop

Bok Choi
New to some, familiar to others, bok choi is good many ways. You can pick the leaves off the stems and use them salads. Using Asian type or sesame oil based dressings are particularly good with it. The stems are what give crunchiness to a good stir fry. It’s also good as a snack with peanut butter.

Mint
We are finding that cool wet weather is an ideal condition for mint. In the field and out home garden, it is growing well, and as aromatic as ever. We need to clear cut it now, to harvest what we have, and to create room for new growth.

It is forgotten how popular mint was before the birth of artificial flavors. As an herb, it has true medicinal properties. Before the turn of the century there were peppermint oil factories in the towns around Rochester, New York where I used to live. Dr. Chases Receipts, or Information for Everybody from 1886 notes in their section Food for the Sick, “47. Mint Teas, From the dried or green leaves crushed, with a little sugar, are agreeable to the taste, and soothing to a nauseous stomach, and to the irritated bowels of children.” With firsthand knowledge we can say that it works better than anything else to sooth an upset stomach.

Great Recipes from Member Bloggers
There are two great blogs out there sharing wonderful recipes to try with your share, complete with step by step instruction. Check out Emily Akins blog for Lemon Orzo with Roasted Asparagus.

The second one is by our friend and chef Heather Hands. She was at the farm last week and shared her lettuce wrap recipe. It was wonderful. Her blog is The CSA Chef.