STRAWBERRIES

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE

RED LEAF LETTUCE

KALE OR CHARD

SPROUTING BROCCOLI

HINONA TURNIPS  See Tom’s post for more on these guys.

CILANTRO AND DILL

IN TWO WEEKS:  strawberries, lettuce, greens, garlic scapes, herbs.

FARM REPORT:

Spring is flying by.  Worries of frost have been replaced by worries of hail storms.  On Wednesday, severe hail was supposedly on its way.  So we rushed around pulling the covers back over the beds of our tenderest crops.

Luckily no hail came, just strong winds and rain.  By Saturday’s CSA morning we were back in the fields weeding onions.  We also managed to wash more crates.  We like to give the hundreds of crates we use a good scrub and sanitizing every Spring and periodically throughout the season.  It is just a small part of our farm-wide food safety plan that keeps our produce fresh and healthy.  Washing crates isn’t a glamorous job but it is essential.  Thanks to all who pitched in!

It’s a hefty share this week, with an extra item. The peaking of so many veggies at once is a wonderful thing that can keep one busy in a good way. While crawling through the strawberry patch get a little old by the third hour, it gives us the opportunity to experience that brief annual time when the strawberries at their best.

We are growing a new item for our fermentation, a Japanese style salad turnip. It keeps a firm texture when fermented and is a good carrot substitute. The flavor is radish, turnip and sweetness all at the same time. We are only handing out a few, so straight into a salad with some lettuce, strawberries and dressing is a great way to go.

Later it was out to the field, where the kale has been subjected to more natural conditions. This early crop is doing great, well mulched and enjoying the wind and direct sunlight. One great way to enjoy the kale is with some pasta, as in our Kale, Green Onion, Bow Tie Pasta and Goat Cheese recipe from 2014. Use any green onions you may have left from the last share, or use the freshly pulled green garlic.

green garlic

Out in the fallowing fields we have been focusing on weed eradication. This work has caused us to slow down our regular cover cropping plans to work on cultivating the freshly germinated weeds out of the fields every few weeks. Killing weeds when they are in the “thread stage” is a lot easier than when they are full grown.

Thread stage weeds after cultivation

Freshly cultivated fields

SALAD TURNIPS

TAT SOI OR SWISS CHARD

KALE

SALAD MIX

ASPARAGUS

GREEN GARLIC

IN TWO WEEKS:  lettuce, greens, strawberries and herbs.

FARM REPORT:
Last week was our first off-week of our alternating week CSA distribution.  While not a typical sabbatical, getting a week’s break from the harvest/delivery schedule opened up our days for other projects.  With our extra time we managed to complete some repair to the outside of the farm house and get all of the cabbages mulched before the rains came.

We are lucky that only 2.5 inches of rain fell the last few days.  We know other farmers with flooded fields just a few hours south of us.  The Spring plantings are all in and growing nicely.  We hope with a little warm and dry weather we should be able to start planting the summer crops of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers by later this week.

SALAD TURNIPS  I like crops that are tasty top to bottom.

LETTUCE  butterhead and red leaf lettuce from the high tunnel.

CHOICE:  SWISS CHARD OR BOK CHOY

CHOICE:  SPINACH OR SPROUTING BROCCOLI

GREEN ONIONS the over-wintered patch is looking nice.

CHIVES X2  common chives and garlic chives

IN TWO WEEKS:  lettuce, kale, tat soi, green garlic, herbs.

FARM REPORT:

What a nice week:  tomorrow, Wednesday, starts the CSA season followed by Earth Day at the weekend.  As farmers we fear the consequences of inaction on climate change.  What is needed is a higher rate of adoption of sustainable methods that are known to work.  Our goal is to show that food can be produced in a healthy way and we have already shown that it can be done while sequestering carbon.

Earlier this month we sped-up some carbon loss at the annual controlled burn of the native grasses on the Graff family farmland that surrounds our fields.   Burning encourages the switch grass and blue stem and knocks back cool season weeds.  Native prairies act as carbon sinks with their deep roots and high organic matter.

The home field is filling up with onions, potatoes, cabbage, greens and herbs.  The strawberries are flowering and the garlic is growing.  The far field is on sabbatical this season with only chicken grazing and cover cropping to occupy itself.

The laying hens are in peak production.  All egg share members are getting a double dose of eggs this week to help us catch up.  These ladies will slow down once Summer hits, so its best to enjoy this egg-tabulous season while it lasts.

Welcome to the first week of the 2017 CSA season. Looking forward to sharing another year of farming with you. We are glad you have returned as we re-shape the CSA for a year.

One thing that isn’t changing is that we will put out these blog posts on Tuesday night to help you better enjoy the share. If you are looking for a recipe suggestion you can start a search right here on our blog, as we have posted recipes for every share since 2008.

If you want to cook fresh, you can chop up just about everything in the share, dress it, toss it, and eat it. For a spicy dressing try a sesame oil based Asian dressing, or a creamy one using some Fair Share Farm eggs.

If you want to cook the veggies check out our stir fry primer and Spring Stir Fry recipe. That includes the gailan or sprouting broccoli. It is one of our favorite vegetables and we plan to grow more this spring.

Ferment Share:
This week’s ferment share is what we call a sauerkraut slaw. Made with our best storage vegetables, it is great as a condiment, or as a side slaw. Put it in a soup, on top of a fresh salad, on a grilled cheese sandwich, or to accompany some fish.

We are happy to be starting our ferment sales. We may have a lag as we wait for this year’s first harvests. We hope it will be a year filled with variety for you.

tree frog in the marjoram transplant

Well this is it for 2016. Thanks once again for the support that helps us be able to keep doing the work we are doing. As always the season was filled with good food, fun work crews, unpredictable weather, and life.

This closing chapter includes a wonderful variety of produce and seasonings. Today we harvested the marjoram in anticipation of low temperatures that will finally do it in. This Mediterranean herb may just be my favorite. Nothing is more aromatic among our dried herbs.

Beautiful marjoram growing robustly in mid-November

With this week’s share, and any vegetables you may have left or stored up from previous shares, your options are many right now. A few suggestions include: tagine sweet potatoes, leek and tomato pasta, angel hair pasta with leeks, and curried hakurei turnips. Remember you can always search the blog. With 9 years of posts you should be able to find something good.

Taking time to walk the grasslands of the farm

LETTUCE  salad mix from the fields

BEETS

BULB FENNEL

SWEET POTATOES  Bonitas with yellow flesh

BOK CHOY OR TAT SOI

HAKUREI TURNIPS

KALE

GARLIC

HERB CHOICE  Cilantro, dill, or cutting celery

NEXT WEEK:  sweet potatoes, garlic, greens, herbs,

FARM REPORT:
I am beginning to write this on Monday night before the election.  That’s a day earlier than usual due to the fact that I may not be able to tear myself away from the election results tomorrow.    I hope for a brighter day after a year of intolerance and division.

Besides voting, the big task tomorrow is preparing for frost.  Looks like we are going to have one Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  I happy to see cold weather in the forecast after what has been a very strange fall season.  Perhaps the crisp mornings will remind us that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away.  We encourage everyone to go local and organic for your holiday meals.  For those in the extended season, you get your last share the week before Thanksgiving.  For all of our other members, feel free to order off of our email bulk list.  And for everything else, consider shopping the  KC Food Circle Holiday Pop-up   .  Fair Share Farm will be in the house with ferments, sweet potatoes, garlic and greens.  Click the link to see a list of all the awesome vendors.  Hope to see you there!

Not your average blog night. They’ve started calling states and my attention is being drawn in another direction. A big night in American history.

We still have to eat though, and the fields have been quite generous lately. We have been making quite a few stir-fries, and have been using the lingering flavors of past meals to make our sauce. As an example, we cooked up some ribs recently in our dutch oven, and kept the pan drippings for future use. Namely, to add some umami to a pan of sautéed vegetables.

Volunteer bok choi

We are getting the kitchen warmed up, taking what time we have as we wrap up the season to build up an inventory of ferments. It has been a pleasure to have such a functional space to prepare our products.

An early morning view into the kitchen