Week 4 Box

Week 4

In the Box:
Green Topped Red Beets
Green Topped Gold Beets
Bunch of young Rainbow Kale
Bunch of Baby Collard / Dino Kale mix
Spinach
Butterhead, Red Leaf &
Romaine Lettuces
French Breakfast & Easter Egg Radishes
Napa Cabbage*
Sugar Snap Peas*
Mulberries*
Dill
Cilantro
Parsley
Sage

*New items this week

Napa Cabbage : The flavor of Napa cabbage is somewhat milder and a bit sweeter than that of regular green cabbage. It is delicious raw or cooked, and can be substituted for regular cabbage in most recipes.
Shredded or finely sliced, Napa cabbage is wonderful in Asian-style cole slaw. Try adding some shredded Napa cabbage to a mixed green salad for a nice crunch and enhanced nutritional value.

For an easy cold salad, whisk together 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml) salad oil, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Pour over 4 cups (280 g) shredded Napa cabbage, 1/2 cup (60 g) shredded carrots, and 1/4 cup (25 g) sliced green onions and toss to coat. Garnish with toasted slivered almonds.

In our household, we love Napa cabbage in any sort of stir fry. Often, we shred the cabbage and add it to tofu, chicken, or scrambled eggs and all of our favorite veggies. We wok fry all items and add a small amount of coconut milk, soy sauce, and spicy sauce. We put the wok fried items over a bed of rice noodles and garnish with cilantro and lime.

Sugar Snap Peas: Here is an easy recipe taken from Food Networks Website that also allows you to use your parsley. We understand that this week there are less than enough peas needed for this recipe (especially if you are sharing a share), but these will become abundant in the next few deliveries.
• 1 1/2 pounds sugar snap peas
• Coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
Directions
Place peas in pot and add 1 inch water. Add a little salt, a teaspoon of sugar and a couple of pats of butter to the pot. Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until peas are tender but still bright green, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chopped parsley. Transfer peas to a serving dish.

Mulberries: We have quite a few trees that provide the kids hours of mulberry eating joy in spring, and we wanted to share a taste with you. They are great by themselves, on yogurt sprinkled with granola, or over ice cream. Enjoy within a day or two, as their shelf life is very limited.

Happy Eating!

Soon to come…new potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, summer squash (3 different varieties!)

and what is to come...

I am happy to report that our gardens are holding up well to the 4.5+ inches of rain we have gathered in the last 3 days. Some peppers were underwater but bave since soaked in mother natures goodness.

Some pea pods have formed, so we are hoping to impress you with the delicious first spring taste of local peas next week. We also have little cauliflower heads on all of the cauli plants and the napa cabbage are forming their beautiful heads. Green bean plants are bursting with flowers and our specialty hoophouse cukes are growing teeny tiny cucumbers. So, hopefully this and more next weeks.

Also we will give you some new pics next time.
Love and good eating!

Week 3 Delivery and Update!

Week 3
In the Box:

Garlic Scapes
Green Topped Red & Gold Beets
Bunch of young Kale, Chard & Collards
Dill
Cilantro
Sage
Spinach
Butterhead, Red Leaf &
Romaine Lettuces
French Breakfast Radishes
Broccoli Rabe
Pac Choi
Free-Range Eggs

Garlic Scapes are the stalk and future flower of the garlic plant. Despite that the garlic is almost solely grown from a vegetative clone (pant a clove) it still goes through the process of trying to reproduce sexually. The scape is cut off before it matures into a flower and while the tissues or still more tender than fibrous. The scape can be lightly cooked like asparagus: grilled, steamed or sautéed. They can be chopped and sprinkled over salads and dishes like green onions.
But they also produce a delectable pesto:
10-12 garlic scapes
½ cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup almonds or pine nuts
½ cup olive oil
sea salt to taste
Chop the scapes to lengths that will easily go into a food processor. Blend the scapes, parmesan and nuts briefly. Drizzle the olive oil in while blending until you reach a nice creamy consistency. Add salt to taste.
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Serve this as a dip for a nice, crusty bread or mix with pasta. You can also mix with red or white wine or balsamic vinegar to make a salad dressing, about one part vinegar to two parts pesto.

A mixed bunch of hearty greens can be used fresh or cooked. Still young and tender, they can be eaten as salad greens. To cook, steam or sauté very lightly and drizzle with butter, tamari or a dressing.

Eggs for Sale
The eggs you receive this week will be the last for the season that come as part of the share. Here after, we are offering eggs by the dozen for $2.00. This will be on a first emailed, first served basis. We will bill you approximately three times throughout the season.

Thank You, KMF

Week 2

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Mid Spring

today, molly and I spied the first flower on the pea vines. they hide there buds well, so the little flower is often a true, albeit long-awaited surprise. on the mulberry trees, the teeny fruits are starting to swell. Everything is waiting for a little rain to blow this spring wide-open. We've had a bit of a dry spell lately. the plants get nursed along during these spells, but really pop when mother nature showers down with the real stuff.
In the high tunnel, cauli and broccoli are starting to make tiny buds and tomatoes are putting forth flowers. Everything else is growing like mad; the spinach is very nearly too mad in there and is trying its damnedest to make seeds.

Week 1 - Happy Memorial Day!

Well good folks, the season begins, for you at least. I think back to that first week in March; the snow was actually beginning to melt. I was out on our southern edge soveling pieces of the high tunnel frame out from under some heavy-ass snow, bragging to Molly that I would have it up and running by month's end. Then in the basement, starting things under lights in our makeshift grow room. Last year we learned a lot; in different ways we've already learned more this year.

The bulk of what you recieve this week is from that high tunnel. Additionally we are pleased to provide you with somethngfrom last years harvest. Look below the list for descriptions and intructions for care and storage.

This Week's Food:

D'Avignon and Easter Egg Radishes
Savoy Spinach
Red Leaf Lettuce
Butterhead Lettuce
Pac Choi (baby Bok Choi)
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Cilantro
Sage
Italian Parsley (Flat Leaf)
Overwintered Onions
Free-Range Eggs

Early CSA boxes are always light in weight. This year we are very excited to provide some storage and overwintered items that add some substance to the first delivery.
Yukon Gold Potatoes
These are storage potatoes harvested in early October. We had a bumper crop last season and pit all exteras into root cellar storage. Now, storage spuds in May have two options: Plant 'em or Eat 'em. For our 2010 season we've planted new seed potatoes, and these are for eating.
Caring for these spuds is easy. Keep them in a dark place! If you cannot think of one, at least use a paper bag to give them extra dim-ness and put them in a pantry, drawer, or under the sink. they can go in the fridge, but don't need to. These spuds will likely start to make eyes before they are all eaten. These days, conventional supermarket spuds are sprayed with an anti-srpout inhibitor, but unsprayed spuds know its that time of year. They are perfectly edible as long as you trim of the eyes. Some people won't be afraid of the sprouting, after-all I remember picking the eyes off of potatoes as a kid. However, younger folks might not be used to it.
We've been eating these all winter; askmolly I love 'em and swear they're the best. Molly is fine with it but just not at every meal.
Over Wintered Onions
Do not waste the tops of the Onion the Bulb is obviously great for all onion related needs. The greens and flower are edible too. the pungent leave are great additions to salads or sprinkled raw atop almost any dish. These too are a nice addition to the otherwise light seasonal fare.
D'Avingnon Radish
A beautiful French-breakfast radish perfect or salads and just raw eating. Be brave and research a cooked recipe. Diced, these can be very lightly sauted with butter and herbs (sage/parsley) and a splash of wine vinegar.
Salads
Need I say it; the spinach is my favorite. Lettuce and spinach both fill the void that your body has expirenced through the winter due to the lack of greens. Not the heartiest, but nutritious and flavorful. Any attemps to wow yourself or others with a hearty and terrific sallad will be buttressed when adding any of the herbs, coursely chopped, and and some hard boiled eggs.
Free-Range Eggs
In a sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Carefull lower eggs in once water starts to roll. I time mine from this moment for 8 minutes. Then, run under cool water. This leaves them cooked through, but with yolks that are still supple (not crumbly).
NOTE: these eggs are less than a week old; they often do not peel from the shell as easily when so fresh. This is because the egg has not dehydrated much yet. Oddly, I find that cracking the shell lightly, without breaking the inner membrane, allows the egg to separte from the shell more easily.
Also great for breakfast.

Growing ons in May, 2010

Things are coming up and away at the farm. The garlic is over a foot high and many early spring plants are peeking out of the soil. The greenhouse is full of greens, which the pictures will show.
Last night we had to move our seedlings of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant from the hoop house to the basement, as the temps in SW MN dipped dangerously close to freezing. We have not had the snow that has been talked about, but it was cold enough to need the furnace turned on after a two month off age.
At our other plot we have 5 rows of potatoes in with plans for 15 more, to accommodate taters nearly every week this summer. We have a few rows of early corn in as well, and the summer squash and melon is started indoors and will be moved outside once we are safely past the cold snap.
We are still hoping to begin deliveries late May / early June...The first will be heavy on greens, but if we get the head start we are hoping for we may have more deliveries for our members than the 17 we have promised.
We experienced very heavy winds last week, gusts of over 50 MPH and the greenhouse survived with no injury. This puts our minds at ease a bit, as with any new adventure it doesn't come without a bit of worry. Hope you are all enjoying spring!