Tag Archives: Cilantro

Summer CSA Week 12

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Thanks to everyone who spent their Saturday with us. We loved getting to meet so many of you, and having the opportunity to show all of you this beautiful space we love!

Last week was BUSY here on the farm! We spent the beginning of the week getting the rest of the first two plantings of carrots out of the field and washed. We now have about 7,200 pounds of carrots in our root cellar waiting to be put in your weekly share boxes, and eventually hitting grocery store shelves and restaurant plates.

Now that the first two plantings of carrots are out of the field and washed, we were able to turn our attention to other crops. We spent time pulling all of the onions, and laying them on the plastic mulch to begun the drying process. We leave the onions here for a week or two to let the sun and wind naturally start drying them out. After the onions have begun to dry and form their protective outer shells, we cut off the stem, move them to drying racks in the greenhouse and place them in front of fans to fully dry for winter storage. We usually dry the garlic and have plenty of time to put all the garlic away and clean up the greenhouse before it’s time for the onions to dry. However, if you haven’t caught it yet, this year has been a wild and unpredictable year on the farm. We had to pull the onions a little early this year because some of them had started to bolt. Bolting is when a plant prematurely puts on flowers.

Onions are considered a biennial plant. This means in the first year, we plant the onions from seed and they will create the onion bulbs we all know and love. If we left them in the ground over winter, the next summer the onions would put on a flower and eventually that flower would create seeds (the same ones we plant to create this cycle). Every once in a while, the changes in the environment can confuse the onion into thinking it’s in its second year of growing and needs to put on a flower. Some of these environmental factors are too hot, too cold, too much water, or too little water. My research led me to learn that specifically when temps dip below 45°, the plant thinks it has entered “winter”, then when it warms back up, the plant thinks it has entered summer in year two leading it to put on flowers. Our best guess is that those few overnights in the end of June/early July that got down to low 40s, tricked the onions into believing they were in winter.

When the onions start to bolt, it’s important to get them out of the ground sooner rather than later because the big, thick stems, has the possibility to prevent the onions from properly drying. We rely on the dried onions in the winter for our Winter CSA boxes, and for selling to local restaurants. This means this year we will be drying garlic and onions at the same time. The greenhouse space isn’t big enough to handle both at once (hence why we usually dry one then the other), so we’ve had to get creative clearing out some other spaces to house the onions for a while.

We also picked the first tomatoes from our caterpillar tunnel. We’ve learned a lot from having this new tunnel, but the taste of the tomatoes is the most important part. Beautiful looking plants don’t mean as much to us if the fruit it produces doesn’t taste good. We are doing a taste test of the tomatoes this week. We plan to compare the regular greenhouse tomatoes to the caterpillar tunnel tomatoes to see if one tastes better than the other, or if they are equally delicious. We plan to give you all a thorough update next week on both the tunnel itself and the taste of the tomatoes, so stay tuned!

In your share this week:

Thyme – Onions – Kale – Basil – Green Beans – Carrots – Tomatoes

Zucchini – Cucumber – Cilantro – Green Peppers – Hot Peppers – New Potatoes

Lemon Thyme Shortbread cookies

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon zest, plus more for garnish
  • 1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface and cutters
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

Directions

  1. Beat butter and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in lemon zest, thyme, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds.
  2. Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl until combined. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating just until dough comes together, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Shape dough into a 6-inch disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Let chill until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut desired shapes using lightly floured 2-inch cookie cutters. Chill, reroll, and cut dough scraps as needed. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes.
  4. Bake in preheated oven until the edges are set, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and remaining 1 cup powdered sugar until smooth. Dip, drizzle, or spread glaze over cooled cookies as desired. Sprinkle additional lemon zest and thyme over cookies. Let stand until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.

African Peanut Soup

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
  • 1 tbsp ginger, minced
  • 1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced (1 tbsp)
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 14 oz crushed tomatoes
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 (14 oz) can chickpeas, drained
  • 1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
  • 4 cups kale, roughly chopped
  • 1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast, cooked, shredded
  • 1 tsp salt (to taste)
  • peanuts, crushed
  • cilantro, chopped (optional) for garnish
  1. In a large pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add in ginger, jalapeno and garlic and stir until fragrant about 1 min. Add the pepper, cumin and tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring, until paste darkens.
  3. Add the crushed tomatoes, stock, sweet potatoes, chickpeas and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and stir until fully combined. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.
  4. Add in kale and shredded chicken and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste the soup before adding salt. Depending on how salty your stock and/or peanut butter was, it may not need anymore salt. If you use low sodium stock and salt-free peanut butter, it will need a full teaspoon salt, maybe more. Adjust to your own liking.
  5. Serve warm topped with cilantro and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 10

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First things first, let’s get the business out of the way. It ‘s now August which means Coffee on the Farm is right around the corner. Please join us on Saturday, August 24th from 10am-12pm to have some delicious coffee, tour the farm, meet other CSA members, and taste some veggies straight out of the ground. This event is open to CSA members and those who are farm-curious. Bring your friends, family, neighbors, or anyone else you know who likes coffee and veggies!

Now for the fun! Last week, Janaki enjoyed some much deserved time off with his family. Thankfully he has an awesome crew who keeps things going while he’s away. This annual vacation marks 2 important timelines on the farm: garlic harvest and what I like to call “crop transition”. This is the beautiful time of year where we say our official goodbye to early season crops, and welcome the vegetable abundance that comes with the warmer weather crops.

We finished up harvesting all of the garlic, and it is set to spend the next few weeks drying away with the first group of garlic that we harvested 2 weeks ago. This marks the first empty field of the year. an exciting, but bittersweet moment.

We spent the rest of the week giving our attention to the crop transition that comes with veggie abundance. This meant saying goodbye to spring and early season crops like snap peas, napa cabbage, and Pak Choi. This meant getting any of these vegetables that might be remaining, out of the field, and taking down the pea fencing so we can put it into storage until next year.
Now we can start paying more attention to our warm weather crops such as outdoor cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers. It’s their time to shine, and thanks to that heat wave we got, the plants are thriving!

Last week marked the first of our peppers going out. It was great to get some peppers off the plants so smaller fruit has more space to grow. You’ll get to enjoy green peppers for a while, and as the season progresses, so will the plants resulting in delicious red peppers. Did you know that a green pepper is a pepper at its first point of maturity? Most bell peppers start out green, and as they mature they turn red, yellow or orange depending on the variety. The Jalapenos are also loving the weather lately, and we are excited to introduce these to you all this week. Be warned: these beauties pack some serious heat, so a little goes a long way.

Our zucchini got kind of a rough start this year, but looks like they’re finally coming around. When we first planted them, they immediately got attacked by squash and cucumber beetles. This left the plants weak and struggling. We put a clay spray on the plants to make them less tasty for the bugs, and it worked. The plants started growing and began producing fruit and flowers. The zucchini flowers need to be pollinated in order for fruit to grow. Ours weren’t pollinated consistently for the first few weeks, which results in strange and deformed fruit. These still taste okay, but they are unsightly and only last a day or two before they get wiggly or start to rot so we don’t send them to shares. We suspect the issue is that we planted the zucchini right next to a bed of melons, and the bees seem more interested in melon flowers rather than the zucchini flowers. This means fewer zucchini in your share, but hopefully lots of delicious and juicy melons later this month.

The outdoor tomatoes are starting to ripen, and the greenhouse tomatoes continue to get bigger and ripen at rapid speed. If you get overwhelmed by tomatoes, a great option is to freeze them and use them later for sauces, stews, salsa, or many other things. If you freeze the tomatoes with the skin on, once they’ve defrosted, the skin slides right off. No boiling necessary. This is my favorite trick to be able to enjoy the delicious taste of fresh tomatoes in the middle of winter when we’re all thinking of warmer times.

Another new introduction to your share this week is potatoes. You already got to try two of our other pre-storage crops with the green garlic and the onions. Potatoes are the next addition to this collection. We call them “new potatoes”. This means that they are young and not fully developed. They have a thin skin, and delicious flavor. We love sharing these with you as soon as possible. However, this means they aren’t fully mature. You’ll likely notice that their skin is really thin and flaky. This is because they haven’t been in the ground long enough to create the sturdy outer skin we are all used to. On the plus side, this means no peeling needed. On the downside, this means they won’t store as long, and they should be kept in the fridge. The outer skin protects the potatoes and allows them to be stored longer. Without the shell, the potatoes will turn brown and spoil quite quickly if left out at room temp for too long.

In your share this week:

Beets – Beans – Cucumbers – New Potatoes Zucchini – Baby Carrots

Broccoli – Greens Mix – Cilantro – Cucumbers – Hot Peppers – Onions – Green Peppers – Oregano – Tomatoes

Broccoli Pasta Salad

Ingredients

  • 3 cups small broccoli florets
  • 1 cup cut green beans
  • 2 cups uncooked gluten free fusilli pasta
  • 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced and cut into half moons (or spiralized)
  • 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
  • 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup pine nuts
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Lemon Tahini dressing: (can be made ahead)
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more for squeezing at the end
  • 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • Instructions:
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, mustard, maple syrup, salt and water. Set aside.
  • Prepare a large pot of salted boiling water and a large bowl of ice water. Drop the broccoli and green beans into the boiling water and blanch for 1-2 minutes, until tender but still bright green. Remove and immediately immerse in the ice water to stop the cooking processing. Keep in the ice water long enough to cool completely, about 15 seconds. Then, drain and and place on a kitchen towel to dry.
  • In a large pot of salted boiling water, prepare the pasta according to the instructions on the package, cooking until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.
  • In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, basil and the pasta. Drizzle with the dressing and toss. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and squeezes of lemon, if desired. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and chill for 15 minutes. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Veggie Fajitas

SIMPLE PICO

  • 2 tomatoes, diced small
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 jalapeño, minced
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 small onion, diced small
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

FAJITAS

  • 2 Tbsp. salted butter, divided
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • 6 oz. white button mushrooms, halved
  • 1 small red onion, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp. steak seasoning
  • 1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
  • 1 poblano pepper, sliced into strips
  • 1 small yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moons
  • 1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moons
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 1 Tbsp. honey

Directions

For the simple pico: Combine the tomato, garlic, jalapeño, lime juice, onion, salt, pepper, and cilantro in a medium bowl.

For the fajitas: Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onions in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the vegetables to char. Season with half of the steak seasoning, and stir. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, poblano, yellow squash, and zucchini in a single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the vegetables to char. Season with the remaining steak seasoning, then stir in the reserved mushrooms and onions. Let cook until the vegetables are tender but still have some bite, about 2 minutes more. Stir in the lime juice and honey, and remove from the heat.

Serve the fajitas with the simple pico, tortillas, cheddar jack, crema, lime wedges, and hot sauce.

Summer CSA Week 8

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Last week the crew spent most of their time in the fields across the road. Most of our storage vegetables are across the road. These are the vegetables that we will keep in the root cellar to feed our Winter CSA members all winter, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, and winter squash. We’ve already given lots of love and attention to our potatoes in previous weeks, so it was time to focus on the carrots and beets.

The crew spent last week doing what we call close weeding. This is actually the third type of weeding these plants will receive. The first type of weeding is called flame weeding. This is where Janaki puts on a tractor attachment that is about the same power as 9 handheld blowtorches. He drives the tractor over the beds right before the carrot seeds germinate to burn off all the tiny weeds that germinate more quickly. This is a fast way to get rid of all the weeds in the entire bed to give the carrots a jump start. At this stage, we have a pretty good idea where the plants will pop up, but it’s always best to be cautious.  Once the seeds germinate and plants start popping up through the soil, either Janaki or crew member Catherine will do what’s called basket weeding. This is where the tractor gets an attachment that looks like a few rolling wire baskets. Catherine or Janaki will then drive the tractor down the beds getting as close to the plants as possible. This is beneficial because it breaks up all the soil which disrupts any weeds that might be about to germinate, while also pulling out any weeds in between the rows that have already germinated. The downside of the basket weeder is that it leaves an untilled area about an inch and a half on either side of the row. This is where the crew steps in and performs the close weeding. We’ve taken old butter knives and steak knives, and bent the blades at a 90° angle. The crew members use the knives to scratch the soil around and in-between the plants to remove any current weeds, and disrupt any weeds that were about to germinate. This is very effective, but also quite time consuming. It’s effective because every single plant in every single row gets love and attention. However, it’s very time consuming because we are crawling along, giving every plant, in every bed, on 300-500 foot fields, love and attention. The crew can work pretty fast, this task takes a while for a farm of our scale.

Cue the crew’s excitement (and immense gratitude) last Wednesday when some friends from the UMD Land Lab showed up to check out the farm, and spend the morning helping us weed all of the carrots. Almost doubling our usual farm crew allowed us to get through many beds in record time! We were able to close weed all of our storage beets and carrots last week.

We will close weed these crops two to three times depending on how quickly the plants grow, and what the weed pressure is. We start weeding when the carrots are about an inch tall, with the goal of making sure we can finish before weeds begin to out-compete the vegetables for sunlight and nutrients. Once the plants are 3-4 inches or tall, Janaki can use other tools like rubber finger weeders to kill small weeds that are in the row without killing the crop. The crew gets the few weeds that survive this cultivation by spot weeding the field by walking through before harvest. We really focus on good weed control at the farm because it makes for a nice consistent crop, and it makes our harvesting equipment work better.

 Fun fact for all of you, it is estimated by the end of the week, the farm crew had crawled through and close weeded 56,760 row-feet of carrots and beets. That’s nearly 11 miles! 

In your share this week:

Basil – Carrots – Lettuce – Cucumbers – Napa Cabbage 

Onions – Snap Peas – Tomatoes – Cilantro – Zucchini

Swiss Chard Summer Roll

Wraps and Filling:

16 to 18 sheets of rice paper

One bunch of chard, leaves only, thinly sliced 

One bunch of basil, torn into bite-sized pieces

Two avocados sliced

Two carrots cut into 2 inch match sticks

One cucumber cut into 2 inch match sticks

Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1.5 tbsp sugar

1.5 tbsp sesame oil

Finely sliced green onions

To make the dipping sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl.  Whisk.  

In a large bowl with warm water, dip the rice paper into the water for a few seconds until the whole sheet is moistened carefully lay the rice paper flat on your work surface and wait a minute for the sheet to become soft and pliable. Layer the chard, basil, avocado, carrots, and cucumbers on the bottom third of the rice paper.  Fold the bottom edge over the filling and roll the paper away from you folding the sides in towards the middle about halfway up to roll.  Repeat with the remaining rice papers and filling.   Serve roles with dipping sauce.  The rice papers will start to stiffen if left out for too long, so it’s best to wrap as you eat.  This is a great dinner to make with kids!!!

Frittata with Napa Cabbage

8 large eggs
1/2 c creme fraiche
1 c finely chopped napa cabbage
1/2 c finely chopped red onion
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
1/2 t curry powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t fine sea salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
2 T butter
1/2 c crumbled feta

Position a rack in upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, creme fraiche, cabbage, both onions, garlic, cilantro and spices. Beat with a fork to incorporate.

Heat the butter in a 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, tilting the pan to coat all surfaces thoroughly as the butter melts. When the butter starts to foam, pour in the egg mixture and cook undisturbed for 5 minutes. Top with the crumbled feta and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve warm.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA week 7

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Last week felt like it was all about tomatoes here on the farm. This can only mean one thing, TOMATO SEASON IS HERE! Our crew member Catherine, and our lovely volunteer, Patricia, spend a lot of time in the Spring and Summer keeping the greenhouse tomatoes happy and healthy while the rest of the farm crew tends to all of the outdoor tomatoes. It’s helpful to dedicate specific people to each location since the tomatoes are grown in different ways, which requires different levels of attention. 

In the greenhouse, we vertically trellis the tomatoes using the single leader system. In non-farm speak, this essentially means that we force the tomato plants to grow on one single stem, and we use a small circular clip to connect the twine to the tomato stem as a means of supporting the plant as it continues to grow. Tomatoes love to grow what we call suckers, also known as side shoots. These are shoots that sprout out from where the main stem and a leaf meet. If we left the suckers on the plant, they would eventually grow into another top, so the plant forms a bush. This sounds really cool because most people think it means extra tomatoes, but it can actually mean the exact opposite. By leaving the suckers, the plant then has more stems and leaves to distribute nutrients to. As the plants grow taller, this can take a lot longer for the nutrients to get past all the suckers and make its way to the top of the plant. This means more of the plant’s attention is put into vegetation rather than fruit. Too much foliage also reduces air movement which is one of the many ways tomato plants can get and spread disease. In order to achieve this, once a week, Catherine and Patricia spend time pruning off any suckers and adding clips to the plant to keep it supported. This week, Catherine also spent time taking off any of  the leaves that were growing below the first set of fruit. This does two things, it speeds ripening by allowing more light to reach the fruit, and creates better air circulation. With the hot weather we’ve recently been getting, and the plants being grown in an already hot greenhouse, more air flow is very welcomed by the plants. 

The outside tomatoes are a whole different story. We don’t do any pruning on those tomatoes. Airflow is better outside, and space isn’t at as much of a premium, so we’re able to plant the tomatoes farther apart without causing disease or shading. Another major difference between the inside and outside tomatoes is how they are trellised. Since there isn’t a pole or wire above the tomatoes, and we aren’t pruning them to follow the single leader system, the easiest way to trellis these crazy tomatoes is to use what is called the “Florida Weave” or “Basket Weave” method. With this method, posts are evenly spaced between the tomato plants, and string or twine is tightly run, horizontally, on either side of the plant. This method works to compress the plant so it stays tight and tidy in its space. It helps to lift the leaves off the ground so they are less likely to pick up diseases from the soil splashing on the leaves when it rains.  Most home growers will use a tomato cage which creates a similar effect. However, with the cages, the plant will eventually grow over the top of the cage and run out of support, and cages are prone to falling over unless they’re large, which can make harvesting tedious. With the Florida Weave method, a new set of twine is added every week or so as the plant grows to continue giving it support. At this point in the season, the outdoor tomatoes have 3 sets of twine holding them up, and we plan to add another 3 or 4 as the season progresses. 

The cool thing about these trellising methods is that they aren’t exclusive to tomatoes. You can use either method for trellising many other vegetables. On the farm, we use the single leader, vertical trellising for all of our greenhouse cucumbers. In the coming weeks, we will use the Florida Weave method as a form of trellising all of our pepper plants. 

In your share this week:

Beets – Broccoli/Cauliflower – Cilantro – Chard – Carrots Green Onions – Snap Peas – Juliet tomatoes (just a couple today, but more to come!) 

Fried Rice

3 tablespoons oil

One medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

One bell pepper, chopped

Two carrots, chopped

Broccoli or cauliflower chopped

Chard cut into ribbons

Snap peas, chopped

Green onions, chopped

1/4 cup Cilantro, minced

Tomatoes, optional

2 eggs, whisked

3 to 4 cups of cooked rice, cooled

1/4 c water

2tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Put 1 tablespoon of oil into a wok or large skillet.   When it begins to shimmer add the chopped onion, garlic, carrots, pepper, broccoli, and cauliflower.  Sauté a few minutes and then add the peas, chard and tomatoes.  Fry  until partially cooked, but still crisply textured. 

Remove vegetables. Add remaining oil to pan or wok.  When the oil shimmers, add the rice.  Break up clumps and stirfry. Make a well in the center and pour the eggs into the well.  Scramble the eggs in the middle of the rice and when they’re cooked, add all the vegetables.

Add water, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt + pepper.   Stir.   Top with cilantro and green onions

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA week 6

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Last week was a very busy week for the farm crew. Along with the heat, more of our time is dedicated to harvesting in addition to weeding and other tasks. Now that we have more consistent supply of a few items, we are beginning to ramp up deliveries to our wholesale customers. In addition to our CSA members, we also harvest and deliver vegetables to local grocery stores, co-ops, and restaurants. Once Fall hits and kids are back in school, we will also start selling some of our vegetables to local schools. We sell a more limited mix of crops to these outlets, and their deliveries start later than the CSA because of the risk and inconsistency of the wholesale market. Having these outlets does provide great balance for the farm, though, since it allows us to to stabilize the supply of staple crops to the CSA boxes and grow these crops at a scale and efficiency that wouldn’t be possible with CSA alone. It also is great outreach and helps expose the broader public to the exceptional quality and flavor of local produce.

We harvested an early planting of cabbage last week as well. This is always a fun activity on the farm. You know when your parents always told you “don’t play with your food”? Yeah, well, we don’t listen to that here on the farm. When it comes to cabbage harvest, we play with our food. The way it works is we usually have one group of people who are cutting the cabbages, and one group of people who are catching the cabbages. The first group cuts the cabbages, removes the outer leaves, then they throw the head to someone that’s catching, and they place it into the pallet box which gets put into the root cellar for storage. It’s a fun activity that always creates a lot of smiles, laughs, and teamwork, but takes a little while to bring back our muscle memory on how to toss around a 4 pound cabbage without dropping it or hurting anyone. These small cabbage harvests will give the crew plenty of practice time before the big fall cabbage harvest. You’re getting tender Napa Cabbage in your shares today, but regular cabbage will be on its way in a couple of weeks.

Last Friday, we did something I didn’t think we would ever have to do this season and that was lay irrigation pipe. The way the season started, it seemed as though mother nature was going to take care of the irrigation for us, but with the warm and dry days we got last week and more being predicted for this week, it was time to haul out the irrigation pipe. On the farm we always try to push the envelope on sustainability. One of the ways we do this is by utilizing a pond for watering our crops, rather than groundwater alone. Each year this pond fills up with snow melt and rain water, which we then pump about 1/4 mile to the vegetable fields. The pond also catches the water coming from our underground drainage tile system that has helped keep our fields from becoming too waterlogged this year.

If you grow anything at home, you probably use a garden hose and sprinkler. We have similar set up, only industrial sized. The way it works is we turn on a pump by the pond that sucks water from the pond. The water then travels through many 40 foot sections of pipe until it reaches the water reel that’s placed at the end of the field we wish to irrigate. The water reel is a big fancy looking hose reel. Think of those things you can put on the side of your house to wind up your garden hose but imagine that it’s 12 feet tall. It has an 1100′ long hose that attaches to a sprinkler system that’s on wheels. We pull the hose and sprinklers to the end of the field we wish to irrigate. Once you turn on the pump, the water starts flowing and irrigating the plants. The coolest thing, and probably the biggest difference from a home set up is that you don’t have to move the sprinkler down the field. The reel slowly retracts the hose which moves the sprinkler. From far away, it looks like it’s not moving at all, but up close, you can see that it is moving about two feet per minute. This is a wonderful set up because it allows us to irrigate a lot of acreage efficiently.

In your share this week:

Cucumbers – Napa Cabbage – Snap Peas – Carrots – Garlic Scapes

Green Onions – Lettuce – Cauliflower or Broccoli (we didn’t have enough for everyone but we’ll switch sites next week to make sure everyone gets some of each!)

Sesame Carrots (from Vegetable Heaven by Mollie Katzen)

2 tsp sesame oil

1.5-2 cups carrots, sliced into coins

2 tbsp unseasoned rice wine

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp tahini

One clove of garlic, minced (or several scapes minced)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

 3 cups of chopped onion

6 cups chopped Napa cabbage

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper

Heat a large skillet and add the sesame oil, carrots and half a teaspoon of salt. Stirfry over medium high heat for five minutes. Cover, and cook for another five minutes.

Turn heat down to medium and add the vinegar cover again and cook for an additional five minutes. Stirring the honey tahini, and the garlic and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently for 5 to 8 more minutes or until carrots are tender, and starting to brown.

At the same time in a second skillet and add the vegetable oil, onion and the remaining half a teaspoon of salt. Stirfry over medium heat add cabbage.  Keep the heat high and stirfry for another five minutes or until the cabbage wilts (it will be slightly crunchy).  Transfer to a serving platter. Spoon the carrots on top of the cabbage. Grind some black pepper over the top and serve hot warm or at room temperature.

Quinoa Salad (from NYT Cooking)

4 cups water 

2/3 of a cup dried fruit, such as apricots, raisins, craisins, or currents

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped mint

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Salt to taste

One cup, red or rainbow quinoa

1/4 cup toasted pistachios 

1/4 cup toasted almonds

1/4 cup toasted walnuts

2 tsp lemon zest

Dressing:

1/4 cup lemon zest

Salt to taste

1 small garlic clove, pureed (optional) (or use minced scapes!)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/3 c olive oil

Bring water to boil and add quinoa and salt.  Bring back to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 20 minutes until the thread separates from the quinoa grains.  Drain and shake well in the strainer then return to the pot. Cover the pot with a dish towel and put the top back on it and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Place quinoa in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, mix all the dressing ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients and toss place on a large platter or in a large serving bowl.

***  add chopped up pea pods, broccoli florets, raw carrots, or any of the delicious vegetables you receive this week in your share to increase the vegetable content of this dish

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 4

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For all of us who put in a plea to Mother Nature, it worked…sort of. Last week felt like a normal week on the farm (if such a thing even exists in agriculture). This time of year, as the seasons shift from Spring to Summer, the farm crew’s agenda changes from spontaneous to more routine. It usually means weeding, row cover, weeding, bug hunting, and more weeding. Janaki and the crew were finally able to get out into the fields to do some much needed field work.

The drier weather gave us the opportunity to roll up all of our row cover. If you aren’t familiar with it, row cover is a permeable fabric that we lay over the top of our plants, specifically the brassicas. The row cover has multiple benefits, but the main ones we use it for on the farm are for deterring pests, and adding some extra early season heat. Broccoli is generally a cool season crop, but “cool season” generally refers to our normal weather in early June, while our first planting goes in the ground in mid-April. This is one of the reasons we are able to provide all of you with broccoli so early in the summer. It’s a large task to lay out the 30’x400′ sheets of row cover after each Spring planting of brassicas, but it’s an even larger task to roll all of it back up. 

We also made it across the road to weed through the first two plantings of outdoor carrots, and do some bug hunting while we were over by the potatoes. Each year we find ourselves fully experiencing what it means to work for an organic farm. It means that instead of the farm crew going out to spray insecticides on the plants, we take the organic approach. Think Ghostbusters, but instead of proton packs and cool jumpsuits, we get 5 gallon buckets and overalls. We go row by row, plant by plant, searching for the various life stages of the Colorado Potato Beetle. The eggs are by far the easiest to spot since they are bright orange against the deep green foliage of the plants. The larvae are a little more difficult, but get easier to spot as they go through the 4 larval stages. They start out really tiny with a black head and brown body, and slowly grow to almost being the size of an adult beetle. Once they’ve reached the adult stage, they get wings and stripes on their back which help them to be more noticeable against the plant. The worst thing about the Colorado Potato Beetle is how adaptable it is. These bugs overwinter in different life stages, don’t have to mate in the spring before they lay eggs, and aren’t even solely attracted to potato plants! Their favorites are potatoes and eggplant, they will also survive on other members of the nightshade family. This unfortunately meant we found quite a few on our outdoor tomatoes. Nothing the Beetlebusters (aka the farm crew) couldn’t handle. 

In case that wasn’t enough bug fun, we also noticed cucumber beetles on our greenhouse cucumbers, and squash beetles on our squash. We did identify a ‘new’ pest on the potatoes called a blister beetle. Mother nature is always keeping us on our toes. This summer is going to have a lot of bug pressure. We are coming off of a mild winter which didn’t get cold enough to kill most of the populations, then following that up with warm wet weather in the Spring/Summer, it’s the perfect recipe for a lot of bugs! This is all to remind you that if you ever find a little critter, or see some holes on your veggies, we promise it’s okay. It’s just nature’s way of reminding all of you that the veggies you receive each week are grown with love instead of harsh chemicals!

This week in your share: 

Arugula – Broccoli – Turnips – Radishes – Spinach – Green Onions

Garlic Scapes – Cucumbers – Green-top Carrots

This week we are giving you garlic scapes. If you’ve never used these before, they have the same flavor you get from fresh garlic, only a little milder and a lot less work since no peeling is involved. You can substitute scapes for fresh garlic in almost any recipe using 4-6 scapes = 1 clove of garlic.

One- Pan Orzo With Spinach and Feta

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 2tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4large green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • 2large garlic cloves, minced
  • 8ounces baby spinach leaves (8 cups), coarsely chopped
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1¾cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1cup orzo
  • 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
  • ¾cup crumbled feta (3 ounces), plus more for garnish
  • ½cup frozen peas, thawed (optional)
  • 1cup chopped fresh dill, or use parsley or cilantro

PREPARATION

  1. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium, then melt butter, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in about three-quarters of the green onions (saving some of the green parts for garnish) and garlic, and cook until softened, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes.
  2. Stir in spinach, adding in batches if it doesn’t all fit in the pan at once, and ½ teaspoon salt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in stock and bring to a simmer. Stir in orzo, lemon zest and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until orzo is nearly cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed, 10 to 14 minutes, stirring once or twice.
  4. Stir in cheese, peas (if you like) and dill, cover the pan, and cook for another 1 minute, to finish cooking and warm the peas. To serve, sprinkle with more cheese and the reserved green onions

Salmon Cakes With Arugula Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pound salmon, skinned (canned will also work)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice, divided
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
  • ½ cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper, divided
  • ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ½ cup crème fraîche or sour cream
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • ½ teaspoon salt, divided
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 ounces arugula
  • 1 cup sliced radishes

Directions

  • Coarsely chop salmon and place half in a food processor. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 teaspoon mustard. Process, scraping down the sides as necessary, until smooth. Add the remaining salmon, bell pepper, shallot and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and pulse until the mixture is combined but still chunky.
  • Transfer the salmon mixture to a medium bowl. Add breadcrumbs and stir until combined. Form the salmon into 4 patties, about 4 inches wide each, and place on a plate. Freeze for 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, whisk crème fraîche (or sour cream), buttermilk, dill and 1/4 teaspoon salt with the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon mustard and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup of the dressing for drizzling.
  • Heat oil in a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon cakes and cook, flipping once, until well browned and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a clean plate and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
  • Add arugula and radishes to the dressing in the large bowl. Toss to coat. Serve the salmon cakes on top of the salad, drizzled with the reserved 1/4 cup dressing

Carrot Top Salsa (The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly)

2 cups minced carrot greens leaves and tender, stems only

3 tablespoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons minced fresh oregano

2 tablespoons minced jalapeño

One to one and a quarter cups olive oil

1/4 of a cup red wine vinegar

Zest and juice of lemon

Add all the ingredients to a medium bowl and stir to combine (use more or less oil to make a chunkier or thinner sauce).  Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight so the flavors intermingle.  This salsa gets better with age – so the carrot have turned to deep muted shade of army green is still good!!  Decant into a jar and refrigerate.  The oil will congeal in the cold temperature, but it does not affect the flavor. Bring the salsa to room temperature before serving.

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 3

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This week was filled with more rain. If any of you know Mother Nature personally, will you please let her know that we are good on rain, and could really use some sunshine. We would especially like to see some sun now that we’ve reached the official start of Summer! I’ve always been told that the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year to allow us more time to find joy in the constant change that is happening around us.  

One of the big, and exciting changes that happened on the farm last week was the debut of the new chopper box (also known as a forage wagon). Thanks to all of your support, the farm was able to purchase a new to us, chopper box earlier this Spring. 

Every fall, after harvest, we plant a cover crop of rye. The rye goes dormant over the winter, and starts to grow again in the Spring. While it’s growing, it’s adding fertility to the soil, supporting soil life, suppressing weeds, and preventing soil erosion from happening (something we are really thankful for this year). Right before the rye goes to seed, we cut the rye, and it’s blown through a chute into the chopper box. An auger inside the box then pushes it out onto Janaki’s handmade ramp, and drops it in the aisleways between the onion beds. The crew then smooths it out to make sure it will be effective. This is what we spent most of last week doing. In the coming weeks, we will spread mulch around the outdoor tomatoes once they’ve dried off a bit. 

The rye mulch serves multiple purposes for different crops. For the onions, we mainly use it to suppress weeds. Less weeds means less use of the tractors for cultivation, and less labor needed to weed by hand in the places the tractor can’t access. It also creates earthworm habitat and food, leaving the field healthier than before the season. For the tomatoes, we use the mulch as a weed suppression, disease prevention, and as a way to retain moisture. Tomatoes appreciate a warm environment which leads to faster water evaporation. The mulch slows that evaporation which lessens the frequency at which we need to water, and prevents soil from splashing onto leaves.

To me, one of the coolest parts of the mulch is that we don’t remove it once the vegetables are harvested. We leave all of the mulch exactly where it is, and Farmer Janaki tills it into the soil before he plants another cover crop in that field. This adds organic matter which improves the health of the soil, and provides a habitat for organisms. Some of those organisms will prevent diseases, and help to control the levels of pests.  

The farm crew was able to learn all this information about cover crops during what we called “classroom time”, a few weeks ago. This was an unusual occurrence considering we are normally too busy with field work to all come together for an educational session, but when the fields are too wet to work, we finally have time to talk about the behind the scenes of farming. This is just another one of the many ways the farm crew is embracing the changes being thrown at us thanks to mother nature and her abundance of rain. Fingers (and toes and arms and legs) crossed this week stays a little drier, so our outdoor vegetables can get some much needed love and attention.

In your share this week:

Broccoli – Lettuce – Spinach – Green Onions – Pac Choi

If you’re looking for some non-salad ways to use up greens, Deb has a few more ideas for you!

Cannellini Beans and Wilted Greens 

2 cans cannellini beans

1 large bunch spinach, pac choi, or mixed greens (appx 1/2 lb)

1-2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1.5 tsp rosemary, chopped

Wash and prepare greens.  Drain beans and reserve liquid.  Finely chop garlic and sauté in olive oil with the rosemary for 1 minute.  Add the beans and 3/4 cup bean liquid and simmer for 5 minutes, until some of the beans have fallen apart.  Add the greens to the beans and stew until they are wilted and tender.  Add more liquid if needed.  Salt and pepper to taste.  

Serve as a side-dish with olive oil drizzled over the surface

Lentils with Greens and Ginger 

1 cup green lentils, rinsed

2 1/2 cups water

1-2 hot green chilies, finely sliced (optional!!)

1 tsp finely grated ginger

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1-1/4 lbs spinach 

1 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste 

2 tbsp lemon juice

Cook lentils in water until soft.  Put oil in large sauté pan (large enough to hold spinach) over medium heat.  When hot, add chilis and ginger- stir and fry for 10 seconds.  Add cilantro and spinach.  Continuously stir and cook until spinach has wilted.  Add cooked lentils (with any remaining cooking water)and salt.  Stir to mix and bring to simmer.  Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes- add pepper and lemon juice.  Cook for 5 minutes. Serve with rice

For the farm crew,

Jennifer

Summer CSA Week 2

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It’s the second week of Summer CSA season, and the crew is getting back into the harvesting rhythm. 

Last week was a big week for us on the farm. We needed to play catch up on some plantings. It was a daunting task, but our crew worked extra hard to get it all done, with time to spare. 

Thanks to dryer days, and all hands on deck, we had time to accomplish a few additional things last week as well. The most noteworthy was the caterpillar tunnel the crew put together on Friday.

This tunnel is part of an experiment we are trying on the farm with some of our outdoor tomatoes. The main variety of slicing tomatoes you will be receiving in your box this season is called Geronimo. These tomatoes are know for being prolific producers, resistant to some common diseases, and for producing uniform fruit. The downside that they do best in a greenhouse and often crack before they’re ready to be harvested when subjected to the elements. We have several permanent greenhouses that house our earliest planting of tomatoes, but the tomatoes are more flavorful when grown in field soil rather than soil that’s been permanently protected. Our hope with the caterpillar tunnel is that it will give us the best of both worlds. Since they can be moved easily each year, we get the delicious flavor from the outdoor soil, but we get the protection of a greenhouse. 

As any of our science-loving members know, a good experiment always has a control group. We have standard greenhouse tomatoes, and we have standard outdoor tomatoes serving as our control groups. We can use these control group tomatoes to compare against our experimental tomatoes, to see if the quality and flavor are the same or different. 

I am very excited for this experiment. Mostly because I love tomatoes, but also because it’s refreshing to know that after many decades, and 2 generations, Farmer Janaki is still learning. Often we look at farms of this size and think they must know it all, and do everything perfectly. Nope! Janaki and the farm crew are learning and trying new things every day just like all of you. I believe that every experiment is worth it because even if it doesn’t go as planned, you always learn something from the process, and I think learning is half the fun of trying something new. 

You’ll still have to wait a little while for any tomatoes, but this week in your share you can expect to see: 

Turnips – Broccoli – Lettuce – Rhubarb – Greens mix – Radish

 

We’ve been giving you lots of lettuce lately, if you are stumped on fun ways to enjoy it, one of my favorite ways is to grill it before putting it on a sandwich or chopping it up to add to a salad. Grilling the lettuce will add a smoky flavor, and takes out some of the bitterness. This works best with Romaine lettuce because it’s a little firmer. With the Butter Crunch, or softer lettuce, I like to use the leaves as lettuce wraps. It’s a nice way to lighten any dish that you would usually use bread or a tortilla with. On a hot summer day, a lighter dinner is just what I crave after a long day on the farm.

Another fun way to use lettuce is as a dip for bread, veggies, or whatever you can think of. I like this Peruvian Aji-style sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 head lettuce, stem-end trimmed and discarded
  • ½ bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed
  • 5 green onions
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise or olive oil
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded
  • 1 clove garlic
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Place lettuce, cilantro, green onions, mayonnaise (or oil), jalapeño peppers, garlic, salt, and black pepper into a blender; blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Honey-Glazed Radishes and Turnips

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp. margarine or butter
  • 1 large shallot, sliced
  • 1 1/2 lb. radishes, halved
  • 1 1/2 lb. small turnips, halved or quartered
  • 1/3 c. water
  • 1/4 c. lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. thinly sliced mint leaves
  • 1 Tbsp. finely chopped chives

Directions

  1. Step 1In 12-inch skillet, melt margarine or butter on medium-high. Add shallot and cook 2 minutes or until golden and tender, stirring occasionally. Add radishes and turnips; stir until well coated. Stir in water, broth, honey, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 15 minutes.
  2. Step 2Uncover and cook 7 to 10 minutes longer or until vegetables are glazed and most of liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in mint and chives. Transfer to serving platter and garnish with mint leaves

For the farm crew, 

Jennifer 

Summer CSA Week 18, 2023

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This is the last Summer Share of the season! Please remember to bring any empty boxes back to your pickup site by next Thursday, the 19th. Winter Shares begin on November 13th.

As the chill of autumn sets in, we find ourselves on the threshold of our last CSA distribution of the summer season. As with most endings, it’s a bittersweet feeling.

The CSA boxes are one of our most straightforward connections to the community. The weekly bounties we harvest, wash, package, and deliver give us an opportunity to share the farm with all of you – something we miss during the longer stretches of the winter.

This time of year also signals the ramping up of end-of-season chores! There’s lots to do on the farm to get ready for winter. A big part of our business is caring for and delivering storage crops throughout the non-growing months. The short break between summer and winter CSA gives us just enough time to pull the cabbage, beets, potatoes, daikon radish, rutabaga, parsnips, & carrots from the fields before they freeze!

A big thanks is also in order to all of the volunteers who helped us in countless ways throughout the season. With so much work still to go, I don’t want to start reflecting too early, but I think it is safe to say “Thank you so so much Patricia, Sandy, Betsy, Rollie, Deb, Diane, Pat & any other names I may be forgetting while typing this.” Your work is really appreciated!

In your share this week:

Beets – Brussel Sprouts – Green Cabbage – Carrots – Garlic – Lacinato Kale – Onions

Parsley – Red Peppers – Potatoes – Rutabaga – Winter Squash

Now you’ve had some winter squash in your share this year, but this week will be your first time seeing green kabocha. You can think of it as a cross between a pumpkin and sweet potato. Its flesh has a sweet, earthy flavor that is denser and drier than the other varieties you’ve tasted this year. This makes it an excellent candidate for soups, stews & curries. It is quite dry right now, but should gain moisture as it cures over the next couple of weeks.

Also joining the lineup are tender brussel sprouts, small but mighty in flavor, and rutabagas!

Usually I am a strong endorser of leaving the skin on vegetables when eating. I do this in part for flavor, in part for valuable nutrients and fiber, but mostly out of laziness. Peeling can feel like an unnecessary chore… the worst kind. This year’s rutabaga is not quite as nice and smooth as usual, due in part to stress from our hot dry summer, and may benefit from being peeled.

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup, from Simply Recipes

Yield: 4-6 Servings

1/2 large kabocha squash, seeded (about 3 to 4 pounds for the 1/2 squash)
2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
Salt
2 cups chopped or sliced onions
2 ribs celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic (about 1 tablespoon)
1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Lime juice, for serving
Chopped fresh cilantro, optional for serving

  1. Set the oven to 400°F.
  2. Roast The Squash: Use a heavy chef’s knife or cleaver (it helps if you have a rubber mallet as well) to cut the kabocha squash half into a few large pieces. (Kabocha squash is thick and meaty and can be a challenge to cut. So take care! Make sure the squash is stable on your cutting board before you start to cut it. You can create a flat side by shaving off a bit of the outside in one spot.)

    Scoop out the seeds (you can toast them like pumpkin seeds!) and stringy insides. Place the squash pieces on a foil, baking parchment, or Silpat-lined roasting pan. Rub 1 tablespoon olive oil over all sides, and sprinkle with salt.

    Put the squash pieces skin side up on the pan. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes until completely cooked through. The pieces should be soft and caramelized at the edges. Remove from oven and let sit.
  3. Sauté the onions, celery, garlic, ginger, and spices: While the squash is cooling, heat the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat in a large (4- to 6-quart) thick-bottomed pan. Add the onions and celery. Lower the heat to medium and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.

    Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, and coriander and cook 2 minutes more.
  4. Add the squash, stock, salt, and pepper, then simmer: Once the squash is cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin. Place the roasted kabocha squash flesh into the pot with the onions and celery mixture. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Increase the heat to high to bring the soup to a simmer. Then, lower the heat to low. Partially cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes.
  5. Purée the soup: Remove from the heat. Use an immersion blender (or work in batches with a standing blender, only filling the blender bowl 1/3 of the way each time) to purée the soup.

    Add more salt to taste. Sprinkle with lime juice and chopped cilantro to serve.

Maple-Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Rutabaga with Hazelnuts, from Martha Stewart

Yield: 5 Servings

½ cup pure maple syrup
2 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds rutabaga, skin removed and cut into 1 ½-inch pieces (5 cups)
¾ pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise
1 ounce toasted hazelnuts, chopped (⅓ cup)

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together maple syrup, oil, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add rutabaga, and toss.
  2. Transfer rutabaga and all but 2 tablespoons glaze to a rimmed baking sheet (leave remaining glaze in bowl). Spread rutabaga in a single layer, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and roast for 35 minutes, tossing halfway through and making sure rutabaga is spread toward the edges of pan.
  3. Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees. Toss brussels sprouts with remaining glaze in bowl and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Remove sheet from oven, and add sprouts. Toss, and spread in a single layer. Roast vegetables, tossing every 5 minutes, until glaze is very thick and vegetables are deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Season with pepper and sprinkle with hazelnuts.

For the farm crew,

Charlie

Summer CSA Week 10, 2023

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Let’s take a moment to say thank you for the bit of rain that came last week. The farm was lucky enough to get three quarters of an inch, which isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things, but as my mother likes to say “beggars can’t be choosers.” The problem is that we need rain consistently to make much of an impact. Every hotter-than-normal, rainless day with ample sunshine dries the soil out. We do have a pond toward the back of the farm property, which we are able to pump water from to aid in our irrigation efforts, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt if we all put some collective energy into wishing for more rain to fall 🙂

We are getting to that time of year where every day is a harvest day. Whether it’s digging beets, carrots & potatoes, picking canning tomatoes, or slicing bunches of kale, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. One fun item that got added to the list this week is cantaloupe. This is a crop that can be difficult to grow in our area, but through a lot of trial an error, we have managed to grow consistently for the last five or so years. It has become somewhat of a crowd favorite and for good reason! Nothing quite cuts the summer heat like a freshly sliced melon!

Carrots – Cilantro – Cukes – Kale – Lettuce – Green Onions – Green Peppers

Green Beans – Hot Peppers – Parsley – Potatoes – Tomatoes – Zucchini – Melons

Feel free to get creative with the salad recipe below… As is, it uses up a good chunk of the ingredients in your share this week, but it could feature even more farm goodness if you happen to have some leftover cabbage or snap peas hiding in your fridge from weeks prior. The dressing itself is also pretty versatile and would make a wonderful marinade or stir fry sauce.

Salad w/ Peanut Butter Dressing

2 medium cucumbers
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup salted & roasted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1-2 hot pepper, finely diced (optional)

PB Dressing, from theendlessmeal.com:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 – 1/2 cup water
sea salt, to taste

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and garlic. Thin with the water, starting with ¼ cup. (The amount of water you’ll need to add will depend on how thick your peanut butter is and how thick or thin you’d like the dressing to be).
  2. Taste and add salt as needed.
  3. Dress the salad as you see fit!

Potato Salad w/ Grilled Kale, from Bon Appétit

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more
2 pounds potatoes
1 pound shallots, unpeeled
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped pickles
2 tablespoons drained capers (optional)
1 bunch kale, ribs and stems removed
3 green onions, sliced
1 cup parsley leaves w/ tender stems

  1. Prepare a grill for medium-high heat; lightly oil grate. Place potatoes in a large saucepan and pour in cold water to cover by 1″. Season with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until tender, 15–18 minutes. Drain and return to saucepan.
  2. Meanwhile, grill shallots, turning occasionally, until skins are blackened and flesh is tender, 15–20 minutes. Let cool. Halve lengthwise and scoop out insides (discard skins).
  3. Whisk lemon juice, vinegar, and 3 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add cornichons, capers, and potatoes and toss to coat.
  4. Toss kale and remaining 2 Tbsp. oil in a medium bowl; season with salt. Grill, turning often, until charred and crisp-tender, about 1 minute. Fold into salad along with scallions, parsley, and shallots.
  5. Do Ahead: Potato salad can be made 1 hour ahead. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

For the farm crew,


Charlie