Tag Archives: Garlic

Summer CSA Week 14

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Can you all believe it, we only have 4 more weeks of our Summer CSA season!

The final weeks of the CSA season are busy, busy, busy! Mother Nature threw quite the curve ball for us on Friday night with her far too early, danger of frost. Usually we don’t have to start worrying about the dreaded F word until later in the month. We chose the mentality that if you don’t think about it, it won’t happen (it’s actually the only thing any of us thought about all week, but we had good intentions). Things worked out well for us. It did get really chilly on Friday night, but with the exception of a few melon vines the plants appear to have been mostly unaffected. We then had to pull out our warm-ish layers to get ready for our busy Saturday.

On Saturday, we were at Bayfront for Harvest Fest. It’s always a fun event to meet so many people in the community, chat with other local farmers, and show off some new things. If you stopped by our booth, you may have seen our mini carrots in their packaging. The bags arrived just in time for Harvest Fest, and will be hitting some grocery store shelves later this season, so be on the lookout for them. You’ll be getting this variety in your shares this week, but 2 pounds instead of the little bags for market.

In preparation for the remaining few weeks of the CSA season, Janaki starts taking inventory of all the vegetables we have sent to our members so far this season, and starts planning for when we will send the remaining vegetables.  You all have gotten lots of delicious veggies so far, but there are still quite a few things you haven’t seen in your boxes yet. Spoiler Alert: we still have leeks, rutabaga, parsnips, pole beans, red cabbage, winter squash, and brussels sprouts. This week we have a new addition to the line up with Carmen peppers. These peppers look intimidating because their shape resembles that of a spicy pepper, but they are not spicy at all. They are like a sweet red bell pepper but we love the thick walls and robust flavor of the Carmens.

Along with planning what else will go in the boxes for the remaining weeks, Janaki also starts creating a plan for our big Fall harvest that happens at the end of October. A big part of this is pulling out the carrot and potato harvesters to fix anything that got broken/damaged last fall or over the winter in storage, and to dust off the machines and the crew’s sorting abilities that haven’t been used in a year. We used the carrot harvester on Wednesday to get most of the third planting of carrots out of the field, and we used the potato harvester on Thursday to get russets and red potatoes out of the field to bring to Harvest Fest. This means that for the last 13 weeks, every vegetable you’ve received in your box has been lovingly harvested by hand by our hard working farm crew. 

It’s an exciting time when the veggies are large enough and mature enough to use the full sized harvesters. We weren’t able to use the potato harvester until now because the potatoes weren’t mature enough. Their skin was still too delicate for all of the rolling, shaking, and dropping that the potato harvester puts them through. The first two plantings of carrots were large enough and mature enough that we could have used the harvester. However, due to the disease, the carrots required a lot of sorting. This would have required the harvester to go slower so we would have time to sort more accurately. If we run the carrot harvester too slow, the harvester will skip over some carrots leaving them in the field. We actually enjoy hand-harvesting, but when we’re all geared up to go fast it gets pretty irritating in a hurry when things go wrong. 

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 red chili, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. dried turmeric

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ pieces

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 c. low-sodium vegetable broth

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly chopped cilantro, for serving

    • Directions

  • Step 1:In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add chili, garlic, and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add garam masala, turmeric, and cayenne and cook until toasted, 1 minute more. 

  • Step 2:Add potatoes, cauliflower, and vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook, covered, until potatoes and cauliflower are tender, 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

    • Melon and Cucumber Salad

    Ingredients

    • 1 cantaloupe, seeds removed and cubed
    • 1 large cucumber , thinly sliced
    • 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
    • 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
    • 3 – 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (white wine vinegar ok too)
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional
    • 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, or to taste
    • good pinch of salt
    • fresh basil or mint, to garnish (optional)

    Instructions

    Cantaloupe: Slice your cantaloupe in half (doesn’t matter if you slice it horizontally or vertically). Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon and discard. Slice your cantaloupe halves into 5 or 6 slices. Using a sharp knife, cut from one end of the slice to the other as close as you can to the rind, slowly and carefully cutting the orange flesh away from the peel. Slice into bite size pieces.

    Cucumber: Slice off each end and using a vegetable peeler remove the outer skin (leave skin on for extra nutritional value and fiber). Slice the cucumber into 1/8 – 1/4 inch slices.

    Bell Pepper: Wash and core your bell pepper. Slice into 1/4 – 1/8 inch slices. Cut the slices in half.

    Onion: Slice the onion in half lengthwise. Cut off both ends of one of the halves and remove the outer layer. Place the sliced onion, end cut down and slice into 1/8 – 1/4 inch slices. If onion slices seem too long for you, cut them in half.

    Assemble salad: Place ingredients in a large bowl. Add apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well to coat. Cover and set in the refrigerator for an hour or so to chill and marinate, mix occasionally if you like

    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 11

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    We hope you’re ready! This Saturday, August 24th is our wonderful Coffee On The Farm event. We will have coffee, hay rides, dog pets, and farm tours from 10am-12pm. This is a great event for all, so bring your friends, family, neighbors, or make it a solo outing. We hope to see all of your smiling faces.

    Last week was focused on emptying out some more rows and fields, and dusting off all the washing equipment that hasn’t been used since January when we washed the last of the 2023 carrots. 

    We spent a muddy and rainy afternoon pulling the rest of the Spring/Summer beets out of the field. Seems that every time we do a big harvest of beets, it’s muddy and wet. Thank goodness for outside hoses so we can set up the “human car wash” and hose ourselves off before moving onto the next activity. We had been harvesting beets as needed which allowed the smaller beets to keep getting bigger, and it allowed us to send you the delicious tops along with the beets. It was time to pull the rest of the beets because even the small ones had sized up nicely. Restaurants like Duluth Grill and Ursa Minor will be very excited to receive such big beets that take less time and are easier to process than a handful of smaller beets. On days when we do big beet harvests, we take all the tops off while we are in the field. The tops will get tilled into the soil to add back organic matter to make the field even better the next time we use it. The beets get put into buckets and loaded on a trailer to be brought down to the packing shed. Outside the packing shed, we have our washing station set up. The buckets get dumped into our brush washer where a series of sprayer nozzles and brushes clean all the dirt off of the beets. They pop out the other side where we sort out any odd beets, and give them a final spray to get off any remaining dirt. Once the beets are all approved, they ride the roller table, which is a series of rollers that push the beets along. Eventually they drop into a pallet box where they will stay until they get packed up for CSA or retail orders. We filled one pallet box with the remaining spring/Summer beets which is estimated to be around 1,000 pounds of beets.

    We spent a few days last week across the road, starting to get the first two plantings of outdoor carrots out of the ground. Normally at this time in the year, we would just be removing the first outdoor planting, but disease has hit these carrots pretty hard, so it’s best to get them out sooner rather than later in an attempt to save some of the crop. Our carrots have gotten a disease known as Aster Yellows. A bug called a Leaf Hopper carries this disease. The Leaf Hopper gets the disease when it feeds on an infected plant, then spreads the disease when it starts feeding on a healthy plant. Once a plant is infected, there is no cure, so the only option is to remove the crops or plants before the disease gets worse. We knew the carrots had this because 1) when you touch the carrot tops, hundreds of Leaf Hoppers jump and fly around. 2) from afar, you can tell because it causes the carrot tops to turn a yellow color, and some even get purple and red tops. The really infected carrots will start getting “hairy” this is where they begin to grow extra roots out of the carrot. Once the carrots get hairy, they will also take on a bitter taste. 

    The first planting required lots of hand sorting to find the healthy carrots. We left quite a few carrots in the field, but we were still able to harvest and keep around 1500 pounds of carrots. That’s a lot of carrots, but a far cry from the 6,000 pounds that we should have harvested. The second planting looks a bit healthier, but is still pretty young, so get ready to receive some “baby” carrots in your shares. 

    The annoying thing about Aster Yellows and Leaf hoppers is that they are not exclusive to carrots. Leaf Hoppers can infect a long list of plants including house plants, flowers, and other vegetables. We struggled earlier with asters yellow on some lettuce in a few of our greenhouses. The insects cause the leaves to turn a yellowish green color, and it tastes bitter. We had to do the same thing as with the carrots where we harvested and kept what we could, and the infected lettuce went to our chickens as an unexpected treat. Thankfully, lettuce grows really quickly, so we got a new planting seeded right away, and our chickens were very happy.

    We’ve also found other diseases in our broccoli, outdoor tomatoes, the first planting of potatoes (not the big planting thank goodness), zucchini, and cucumbers. The good thing is, most of these diseases are “normal” for us, so we’ve done a lot of research on ways to slow down the spread such as harvesting infected plants last, and using different harvesting tools for healthy plants vs. infected plants. Janaki has also done a lot of research to see if any organic materials can be used in slowing disease. The downside is, just like Aster Yellows, there is no cure for these diseases. Eventually the plants will get too stressed and weak, causing them to begin either producing funny looking and strange tasting vegetables, or the plants will stop producing entirely. 

    I know this wasn’t as upbeat of a newsletter as normal, but farming isn’t always happiness and sunshine. Farming is all about how you manage and move forward. We’ve never given up when things get hard. We reach out to new resources and experts, we pour an extra cup of coffee, say a few colorful words, and get back to it. This time of year can be hard looking at all the veggies that didn’t make it, but it sure makes us appreciate the veggies that did make it. We hope that this week when you get your box, you take a moment to look at all the beautiful vegetables and know that each one of them was grown with love, sweat, and maybe some dog fur.

    In your share this week:

    Cabbage – Green Beans – Carrots – Celery – Cilantro – Cucumbers – Dill

    Green Onions – Green Peppers – New Potatoes – Tomatoes – Zucchini

    Mixed Salad

    Note:  ingredients are chopped or cut into very small pieces in order to absorb the dressing and each each others’ flavors better. 

    2 tomatoes

    2 small cucumbers

    6 olives

    large raw carrot, peeled

    raw beet

    1-2 avocados, peeled and pitted

    2 potatoes (boiled)

    1 large, mild onion

    1 pepper

    2 hard-boiled eggs

    Chop all the ingredients and cut them into a very small dice. Mix them together in a bowl.  Dress with the following tahini cream dressing and mix well. 

    Tahini Cream

    1 to 3 cloves of garlic (to taste)

    1/2 cup of lemon juice

    1/2 cup of tahini

    1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

    6 tablespoons chopped parsley

    Crushed the garlic with the salt. Mix it with a little lemon juice in a large bowl add the tahini and mix well then add the remaining lemon juice and enough cold water to achieve a thick smooth cream while beating vigorously season salt and cumin.  Add more lemon juice, garlic or salt (all to taste) until the flavor is strong and tart. 

    This dressing may be used for many salads

    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 9

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    Last week was an exciting week here on the farm. It was garlic harvest! Well, part one of two for garlic harvest.

    This is a much anticipated time on the farm. Garlic is the crop that takes by far the longest to go from being planted to being ready for harvest. Garlic gets planted in the Fall, usually by Halloween, and doesn’t get harvested until the end of July or early August. That’s almost 9 months of growing to create the beautiful bulbs that you all get to enjoy.

    A little background about garlic, there are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck garlic is what we grow on the farm, while softneck garlic is generally what you find in most grocery stores. Hardneck garlic gets its name from the hard neck or stem that grows in the middle of the bulb. This is actually where the garlic scapes came from (remember those from a few weeks ago?) making it two crops in one. If the scapes are left on the plant, it will eventually create a flower. However, this also results in a very small garlic bulb because the plant has spent all its energy on creating a flower rather than on creating the garlic bulb. By removing the scapes, we redirect the plant’s energy back to creating a big, beautiful bulb. Hardneck garlic needs to experience a hard freeze in order for the individual cloves to form. The freeze initiates the division of the cloves. Without a freeze, you end up with what’s called a “round”. This is one massive garlic clove. Makes for easy peeling, but really difficult to use since I’ve never found a recipe that calls for that much garlic at one time. This is why we have to plant the garlic in the fall, then wait so long before harvesting.

     We know the garlic is ready to harvest when about half of the leaves have started to brown and die. If the garlic is harvested too early, the cloves won’t be fully formed and you’ll end up with a small bulb.You also run into the possibility of air pockets between the skin and the cloves which could lead to moisture getting trapped and hindering the drying process. If we wait too long to harvest, the bulb will start splitting which exposes the cloves and prevents the bulb from being stored. It’s a delicate balance. Janaki wasn’t sure if the garlic was ready to harvest, so we decided to harvest half of the garlic that seemed further along, and leave the rest of the garlic for another week to give it more time to mature. 

    On harvest day, we mow off some of the foliage to make them easier to handle. Then Janaki uses a tractor attachment to gently loosen the bed so it’s easier to pull the bulbs from the soil. At this point, one crew jumps in and we start pulling all of the garlic bulbs out one by one. They get loaded onto a trailer, then moved over to the greenhouses to be washed. Another crew gently sprays off any excess dirt, and lays them on racks in front of industrial sized fans to begin the drying process.  After harvest, the garlic needs to dry for about a month (timeline depends on temps and humidity) in order for the papery, protective shell to properly form. You can eat the garlic before it’s dried, but it won’t store if it doesn’t get properly dried. After the garlic is dried, we save the biggest, best looking bulbs to use for next year’s planting. That’s right, garlic is the gift that keeps on giving. We harvest the garlic, dry it, select the best bulbs, break them apart into individual cloves, plant the cloves in the Fall, and repeat. Once you get garlic, you never have to buy it again because you can keep planting it over and over. Because you can keep using the garlic over and over to plant, I asked Janaki when the last time garlic was purchased to use for seed, and he said it had been so long that he couldn’t remember but knew it was long before 2010 (the year he and Annie took over the farm). That’s more than 14 years of the same garlic being used over and over! He did say that this might be the first year he may purchase more seed garlic since the garlic preserving shares sold this year were at an all time high. Thanks for all the garlic love!

    In your share this week:

    Cauliflower – Cucumber – Carrots – Green Garlic – Kale – Onion – Parsley – Green Pepper – Sage – Tomatoes – Zucchini

    Zucchini stuffed with sausage and sage

    INGREDIENTS

    • 2 to 3 pounds zucchini
    • 1/2 cup walnuts
    • 1 pound sausage
    • 1 onion, diced
    • 8 ounces mushrooms, diced
    • 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 cup shredded pecorino cheese, divided

    INSTRUCTIONS

    • Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.
    • Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Leave an inch or so of zucchini. Set the zucchini in the baking pan cut-side up and season it with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour a quarter inch of boiling water into the pan, cover with foil, and bake for 10 minutes, just until the zucchini is no longer raw. Set aside to cool enough to handle.
    • Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast them alongside the zucchini for 5-10 minutes, until fragrant. Chop into small pieces and set aside.
    • Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage, breaking it up into medium-sized bits as you go. Transfer to a bowl and drain off all but a teaspoon of the grease. Add the onions to the pan with a good pinch of salt, and cook until soft and golden. Add the mushrooms and another pinch of salt. Cook together until the mushrooms have turned golden and any moisture they released has evaporated. Stir in the garlic and sage. Cook for about thirty seconds until fragrant.
    • Combine the walnuts, cooked sausage, onions, and mushrooms in a large bowl. Beat the eggs together. Stir the eggs and 3/4 cup of the pecorino into the stuffing mixture.
    • Pat the zucchini dry and fill the cavity with the stuffing..
    • Drain the liquid from the baking pan, rub it with a little butter or olive oil, and place the stuffed zucchini back inside. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the zucchini, and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the cheese is crispy.
    • Allow the zucchini to cool slightly. Slice into portions and serve. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for one week

    Mediterranean tuna salad

    • 1 (5-ounce) can albacore tuna in water, drained
    • 1 small bell pepper, halved, cored, and finely chopped (1 cup)
    • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon grainy mustard
    • 3 tablespoons chopped capers
    • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
    • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
    • Dressed salad greens for serving
    • Sliced cucumbers and crackers, for serving

    Directions


    Place tuna in a bowl and flake with a fork.
    Add bell pepper, oil, lemon juice, mustard, capers, and parsley; stir well to combine and season with salt and pepper.
    Serve with salad greens, cucumbers, and crackers on the side

    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 5

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    As July begins, there seems to be a strange energy in the air. It’s technically the middle of Summer which means it’s almost the middle of the growing season. It’s this happy, yet sad, yet stressful time of year. It’s the time of year on the farm when most of the planting is complete, but a lot of vegetables aren’t quite ready to be harvested. It creates a sort of limbo stage.

    As farmers, we try to stay in the moment (then again aren’t we all) to ensure we complete all the necessary tasks so the vegetables stay happy and healthy. This week that meant the farm crew was out mulching the rest of the outdoor tomatoes, doing some pruning of the peppers, more bug hunting, and lots and lots of weeding. Falling behind on any of these tasks can lead to unhealthy or stressed out plants that won’t produce how we expect them to. That would mean less veggies in your box each week, which would be a disaster!

    However, in order to be a successful farmer, one must also be thinking of the future. Farmer Janaki spent a lot of time this week checking on the storage planting of potatoes that went in a few weeks ago, to ensure the seed pieces didn’t get entirely drowned out in all the rain. He’s also been checking in on the storage cabbage to make sure they are growing on track for fall harvest. There’s also been an uptick in conversations during our morning staff meetings about when final plantings of vegetables are scheduled to go in the ground. Every vegetable gets seeded, planted, and harvested at very specific times to ensure the predicted outcome is achieved. Straying too far from any of these dates could have big consequences if we aren’t careful.

    This can make July an overwhelming time on the farm, but it’s also one of my favorite. As the crew walks along the fields moving from one weeding project to the next, you can’t help but notice all the flowers and tiny vegetables popping up all over. The baby broccoli peeking through the foliage. The beautiful white flowers that will soon turn into tasty peas. The Napa cabbage that is just days away from being ready to harvest. The big green tomatoes that, if I stare at them long enough, I can convince myself they might have the slightest tint of yellow to them.

    I always think of July as nature’s way of reminding us to slow down and find happiness in the little things. Of course we will keep checking our calendars and racing around to get everything done before the end of the work day, but we might occasionally take the long way to our next weeding project as a way to bask in the beauty of almost-full fields, and to congratulate ourselves on all the hard work we’ve done to get to this point. I encourage all of you to take an extra moment this week to really take in the beauty and flavor of all the vegetables inside your box.

    As I mentioned, good farmers are always thinking about the future, and we are going to ask all of you to do the same. We are giving you a heads up that we will be hosting our Coffee On The Farm event the morning of Saturday, August 24th. It’s a time for you to drink coffee, tour the farm, and meet other members. We will send out more information and additional reminders as the event gets closer.

    This week in your share:

    Kale – Cucumbers – Beets – Lettuce – Pac Choi – Parsley Green Onions – Garlic Scapes

    Cucumber and Yogurt Salad (modified from A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking by Claudia Roden)

    One large, cucumber, peeled and diced

    Salt

    3 to 4 garlic scapes, minced

    2 cups plain yogurt

    Pepper to taste

    1 tablespoon dried, crushed mint or 3 tablespoons finally chopped fresh mint

    Sprinkle diced cucumber with salt, and leave in a colander to drain for 30 minutes.  Mix the yogurt, garlic scapes, and mint in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.  Drain the cucumbers and add them to the yogurt dressing. Mix well and serve.

    Moroccan Beet Salad

    Half a pound of beets

    Juice of half a lemon

    One clove of garlic, minced finely

    Half to 1 teaspoon ground cumin

    2 tablespoons olive oil

    Salt and pepper to taste

    1/4 cup of parsley, chopped

    Place water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cut the beets in half and add them to the boiling water -cook until tender when pierced with a fork (approximately 30 minutes). Cool, peel and cut into bite-size pieces.   Place in a serving bowl.

    Whisk lemon juice, garlic, and cumin in a small bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Gradually add the olive oil while whisking.  Pour over the beets and stir to mix.  Let beets marinade for a few hours.  Sprinkle parsley on top on beets before serving.

    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