rom time to time we like to remind ourselves of the basics of healthy eating. We’re not nutritionists, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.
As Michael Pollen has famously said “Eat food. Real food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”
So – we try to hold ourselves to covering most of our plates with vegetables. We teach our children this also. Then we round out the rest of the plate with real food: protein, healthy fats, and carbs. {If you eat eggs, we offer an enthusiastic pitch for getting Steve Ault’s eggs, which he makes available in our farm stand. See egg inspiration recipes below.}
Protein: Eggs and meat from animals raised the way they are meant to live. {Organic} Beans, Nuts, Dairy. {Wild caught} Fish.
Healthy fats: See Nuts above. Healthy oils.
Carbs: Whole grain. We think Organic is important. If it’s not whole grain, we think it’s important to be naturally leavened.
{These are calendula flowers, which are edible. We love sprinkling them on top of our salads.}
It’s an old-fashioned way of eating to eat like this. We know. And it tastes so good, and we feel so good as a result.
Want to learn more about how the best food around is being raised? Want to meet some local farmers? Join Real Local RVA and Ellwood Thompson’s for a day of meeting the face of local, responsibly raised food at the RVA Farm Tour & Cookout:
Saturday, June 17th from 11AM – 6PM (Tour 11AM – 4:30PM / Cookout 4:30 – 6PM)
FARM TOUR
Load up your car with friends and family and meet us on Broadfork Farm. From there we will board a shuttle and visit four unique local farms. The first stop will be at Tricycle, an urban non-profit organization. The second stop will be Avery’s Branch Farms, a poultry, pork and cattle farm. The third stop will be Casselmonte Farm, a farm focused on producing safe, nutritious, great-tasting food in a sustainable organic system. The final stop will be back on Broadfork Farm, a thriving Certified Naturally Grown produce farm.
COOKOUT
From there we will kick off our cookout featuring Chef Joe Sparatta, of Heritage/Southbound, Corporate Executive Chef Michael Ledesma, of Richmond Restaurant Group, Chef Todd Johnson, of Ellwood Thompson’s, and other local eats! There will be craft cocktails by Belle Isle Premium Moonshine, craft beer by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, live music by 3rd Wave as well, so bring your lawn chairs or a blanket and come meet your locals!
Saturday’s/Monday’s Farm Share will most likely include: Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Cabbage, Kale, Turnips, a bulb of Garlic, Onions
* We now have a Facebook group for our CSA Members. Send a request to join, and we’ll add you so that you can exchange cooking ideas or questions with other members. (Thanks to those members that requested this!)
Vegetable Notes & Recipe Suggestions…also cataloged on our Recipe Page and see our Pinterest Page
Summer Squash – Whether you have the yellow or the green variety of summer squash that we grow, use them interchangeably. If a recipe calls for yellow squash, you can use the green one. If a recipe calls for zucchini, you can use the yellow one. Grilled Squash. Roasted Squash. Spiralized-Squash-Noodles with Brown Butter Garlic Sauce. We have enjoyed our squash each of these ways in the past week. We also love to grill or roast the squash in thin, long strips to then use as a panini sandwich filling. (Plug here for Penzey’s Sandwich Sprinkle as a fabulous way to season your panini.)
Cabbage – American Slaw. (Ignore Tyler’s instruction to buy bagged “slaw mix.” Our cabbage has so much more flavor and nutritional value.) Asian Slaw. Curry Cabbage with Peas. (We will make this recipe this week with our new Curry from Penzey’s Spices and will sub our summer squash in instead of peas.)
Kale – Kale Chips. Kale Pesto. (We made this last weekend, smearing it on slices of our Baguette. We subbed sunflower seeds for the nuts because it is what we had on hand. It is garlicky and delicious.) Kale & Gnocchi. (We made this the other day, eliminating the winter squash it calls for. It was great.)
Turnips – Caramelized Turnips. (This is how we prepare our turnips 95% of the time, then add them to various dishes. We love this caramelization process with our turnips.) Thai Green Curry with Turnips and Summer Squash. (Also calls for Cilantro, in case you still have some left from last week.)
EGG Recipes – As at least one wise CSA member has said: “Put an egg on it! It makes everything better.” Ricotta Scrambled Eggs with Ramps on Toast. (We sub our greens and garlic for the Ramps and are extremely partial to using our bread.) Chicken Sausage Omelet with Greens and Cheese. (We shamelessly substitute other proteins in for recipes like this. Tofu, Seitan, or TVP would work with appropriate seasoning added.) Scrambled Eggs with Caramelized Onions & Chevre.
This week’s harvest (and baking) includes:
Bok Choy, Beets, Broccoli Greens, Cabbage (round & napa), Cilantro, Cucumbers, Garlic, Hearty Greens Mix, Kale, Lettuce head, Microgreens, Onions, Parsley, Peppermint, Radishes, Sage, Salad Mix, Spearmint, Summer Squash, Thyme…and our Organic Hearth Baked Bread (Baguettes, Garlic, Seed, & Raisin loaves for this weekend)
{Our farmstand is open Friday with most of the above items…see here for updated inventory}
2017 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up Saturday, June 10th at our farm, at the Brandermill Green Market, or at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens.
Anything remaining after CSA shares are distributed and our farm stand is shopped… we’ll bring to the Brandermill Green Market or the Farmer’s Market @ St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the West End of Richmond. Keep an eye on what we have available via the online farmers’ markets: FallLineFarms.com and Local Roots Food Coop.
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
Want to follow along during the week, including Farm Stand updates? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram.
