It’s now officially summer and therefore time to start handling produce in big quantities! Our tomatoes have just started with a big BANG (they weren’t ready for Wednesday’s Farm Shares but today we harvested hundreds of pounds!) and spring vegetables are still in abundance.
It’s time to put up some food. Stock the larder. We have Cabbage and Cucumbers in bulk so you can make sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and relish now…and enjoy for months to come. Here’s what our pretty-big batch of sauerkraut looked like in the washing phase: (We improvised on this recipe: Leafy Green Garlic Kraut — we used a combination of round cabbage and kale, plus we added grated frozen-fresh ginger ~ about a few inches for this huge batch. Likely one inch of ginger root for two heads of cabbage would equate to our batch.)
Our much-smaller batch of kimchi looked like this:
(We used this recipe: Easy Kimchi by the Kitchn)
We’ve also been making zucchini bread as well as shredding and freezing zucchini so that we can make zucchini bread this fall and winter. We have significantly improved our onions growing this year, and we love to make pickled onions and may even make onion jam this summer. Some favorites: Pickled Onions by the Kitchn (it calls for red onion but it works well with our yellow onions, too) and Onion Jam (this recipe calls for Parsley, which we are also harvesting right now!)
{photo cred: our dear own Bebo}
Pickles are on the list to be done this weekend. And to sweeten the deal, our peach tree is fruiting in abundance for the first time ever! So, peach processing is also on the list for us this weekend. Our peaches aren’t for sale (sorry!!) but we’d love to entice you with Pickle recipe suggestions:
Simple Refrigerator Pickle Recipe (We like to slice them ‘sandwich’ style: cut cucumber in half and then again lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices)
Simple Refrigerator Pickle Recipe without Sugar
“Easiest” Fridge Pickle Recipe
Canning Pickles Recipe (it’s easier than you think!)
How to Pickle any Vegetable by the Kitchn (including canning instructions)
Saturday’s/Monday’s Farm Share will most likely include: Salad Mix, Hearty Greens Mix, Cucumbers, Carrots, Cilantro, Onions, Garlic, Kohlrabi, and Tomatoes!
* 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
Cucumbers – See Pickle Recipes above
Tomatoes & Cucumbers – We make a version of this Tomato & Cucumber Salad almost every day during prime tomato season, except we don’t use plum tomatoes – we use whatever tomatoes we have on hand. And once Cucumbers are finished (mid-summer) we use sweet peppers instead. Finally, we tend to use Garlic in place of the onion that this recipe calls for. Substitute to your preference! This Tomato Relish recipe is also similar to what we do, except we don’t include oregano, and again, we include minced garlic.
Kohlrabi – For new CSA members, this is the least-known vegetable. It looks like an alien spaceship. Peel the bulbous stem and slice and eat raw! Or you can peel, slice, and cook it but we prefer it raw. See photo below.
Onions – See recipes above.
Cabbage – Sweet & Sour Roasted Cabbage Wedges is a recipe that comes highly recommended from a CSA member. It calls for Napa but this week’s savoy (curly)-style heads will work well. We hear it works to replace the brown sugar with honey and the cider vinegar with white vinegar. (Thank you, Kathleen!)
This week’s harvest (and baking) includes:
Basil, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage (savoy), Cilantro, Cucumbers, Garlic, Hearty Greens Mix, Kale, Onions, Parsley, Sage, Salad Mix, Spearmint, Summer Squash, Tomatoes (slicers and cherries)…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 24th 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
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