It is finally May! This week is the start of our Farm Share – our Community Supported Agriculture program where members receive a share of our harvest each week from now through November. And this weekend is the start of farmers’ market season in earnest! Check out this line up of opps to load up on our vegetables, plants, and bread:
– We will be back at the Brandermill Green Market as we have been since we started this farm business in 2011. Visit us in the Market Square parking lot (in front of Sergio’s Pizza) from 9-12 for the vegetables we will harvest tomorrow, plus our vegetables and herb plants for your garden, and the 100% Organic, wild-yeast risen bread we will bake Saturday morning in our wood-fired oven. See harvest and plant list below.
– We will also be at the Farmers’ Market @ St. Stephens like usual, from 8-12 at the corner of Three Chopt and Grove in Richmond. See harvest and plant list below.
– On Sunday we will have a booth at the Over the River Maker’s Mart – Spring Fling! – in Bon Air. Visit us and our fabulous fellow vendors from 10a-3p for gorgeous and delicious handmade (and grown) goods (in the parking lot of Buford Road Pharmacy and Perk! Coffee). See harvest and plant list below.
Our harvest for this weekend will include:
Salad Mix / Microgreens / Sugar Snap Pea Shoots / Spinach / Spring Onions / Radishes / Sweet Salad Turnips (just a few) / Rainbow Chard (limited amounts)
{Photo above by @tisha_lyn on Instagram. We edit to add #SupportYourLocalOrganicFarmers !
Our plants currently available include:
Tomatoes: Brandywine / Cherokee Purple / Sun Gold Cherry / Black Cherry / Supersweet Cherry / New Girl / Better Bush / Big Beef / Celebrity / Roma / Patio / Pink Berkeley Tie Dye / Carbon Cherokee
Sweet Peppers: Carmen / Escamillo / Flavorburst / Lunchbox
Lettuce / Curly Kale / Cucumbers / Summer Squash / Eggplant (Galine, Dancer, Fairy Tale varieties) / Basil / Cilantro / Dill / Parsley / Rosemary / Lavender / Sage / Peppermint / Spearmint
Our Bread varieties for this weekend are:
Seed Loaf / Raisin & Cinnamon Loaf / Sunny Greens Loaf / Whole Rye Loaf
If you are a member of our Farm Share CSA and pick up on Saturday, your first share will most likely include:
Salad Mix, Hearty Greens Mix (baby kale, etc.), Spinach, Microgreens, Radishes, Spring Onions, Cilantro.
(Everyone will get cucumbers next week. These cold temps have not made it easy for early-season cukes like we enjoy growing! They are grown in our heated greenhouse, but that heater can only do so much. They are still behind usual maturity at May 1.)
Vegetable Notes & Recipe Suggestions…also cataloged on our Recipe Page and see our Pinterest Page
Salad Mix – This is a mix of tender baby lettuces. Enjoy raw topped with any assortment of goodies: sliced Radishes and Spring Onions, Nuts, Tofu, Meat, Cheese, etc. We love to make our own Salad Dressing and recommend a reliable House Italian Dressing recipe to keep on hand.
Hearty Greens Mix – Think of this as a “Super/Power Greens” mix. It is baby kale, mizuna, and tatsoi. These are delicious raw or cooked in a saute or soup. They are also a wonderful addition to a smoothie. Mix with our Salad Mix, or slice thinly and cook with scrambled eggs. (Saute thinly sliced spring onions first, and maybe also some mushrooms, for a really great combination of flavors.) Treat this mix like Spinach. We enjoy adding a bag to a batch of red sauce for serving over pasta.
Spinach – Enjoy these greens exactly like the list above for Hearty Greens Mix.
Microgreens – These aren’t a common item in our Farm Share, but with how cold this spring has been, most of our root crops are ready to harvest yet, so you get these little delights. These are the babiest of baby leave of Kale, Mizuna, and Broccoli. Studies show that greens harvested at this micro stage are up to 40 times as nutritious, bite for bite, as their adult versions. They are mild, not spicy. Add to salads, sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, scrambled eggs, on top of pizza, or just enjoy mouthfuls of these little greens. They are great cooked or raw.
Radishes – These red beauties of spring and fall are chock full of nutrients and great on top of green salads, tacos, burritos, wraps, and sandwiches. AND we have two magical Radish recipes that we love: this Radish Cream Cheese Dip except we usually add a spoonful of Fox Point by Penzey’s instead of the garlic it calls for, but it’s super flexible. Add sliced Spring Onions if you desire. Or just salt and lemon juice. And this Marinated Radish Salad, except we sometimes use just lemon juice instead of the garlic and ginger, and we’ve never added Cilantro but we should.
Spring Onions – Slice and saute! Or, slice and eat raw like some of our family members do. (These are salad toppings for everyone in our family except Janet.) Some people dip them in salt and then bite them! We saute them in butter as the start of almost any recipe: soup, stir fry, curry, eggs, etc. They are very versatile. Use as much of the green portion as you would like. The green portion is certainly edible, it’s just not as tender as the white part.
Cilantro – Add to Salads, sandwiches, and chopped fresh on top of any protein (chicken, tofu, beans, etc.). Or get a little wild and make a Cilantro Smoothie (calls also for banana, tropical fruit, and lime). Or make Cilantro Lime Chicken Flatbread with Mango and Roasted Jalapeno, or Thai Chicken Flatbread with Cilantro Lime Crema. We are digging dishes like that right now! Re: Chicken: We only buy whole chickens from our farmer friends (ask us if you want recommendations) and so when a recipe calls for chicken parts, we improvise. We usually roast the chicken whole and then add what we want to a dish. Easier recipe to tackle: make a simply Cilantro White Sauce to enjoy on top of salads, meat, tofu, etc.
**We’d planned for our Sweet Salad Turnips to be in this first share, but the cold spring has them biding their time, still tiny in the soil. Likely next week they will be ready.
STORAGE TIPS –
All Root Vegetables (Radishes and Spring Onions this week) – Keep refrigerated in a sealed bag or container, ideally with roots and tops separated in different containers, to prevent tops and roots from getting wilty. Most tops can be prepared/cooked in some way. If you are at a loss for how to prepare the tops, include them in a batch of Vegetable Stock.
Bagged Greens – Keep refrigerated in the bag in which we pack them.
Bagged Herbs – Keep refrigerated in the bag in which we pack them.
Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
Want to follow along during the week, including Farm Stand updates? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram
