Vegetables for CSA & Markets…for 6.25.2016

This weekend’s Farm Share will most likely include:
Salad Mix, Head of Lettuce, Cucumbers, Beets, Carrots OR Green Beans, Chard, Basil, Garlic, and Tomatoes!
                (See recipe suggestions toward the end of this newsletter.)
This is for our Farm Share CSA members who pick up:
~ on Saturday @ the Farmers Market @ St. Stephen’s
~ on Monday @ Summer Lake

On the bright side, tomatoes have begun for CSA shares and our market booths. They are delicious and so, so welcome. Part of the richness we enjoy as professional vegetable growers is that our kids get to feast on almost as many tomatoes as they desire. So it is that our toddler now smells of tomatoes each day as we lay him down for his nap. What a sweet smell.

On the sad side, our carrot harvest earlier this week revealed what we had feared would be the price of the rainy May: the bottom tips of 90% or more of our carrots rotted in the ground. Thus, loads of broken-in-half-carrot-seconds now grace our walk-in cooler. Our huge household and crew will pickle them and put them in kraut, but they aren’t sell-able. We got enough bunches of good ones for each Farm Share earlier this week but we’re not sure if there will be any for this weekend’s shares. It was a sad, sad morning pulling these roots out of the ground. We’ll balance this out with more bright news.

Last week’s Farm Share! Gorgeous and delicious.

This week we managed to extract 5 gallons of honey out of hive bodies that we have been storing in our walk in cooler. These hives were abandoned by the bees last winter. We purchased 6 new colonies of bees and installed them this spring. We stored these hive bodies full of comb and honey to be able to feed the new colonies with full frames of honey if needed. This time also allowed our resident beekeeper to get his brain wrapped around where and how to extract the honey.  It was laborious (and messy) and delicious and is not yet finished.

Green beans (actually both green and yellow varieties) have started coming in. We grow these mostly for our CSA, but some will make it to our market booth tables. They are so strikingly different than the beans available in the grocery store. Thank you for enjoying them and all the rest of what we grow!

This week’s harvest includes:
Asian Greens, Basil, Beets, Cabbage (savoy style), Chard, Collards, Cucumbers, Dill, Head Lettuce, Kale, Lavender, Salad Mix, Scallions, Squash, Turnips…and our Organic Bread (three varieties).

2016 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up Saturday, June 25th at our farm, at the Brandermill Green Market, or at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens. (Everything remaining after pre-orders will be available for purchase at the Brandermill Green Market and  at the Farmers Market @ St. Stephens.).

Recipe Suggestions:
Chard – Also called Swiss Chard and Rainbow Chard, this may be new for some of you. In general, treat it like spinach or kale. The multi-colored stems are edible. Feel free to chop them up and include them in your dish with the greens. We love: Eggs Nested in Swiss Chard & Mushrooms, Creamy Swiss Chard Pasta, Rainbow Chard & Orzo Bowls with Feta.
Beets – We prefer to harvest beets at the baby stage, so you’re getting one bunch of small beets. We don’t peel them – just trim the ends and prepare as you wish. We love: Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese, Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese & Walnuts & Honey Dijon, OR simply pan-roast them on the stove top (with oil, salt, garlic, etc.) and use as a topping on any green salad.
Garlic – Our garlic has just been pulled up out of the ground so it’s not completely dry. Peel as you normally would but the skins will feel different at this stage. Mince/chop and include in any/all of the recipes above and below.
Lettuce – We were reminded by friends this weekend that barbecue is wonderful in lettuce wraps/boats. Try Barbecue Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps or any variation on that theme.
Basil – Try it in salads such as Lemon-Basil-Wheatberry Salad (or substitute any grain). This also calls for Cucumber (also in the share this week) and Parsley (in case you have any left from last week). Of course, it’s a classic with Tomatoes, Mozz, & Balsamic Vinegar.
Green Beans – We eat a lot of these simply raw with dip or cut into pieces and put on a salad. To prepare them as a side dish, we love Wok-Seared Sesame Green Beans with our Garlic added. This dish also benefits from adding Carrots.

Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, & the whole Broadfork crew
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