Monthly Archives: June 2016

June 30, 2016 Week 3 “A”

Threshing Table Farm                        Week 3 A

June 30, 2016

 

 

What’s in this week’s box?

 

Garlic Scapes                 Peas                                     Basil                                    Beets

Sunflower Sprouts       Kale                                      Turnips

Baby Romaine             Strawberries                  Parsley                             Lettuce                

 

Summer has moved in and spring is gone.  We see it in the vegetables as well as the neighbor’s field crops around our farm. The spinach is done . We will miss it but it was a treat while it was here! The heat this past weekend did it in.  The beets have sized up beautifully and we’re sending them this week but then we’ll be taking a break from them for a while.  The kale is ready for its first picking and we look forward to many more.  Strawberries are still in full swing and we’re thrilled to have Sugar Snap Peas!!! These are super sweet peas that are meant to be eaten, pod and all.  On a side note- the sweet corn is way past my knees! (Ever hear the saying, “Knee high by the 4th of July”? It refers to a farmer’s goal of having knee high corn by the 4th.)  Our 1st planting is on track! Of course, my knees are closer to the ground than most, but we won’t worry about that detail.

 

The Sunflower sprouts are nutritious and delicious! We took a trip to Milwaukee this winter and while there, visited Will Allen’s Growing Power Greenhouse. We saw them being grown there and thought we would give them a try. Yummy!  The sprouts are great to mix into salads as well as eat them as a snack.

 

We try real hard to keep extra plastic packaging out of the CSA boxes. It keeps costs down and most importantly, doesn’t add garbage to the world.  We use the cloth and mesh bags to deliver things to you that might otherwise get “lost” in the share box. Please feel free to take them home with your produce. When you’ve emptied them, please return them the following week when you pick up your produce. We’ll wash and reuse them. My mom, aunts and sister have sewn these for us over the years. It’s fun to see what color/design is on the bag each week. There are a lot of designs to choose from!

 

The cucumbers are starting to come in the hoophouse! We were able to plant them out there earlier than in the field.  We just have a short “trial” row of cucs in the hoophouse and the bulk of the cucs are in the field. We just have a dozen or so cucs that are ready, so we’ll be putting them in random boxes. If you have a cucumber, you’ve won the veggie lottery!  No worries, in a couple of weeks everyone will be getting lots of them!

 

Wanted:  Clean ice cream buckets with handles. Covers optional.  As we head into bean picking season, they come in really handy. Leave them at your pickup site and we’ll get them. Thank you!!

 

Garlic Scapes- Scapes are  the early treat the garlic plants give us each summer. Cut them into tiny pieces and sauté or cook as you would garlic cloves. Great fresh garlic flavor! You can freeze scapes too. I dice them up, package, label and freeze. You can grab a pinch or two of scapes out of the freezer any time you want to sauté garlic.

 

Peas- store in a covered container in the fridge.

Lettuce- Salad Spinner and then store in covered container.

 

Kale- Great for salads or sautéing.  Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

 

Beets- For storage, remove the greens from the root. The root can be stored in a drawer in the refrigerator. The greens should be stored like lettuce or Spinach. Great for salads and sautéing.

 

Sunflower sprouts- Store in a plastic bag in fridge.

 

Basil- I’m changing my thought on the basil- I’m having the best luck putting it in with my salad greens in a covered container.

Parsley- same as basil

 

Strawberries- Refrigerator. But really, did they make it home?

 

Turnips: Remove greens for longer storage. Store greens as you would any salad green, Turnips do best in the crisper drawer.

 

 

Looking for a cooking class to boost your veggie intake?

Well look no more! Member Susan Keskinen is offering a class on the farm-

Save the date!! Tuesday, July 19th. More info to come in next week’s newsletter!!

 

 

Roasted Beet and Turnip Salad

For the salad
  • 3/4 lb. red beets, trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch wedges
  • 1/2 lb. turnips
  • 1/2 lb. potatoes
  • 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  •  salt
  • 3 cups torn salad greens
  • 1 lightly packed cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 1/4 cup toasted, chopped hazelnuts
For the vinaigrette
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced yellow onion
  • salt
  • 1/2 to 1-1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
  • 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbs. honey
  • 1 Tbs. fresh orange juice; more to taste
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
  • 1 to 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • black pepper

 

Roast the vegetables

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 450°F.

In a large bowl, toss the beets with 1 Tbs. of the oil and 1/2 tsp. salt. Transfer to a large rimmed heavy-duty baking sheet. Spread into a single layer.

In another large bowl, combine the turnips and potatoes with the remaining 1 Tbs. of oil and another 1/2 tsp salt. Transfer to a large rimmed heavy-duty baking sheet. Spread into a single layer.

Roast the vegetables, flipping with a spatula halfway through and rotating the baking sheets, until browned and tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the sheets. Transfer to a large bowl.

Make the vinaigrette

Heat the oil in a 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant and softened, about 15 seconds. Remove from the heat. Let the oil cool for 3 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small heatproof bowl, whisk the vinegar, honey, orange juice, zest, thyme, mustard, 1/4 tsp. salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper. Whisk the warm oil into the vinegar mixture until emulsified.

Season to taste, adding more orange juice, salt, or pepper as needed.

Assemble the salad

In a large bowl, combine the greens and parsley leaves. Lightly season  with salt and then drizzle with 2 Tbs. of the warm vinaigrette. Toss, taste, and add a little more dressing, if necessary. Arrange the greens on a platter or plates.

Season the roasted vegetables with a pinch more salt, and dress them lightly with 1 to 2 Tbs. of the remaining vinaigrette. Scatter over the greens, then top with the hazelnuts. Serve right away, passing the remaining dressing at the table.

  • Turnip Greens

    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 small onion, chopped
    1 garlic scape, chopped
    1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    1 pound turnip greens, washed, stemmed, and chopped
    Freshly ground black pepper
    2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
    1 cup chicken stock
    1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

    Heat olive oil in Dutch oven over medium heat.

    Add shallot, garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until tender and fragrant. Add the washed and cleaned turnip greens. Mix together. Cook until they have wilted down, about 3 minutes. Add pepper to taste.

    In a small bowl, whisk the Dijon mustard with the chicken stock. Add to the wilted greens and cook until the liquid has all but evaporated. Add the toasted pecans and serve immediately.

Kale, Basil and Avocado Salad

1 bunch of kale, stems removed

  • 2 roma tomatoes diced
  • 1 large ripe avocado chopped into cubes
  • 2 stalks of celery finely sliced
  • ¼ cup of soaked sun dried tomatoes finely sliced
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • ½ a teaspoon of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh raw pinenuts
  • 2 tablespoons of finely chopped basil

Chop the kale well and massage with olive oil, salt and lemon to soften and wilt slightly. Mix the massaged kale with all the remaining ingredients. Pile high in serving bowls and serve with a wedge of fresh lemon.

 

Kale & Almond Milk Smoothie:

  • 1C kale
  • 1C almond milk
  • 1-2 Tbsp nut butter
  • ½ banana

Kale & Blueberry-Honey Smoothie:

  • 1C kale
  • ½ C blueberries
  • ½ C strawberries
  • ½ C plain yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp honey

Kale & Orange Smoothie:

  • 1C kale
  • 1C ice
  • 1C orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp mint leaves
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro
  • 2 Tbsp parsley

*For fruit smoothies use frozen fruit or just add up to 1C of ice

 

 

Have a great week and happy eating!!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas

 

Week 2 B – June 23, 2016

IMG_2301Claudia found a friend in the field!

Threshing Table Farm                        Week 2 B

June 23rd, 2016

 

 

What’s in this week’s box?

Garlic Scapes                                                 Spinach                              Basil                                    Beets

Red leaf Lettuce                                            Swiss Chard                    Green Onions                

Baby Romaine                                               Strawberries

 

Hello from the farm!  What a beautiful week of weather we’ve had!  A little bit of rain, some humidity, cool mornings, hot afternoons and lots of sunshine are making things grow!  We are in the most intense time of our farming season. There is a lot of pressure to weed every spare moment. We’re also spending a lot of time harvesting and washing produce while still planting things into the field.   It makes for very early mornings and very late nights, but the sunrises and sunsets are worth every minute of sleep we are lacking!

 

Great news! The Strawberries are amazing!! We keep bee hives at Demulling Farm and in exchange, we can pick strawberries for our boxes. They need the bees and we need the berries, so it’s a win-win!  Many of you ordered 5lbs or more of berries to be delivered with your share. If you would like to do the same for next week, please send us an e-mail with how many 5lb flats you would like and mail us a check written out to: Demulling Farms. $18 for 5lbs. (Or if you are at the farm, drop it in the “egg money” container.)

 

Not so great news: The peas are not quite ready. Mother nature has taught me not to commit to anything when it comes to veggies. So- I should have known better than to promise peas this week… I’m either a slow learner or just really optimistic.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say the peas will be ready… next week.  (Yes, definitely optimistic.)

 

We have had an interesting year with lettuce. For reasons we can’t figure out, we’ve had poor germination in the greenhouse. So we planted LOTS of flats of lettuce to make up for the ones that didn’t grow. Once in the field, we’ve battled the goats! We love our 2 pygmy goats, Tina and Cheyenne who wander the farm eating scrub brush.  In 5 years, they’ve never bothered the fields. This year- they’ve found the lettuce and are quite the fans. Malcolm is the #1 goat chaser who runs them off when they’re spotted in the field. They’ve been leaving the lettuce alone the past few weeks so we’ve got lots of beautiful lettuce!

 

When we moved our chickens out into the moveable coop, we had 1 mama and 7 babies that couldn’t go with. So we let them free-range around the farm. They’ve been fun to watch and it’s boggled our minds to see how many miles they put on each day! One moment they’re in the shed, the next under the swing set and a few moments later- near the treehouse. Last week, they found the greenhouse and were attempting to eat the baby plants there. 3 times we chased them out and that was the last straw. They were moved into the permanent coop with a fenced yard. I wondered how mama would take to this confinement and I can honestly say- I think she’s relieved! She’s been exhausted running after all those little ones and is thrilled that they are all in the same place!

 

 

 

Garlic Scapes- Scapes are  the early treat the garlic plants give us each summer. Cut them into tiny pieces and sauté or cook as you would garlic cloves. Great fresh garlic flavor! You can freeze scapes too. I dice them up, package, label and freeze. You can grab a pinch or two of scapes out of the freezer any time you want to sauté garlic.

 

Spinach- Store as you would any salad green. Eat raw or cooked.

 

Lettuce- Salad Spinner and then store in covered container.

 

Swiss Chard- Great for salads or sautéing.  Salad spin and then store in a covered container.

 

Beets- For storage, remove the greens from the root. The root can be stored in a drawer in the refrigerator. The greens should be stored like lettuce or Spinach. Great for salads and sautéing.

 

Green  Onions- Store in Produce drawer; the ENTIRE onion can be chopped and eaten.

 

Basil- I’m changing my thought on the basil- I’m having the best luck putting it in with my salad greens in a covered container.

 

Strawberries- Refrigerator. But really, did they make it home?

 

Please remember to bring bags, boxes or containers when picking up your produce. We’d like to keep costs down by making sure we don’t lose any of our delivery boxes. It also helps to ensure that no boxes are used for things other than produce.

 

Recipes

 

Spaghetti and Beets

I made this dish up for supper- yum!

 

Diced beets

Chopped beet greens

Olive oil

Garlic scapes

Cooked Spaghetti

Spaghetti Sauce (with or without meat).

 

Saute the beets and garlic scapes in olive oil.  When tender add beet greens to the pan. Saute until wilted.  Place spaghetti on your plate, top with beets and then spaghetti sauce. Top with cheese if you would like.

 

 

Chard Salad

 

2 tsp. olive oil

3 green onions, chopped

1 garlic scape, chopped

4 cups chopped swiss chard

½ cup dried cherries

1 T. water

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

 

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 1 minute. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add chard, cherries, 1 tablespoon water, pepper, and salt; toss to coat. Sauté 2 minutes or until chard begins to wilt. Stir in vinegar.

 

Basil and Spinach Pesto
1 cup packed spinach

1 cup packed basil leaves

1 T. chopped garlic scape

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup olive oil

¾ cup parmesan cheese

**Pesto is made to taste. Add or subtract any amounts to get the taste you like.

Blend all in food processor until smooth.

 

Have a great week and happy eating!!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas

 

 

 

 

 

June 16, 2016 Week 1

lenz-July 09, 2014-547A0171

Threshing Table Farm                        Week 1A

June 16, 2016

 What’s in this week’s box??

Garlic Scape                                    Spinach                              Basil                                    Beets

Lettuce                                               Swiss Chard                    Green Onions

 

The first greens of the season are a reason to pause and savor the moment. It’s one of those moments in the year that marks the passage of time and the promise of so much more to come!  Put your feet up, enjoy a fresh salad and feed your body and soul. This is a small taste of all that summer promises.

Welcome to a brand new farm season! It’s year 9 for us on the farm and we’re just as excited as every year before! It’s wonderful to watch for the return of our old friends in the garden- crunchy spinach, curling garlic scapes , fragrant tomato plants,  and even the stubborn weeds!  We’re happy to have dirt in our hands again, worms surfacing and birds serenading us.  Thank you for returning as a member (or starting new!) It feels like our community has reconnected after the long winter.  This is most evident as we visit with our work share members in the field while we harvest or plant.

New Things:

*We are now in our new pack shed! We built it last summer and Mike’s been working hard to finish some final projects in it. The ability to wash everything in the shed and have larger cooler space is wonderful! We recently hosted a “Farmin’ After 5” for the New Richmond Chamber. It’s was a great night with opportunity for other area business people to enjoy the farm with their families.  It reminded us of our Pack Shed party last August. We’re happy to share that a 2nd Pack Shed Party will be happening on AUGUST 19TH!  Save the Date! More info to come! Gravel Road will again be providing the music… You don’t want to miss it!!

*We have two new pick up sites- Hill Murray School and My Happy Place in Somerset. Welcome! We appreciate our pick up sites and coordinators a lot! Please tell them thank you for hosting when you pick up.  Great news if you pick up at My Happy Place (or want to get a little shopping done…) My Happy Place is open until 6pm.

*Mama hen and 6 little ones… Too cute!

* A hoop house we put up in December. We’re trying several things inside- tomatoes to hold after frost, basil that may escape the prairie winds and cucumbers- crawling up a trellis. It’s fun watching what grows best and what is best left outside.

*Threshing Table Farm T-shirts! More info to come!

*And more….  Keep reading the newsletters!

 

The kids are enjoying summer vacation. Jonas is at 4-H camp this week and the older two are helping with Vacation Bible School. They are all HUGE helps on the farm! Claudia, who graduated from 8th grade rivals Mike and I for the number of hours spent farming. It helps that our full-time employee Laura is so much fun to hang out with.  The boys can be seen out working with us most mornings and everyone is looking forward to the County fair and working at (or thinking about working at) their projects.

Newsletters:

A newsletter will come your way on Wednesday morning EVERY week. Even on weeks you don’t get produce (if you are a half share.) PLEASE read them! I try to keep it to two pages. (Though I’m never successful with the first letter!) Each newsletter will give you farm news, recipes and storage tips as well as a list of what is in your box.  If you are a half share and it is your “off” week , information and recipes will very likely help you use your share the following week. The newsletter is the best way to connect with what is going on here at the farm.  In addition, find the Threshing Table Farm Facebook page and “like” us! (You can also follow us on Insta-gram. Claudia keeps everyone updated with great farm photos there. )

 

Produce:

Please note that though we take great care in making sure that your food is safe and clean, we cannot wash produce on the farm as well as you can in your kitchen. Though you don’t have to worry about chemicals being on your food from our farm, nature is all around us. Our vegetables grow in… well… dirt! So please wash your produce once again- at home, before eating or cooking. If you don’t have a salad spinner, we highly recommend getting one.

 

Garlic Scapes- Scapes are  the early treat the garlic plants give us each summer. Cut them into tiny pieces and sauté or cook as you would garlic cloves. Great fresh garlic flavor! You can freeze scapes too. I dice them up, package, label and freeze. You can grab a pinch or two of scapes out of the freezer any time you want to sauté garlic.

 

Spinach- Store as you would any salad green. Eat raw or cooked.

 

Lettuce- Salad Spinner and then store in covered container.

 

Swiss Chard- Great for salads or sautéing.  Salad spin and then store in a covered container.

 

Beets- For storage, remove the greens from the root. The root can be stored in a drawer in the refrigerator. The greens should be stored like lettuce or Spinach. Great for salads and sautéing.

 

Green  Onions- Store in Produce drawer; the ENTIRE onion can be chopped and eaten.

 

Basil- Does best in a glass of water on the counter.

 

Please remember to bring bags, boxes or containers when picking up your produce. We’d like to keep costs down by making sure we don’t lose any of our delivery boxes. It also helps to ensure that no boxes are used for things other than produce.

 

Recipes

 

*I imagine some amazing salads will be taking place this week. Here are a few other ideas for your produce. Enjoy!

 

Wilted Beet and Chard Salad

beets with the leaves
1  bunch Swiss chard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces of goat cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop off the beet greens and set them aside. Peel the beets and either grate them on a box grater or in a food processor.

Wash the beet greens and chard. Shake to remove excess water, but no need to dry. Remove the tough center ribs and give them a rough chop. Stack the leaves on top of each other and slice them crosswise into thick ribbons.

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or pot on medium heat. Add the stems and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the leaves of the chard and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leaves have wilted and taste very tender. If the leaves still taste bitter, season with additional salt. Transfer the chard to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

To make the dressing, whisk together the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper, then stream in the olive oil while whisking vigorously.

Combine the greens and the shredded beets, and toss with the vinaigrette (depending on how much chard you have and how saturated you want your greens, you may have some vinaigrette left over). Serve, topping each plate with goat cheese.

This salad will keep refrigerated for up to one week. Wait to top with goat cheese until serving.

 

Fresh Basil Dressing

                Small bunch of  fresh basil

                ¾ cup olive oil

                ½ tsp. sea salt

                ½ tsp. pepper

                1 tsp. lemon juice

Blend all in a blender or food processor until smooth and serve with salad.

 

Spinach and Garlic Fritatta

 

3 Tablespoons olive oil

                10 eggs

                1 cup finely chopped raw spinach

                ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

                1 T. chopped basil

                Chopped garlic scapes (to taste)

Salt and pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. In a large bowl mix egg, spinach ,cheese, herbs, salt and pepper.
  3. Heat oil in 10-inch ovenproof skillet on the stove. Add the garlic scapes and sauté until tender on med. heat.(about 5 minutes).
  4. Pour egg mixture in skillet with garlic and cook over low 3 minutes Place in oven and bake uncovered 10 minutes or until top is set.
  5. Loosen bottom with spatula and cut into wedges and serve

 

Next week:  Peas and Strawberries  J

 

Have a great week and happy eating!!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas

 

 

 

June, 2016

Hello Threshing Table Farm members!
Just a quick note to say Happy June! We are so excited to get those first veggies out to you and we know you are too!  Things aren’t ready yet- so thank you for your patience! We’ve been very busy planting, weeding and more weeding!  The fields are starting to fill up- Beans, beets, lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, kale, spinach, green onions, regular onions, leeks, and more recently tomatoes- are all in! (Plus more I’m forgetting- like the first two plantings of sweet corn!)  The greenhouse is still packed and we’re continuing to plant in there as well.
The weeding continues to take up much of our time- today we’ll be weeding the peas! (Did I mention the peas?) We also have lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes in our hoophouse. The sweet potatoes are on trial to see how they will do in our new hoophouse. Remember the chance to vote for new veggies this spring? The Berkley tie-dye tomato plants were transplanted in last night! Soon the Autumn Crown pumpkins will come out of the greenhouse too.
We’re battling flea beetles on our broccoli and chineese cabbage. Those buggers are quite industrious and plentiful. The potato plants are just starting to emerge and already we are seeing potato bugs and their eggs. They too are very excited for the new plants to emerge.  We’re keeping an eye on the potato bug population for now and we’re keeping the cabbage covered with white row cover that allows the sun and rain through- but hopefully not the flea beetles. The broccoli can usually take a pretty good munch by the beetles and still thrive. In a few weeks, the flea beetle “season” will be behind us, so we’re charging forward with optimism. 🙂
We’re not sure if enough things will be ready to go in two weeks (June 16th) or if we’ll hold delivery off until the 23rd.  We’ll keep you posted when we make the decision. Timing is everything.  Though the first box or two is usually a little lighter, we hope to make sure you have some variety, so we’re waiting on several things to ripen at once.
Happy Summer Vacation and graduation for all those moving through the school seasons.  The kids are all home for the first day of summer vacation today and we’re happy to have them home again. They are good helpers and even better comic relief. And once the peas and carrots are ripe, I hear a lot less of “Mom, we don’t have anything good to eat!”
Please let us know if you have any questions and we’ll be back in touch soon!
Jody and Mike Lenz