Strawberries                           Lettuce                           Turnips and Turnip greens                  Radishes                                 Garlic Scapes

Basil                                      Beets w/greens                Spinach                                              Chives

Welcome “B” members! This is your first week to pick up your share. Please remember to bring a container to put your produce in at your pick up site. Please leave the white farm boxes at the pick up site.

If you are a half share, you will notice that we send the newsletter out to you on  your “off” week. This is to make sure that you get the info and recipes, so that you don’t miss out on anything. Please read each week, even if you only get your veggies every other week. Thank you!

Rain, Rain, Go Away…. Okay, I know… last week I said  it was too dry. This week it is too wet. Hopefully next week, things will even out.  The heat and humidity has been really hard on our greens. We have several plantings of lettuce that are rotting in the field. Our spinach took a hit from the heat we had in May. Now that it’s finally grown out of that damage, it’s starting to bolt from the heat from the last few days. Our first planting of broccoli is also a loss, as it too has bolted from the heat.  But… On the plus side… We have strawberries!!! Demulling’s had thought they would have a complete loss due to winter kill, but once again, Mother nature surprised us. They are not open for picking for the public, but they do have enough for us to come and pick for the boxes. We keep bees on their farm to pollinate the berries and in exchange, we get to pick berries for our CSA Shares. It is good to know people! Especially farmers!

We are getting ready for the Taher Farm dinner this Saturday. It always helps to have those special occasions to polish up the farm a bit.  Hopefully I can get to the flowerbeds before the dinner.  The weeds have really loved this rain. If you still want to come to the dinner, send me an e-mail. We might have a few last minute tickets available.

It was a bit quieter around the farm this week. Claudia was gone to 4-H camp as a counselor and Jonas went as a camper. Lots of fun stories and camp songs will surely come home with them. Malcolm has been spending his week taking the Tractor safety program. He will be an expert tractor driver by the end of the week.  We’ll be able to put him to work right away. 🙂

Now that we are harvesting produce pretty steadily, the pigs are enjoying scraps being thrown to them often. We love bringing them treats of lettuce, beet greens and more. What is not good for us is great for them.  They are warming up to us now that we bring them food. Next time you are at the farm, ask if we have any scraps to bring them. Everyone loves to feed the pigs!

Storage Tips:

Strawberries: Refrigerator. Do not wash until you are ready to eat.

Lettuce, turnip greens, radish greens, beet greens, spinach: Covered container or plastic bag

Turnips- produce drawer of fridge

Radishes: Remove from greens, place in plastic bag or covered container with a little bit of water

Garlic Scapes: Produce drawer

Basil: I’ve had good luck putting mine in with the lettuce in the refrigerator

Beets: Remove tops from bottoms. Place root in produce drawer.  Greens with lettuce.  Use beet greens as a substitute for Swiss Chard in recipes.

Chives: Plastic bag or covered container in refrigerator

****If your greens are wilty, submerge them in ice cold water for 10 minutes and then place in plastic bag in refrigerator.

Turnips, Greens and Raisins

2 T. butter, divided

2 tsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 bunch spring turnips and greens

1/2 cup raisins

salt

12oz cooked pasta of your choice, cooled. (optional)

Heat 1 Tblsp. butter and olive oil in skillet.  Add onions and cook, stirring often, until they become soft, about 5 minutes. Chop turnip roots into 1 inch “dice” pieces. Roughly chop turnip leaves. When onions are soft, add root pieces to the skillet. Sprinkle with salt and cover. Simmer until turnips are tender, about 8 minutes. Uncover, turn heat up to Med-high and cook until edges of turnips turn light brown. Stir occasionally.  Add chopped greens and raisins and cook until the greens are wilted and tender, another 3-4 minutes. Add remaining 1 T. butter and salt to taste. Eat as is or add pasta and toss.

Roasted Beet Salad

1 bunch beets, scrubbed and tops trimmed to 1 inch

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup pecans

1 T. Dijon mustard

4 T. white wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

4 cups torn salad greens

1/2 small onion, sliced

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Drizzle beets with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap beets in foil. Roast until tender.  Toast pecans in dry pan. Chop nuts fine. When beets are cooled a bit, remove skins. Cut beets into quarters.Combine mustard and vinegar. Whisk in olive oil until thickened. Add salt and pepper.  Toss all ingredients together and serve with dressing.

Have a great week and enjoy your veggies!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas Lenz

Hello Threshing Table Farm Members!!!

We are SO excited to be starting the season!!

THANK YOU for being a part of our farm community!

In your box this week…

Rhubarb                                      Baby Swiss Chard                                          Lettuce                            Chives

Garlic Scapes                              Basil                                                               Radishes

Around the Farm

With the late spring snow, we were sure we were going to be in for a late start on the CSA boxes. Then we were sure we were in for a hot, dry summer with the long absence of rain. Since neither of these things have proven to be true (yet), we are now certain that we are not going to be certain about weather related things!  It’s what makes farming so fun. 🙂

We are in full “Summer” on the farm. The kids are home from school and spending time helping on the farm as well as practicing for dairy shows, learning how to play the trombone, getting extra time with grandparents and enjoying “no homework”.   We are spending late nights in the field, early mornings catching up on housework (and falling further behind!) and enjoying every moment in between. We are planting in the greenhouse, transplanting to the field and weeding, weeding, weeding. Our fabulous employees and work share members are becoming a well-oiled machine, once again.  Now with adding harvest and delivery to the schedule, it’s nice to see all the work take the shape of beautiful veggies.

We had a scare a few weeks ago with our horse Chumley. At 34, a case of colic could be the end of him. He pulled through after a couple of stressful days and is doing well. You’ll see him “mowing'” the grass around the farm. The chickens are finding that every shed is more fun to lay eggs in than the coop. Jonas’ daily job is to go and search for the eggs. It’s always an adventure!

Eggs are available for purchase on the farm. They are in the walk-in cooler and it’s first come, first serve. If we have eggs, you can take them home. $3.50 a dozen and you can put your cash or check in the “egg $” bucket on the table near the cooler.

Housekeeping items

Please leave your white produce boxes at your pick up site.  Thank you!!

We wash most of the produce before it leaves our farm. However, we cannot do as good of a job at cleaning produce as you can in your own kitchen. Please wash before you use it. If you don’t have a spinner for washing greens, now would be a great time to get one.

Please be extra kind to your pick up sites! We couldn’t do this without their cooperation and generous hospitality. If you cannot get your box, try to let us know ahead of time. We can hold it at the farm for you to get later or donate it to the local food pantry. You can also have a friend pick up your box. If you cannot get to your pick up site to get your box on delivery day, and you do not communicate with your pickup site about other arrangements, your box will be donated to someone who can use it.

In the box

We are extra excited to have rhubarb in this box! This has been something we’ve been working at for many years. One of our members, Ruth Hilfiker gave me a  plant from her yard. I planted it and divided it over the years and this year I have enough to share!       I’ve added   a family favorite rhubarb recipe at the end of the newsletter that you may like to try.

The basil we are sending are just small cuttings. We trim the tops of the basil plants to encourage them to branch out more. These first cuttings are tiny but smell and taste like summer!

For those of you that don’t know, Garlic Scapes are the long skinny green objects in the box. They are an attempt by our garlic plants to put out seed. We harvest them to encourage more energy being put towards the garlic bulbs that are still sizing up. We also harvest them because they are delicious!! Chop them up and use them raw in salads, saute in your favorite dishes or blend into sauces and dressings. You can really use them anywhere you would use regular garlic.

Storage

Basil- does not like to be below 40.  Keep it on your counter and use as soon as possible. Use cut up in salads, on sandwiches or in your favorite hot dish.

Chard, lettuce – Wash, spin and keep in fridge in covered bowl or plastic bag.

Scapes – put in crisper drawer

Rhubarb- in fridge

Radishes- Cut the greens from the roots. Greens can be stored like any salad green. Use it chopped in salads for a spicy addition. Roots can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Chives: Place in a covered, glass jar in the refrigerator

Rhubarb Kuchen

Crust:

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 T. butter

1/4 tsp. salt

one  slightly beaten egg

2 T. milk

Mix first 4 ingredients. Add egg and milk. Press mixture into 8×8 pan. Apply flour to your hands and stretch it out. It will take you a few minutes to cover the entire bottom of the pan.

Top crust with:

1lb chopped rhubarb

1 3oz package of strawberry jello  (sprinkled over rhubarb)

And cover with a mixture of:

1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Best eaten when chilled. (Though I’ve been known to eat it warm with a spoon!)

Roasted Rhubarb

Chop rhubarb and place on cookie sheet. Drizzle with honey. Roast in 350 oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool and toss with salad.

Herb Aioli

2 T. Olive Oil

3 T. lemon juice

1 garlic scape

1 T. chopped chives

Several Basil leaves

Blend in blender until smooth. Mix in an equal amount of Mayo. Salt and Pepper to taste.  Use as a dressing of torn lettuce and Swiss Chard.