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