Category Archives: Newsletter

Threshing Table Farm Week 3

Hello from the farm!

In your box:

Kale      Spinach     Peas     Strawberries     Lettuce

Garlic Scapes     Basil

Well, we’re slowly creeping up to our goal of 10-14 items in the box!  We’re excited to see peas, kale and Strawberries(!!) make it into the box this week!  This has been a goofy weather week, (again) but the rain and cooler temps have been good for the greens and peas.

We barter beekeeping for strawberries at Demulling Farms in Osceola. As I mentioned earlier, they took quite a hit from the hail a few weeks ago. Luckily, there are still some great berries coming! We will be picking these for the boxes this week. There will be a quart of berries in each box. Jen and Loren are not able to open the farm for picking this year, but they are working hard to fill a limited number of orders. If you would like to order berries for delivery THIS THURSDAY, please let us know by TUESDAY, MIDNIGHT. They will be picked on Wed. morning. $15 for 5lbs of berries.  E-mail us with your name, the # of pounds you would like and where your pick up site is.  Please mail a check made out to Demulling Farms to us here-

Threshing Table Farm

2249 150th St.

Star Prairie, WI 54026

 

We hope to have more berries next week, but time will tell. We’ll keep you posted! Watch the newsletter for info.

We’re watching the summer squash plants blossom, the potato plants blossom and the winter squash and pie pumpkin plants as they start to canopy.  Mike, I and the crew have been quite busy weeding, weeding, weeding. So far, we feel like we are winning the war… most of the time.  Who hasn’t been busy weeding? Claudia.  Our oldest is on a 10 day vacation to visit her friend Aimee in Alberta, Canada.  She has never been away from home this long before, or this far, or alone for that matter! So it’s a grand adventure and growing experience for all of us. She’s been enjoying the great outdoors of Canada swimming and horse back riding along with some shopping, a concert and a whole lot more we’ll hear about when she gets back. Some of you may remember hearing about or meeting Aimee when she visited us here last summer.

Exciting News!!!!

Bifrost Farms Creamery is anxiously waiting to provide you with a goat cheese option with your upcoming CSA box for July 6th. These selections will be offered during the first and second weeks of each month during our season.
This time, Bifrost Farms is offering the following cheeses to be added to your share. One selection per member, please. To order and pay for your selection, go to  http://www.bifrostfarms.com/csa/  and fill out the contact form provided and use the Paypal button on that page to pay Bifrost Farms directly. Your cheese will be included in your share next week. Please have all orders placed by midnight, Sunday July 2nd for July 6th delivery.
Plain Chevre
Garlic Dill Chevre
Herbs de Provence Chevre
Salzkase, a Greek Feta-style cheese.
All packages contain at least 4 oz. of fresh goat cheese.

On to the veggies!!!

Storage:

Kale, Spinach, Lettuce- Wash, Spin dry and then keep in covered container or plastic bag in fridge.

Peas- in covered container in the refrigerator, if they even made it home! These are sugar snap peas- so enjoy the pod and all!

Garlic Scapes- in the crisper drawer

Strawberries- the sooner you eat/use the better. Store in the clamshell, in your refrigerator.

Basil- Glass of water on the counter.

 

Recipes:

Shells with White beans, Kale and Bacon

8 oz box of pasta shells (or other pasta)

4 – 6 slices bacon, chopped

2 cups chopped onion

1 celery stalk, chopped

3 cups chopped kale

1 cup chicken broth

3 cups cooked or canned cannellini or other white beans, drained

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese

 

Cook pasta until tender.

While pasta is cooking, start cooking chopped bacon on med-high heat. After 1- 2 minutes, add onion and celery and cook until just soft. Add the kale and cook until the bacon is done. Add stock and beans, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until heated through, about 5 more minutes. Add more stock or water if needed. Add pasta and stir gently. Sprinkle with Parmesan.  Enjoy!

 

Easy Spinach Dip

2 cups fresh spinach- lightly saute in olive oil until wilted.

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayo

1 packet onion soup mix

pepper to taste

Mix together. Chill 1 or more hours.

 

Mixed Greens with Garlic on Couscous

2 bunches fresh greens, such as spinach and kale

2 T. olive oil

1-2 garlic scapes, chopped

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Salt

11/2 cups vegetable stock

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup Couscous

Wash greens, remove thick stems.  While still wet, place greens in a pot. Do not add additional water. Cook, covered, just until wilted. Drain in a colander.  Heat oil in a large skillet over med heat. Add the garlic scapes and red pepper flakes. Cook 2 minutes, don’t brown.  Add the greens, mix well and cook until the greens are tender-about 3 minutes. Season generously with salt.

Make couscous according to package. Serve topped with the wilted greens.

Happy Eating!!

Your farmers- Jody, Mike and the kids

 

 

August 11th, 2016 Week 9 B

Threshing Table Farm                        Week 9 A

August 11th, 2016

 

 

What’s in this week’s box?

 

Swiss Chard    potatoes                            Beans                                  Jalapeno peppers                       

Dill                       Onion                                  Carrots                               Eggplant

Cucumber        Tomatoes                         Summer Squash           Sweet Peppers

Cilantro

 

It’s the salsa box!! Everything you need to make a fabulous fresh salsa is in this box!  The tomatoes are just beginning. Do you remember in spring when I asked you to vote for a new variety of vegetable? The Berkley Tie Dye tomato was one of the winners. They are beautiful! A little oddly shaped at times, but so pretty! They’re a mild tomato with great flavor. We’ve tried to get one in every box along with other varieties- enjoy! And to those of you who voted… Great Pick!!

 

The Jalapeno peppers are in the paper bag.  Do not touch the insides of them with bare hands! I learned the hard way from a salsa making event. The oils from the peppers can really burn your skin!

 

Week 9 is our half way point in the season.  Hard to believe we’re half way through- but that means there are still 9 weeks of fabulous veggies! If you are a summer half share, we wish you farewell! If you want to extend your share to a full share to continue receiving your box of produce each week- please let us know. We will see if we can work something out.

 

We’re expecting some good rains Wednesday and Thursday. Amongst all of our regular harvesting, we are working hard to get the onions pulled into the greenhouse to finish curing before the rain comes. We’ve got about half of them in there now. It’s a race against nature!

 

We have a sassy pig on the farm. He crawls out under the electric wire- several times a day. He doesn’t travel far and he puts himself back in if we shower the pigs with water (they love that!) or feed them scraps. (Their favorites are from Table 65’s kitchen or our pack shed.)  If you’re at the farm this weekend- take a look by the hoop house. You may see him up to his antics. J

 

Claudia has been busy taking photos this summer and putting them on Instagram. Check out all that’s been happening around here! Find us on Instagram at:

threshing_table_farm

 

 

We’re less than 2 weeks from our Pack Shed Party! We hope you can make it!!!

We’re looking for a few volunteers to help with parking and managing the pot-luck food. (Uncovering/adding serving utensils,etc. when it’s time to eat, removing empty containers, etc.)  Please let me know if you’d be able to help. Thank you!!!

 

Please come to Threshing Table Farm’s

2nd Annual Pack Shed Party!!

Friday August 19th,

6:30pm -??

Music provided by Gravel Road

Please bring a dish to pass,

A-H main dish

I-P salad/side

Q-Z desserts

 

Chairs and beverages for your family are helpful too! We will  provide lemonade and water. We will be passing a hat (or two!) to pay the band; So come with some cash, and show your appreciation!

Our address is:

2249, 150th st,   Star Prairie WI

Thanks so much! We can’t wait to see you there!!

 

Farm City Day:  The 2016 Farm City Day will be held on Saturday, August 13 at the Kruschke family’s Crisdhome Farm near New Richmond.  This is a great community opportunity to see how a farm runs.  There will be a free lunch, farm tour, ice cream, petting zoo, and lots of vendors.  The event will take place rain or shine.  For more information visit www.sccfarmcityday.com.

Kruschke’s are our neighbors- and we’ll be helping out with this event. Come on out and see their dairy farm! I’ll be there with a table about the farm as well as helping to serve the free lunch from noon-2. We’ll also have our farm open from 8am-2pm- stop by and say hi to Mike! We’ll be open for the pubic every Saturday from 8-1 until the season is done.

 

Phil’s Raspberries

Phil’s fall raspberries are starting!!  We should have them each week until heavy frost comes.  Please let me know if you’d like to order any- I’ll be able to get them to you starting next week. $4 a pint. If ordering, please let us know:
*Which Thursday you would like them
* Where your pick up site is.

Checks can be made out to Phil McConville.  – and mailed to us at:  Threshing Table Farm, 2249 150th St. Star Prairie, WI 54026  (or left at the farm in the “egg $” bucket.)

 

Needed:  Egg Cartons. Drop them off at the farm anytime! Thanks!!

In this box….

Carrots: Keep in crisper drawer or plastic bag.

 

Potatoes-  Store in cool, dry place.

 

Beans: Store in plastic bag left open in the refrigerator.

 

Swiss Chard: Store in crisper drawer, salad spinner, etc.

 

Dill and cilantro:  Plastic container in refrigerator.

 

Onions: Starting to cure. Counter is probably fine, but watch closely for soft spots.

 

Tomatoes: On the counter. We like to send them in varying stages of ripeness so you can have some to use all week. They’ll ripen nicely on your counter.

 

Cucumber and Summer Squash: Crisper Drawer.  Summer squash and zucchini can be used interchangeably in all recipes.

 

Eggplant: Refrigerate

 

Peppers: Crisper drawer

 

 

Pot Luck Potato Salad

I threw this together for a church pot luck on Sunday. No exact measurements- but it sure tasted great!!

 

4-6 potatoes, boiled until tender.  Cool. Dice.

1 summer squash, diced

small handful of onion, diced

2 Swiss chard leaves and stems, chopped, sautéed in olive oil

Dill, chopped

Salt and Pepper,

Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar to taste

 

Gently toss all together. Enjoy!!

*Best at room temperature. Feel free to add additional veggies you have on hand.

 

 

Veggie Quinoa Chili

 

½ lb ground beef, optional

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup minced onion

2 t. garlic, minced

2 t. chili powder

1 t. ground cumin

1 t. paprika

½ t. chili flakes

1 c.  quinoa, rinsed

1 small summer squash, diced

1 15oz can black beans

1 c. corn

2 cups diced tomatoes (or 1 can)

4 c. water

Salt to taste

Cilantro, avocado, sour cream for garnish

 

Brown beef in large soup pot.  Add olive oil if needed, garlic and onion. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add spices and cook 2 more minutes.

 

Add quinoa, summer squash, beans, corn, tomatoes and water. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes.

 

Top with cilantro, avocado and sour cream.

 

 

Mango Salsa

 

1 mango

2 tomatoes

juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeno

¼ cup chopped onion

2 T. chopped cilantro

1 tsp. minced garlic

 

Chop all ingredients. Seed the jalapeno as well as chop it.

Mix together and serve. Great as a topping on fish or chicken as well as eaten with tortilla chips or crackers.

 

Have a great week and happy eating!!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas

 

 

August 4th, Week 8 – 2016

 

What’s in this week’s box?

 

Celery leaves potatoes                            Beans                                  SavoyCabbage                             

Dill                       Onion                                  Carrots                               Eggplant

Cucumber        Broccoli                            Summer Squash           Pepper

Beets                   Radishes

 

We are playing a little bit of catch-up this week. Two weekends ago we spent lots of time away from the farm at the county fair. This past weekend, the kids and I spent the weekend in Kewaunee, WI to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday.  We had a great family reunion.  It was wonderful to be in the place where I fell in love with farming. Claudia was very excited to milk cows with her great- uncle Mark and she even got to name his newest cow. Her name? St. Croix!  My grandma was a farm wife for most of her life. She and my grandpa are still an inspiration to me. She’s seen so much in her 90 years! I am the only grandchild on either side of my farming family- who is a farmer. I’m humbled to be carrying on that legacy.

 

Luckily for our farm, Mike was here holding down the farm this weekend. We couldn’t both be gone two weekends in a row.   We’re starting to pull the garlic and it looks amazing! The onions are starting to get pulled and cured. The tomatoes are starting to show their colors and oh my goodness… the first ground cherries are ready if you look really carefully!  And they taste amazing! You’ll have to take my word for it for another week or two until we have enough to share. So much still to get done and so much amazing food coming your way!

 

August is full of farm fun!!

 

Please come to Threshing Table Farm’s

2nd Annual Pack Shed Party!!

Friday August 19th,

6:30pm -??

Music provided by Gravel Road

Please bring a dish to pass,

A-H main dish

I-P salad/side

Q-Z desserts

 

Chairs and beverages for your family are helpful too! We will  provide lemonade and water. We will be passing a hat (or two!) to pay the band; So come with some cash, and show your appreciation!

Our address is:

2249, 150th st,   Star Prairie WI

Thanks so much! We can’t wait to see you there!!

Farm City Day:  The 2016 Farm City Day will be held on Saturday, August 13 at the Kruschke family’s Crisdhome Farm near New Richmond.  This is a great community opportunity to see how a farm runs.  There will be a free lunch, farm tour, ice cream, petting zoo, and lots of vendors.  The event will take place rain or shine.  For more information visit www.sccfarmcityday.com.

Kruschke’s are our neighbors- and we’ll be helping out with this event. Come on out and see their dairy farm! We’ll also have our farm open from 8am-1pm- stop by and say hi! We’ll be open for the pubic every Saturday from 8-1 until the season is done.

Needed:  Egg Cartons. Drop them off at the farm anytime! Thanks!!

In this box….

Carrots: Keep in crisper drawer or plastic bag.

 

Potatoes-  Store in cool, dry place.

 

Beans: Store in plastic bag left open in the refrigerator.

 

Broccoli: Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator

 

Dill and celery leaves:  Plastic container in refrigerator.

 

Onions: Not cured yet, so keep them in the crisper drawer

 

Savoy Cabbage: Crisper Drawer

 

Cucumber and Summer Squash: Crisper Drawer

 

Radishes and Beets: Take tops off the roots for long term storage.  Store greens like any salad greens. Roots in the crisper drawer.

 

Eggplant: Refrigerate

 

Peppers: Crisper drawer

 

 

Cucumber Sandwich Spread

1 ½ cup chopped cucumber

Chopped celery leaves to taste

3oz package cream cheese

½ cup mayo

1 T. minced onion

salt and pepper to taste

 

Mix and serve on bread or crackers. Yum!!

 

Grilled Eggplant

Eggplant, sliced

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

Sprinkle egg plant slices lightly with salt. Place in colander and let stand one hours. Wipe excess salt off eggplant. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Grill, broil or sauté on both sides until golden brown (approximately 5-8 minutes.)

 

Eggplant Pizzas

2 medium eggplants, unpeeled, cut into ½ inch slices

½ cup olive oil (reserve 1 T.)

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. pizza sauce

1 c. grated mozzarella cheese

(Other pizza toppings, optional)

 

Place eggplant slices on baking sheet. Brush each slice with oil and broil until the eggplant is golden brown. Turn the slices over and repeat.  In a large sauce pan, heat 1 T. oil and sauté onion and garlic. Add pizza sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and carefully spread on eggplant slices. Sprinkle with cheese and broil 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the eggplant heated through.

 

Halibut with Roasted Beets, Beet Greens, and Dill-Orange Gremolata

Ingredients

Servings: 4

  • 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel
  • 3 medium (1 1/2- to 2-inch) beets with green tops attached; beets trimmed and scrubbed, beet greens very coarsely chopped (4 to 6 cups)
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
  • 4 6- to 7-ounce halibut fillets or mahi-mahi fillets (about 1 inch thick)
  • Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush large rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Mix dill and peel in small bowl for gremolata. Place beets in medium glass bowl; add enough water to cover beets halfway. Microwave on high until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain. Cool beets slightly. Peel and cut into slices. Return beets to same bowl. Add 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon gremolata, and onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss well. Toss beet greens in another medium bowl with 1 tablespoon oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Spread beet slices in single layer on half of prepared baking sheet. Mound beet greens on other half of baking sheet. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper; place fish fillets atop beet greens. Brush fish with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Sprinkle fish with 2 tablespoons gremolata.
  • Roast fish and vegetables until fish is just opaque in center, about 8 minutes. Divide fish and vegetables among plates. Sprinkle with remaining gremolata and serve

 

 

Have a great week and happy eating!!

Jody, Mike, Claudia, Malcolm and Jonas

 

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, 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