Tag Archives: Swiss Chard

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

 

 

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