Midsummer Farm CSA  

Weekly Newsletter:  

Share Pick Up #3

Greetings!
This week we are harvesting blueberries, kale, and collards. It is a basket of intense health!

Dark leafy greens truly are the number 1 missing ingredient in today's diets. If you aren't already cooking regularly with dark leafy greens like kale and collards, doing so would be one of the most effective steps you can take toward a healthier lifestyle.  

Some quick tips - chop them up! I usually take the tough stems out - just hold the stem up and pull down on the leaves with your other hand to strip the soft leafy part away from the stem part. (The stems can turn family members off from liking dark leafy greens.) Then chop, chop, chop them!  You can take the chopped leaf pieces and throw them by the handful (use more than you think you want, they cook down tremendously) right into so many dishes you already make regularly.  Add them toward the end of cooking. Big handfuls of chopped dark leafy greens are great in dishes like sausage and peppers, various sautés, linguini and clam sauce, all sorts of soups and stews, etc. You really will soon miss their presence when your cooking. Dishes will seem plain without the greens!

Sometimes I like to roll the bunch of collard leaves and thinly slice them - like a chiffonade. I sauté some garlic, and chopped panchetta or bacon in a bit of olive oil, add the collards and a generous sprinkle of sea salt - let the greens cook until they are bright colored and tender - so delicious!

If you end up with too many greens, also note that both Collards and Kale store pretty well in the freezer - you will need to blanche or steam them before freezing. I do this by washing the leaves, and then throwing the wet undrained leaves into an appropriate sized pot, covering the pot, and putting the heat on medium-low. You'll have to stir the leaves once or twice, but they should be steamed down in about 3 minutes. I prefer to steam them down, rather than put them in boiling water, as they retain more nutrients steamed.

Blueberries!  All Berries, with their intense color and flavor, pack a tremendous punch of antioxidants and phytonutrients - you need to only buy and eat organic berries though. Berries are a bit tough to grow and don't have shelf-longevity, and if they aren't certified organic, can be covered with tons of pesticides, fungicides, and other poisons. Even washing in vinegar, salt, and lemon juice won't help enough. And "local" berries can have just as much poison on them as the ones you find in grocery stores. Organic Berries are always totally worth the money. They are also worth the effort to grow in your garden! Luckily, it has been a great berry year so far, this week we have blueberries, and next week we should have raspberries, currants, and blackberries.

I'm adding a small bag of basils to each basket this week. It is the first trimmings of the basil plants, which I do when I transplant the plants to promote bushy good growth. Basil really tastes like summer, so enjoy - I chopped some fresh leaves on top of tomato sauce once I plated the pasta and sauce. It was so vibrant and let the basil flavor come out strongly as I didn't cook the basil in the sauce, just sprinkled it on top.

I'll be doing a workshop on Cooking with Beans this Friday at 11 am to 1 pm. In the class, I'll be demonstrating all sorts of great and delicious ways to integrate more beans into your diet, but I'll also be using many of the veggies and greens and herbs that you have been getting in the CSA baskets! There's still space in the workshop ... see below for more info. 

Legumes! Cooking with Beans Workshop

Friday, June 17th 2011, 11 am - 1pm

Beans are one of those things that can make a huge difference in your health and well-being just by adding them to your weekly eating plan. And we'll go over a bunch of different ways to integrate them into your every day life easily. This workshop will lead to better overall health. Beans have been missing from the typical American diet and people have strange opinions of them, but they are delicious, easy to digest when prepared properly, and nourishing on many, many levels. We'll do a selection of fabulous bean dips, nourishing bean soups, refreshing bean salads (great for packing for work or school lunches), minestrone, and a variety of other recipes, as well as bean spouting. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged - it takes place in the kitchen at Midsummer Farm | Cost is $36 | Registration closes 6/16/11.

Crafting Herbal-Infused Salves, Ointments, and Lip Balms  

Friday, June 24th 2011, 10 am - 12 noon

With a focus on organic, fair-trade, medicinal herbs and spices, we'll construct a variety of healing and soothing salves and lip balms. We'll also discuss different types of healing herbs, what they can do for us, and where to get them. You'll never want to be without a jar of Anti-itch salve made with white willow bark and plantain or Dry-skin healing Calendula salve made with self heal and chickweed once you see how fun they are to make and how effectively they work. Workshop takes place in the farm kitchen | Cost is $36 | registration closes 6/22/11

Pestos and Salsas Workshop

Friday, July 8th 2011, 11 am - 1 pm

Creating Pesto and Salsa Verde is truly an art in the artisanal kitchen. And although we'll do a great traditional Basil pesto, we also have a whole range of absolutely wonderful and creative mixtures using arugula, parsley, cilantro, lovage, chervil, dandelion, unusual heirloom Italian chicories, and more. All the Pestos and Salsa Verdes we will be making will also be fully balanced using nuts and seeds and can be thought of as the main course as well as the appetizers. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged | Cost is $36 | registration closes 7/5/11

Too Many Zucchini! Workshop

Saturday, July 9th 2011, 11 am - 1 pm

By popular request - I'm doing a workshop on what to do with all your summer squash. I also used to feel overwhelmed and even bored by summer squash, but now I can't wait to get my hands on as many as possible! I have a wide range of truly delicious recipes that I am thrilled to share with you so you too can fully enjoy all those zucchini you're pulling out of your garden this time of year! As with my other cooking workshops, you'll take home a variety of recipes and building outlines for creatively designing your own meals. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged | $36.00 | registration closes 7/6/11

Processing Meat from Your Own Poultry

July 16th 2011, 9:30 am to 12 noon

Workshop takes place at Two Pond Farm in West Milford, NJ and is taught by Allison and Randy Hosford.

This workshop focuses on how to humanely and properly process your own poultry for meat. There are two ways to participate: Hands-On: limited number of spaces available. You will slaughter and butcher 2 humanely and pasture-raised birds from Two Pond Farm with the option to take home your freshly dressed birds at $2.80 per pound! Or you can take it as an Observer-Only. (You can still purchase humanely and pasture-raised meat from Two Pond Farm.) Two Pond Farm is located at 176 Weaver Road, West Milford, NJ 07480. There is a 'Fresh Eggs' sign at the end of the driveway. Please dress appropriately, this is a messy process. Wear something over your hair as the feathers will be flying. Cost is $36 | Registration closes July 12th 2011.