Welcome to Rutiz Farms
HAPPENINGS ON THE FARM  . 

  The stand is now open until 6pm each Tuesday and Friday.  We should start opening on Saturdays at the beginning of April.

For those of you interested in our CSA box deliveries for the SLO city area...we plan on starting those in mid April...watch for sign up info in future newsletters.

Our strawberries are finally starting to ripen up....we should have a few flats on the table this Friday...with more next week.  

 We are slowly phasing out the use of the white plastic shopping bags ( as per the new county-wide ordinance that will take affect this summer).  Please try to bring your own reusable shopping bags when you come to the stand.  We will continue to have the smaller "roll" bags available to put individual items in. We also have a supply of reusable shopping bags that we can sell you for $1.   

For those of you who pay for their purchases at the stand with a personal check...please make out the check to be payable to "Jerry Rutiz"....after years of accepting most any variation of our farm name on the checks, our"beloved" bank suddenly insists that my name be written on each check! 

 WHAT'S  IN THE BOX THIS WEEK   

This week's box will include a couple of bulbs of kohlrabi. Trim off the top leaves to cook separately.  You can enjoy kohlrabi sliced up raw , or use both leaves and bulbs as cooked vegetables. The leaves make a wonderful greens. Cut out and discard the stems, then drop the leaves into a pot of boiling salted water. Cook until just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Then heat some olive oil in a skillet, add garlic or chopped onion and sauté until fragrant and softened. Toss in the kohlrabi leaves and cook a few minutes more. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Peel and slice kohlrabi bulbs raw for snacks, just like you would slice up an apple. Thin slices make crispy sweet dip holders or can be used instead of crackers for creamy spreads. Slices are great to add to green salads instead of cucumbers. You'll find shredded raw kohlrabi makes especially mild, sweet coleslaw, ( try mixing with shredded carrots).
Kohlrabi's mild flesh cooks up to tender sweet succulence. Peel off the outer skins and slice or cube to saute slowly in sweet butter, or steam the unpeeled bulbs whole, then peel and cut up.  

The artichokes are jumbo size...easily each one could feed 2 people...lots of "meat" on the leaves and a big "heart".  Just be sure to steam them enough ( put them in a large sauce pan with a steamer screen and 2 inches of water )...steam maybe an hour or so...until the outer leaves pull off very easily.  If you say your artichoke was tough and difficult to eat...it is because you under cooked it!    

The "Persian" cucumbers come from Ocean Breeze Farms in Nipomo.  They are grown using pesticide- free farming practices.  . The "Persian" cucumber is unique among cucumbers in that it has a thin skin that doesn't require peeling and has no bitter aftertaste.

The kiwis and Mandarin Oranges would make a great snack for the kid's lunches or combine them together with some blueberries for a great fruit salad dessert. 

      PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT OUR STAND FROM OTHER FARMERS AND BUSINESSES:
Almond Brittle from Paso Almonds of SLO...freshly made each week by Rusty and his crew. 

Tree fruit  from  Cirone Farms of See Canyon and Polito Family Farms of San Diego County
Kiwis and avocados from Mallard Lake Farms of Nipomo

Blueberries from Gary Teixeria of Santa Maria 

Ciders and Juices "flash pasteurized" from Chadmark Farms of Paso Robles....pesticide free!..

David's Blue Ribbon Honey...regular honey, honey with comb and lemon and raspberry flavored creamed honey.