By Evan Conklin, Farm Manager 

Hello CSA shareholders, welcome to week 3 of the Wellspring CSA. We have had yet another great week here at the farm. The temperatures have yet again been great, maybe a bit hot for working at times but the vegetables have really liked it, especially the tomatoes and peppers. We are making a pretty good dent on the weeds but the pesky things just seem to keep growing all the time.

I have been thinking a lot this week about what I like and dislike about the CSA model. For the most part I love CSAs. The idea of a community sharing in the joys and sorrows of farming is extremely appealing. Knowing that every week you have an outlet for the crops you are growing and having a connection between farmer and customer means I will try to have some form of CSA as long as I am farming. Sometimes, however, sharing in the farming season can be a little more difficult. The peas are a good example. Peas are a fruiting plant that produces fruit over a 3-4 week period. This week their were a fair amount of ripe fruit that needed to be harvested but when we got into the patch to harvest it became clear there was not going to be enough peas for everyone. At this point we had a couple of choices. 1.) Harvest peas that are not at peak ripeness to get enough. 2.) Don't give them to the CSA but save them for market/restaurants 3.) Give what we have to the CSA to let them share in the bounty. These are decisions a Market farm does not have to make. They take what is ready that week to market and when they run out they run out. The CSA adds the wrinkle of customers prepaying and having an expectation of what they will receive. We want to give a share of the harvest but we also want people to enjoy what they are getting.

I chose to go with option three because I believe in the CSA model and want you the shareholder to share in the harvest of the farm. I also want to give you the best product I can so I didn't want to harvest unripe peas that don't taste as good. Once we decided to give what we had to the shares we had another decision to make. Give everybody a little bit or half of the shares a decent amount. For the sake of actually cooking with the produce we decided to give half the shares a pint and the other half salad turnips (which are delicious in their own right.)

I know this is running long but I wanted to briefly mention the kohlrabi too. It is really small. The field we planted to kohlrabi in for whatever reason is not growing very healthy vegetables. Everything we have planted there is small, stunted, and going to seed very quickly. The kohlrabi seems to have not grown in like 2 weeks during the best growing time of the year so we decided to get what we could out of the patch so we could till it in and start building fertility for next year. I know they are small and hard to use but they still taste great and they are in a convenient bite size.

Hope everyone has a great week and enjoys all the produce.

If you need to contact me please send an email to: farmwellspring@gmail.com

• Rising Phoenix Organic Market has opened (replacement for Karen's Energy)!!

Pickup will be from 10am-5pm this week.

 The address is 830 South Main St. West Bend

 If you are not sure where to pick up email me at WellspringCSA@gmail.com  

• Pickup at La Merenda will be between 4-6pm today as they will be closed for Summer Fest

Certified Organic Plants, Compost and

Potting Soil for Sale!

It's not too late to start your garden! We have potted plants that you can keep inside, on your patio, porch or lawn. Also, we have single plants, ready to produce, that can be transplanted into garden beds. 

$2.50 per single seedling or buy 4 or more for $2 each

$7 per potted plant

Purple Cow Activated Compost $16

Lg. Bag Purple Cow Potting Mix $20

Sm. Bag Purple Cow Potting Mix $16

Purple Cow Tomato Gro $12

We have heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, kale, broccoli, cabbage, thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, chives and more.

Potted tomatoes, peppers, herb "gardens" and kale.

Interested??- email Nancy at wellspringcsa@gmail.com

Please share this information with friends, 

co-workers, & family!

• Info on community potlucks and our farm blitz is at the bottom of the email in "Events" section. Please consider attending to connect with our community, learn how fellow shareholders are using their produce and have some fun!

• If you have old rubber bands please leave them in designated cups or on top of the check sheet at your designated drop site

Let us know how you enjoyed your share!

Adapted from From Asparagus to Zucchini

(cookbook available for purchase from Wellspring) 

• Salad mix
• 2/3 cup lime juice
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic or garlic scapes
•  1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• bundle of cilantro leaves
• 2-4 dashes bottled hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• pinch salt

Place all ingredients except the oil and salad mix into a blender. Turn on blender. Add oil very slowly through the "hole" in the middle. Use a little water if you lose a hole, but just enough to keep the little hole so the oil will get blended. Makes about 1 1/4 cup. Pour over salad mix. Enjoy!

 Kale Chips

Everyone Loves Em'

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Wash and dry kale thoroughly. If kale is wet when you put it into the oven it will steam and burn.
• Toss kale in oil and season to taste. Use salt and pepper for simple chips or get adventurous with curry power or cayenne. Can make BBQ by covering in BBQ sauce, or salt and vinegar by adding vinegar after baking. Make the flavor you will enjoy!
• Let bake in oven for 8-12 minutes, keeping an eye on them as they tend to go from crisp to burnt very quickly. When the kale is dry and crispy remove from the oven and eat! Can be saved in plastic bags or containers, but they most likely will not last that long!

Greens and Beans

Adapted from The Spice Kit 

• 2 heads of Escarole greens, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 10 cloves garlic, garlic scapes or green garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsps. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 (15.5) oz cans Cannellini beans, drained
• 8 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup Romano cheese
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Three Ways to Handle Kohlrabi

•  Braise diced or sliced kohlrabi in just enough broth to cover it. Add a little butter and some caraway seeds to the stock and simmer until tender, about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro.
   
• Pre heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut kohlrabi into French fry sticks. Toss in oil and spread across baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and seasonings of choice. Bake in oven, flipping once, until kohlrabi fries are blistered and dark on the outside. Remove from oven, dip in ketchup or condiment of choice. (Mayo mixed with shiracha is a creamy, spicy alternative dip)

• Sautee kohlrabi Chinese-style in a little peanut oil with shiitake mushroom, sweet red peppers, shallots, minced ginerroot, and cashew or pine nuts. Season with rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a pinch of sugar. You can also thicken this with a little cornstarch mixed with water

Raw Collard Wraps

Recipe from Wellspring Staff Member, Nancy Paladino 

 

 

 

Wash and dry collard greens. Snap off long stem and use leaf as a wrap. Fill with egg salad, salad toppings and condiments. Roll up leaf and eat like a burrito.

• Fill collard leaves with taco fillings
• Fill leaves with sandwich meat for gluten free, low carb alternative to a standard wrap.
• Fill leaves with favorite egg or chicken salad

Preserving Herbs in Oil

Tip from a fellow shareholder

Adapted from The Kitchn 

 Steps for Freezing Herbs in Oil

1. Use fresh herbs from CSA box, farmers market or garden
2. If you wish, you can chop them fine. Or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves.
3. Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
4. You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a French mix of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!
5. Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.
6. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
7. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
8. Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside! 

Drying Herbs

• Tie string around bottom of herb bundle and hang upside down until completely dry (about 2 weeks).
• To prevent dust from accumulating you can wrap herbs in newspaper or brown paper bag.
• Crumble into jars to use throughout the year.