Week 13 | Spring 7 CSA Newsletter Tues | May 28
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Call or text Robin at 708-370-8017 if you have any questions about your delivery tonight. |
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Notes from Chris
No disrespect intended, but, on the farm, Memorial Day is for honoring all the things we need to get done on the eve of the craziest 3-4 months of the year. So, we packed for the CSA on Monday and are trying to stay ahead of the game while we can. The rest of the summer we'll be happy just not being behind. For that matter, Labor Day is about--you guessed it--working! Finally, the 4th of July is about independence from the moderate life most of us associated with the farm experienced before we embarked on the relentless endeavor farming is. But, as I mentioned in a previous newsletter, there are much worse things to be a slave to, so I'm grateful to have stumbled into farming 20 years ago, and I've never considered doing anything else since. In any event, there are no weekends or holidays on the farm during the outdoor growing season. Every now and then we get a nice, cool, rainy day that slows things down and gives us a chance to catch up/get a little ahead, and that's the best we can hope for.
So we absolutely loved and appreciated the beautiful last week we had--cool and rainy. Spring crops are maturing beautifully, growing slowly with great quality and flavor, and not finishing their life cycle (bolting/going to seed) too soon. The result is a bumper crop with great quality. It looks like we're on the verge of lots of warmer and more humid weather. Summer is here, and June will no doubt be crazy, especially considering we've got strawberries and lots of peas to harvest. Those are two of the most labor-intensive crops to harvest. Given that nice cool spring we had, things are a little behind, so we won't see strawberries until about June 10, or peas until the end of June.
Try to be creative and loosen up a bit on the chives. Think of them a little more like onions. If you see a recipe that calls for pounds of potatoes and cheese and sour cream, it's ok to use more than the 1 tablespoon of chopped/minced chives the recipe calls for. Unless you really don't like onions, use more! They're great with eggs or in vegetable stock, and can be way more of a main ingredient than most people give them credit for--kind of like parsley. If you really can't bring yourself to go liberally as I suggest, you can always freeze dry them. Chop them up pretty small, spread them out on a sheet tray, and put them in the freezer until dried. I haven't done it, but know people who have, and have read about it. A quick internet search will reveal details and ideas.
As we wait for a few crops including zucchini, kohlrabi, and mesclun (salad mix), we're working with the same crops we packed last week, plus the last chives of the year. One twist is that we're packing Lacinato, rather than Red Russian, kale this week. Lacinato is more tender and can even be added to salads if you're hard core greens eater. Generally, with both kales, we're doing our best to harvest them at that intermediate juvenile stage where we can get good weight and yields while still having younger, softer leaves. With many crops from zucchini to eggplant, and even mesclun, excellent quality is maintained long past the baby stage. We often don't want large, fully mature crops with thick skins, big seeds, tough leaves, but we do want decent yields that justify our time/efforts and that we can sell for less than an arm and leg. People have a hard enough time justifying the cost of responsibly grown food, and we don't need to make that any harder.
-- Chris
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Questions?
Call Robin (in Chicago), 708-370-8017 | Chris (farmer/owner), 608-712-1585
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Click links below for info
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WHAT'S COOKIN'
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Sheila's cooking style is to build on what she's done before, not getting too hung up on recipes. This write-up for Hot, Garlicky Greens--though it's written with Red Rain and Spinach, neither of which you're receiving this week--forms a good jumping off point for using up several of the greens in your box. |
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Extra Produce | Maple Syrup | Sunflower Oil
Raw Honey | Pastured Chickens | Organic Eggs
Stone-Ground Flours & Pancake Mix | Blue Corn Tortilla Chips | Our Salsas, Soups, Preserves & More Seasonal Cookbooks
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