Common Ground Garden

 


July 18, 2013


Volume 19, Issue 5
Common Ground Garden Rows


Greetings!

 

 

A Note from the Production Manager   

Kate Ritger 

 

Kate Ritger

 
Hello, friends,

  

 "Getting a vegetable box every week makes me feel like a child on Christmas morning," one subscriber wrote to me. Managing this garden is a wonder to me too, and I love seeing the gardeners' faces light up when they see seedlings coming up where days before they planted tiny seeds, when they taste the sweetness of our snap peas, or marvel at the speed at which a zucchini can grow.

 

Subscribers, I hope you love the quality of the produce, and have fun with the diversity of what you find in your share each week. By way of helping you understand the bigger harvesting picture that we sort through on a daily basis -- we have 80 households subscribing to the garden this season. We walk the garden almost daily to monitor weeds, bugs, plant growth and germination. I try to gauge how quickly plants are maturing and in what quantity -- "Will that bed of lettuce still be delicious on Thursday morning when we want to harvest it for our subscribers?" "Will enough kohlrabi size up to give out to everyone?" On Mondays I write the newsletter and make our harvest list of the week. Some crops, like lettuce and other greens, are harvested Thursday morning because they ripen slowly and wilt quickly. Other crops, like zucchini, broccoli, snap peas and beans, are harvested throughout the week because they mature rapidly and need to be picked almost every day, or take hours to harvest.

 

Sometimes on Thursday we find that we don't have enough of a vegetable to give out to everyone. If it's the first harvest of a crop, like kohlrabi last week, I will likely give it to the full share subscribers first, and then when more have matured to half share subscribers.

 

So, enjoy Christmas every week, be filled with excitement and wonder at the seasonal produce, and eat well.

  baby green beans 

I anticipate picking green and purple beans next week, and for many weeks following.  

baby zucchiniThe zucchini are growing quickly!

vining winter squash  
       

We're spending a lot of time in "vineland" these days - weeding the winter squash, watermelons and cantaloupe so they can spread their vines.

  

  

  

  

  

What's that Farm Bill all About?

Last week the House of Representatives passed a farm bill, minus the nutrition title. If you would like to learn more about the bill, specifically how it impacts local farmers and programs like SNAP (food stamps), read more from the  National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.  

 
 
20th Anniversary Party!
  
On Thursday, August 1, we will celebrate 20 years as a CSA and community garden. The party will start with kid's games throughout distribution time (4-6 p.m.). At 6 p.m. we'll start the potluck dinner. And at 6:45 p.mHeart of the Beast . we're thrilled to host "Are You Thirsty?" a performance by In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. This family friend show is "A dynamic exploration of the myriad questions contained in a cup of water -- one of our most precious and necessary shared resources. This performance demonstrates how much of the earth's water is available for drinking, compares tap and bottled water, and helps us understand ourselves as part of the water cycle - bringing water issues vibrantly to life." Spread the word -- all are welcome!

     

 

Veggie Nutritional Information

 

Kohlrabi's name is derived from the german Kohl meaning "cabbage" and Swiss German Rube ~ Rabi� meaning "turnip." Kohlrabi is common in German speaking countries and spread to India in the 1600s through trade (gardenguides.com).

The swollen stems of the kohlrabi can be peeled and cooked or served raw. The leaves are also edible cooked similarly to mustard greens and collards or eaten raw. Finally, the root of the plant (most commonly eaten part) can be peeled and then eaten raw, boiled, baked, or stuffed (gourmetsleuth.com). One serving of kohlrabi fulfills 149% of your daily vitamin C recommendation. It also is high in minerals and nutrients like potassium, vitamin A, and folic acid.

 

Romanesco heads are rich in vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, potassium and folate. It is considered one of the very best anti-cancer vegetables, as it contains a whole range of beneficial phytochemicals, glucosinolates, luteine sulfuraphane and isothiocyanin. All of the cruciferous vegetables are very good for improving and maintaining liver health.


 

 

 

This Week in Your Bag
   
Produce    

Lettuce, spicy salad mix, arugula, snap peas (eat the whole pod), broccoli, kohlrabi, alcosa cabbage, romanesco, zucchini and assorted herbs. 

 

Bread of the Week

Rye    

  

Veggies on the Way 

Carrots, beets, cucumbers, beans, and scallions are on their way!

 
      
 

  

Notes for Subscribers

Distribution takes place every Thursday afternoon, unless otherwise notifed.

  • 4-6 p.m. at the
    Common Ground Garden---You really can't miss the barn at Saint Benedict's Monastery. 
    Enter at the college entrance from Minnesota Street near 4th Ave SW. Make a right at the stop sign and follow the gravel road out to the barn.
  • 5-6 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in St. Cloud. For a link on google maps, click here 

 

Missed Thursday Pickup?

  • If you are unable to pick up during the scheduled time, be in touch with me and we'll make other arrangements -- a friend or family member can pick up for you, or we can find another time.

Reminder  

  • Please continue to bring reusable bags to pick-up. Thanks! 
  • We recycle brown paper bags, plastic grocery bags, gallon ice cream pails, canvas bags you are not using and egg cartons, too. 

Composting

Bring us your food scraps!  If you don't have your own home composting system, add them to the Monastery compost pile.  No dairy or meat, please.  The pile is located just south of the big yellow barn.


Contact information
Ryan Kutter, Garden Director: 320-219-3389
Kate Ritger, Production Manager: 262-339-7737

[email protected] 

 

 

Community News
Garden Evening Hours 

 

Mondays 5-7 p.m. Guests, visitors and helping hands of all shapes and sizes are always welcome at the garden, but especially on Monday evenings. Your assistance in the garden helps us live our mission of providing local produce to people throughout central Minnesota ... and it's really fun! Come garden with us.

 

 

Please gather your "extras" and bring for us to reuse and recycle

            brown paper bags

            canvas bags

            plastic grocery bags

            gallon ice cream buckets

            egg cartons

 


St. Joseph's Farmers' Market 

The St. Joe Market is open every Friday, 3-6:30 p.m. Many vendors, music, children's activities, and more. Located near the St. Joseph water tower. Visit the SJFM website www.stjosephfarmersmarket.com for more information .  


Follow us on Facebook! We've been posting photos of our planting and progress.

 

Recipes
Check our website for more ideas, and please share your recipes with us!

 

We love it when you share your recipes.

 

Kohlrabi: the greens are edible too. 
Romanesco: like broccoli, eat it raw, steamed, saut�ed or baked, and the leaves and stalk are good too. 
Alcosa cabbage: more like a Chinese cabbage than your standard "sour kraut" cabbage - it can be eaten raw in a salad or slaw, or cooked -- the large outer leaves are beautiful for presentation on a place, or as an alternative to a tortilla shell wrap.

Check out the website for great kohlrabi, cabbage and zucchini ideas.

 

Broccoli Soup -- (serve hot or cold)

shared by subscriber Lois Kauffman

 

1 head raw broccoli

2 or 3 Tablespoons olive oil

5 cloves garlic (less or more as you like)

1 large onion (chopped)

1 med to large potato (chopped)

1 tablespoon salt substitute (no salt herb seasoning mix)

6 cups water

Fist-full sorrel (probably 15 leaves)

1 box rice milk

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

 

Saut� garlic, onion, salt, and potato in olive oil until fork tender. Remove from stove and add 4 cups water. Blend until smooth using an immersion blender.

Add Sorrel, rice milk, remainder of water and garbanzo beans, to onion mixture. Set aside.

Peel broccoli stems. Chop stems and heads and place raw broccoli in food processor. Process until the broccoli is quite fine. Do this in two or three batches. Add broccoli to onion mixture.

Return to stove and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend until smooth using an immersion blender.

Taste for seasoning. Add pepper  if needed -- enhance the flavor by adding additional sorrel and/or 1 or 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar. I used vinegar this time.

Serve either hot or ice cold with a bit of Greek yogurt.

 

Note from Kate: This is delicious! I particularly like it cold and think it would freeze well. I've also started processing uncooked broccoli in the food processor to put in lasagna, casseroles, scrambled eggs, or smoothies.

 

Sorrel Experiments 

Lois Kauffmanhas been playing with sorrel and adding it to everything and anything in her kitchen. It is her belief that sorrel acts as a flavor enhancer, like salt, lemon juice or vinegar. In her broccoli soup, you don't taste the lemony tang of sorrel, but the robust flavor of the broccoli and garlic.

Add it to salad dressing, either a vinegar and olive oil dressing, or a mayonnaise dressing for some extra zip. Enjoy and be playful!

 

************* 

Every week we will send several recipes that make use of the produce you are receiving in your bag. We also have a significant collection of recipes on our website at http://sbm.osb.org/ministries/common_ground_garden/recipes/.   Please send us your own recipes, too--either favorites from your cookbooks or your own concoctions.

 

 

 .

Contact information

[email protected]

Ryan Kutter, Garden Director, cell: 320-219-3389

Kate Ritger, Production Manager, cell: 262-339-7737

 

 

CGG logoCommon Ground Garden is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, where members purchase a share of vegetables and each week during the farm season receive a bountiful box of fresh produce. We pride ourselves on producing fresh, clean, healthful food picked at the peak of flavor and nutrition. As much as we are able, we grow our vegetables without the use of any chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. We use cover crops, rotations, compost and ingenuity to produce your food in a way that's healthy for you and for the community. When necessary for pest control or to combat disease, we use only products approved for organic gardening.
Common Ground Garden Rows

Common Ground Garden is the ministry of the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict.

104 Chapel Lane
St. Joseph, Minnesota 56374