WEEK 13: August 10 – August 16 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Cucumber, a Bunch of Basil and “Farmer’s Choice”.

BERRY SHARE: This week berry-share members can enjoy two pints of Blueberries. This is the last week for our 2009 season berry-share. We hope you have enjoyed the extra berries and thanks so much for your support!!

FARM NEWS:  As some of you know, we very happily welcomed Zoe Ann to our family on August 5th. Mom, Ava and baby are all doing well. We should be back to business as usual next week …. with more pictures, recipes and other news for your newsletter. Looking forward to seeing you soon and thanks again for all your kind thoughts and support!

WEEK 12: Aug. 3 – Aug. 9, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Cucumber, Either Pepper or Eggplant, Either Chard Greens or Spigarello Greens and “Farmer’s Choice”.

BERRY-SHARE:  This week berry-share members will get a double dose of Blueberries. Each share will receive 4 full-pints of berries instead of the usual 2.  We are doing this because the heat has threatened to shorten the Oregon berry season this year and we want to make certain that each berry-share member still receives the purchased amount. This will account for Week 8 and 9 of berry-share, with 1 week remaining.

Week 11: July 27 – August 2, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Bag of mixed Lettuce greens, Bag of Chard, Bunch of Beets with greens, Summer Squash, “Farmer’s Choice”, and a half-pint of Blueberries.

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

Lovely Blueberries  are new to the vegetable share this week. We are pleased to bring all our a members a half-pint of big, juicy Berkeley Blueberries. The taste of these  ’bigger than most’  blues is considered classic and never sour. Berkeley has a mild pleasing flavor with high dessert quality. Also a good variety for freezing.  Enjoy them in your favorite berry recipe or eat the entire container before you get home!  Here’s a link that I enjoyed reading full of good ‘blue’ information….and check out the Blueberry Pasta Salad!   http://www.blueberryrecipes.org/

We are excited to still bring you  Beets with Greens  for another week. Also  Summer Squash  continues to produce….from our fields to your table!  Enjoy those savory vegetable sauces or roast them on the grill.

Chard greens  are still available, so we hope you will enjoy those this week…..personally, I never get tired of chard.  Has everyone tried Chard Chips yet?  Check this out…….yummo!   http://oddkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/chard-chips/

And yet again for another week  the lettuce hangs on in a fresh bag of your Mixed Lettuce Greens. Say hooray for more cool, crisp summer salads. Remember humidity is key to keeping lettuce crisp, so be sure to keep it stored in a plastic bag or container with a lid.

Lastly, “Farmer’s Choice”  will be in the share again this week. Tomatoes, Eggplants and Peppers…oh my! Also, Cucumbers or various root crops may be present as well.

BERRY-SHARE:  Member’s of our berry-share will receive their two Full-pints of  Blueberries this week.  This is week 7 of the 10 week berry-share, so three more to come.

FARM NEWS:  Okay, so here is the ‘real’ heat wave…! Last week was nothing compared to what temperatures lay ahead this week! The true triple digits are here now……. Hope you are all staying cool.  It is a struggle for us out here to keep cool, but so far we are managing okay.  Sprinkler’s are nice….!

 Sweet corn is tasseling…hooray! We may have corn for everyone as soon as next week. Tomatoes and peppers are starting to come on nicely and soon should be a mainstay for everyone for a few weeks. Farmer Kip said we may be facing some moderate bean failure this year….let’s keep our fingers crossed that the blooms don’t all abort and that we can hold on to a harvest.  Melons are growing on nicely as are our potatoes. We are about in the middle of our 23 week season now. 

Still no new baby to report, however I will likely be absent this week from the pick-up, although someone will be there to help you. Still no lap-top either, so I apologize about the photo-spread and/or if email returns to you are slow….we’re working on that.  Thanks for your understanding.  Hope you enjoy this week’s bounty and we’ll see you all soon!!

WEEK 10: July 20 – July 26, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Summer Squash, Bunch of Beets with Greens, Head Lettuce, 1/2 pint Blackberries, and “Farmer’s Choice”.

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

The various types of  Summer Squash  are still a mainstay in the vegetable share. We hope you are starting to think about getting creative with them.  We love to make fresh pasta sauces with them a couple times a week. They are light and wonderful with fresh herbs and tomatoes (Farm tomatoes will be coming soon!).

A nice Bunch of Beets with Greens   is in the share this week. Either red or golden or a mix. We are glad to bring these to you in the heat yet again. They actually look very nice and the greens are fairly well in tact despite our pests who devour them. Enjoy the greens braised just like chard and the beets roasted or however you prefer them….

You’ll find a Head of Lettuce  in the share this week. Lettuce usually takes a hiatus from the weekly share in the heat, but is still hanging on this week……the end is coming soon.

A 1/2 pint of Blackberries  makes the regular vegetable share this week for the second week in a row! Some of you may get Marion’s, but some of you may get the late blackberry growing at the farm, the Waldo berry. Either way, these fresh morsels are great for the evening smoothie or milkshake, morning cereal or batch of weekend muffins. Hope you are enjoying Oregon’s bounty in berries here at the Love Farm.

Lastly, this week we have the ”Farmer’s Choice” option again. We are really going to run the gamut in choices for you this week. New crops are coming on, but not high enough in yields to offer them to everyone at once. Also, things we’ve had before still remain, ready in the field in shorter numbers. Yet, as is the case with farming, we have to harvest regardless! Some of the possibilities that I know of right now are bunches of radish and/or bunches of turnips. These typical cool season crops have remained in the ground only in small pockets and beds around the farm. You may get the first of the cucumbers starting to come on. You may even have an eggplant or a small basket of plums, a cabbage or a bunch of kale. Whatever the choice is for you this week, we hope you can welcome and enjoy it at your table.

BERRY-SHARE:  Member’s of our berry-share will receive their two pints in black-berries this week. They could be Marion’s but they may be Waldo’s. Even less likely, some of you may be getting two pints of blueberries. This is week 6 of the 10 week berry-share.

FARM NEWS: Get ready for the heat wave!! We hope that all you members can all stay cool this week, and we hope all our rooted friends here on the farm can do the same. Record heat is expected later in the week, approaching the triple digits. This is stressful on the farm, because we have to work very hard to keep things from drying out, but it is also great news for the melons, peppers and other heat loving crops. It will likely put a shorter season on the blackberries however, and we will also struggle to keep all our greens growing happily. Things are looking good though…..beans are flowering and forming fruits in medium amounts and potatoes are getting their third covering. Peppers are in medium to full flower as well. We hope to have some herbs, particularly basil and hopefully cilantro for you soon as well.

I know I have been promising a mid-season photo spread for you, but my lap-top has decided to take a dive on me. I am restricted to computer use only in the office now, and it’s a struggle in time management for me to do so. As most of you know, we are very soon expecting the arrival of our second child. I am 11 days out from the due date today. We will keep you posted, of course. I’m sure I will still be seeing all of you this week, so until then…enjoy your local, organically grown food from us and THANK-YOU for your SUPPORT!

WEEK 9: July 13 – July 19, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Mixed Lettuce, Summer Squash, Allium Mix, Either Kale/ Collards/ or Spigariello Greens, and a 1/2 pint of Marion Berries

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions:  Member’s will find that this week’s share is much like last week’s share, minus the fava’s and add the Marionberries. We are excite to finally bring you all Marionberries! These are Oregon’s very own special berry and if you have never tried them, we think you’re in for a treat!  

The Marionberry is a bright, glossy blackberry with medium to large fruit, somewhat longer than wide.  It is special to the area because it is named after the county in which it was developed, and 90% of the world’s Marionberries are grown near Salem.  There are only a handful of areas in the world where caneberries thrive and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, known as the Caneberry Capitol of the World, offers the most favorable of all climates.  The Valley’s moist spring rains, and summers that are warm in the daytime and cool at night, provide just the right conditions to  produce berries that are sweet and plump. Marionberries ripen through spring and early summer, reaching their peak during July.  They are usually hand-picked early in the day.

The berry’s taste is distinctively sweet, yet has a mildly tart and lasting flavor.  It has a serious following among berry aficionados, and is one of the most popular souvenirs purchased by visitors to the Willamette Valley. Health-minded consumers find them a nutritional bargain. Just 65-80 calories per cup, they are high in vitamins and fiber, yet low in sodium and fat. Marionberries are well-suited for use in local fresh markets, and are used for commercial and home canning and freezing as well as pies, ice cream flavoring, jams, and jellies.

The “Culinate…” site below, recently shared by Jane, a member of ours in Garden Home, has much to offer us interested in local food. I wanted to share one recipe I found that looks delicious…

http://www.culinate.com/recipes/collections/Culinate+Kitchen/Desserts/berry_tapioca_fool

Collard Greens  make an appearance in the share this week for some of you.  While collard greens share the same botanical name as kale they have their own distinctive qualities. Like kale, collards are one of the non-head forming members of the Brassica family along with broccoli and cauliflower. The blueish-green leaves that are smooth in texture and relatively broad distinguish them from the frilly edged leaves of kale. They are very popular in Southern cooking and recipes. I have a recipe for you to try below…

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/collard_greens/

Others of you will have Kale Greens, or the very similar Spigariello Greens  this week. They are very much interchangeable in recipes or your favorite dishes….please see past posts for more info.

The other foods in the share this week you are likely pretty familiar with by now…Lettuce and Allium’s  (onions of some sort). We hope you are appreciating the weekly lettuce. We usually see it come to an end in the heat of the summer and then hopefully return again in the coolness of fall. The Allium Mix  in your share this week will be any of the Allium’s you have likely seen before, onions, garlic scapes, or leeks, or even an combination of those.

BERRY SHARE: Member’s of our berry-share receive two pints of Marion-berries this week. This is week 5 of the 10 week berry-share.

FARM NEWS: Well we are plugging away out here on the farm doing our best to bring you the most fresh and flavorful, local, organically grown foods as possible. How are we are doing? We have grown significantly this year from last, and so always appreciate your input. This is your farm and we strive to keep you happy AND healthy! We are looking forward to our summer gathering and the opportunity to see those of you who can venture out to visit ‘your’ farm. We want to plan the event for mid August. I promise to post the date soon. Still working on the photo gallery for you….hopefully next time…..until then, happy eating!

WEEK 8: July 6 – July 12, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:   Head Lettuce, Chard or Spigariello greens, Allium Mix, bag of Fava Beans and Summer Squash.

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

 New to your share this week are the ‘Sweet Diane’ Fava Beans.  This particular variety is grown tender enough, that only in the very large pods will you find the need to also ’skin’  the bean itself.  Meaning you can mostly just remove the beans from the pods and you’re good to go. The larger beans will have an outer cover which should also be removed, or ’skinned’  as follows……In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Take the shucked fava beans and blanch them for about 30-45 seconds. Drain them into a colander and let them cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove their waxy, whiteish shells (skins). Now they’re ready for your favorite recipe.   

While stringing and shucking, and then skinning the beans is a bit labor-intensive, it’s one of those activities that’s all but made for summer, particularly if you have a porch, some time on your hands and a glass of something cold by your side.  Fava beans are one of the oldest plants under cultivation, and they were eaten in ancient Greece and Rome. Despite the name, fava beans are a member of the pea family, though they are also known as broad beans, pigeon beans, horse beans, and windsor beans. They are popular in Mediterranean cuisine, with many summer dishes celebrating the seasonal bean, although they are also dried for winter use. Fresh consumption Fava’s are usually planted in February and come to peak in July.

Fava beans have a distinct flavor and creamy texture that makes them a great addition to a wide variety of dishes. When the flat, wide beans are shelled and blanched, they adopt a vibrant grassy hue and buttery texture that enriches any meal, and their rapid cooking time makes it easy to incorporate them into a quick weeknight dinner — or into lunch the following day. The following link has 9 different ways to try and enjoy these tasty beans….and then the link below that is for the griller’s who can’t be bothered with the labor at all…….Enjoy!

http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0506b.htm

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/grilled-fava-beans-recipe.html

Also new to everyone’s share this week you’ll find some lovely Summer Squash. Finally, these very versatile veggies have started to come to a size and form perfect for the grill, a saute or your favorite sauces. Herein begins the squash season which can last in the vegetable share for weeks to come…weather and season depending. We are growing zucchini’s, Romanesco’s, heirloom round varieties, crookneck’s, and patty-pan’s and even varieties of those therein. All the individual squash flavor’s are akin to the traditional zucchini most everyone is used to. All the squash can be used  in relatively similar ways and recipes…..even including bread! We enjoy the diversity of the different fruit types and growth forms. Also, the types of strains we grow are best for local consumption. The squash skins are not as thick (not meant to ship across the country) and so the flavors can be more pronounced. We hope you enjoy whichever squash you receive. Here’s a nice summer squash recipe  that is simple and flavorful….

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/zucchini_summer_squash_gratin.aspx

Many recipes call for fresh squash, yet it also can store well too. Stored in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator, they should keep for a week. Freezing softens the flesh of the squash, but it will still be usable in casseroles and other dishes where crispness is not important. Blanch cut up summer squash 2 minutes before freezing, and store in the freezer for up to 4 months. For breads, freeze the raw squash whole or grated.

This week you will also find a bag of greens, either Chard or  Spigariello greens. We have had chard for you often as of late, and it is essentially beet greens, bred for greens rather than beets. The Spigariello greens have appeared in the share before as well. They are Italian broccoli greens (see the WEEK  3 Newsletter) and can be used just like Kale.  Hopefully, either green will find a welcomed place at your table this week. They both will make a nice braised or warmed greens dish.

The Allium Mix  in your share this week will be any of the Allium’s you have likely seen before, onions, garlic scapes, or leeks, or even an combination of those. Lettuce remains in the vegetable share this week….one head of the various types we grow.

BERRY-SHARE:  Members will receive two pints of ‘Black-cap’ Raspberries, or ‘Metolius’ Blackberries for their berry-share this week. Even less likely but not improbable, Blueberries might make the berry share later in the week. This is week 4 of our 10 week berry-share.

FARM NEWS:  Wow, what a change in the weather this week! Today brought intermittent mists between brief sun appearances, a very welcomed change compared to the high temperatures of last week and the weekend. This is wonderful weather for farming….the heat can be nice too, but this week is more ideal. It’s best to have foods ripen gradually and to not stress about water requirements, but mother nature often has other plans.

With summer squash and fava beans appearing in the share now, the summer diversity seems to begin. Towards the end of July we usually have tomatoes, and hopefully some other fresh beans and cucumber soon.

We are working on the date for our summer member gathering and should be able to post that soon. I also am going through some favorite photos of our season so far, and hope to get them on the blog by next week.

Have a great week and enjoy the cooler days…..until next time!

WEEK 7: June 29 – July 5, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Chard, 2 Lettuce Heads, Ishikuri Bunching Onions, a 1/2 pint of Blackberries (either ‘Black-cap’ Raspberries or ‘Metolius’ Blackberries),  and Farmer’s Choice (some possibilities are Cabbage, Beets, Kohlrabi, Broccoli/Cauliflower mix…….).

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

Here we are already to week 7! We hope you all managed to put last week’s share to good use. Last week’s newsletter fell short of  recipes and farm news, but I think we can do better this week with more new items and new information to share.

New to the share this week you’ll find Ishikuri Bunching Onions. They are more like your traditional scallions. To us they grew more like baby leeks, but then formed bulbs, making them an onion/scallion mix. They have a nice and mild onion flavor. Green onions and scallions are just immature onions that are pulled before the prominent bulb forms and their tops are still green. Traditional scallions do not have bulbs where green (spring) onions often have small bulbs. All parts, bulb, greens and top are edible. Recipes often call for using just the white/red part  and/or just the green parts. Generally the white/red part is cooked and the green parts are used in fresh preparations or in a pinch as a substitute for chives. We also find the flower-tops having wonderful light onion flavor and so make a nice edible garnish or chopped and sprinkled finish to a dish. Last week some of you received Garlic Scapes and we hope you enjoyed them steamed, sauteed or chopped up and freshly added to a dish. Garlic scapes are the flower/seed stalk that shoots up from the garlic bulb. In case you still have them around, I included a recipe below….as well as many nice recipes for your scallion onions courtesy of Mariquita Farm….

http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/scallions.html

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO

1 pound garlic scapes
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil (about 1/2 to 1 cup)
Pine nuts if available

Chop the garlic scapes into 3 inch lengths. Put it in the food processor and process until pureed. Add the parmesan and pine nuts and process until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil as the food processor runs and continue until all the oil is combined into the garlic. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator. Add to pasta or eat on crackers….Yummy!

Somewhat seeming staples in the spring season share (!) have been your Chard and Lettuce.  This week they both return. Chard will likely be baby greens great for a saute with some fresh goat cheese and walnuts. The Lettuce this week will be two heads of the various types we grow for you. Enjoy those crisp salads in this hot (90’s!) week to come! For those of you who don’t know…many vegetables including greens, carrots and cucumbers can quite reliably be transformed from wilted to crisped up by submerging them in ice water. Time length may vary, but it’s not usually very long before a limp lettuce is made crunchy. Give it a try. Also, I found a very nice site on salad dressings and making them, and linked it for you below.  With just a few basic ingredients you can mix up your own dressing in a snap…..

http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-make-salad-dressing.html

Well we’ve finally decided to allow ourselves a ‘Farmer’s Choice’  item in the spring season share. We have several things that have been left in the fields and thus continued to offer their bounty,  moreover they must be passed on to our members before we can do a turnover of the beds. Waste not want not….however, not enough of one particular thing will make it as a main item for everyone. So, you have one surprise item in your share this week. As mentioned above, it might be something you’ve already had such as the Beets with greens or the Crussiferae Blend (broccoli and cauliflower). Or it might be a few small Kohlrabi or even a larger Cabbage head. We grew a few types of spring cabbage such as ‘Dwarf Ox-heart’, ‘Savoy’ or ‘Red Express’ and all are fair game. Less likely you may find carrots or even a basket of plums……..the possibilities are many! Please enjoy the surprise what ever it is for you!

Lastly, we are excited to bring on more berries for everyone in this weeks share! Each half-share will include a half-pint of Blackberries. They will be either ‘Black-cap’ raspberries or ‘Metolius’ early Blackberries. The full-share member’s will of course get two half-pints. These two types of berries are very different. The ‘Black-cap’ is a black raspberry and has a very unique flavor. Hopefully everyone at some point this season will get to try the Black-caps. They are very seedy little berries, but quite popular in Europe and sought after by many pastry chefs. The ‘Metolius’ blackberry is one of the earliest blackberries on the farm. It’s flavor is a mix between the wild Himalayans and a Marion berry…..somewhat tart and tangy, but with a nice sweetness too. Whichever berry you get this week, I hope you will enjoy them fresh or over something sweet. The half-pint is also a nice amount of fruit to add to a muffin recipe. Personally, we’ve been enjoying milkshakes and smoothies often! Here’s our own little berry thief caught in the act with a strawberrry at our NE pick-up last week……;->

BERRY-SHARE: Member’s will receive two full pints of ‘Metolius’ Blackberries OR two full pints of ‘Black-cap’ raspberries this week. Fruit picked any given day, depends on the ripening of the crop and the weather, so it might be different depending on the day. This is Week 3, so 7 more to go in our 10 week berry-share.

FARM NEWS: Much is afoot on the farm these days. Each day we check the zucchini and summer squash and they are quickly building up nice fruits for you all to likely count on next week. Fava beans are close at hand as well. Most all the fall baby Brassicacea crops are planted in the ground now and getting established for their longer season. Cucumbers, melons and peppers are all flowering nicely and starting to think about forming nice fruits. The tomatoes are gaining girth as well as setting many fruits now. Tomatoes setting fruit are one of my most favorite things to see in early summer on the farm!

Subsequent plantings of the turnips and radishes have been a struggle to maintain their health and vigor. Cabbage worms as well as flea beetles are doing a fine job at dessication. Our floating row covers are a challenge in the wind…..organic certified neem oil has been helping, but only to a short degree. We hope to include some more of those crops for you soon, however it may be Fall before those items make their way into your share’s again.

The berries are coming on quickly now, thanks to the heat. We may even have Marion’s by next week!  The blue-berries are our last berry and I am noticing one per cluster starting to turn blueish….Hopefully all is on target for a lovely berry season in the valley. I have noticed a fabulous cherry season out there this year. We may be able to include some cherries for you, working with a sister-farm nearby. I’ll keep you posted….We hope to have cherries for our members as soon as our trees mature…but that will be a few years yet.

All the pick-up locations seem to be running smoothly and it is so nice to get to talk to all of you each week. I’d like to put up some photos soon of the various pick-up’s and member’s. I wish that Kip and I could personally come meet our Wednesday drop-off folks downtown someday, but hopefully we will get to meet you at one of our 2 scheduled gatherings this year. I’ll have more information for everyone on that soon. Thanks so much to all of you for joining our farm and being a part of Community Supported Agriculture!!

Hope you all have a lovely holiday weekend….more soon….Enjoy!

WEEK 6: June 22 – June 28, 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:   Crussiferae Blend,  Chard,  Peas,  Allium Mix,  Lettuce Mix

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

So a little botany language comes into the share this week…in your Crussiferae Blend. Crussiferae is another name for the plants in the edible Brassicaceae family, also known as Cruciferous Vegetables. The list of Cruciferous vegetables is broad and long, some of them are the greens you have already been enjoying and also Kohlrabi and Turnip roots are cruciferous vegetables as well.  However, this week we are focusing more on the cruciferous vegetables eaten mainly for the flowering parts, for instance, rapini, sprouting broccoli, and cauliflower. We trialed various seed strains this year, many different heirloom and Italian varieties, so the sprouting stocks may be an open colorful mix or the tried and true tighter heads you are used to seeing. Enjoy the short stalks as well, which are flavorful and tender, not woody. The mix should be ideal for steaming, in a side dish or a welcome addition to a soup or baked casserole.

This week Chard is back as your main green for braising, or it can be enjoyed raw. We love chard almost as much as kale and often use it as a lettuce substitute raw. Peas still remain in the share this week, however this will indeed be the last of them. Four weeks of spring peas for our 180 member share’s this year speaks of a pretty good planting and growing season on the farm for peas. Kody, Kip and Joel, our prime pea-pickers won’t be too sad to see them go, and we surely hope you have enjoyed eating them!

A little more botany for you with the Allium Mix this week.  Alliums are in the plant genus containing onions, garlic, shallots and leeks as well as thousands of other species making it one of the largest genera of plants in the world. The family name is Alliaceae and contains all the lilies and bulbs. Needless to say, the vegetables in this plant family are mainly enjoyed for their bulb, or edible part underground, however much of the greens and the flowering parts are edible, delicious and nutritious as well. Your share this week will include some of the following or feature one in particular of onions, shallots, green garlic, garlic scapes or leeks.

Lastly we are including a nice bagged Lettuce Mix for all our members this week. Salad lover’s hopefully will enjoy the mix of various flavors found in all the different types of lettuce greens we grow.

The Berry-share week will start out with strawberries….but there is talk of some early blackberries possibly ripening by the end of the week. I’ll keep you posted.

I plan to include more recipes, suggestions and farm news later…..thanks!

WEEK 5: June 15 – June 21 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Bunch of Kale, Peas, Beets, Kohlrabi (or Turnips), Strawberries, and Head of Lettuce.

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions: 

New to your share this week we welcome glorious Beets.  Beets are a highly nutritious and wonderfully versatile food. You will either have golden or red. Beets are loaded with Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C.  The beets and the greens are both edible. The greens have a higher iron content compared to spinach. They are also an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, sodium and iron while the sweet beet root has some of the minerals in its greens to a lesser degree, it is also a remarkable source of folic acid, iodine, manganese, organic sodium, potassium, fiber and carbohydrates in the form of natural digestible sugars. It’s iron content, though not high, is of the highest and finest quality that makes it an excellent food that is blood building. This renders it highly effective in treating many ailments caused by our sometimes toxic environment and surroundings. Some believe beets are the secret to longevity…if not immortality ;->. The following recipe makes a nice meal. However, roasted beets (360 degree oven, 45 minutes) with warmed greens and goat cheese  does stand alone wonderfully as well….. 

BEET RISOTTO with GREENS, GOAT CHEESE and WALNUTS

Before you sauté the onion, toast the walnuts in the Dutch oven until they’re fragrant. Cooking the beets along with the rice renders a beautiful burgundy color. Yields 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  cup  Arborio rice
• 1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2  teaspoons  finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2  cup  dry white wine
• 3  cups  finely chopped peeled beets
• 1/2  cup  water
• 1/4  teaspoon  fine sea salt
• 1  (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 6  cups  finely sliced Swiss chard or your beet greens
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4  cup  chopped walnuts, toasted

Preparation:    Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 3 minutes. Add rice, ginger, and rosemary; saute 1 minute. Add wine; cook 3 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.  Add beets, water, salt, and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until beets are tender, stirring occasionally.  Stir in chard/ beet greens; cook 5 minutes.  Add cheese, stirring until blended. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon walnuts. Enjoy~~~~

Your Peas  this week are either Snow, Snap or a mix. The Sugar-Snap peas are deliciously plump and full of sugars. Occasionally you will get a plump Snow pea mixed in, and in that case the pod will be much more fiborous than the perfectly edible raw sugar-snap pods. Snow peas are best enjoyed stir-fried or cooked. We are likely nearing the end of our Spring peas.  Please see past posts for more details on peas.

You will find a nice bunch of Kale this week in your share.  After a week off from kale, hopefully some of you are ready for more again! This wonderful food is one of our favorites…let me count the ways….

The toss up this week is going to be either Turnips or Kohlrabi in your share. Other smaller successions of plantings have yielded more than we were expecting. We have enough to bring you one or the other for another week despite the cabbage worms and the hot weather! We are aiming to bring you this week, what you likely missed out on previous weeks when we had the toss up…..we hope you get what you want,  but please remember there will be fall plantings as well.

On Turnips :  http://orchardhillblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/summer-turnip-recipes.html

On Kohlrabi : http://www.prairielandcsa.org/recipes/kohlrabi.html

Your Lettuce this week again will be a head of the various types we are growing.

Lastly, yes it is true, this week we have Strawberries for you all! We are very excited that the harbinger of the berry season has arrived and it feels all the more like summer time in Oregon is officially here (even though we technically have another week to go). Each half-share will receive a pint of delicious Hood Strawberries. The berry-share members will also be recieving 2 pints of the Hood Strawberries this week. Our berry-share has finally begun….earlier than we were expecting. 

I doubt we have to suggest any information on how to enjoy strawberries. They contain a healthy dose of Vitamin A and C and only 50 calories per cup. Prized in ancient Rome for their medicinal uses, strawberries are recognized as having more vitamin C than some citrus fruits. They are also high in fiber, folate, potassium and antioxidants, making them a natural means of reducing the chances of heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers. Often they are gobbled up before you make it home! I want to say a quick note on storing them, if they last….refrigerate in a colander or so that air can circulate around them, do not cover them or they will mold more quickly.  Strawberries do not continue to ripen after they’ve been picked, so we pick them, especially Hoods, at full ripeness.  Also leave the caps on until you’re finished washing and are ready to use them. Removal of the cap expedites the breakdown of the sugars and the fruit. Do remove the cap and stem prior to freezing, however.

FARM NEWS:  Well as mentioned above, the berry-share has begun. So for the next 10 weeks berry-share members will be receiving their two pints of fresh berries, regardless of what the weekly vegetable share may bring. 

Some new crops on the not so distant horizon are the cooler fava beans and summer squash. We have several different types of summer squash for you this year, which we hope you’ll enjoy.  There will be summer fresh beans before we know it as well.   All the melon plants and eggplants are in the ground and smiling through their happy flowers. Tomatoes and cucumbers are flowering as well and soon to form the first fruits. The greens will slowly start to decline as the new summer crops take center stage…we are nearing the transition.

We hope that all of you are able to utilize your share’s each week and are not merely adding to your compost piles. Let us know more how we can help, if you are having trouble getting through it all. Many things can be froze for later, however in our experience the spring greens and lettuces do not freeze well at all. Leftover greens are best given to rabbits and chickens….or you just eat more like a rabbit yourself during the Spring, eating local, season. I’ll try to have more information on preserving the harvest for you as we go….until next time~~~~

WEEK 4: June 8th – June 14th 2009 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share:  Head of Lettuce, Snow Peas, Kohlrabi (or Broccoli), Carrots, Onions and baby Chard (or baby Spinach).

 

Recipes, Information and Suggestions:

New to some of your share’s this week you’ll find Spring Kohlrabi. We strive to bring you the small kohlrabi with its edible skin rather than the giant size with its woody, fibrous texture and inedible outer layer. The larger globes definitely need to be peeled. Kohlrabi is available year round with its peak season and sweetest flavor in spring through early summer. Check the link below for more on Kohlrabi.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/kohlrabi/

The unseasonal hot weather we had tricked most of the Kohlrabi crop into thinking it’s season was over and it’s bolting. Kohlrabi’s integrity and flavor is greatly compromised when it turns to go to seed (bolt). We lost about 80% of the Spring crop, but are aiming to have more for you in the Fall. For those of you who do not find Kohlrabi in your share this week, you will find Broccoli.  Broccoli is another food said to be a ‘Super food’…like Kale. There is much info. on the web about that…..and also some nice spring fresh recipes like the one below, which I enjoy with the sunflower seeds and it’s also great without the bacon…

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alysons-Broccoli-Salad/Detail.aspx

This week, also new to your share, is a  fresh bunch of Spring Carrots. Young Spring carrots are very sweet. We enjoy them raw for munching and always wish we had more. Along with another various head of Lettuce this week, you will also have a few more Spring Onions. The onions are at a nice medium heat which I consider perfect for adding raw to salads and sandwiches, or cooking with them. 

Instead of Snap Peas, we have Snow Peas for you this week. The pods of snow peas are flat and thin with the bulge of the tiny seed barely visible at prime eating stage. The bright green pods should be turgid and crisp. They contain five to seven seeds and reach a length of two to three inches. Snow peas provide vitamins A and C, iron and potassium. They are low in sodium. A 3 ounce serving, cooked and drained, contains 43 calories. If you want to prepare them for cooking, slice through the stem end of each pod but do not sever the string on the side of the pod. Pull the stem end and string down the pod and repeat the procedure on the other side. You may leave the strings intact, if desired. Steam in a small amount of water or stir-fry in a little oil. Whichever method is preferred, keep cooking time short; one to two minutes is sufficient for heating through. Serve along or in combination with fresh mushrooms or water chestnuts, or in stir-fry recipes. Snow peas can be served raw in salads, but blanching them in boiling water for one minute brings out their vivid green color and heightens their crispness.

Snow Peas with Pine Nuts, Apple and Mint

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 pound snow peas, rinsed, dried, tips of the ends cut off, strings removed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
5 large mint leaves, chopped and 1 apple sliced thin

Method

1 Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the snow peas, garlic, and pine nuts. Stir to coat with the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring. You do not want to overcook the snow peas or they will get limp. They should still be a little bit crunchy.

2 Remove from heat. Stir in the sesame oil, apple slices and chopped mint leaves. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3.

 Lastly the share this week will include either a bag of baby Chard or baby Spinach. Surely by now most of you have some exciting ways to eat your greens. We hope you continue to be creative with them, rather than tire of them. When the heat of late summer really hits, we always wish we still had them to enjoy.

FARM NEWS: Things continue to grow well here on the farm. Our small-scale, organic production can really challenge us to find a complete consistency with your share’s each week, which in turn can make the flow of a newsletter a bit choppy. We hope that those of you reading this are finding it purposeful and we always welcome suggestions.

On another note…it appears Strawberry season has arrived and we hope to greet you all with fresh strawberries next week. Until then…..enjoy!!