Week 12 ~ August 8 – August 14, 2011 CSA Newsletter

This Week’s Share: Lettuce, Beets, Carrots, Collards or Chard, Garlic, A Brassica (Broccoli or Cauliflower or Cabbage), Summer Squash, Cucumber, and a Summer Farmer’s Choice item.

Lettuce: Still some heads rolling around out there…and some mixed bags of lettuce greens getting together too.

Beets: We have some good looking and great tasting beets to eat this week for you all. The greens are a nice little ‘chard greens’ bonus.

Carrots: More less than mammoth carrots getting plucked, scrubbed and bundled for your family’s finger foods this week. Delicious they are.

Collard or Chard Greens: The beautiful braising greens you have come to love from the farm are tasting deliciously full of vital vitamins. How about some down-home southern style collards? This recipe is for traditional southern greens served with meat….pork or chicken makes a good choice. Wash collards well and cut out thick stems before preparing…

Fresh Southern-Style Collard Greens

• 1/2 pound bacon
• 3 cups chopped onions
• salt and pepper
• dash of Louisiana hot sauce
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle of beer
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 6 pounds greens, such as mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, kale, or spinach; cleaned and stemmed

1.  Fry bacon until it is crispy, cut up and add bacon and some of the drippings to large pot. Add the onions and cook for about 6-7 minutes or until the onions are wilted. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and a dash of hot sauce.
2. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the beer, vinegar, soy sauce, and molasses. Stir in the greens, a third at a time, pressing the greens down as they start to wilt. Cook the greens, uncovered on medium-low for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender.
3. Mound the greens in the center of the platter. Spoon the sauce over the top and serve.

A Brassica: Most of our members have had the botany lesson laid down at least once by now, but for those of you not in the know the Brassica’s include the plants in the Brassicaceae family. These are specifically, as it applies to our share this week, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Every half-share will get a crown or two or a mixed bag.

Garlic: More tasty garlic, freshly harvested and on the curing road.

Summer Squash: These tasty gems have been with us a couple weeks now. Have you made everything from zucchini bread to a pasta primavera? Well if not, you’ll get more chances. By the way, the yellow zucchini and summer squash is just as tasty as the green in your breads and muffins. Here is a tasty, quick and easy, recipe that is an interesting and delicious variation on the Middle-Eastern bulgur-and-parsley salad known as tabbouleh.

Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Bulgur Salad with Fresh Parsley and Dill from Farmer John’s Cookbook

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 cup bulgur
• 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, finely diced
• 2 small or 1 medium yellow summer squash, finely diced
• 1 bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, finely diced
• 1/2 red onion, minced, or 2 scallions minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tbsp)
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small pot, then add the bulgur. Leave uncovered; cook the bulgur for 1 minute. Remove pot from heat, cover, and set aside until the bulgur has absorbed the rest of the water, about 15 minutes.
2. Fluff the cooked bulgur with a fork until the grains are well separated; transfer to a large bowl. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, and onion or scallions. Toss until well combined.
3. Whisk the dill, parsley, olive oil and lime juice in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the bulgur and toss until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving. Serve at room temperature.

Cucumber: We grow many wonderful, crisp and sweet cucumbers for the share and they are all finally coming on nicely. We don’t have any bitter types again this year, so even the big ones have a consistently clean flavor. Size matters when it’s time for Gazpacho. Here is Farmer John’s version with cucumber’s minus the tomatoes.

Chilled Cucumber-Mint Soup with Yogurt or Sour Cream from Farmer John’s Cookbook

• 4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 4 cups)
• 1 to 2 cups water
• 2 cups plain yogurt (or 1 cup plain yogurt combined with 1 cup sour cream)
• garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• several fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tbsp fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1Tbsp honey
• 1 to 2 Tbsp salt
• 2 scallions, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1. Combine the chopped cucumber, 1 cup water, yogurt, garlic, mint, dill, honey, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Puree the ingredients, adding more of the water until the soup is a consistency you enjoy. Season with more salt to taste.
2. Transfer the soup to a large bowl and chill for several hours. Garnish each serving with chopped scallions.

Summer “Farmer’s Choice” item: This week is a transition week into some of our early summer crops. Each day will get either bell-peppers, beans, eggplant or maybe a tomato.

Berry-Share: So here we are down to week 7  for our berry-share this season. That leaves 3 more after this one. However, due to a short and sweet season of Oregon berries, we will be doubling up this week and possibly the next. Those of you with berry-share have 8 pints of beautiful berries to yet receive (2 pints @ 4 weeks), so you are getting 4 of those this week and we are counting it as two. Clear as mud? I’ll explain when I see you. For most all of you, your 4 pints will be our amazing blueberries. Yum.

FARM NEWS: Sorry about the absent news of last week. My days ran away without me and here we are at a brand new week already! My baby turned two, we had lovely house guests and a full schedule of must do’s. Week 12 is our half-way mark of this season. A nice way to look at it is you still have just as much yet to come as you have had already. But more than likely, you will have much more!  We hope that your CSA experience thus far has been a great one. If we can somehow make it better for you please let us know how. It is because of you that this relationship is working for all of us.

We had a great weekend of many of you coming out to the farm to pick the beautiful, no-spray Berkeley blueberries.  Some of our ‘regulars’ were up to 200 lbs. this year! It was very nice weather and a great turn-out….thanks friends!

I am feeling almost prepared for the pickle-party on Saturday. I need those of you who want to come to confirm in an email your head-count. Friends and family members are most welcome. That includes your well-behaved children under your direct supervision. We are asking 5$ a head. Please bring your own jars w/lids (up to 1.5 gallons per person) and have them clean and ready to go. Pints or quarts are best. We will supply all the pickles, dill and garlic, onions if needed, brine’s, vinegar’s and have places to chop and a water bath to seal if needed. We may do some with fermenting brine, hot-brine with vinegar and maybe even some bread and butters just depending on how many are coming and our combined interests. So let me know. It’s this Saturday morning at 9:30.

The weather is finally lovely and summer-like. Hope you all are getting plenty of opportunities to get out and make the much needed vitamin D for yourselves. We have reached the time of year when we must let our help go so to conserve our funds for the rest of the year. We are sad to see those helpers go. It makes more hard work for the girls and I as well as Farmer Kip, but it’s still a ‘labor of love’. Our plans to make it into the local farmer’s market seemed to fade as of late, but maybe we’ll try again next year. We really enjoy the CSA model and it’s been working for us. It can be hard to transition into new territory on top of the already extremely busy schedule and crop plan we have now. First and foremost is to keep you all happy.

Thanks again for your support friends!

Week 11 ~ August 1- August 7, 2011

This Week’s Share: Lettuce, Chard, Garlic, Broccoli or Cauliflower or Cabbage, Carrots, Summer Squash, Cucumber, Blackberries and a Farmer’s Choice item.

Squash Pasta Ribbons, from Gaabriel Becket

Ingredients

• 1 medium summer squash – zuchinni, croockneck, yellow
• 3 T olive oil
• 2 balsamic vinegar
• t crushed rosemary
• pinch salt

1. Wash squash and slice into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler, mandolin or sharp knife, leaving peel on either edge of slices.

2.  Heat olive oil in pan on medium high and saute squash ribbons until lightly browned in spots but still firm, turning frequently to prevent burning.  Toss in pan with salt, rosemary and balsamic vinegar and remove from heat.

3.  Serve as a side dish or as a main dish with with preferred pasta sauce (Vegan) and sprinkle parmesan cheese (Ovo-lacto vegetarian) or 1/4 pound browned ground lamb or turkey if you want meat with it.

Serves 1

Thanks so much for your support!

Week 10 ~ July 25-July 31, 2011

This Weeks Share: Lettuce, Kale, Garlic, Broccoli or Cauliflower, Beets or Carrots, Summer Squash, Blackberries and a Farmer’s Choice item.

Lettuce: It makes a comeback this week.

Kale: A lovely bunch of kale is your braising green this week. Some of you could get some bok choi.

Garlic: Gorgeous heads of nice green garlic. Mild, but garlic.

Broccoli or Cauliflower or Cabbage: The Brassica’s are in spades this week and hopefully we have one you enjoy. We are sorry that thanks to the myriad of ladybugs in the fields this season, we also have many aphid colonies about for them to feed on. We try and remove them best we can in our cold water, field-flush we do before packing, but please wash well before consuming.

Beets or Carrots: The carrots are sweet and the beets can’t be beat! If taking home beets, please remember that the greens are delicious too!

Summer Squash: Yep. More tantalizing squash in the share. Our member Marci from Forest Grove shared with me this recipe… http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/01/baked-zucchini-fries/ . They sound perfectly easy and delicious. Her family devoured them.

Blackberries: A half a pint of our delicious blackberries make it into every half-share this week. Hope you enjoy them. We think for most of you we will have Marion berries.

Farmers Choice: Farmer’s Choice just means we are in between numbers of a crop for everyone. There are some cucumbers starting to show promise. Also, we have more fava beans for some of you. Did you use those up last week? Here’s another chance for a great fava bean meal to grace your table with a fine Chianti.

Berry-Share: For berry-share members this week we are still picking enough blackberries to go around. Some of you will get Marionberries. You will take home your two pints in addition to your half-pint with your vegetable share. It’s week 5 for berry-share with 5 more yet to come.

FARM NEWS: It poured out here today. This is a strange summer….but the weekend holds hot promises. Things are growing well on the farm. The tomato flowers are turning into green orbs. The barn swallows are bickering and the Western Swallowtails are gracefully sharing time with the hummingbirds at the flowers. Summer is here….albeit a cool one.  The vegetables are ripening though we have struggled at times to keep things from molding. It is a delicate dance around the moisture and dew of cool mornings.

So I have had the lap-top down for a few days. It is working properly again now. I will fill next week’s Newsletter with recipes, as this week is almost gone. We are starting u-pick blueberries this weekend. The fruits are setting well. Should be a warm weekend, or so they are saying, so it’s best to come out early before the heat of afternoon. Also, if you want a flat of Marion’s or blackberries from us, we are taking orders now. Please email me your requests. They will run 20-25 dollars a flat.

Also in pickle news I am hoping to hold the pickle-party on August 13th, Saturday around 9:30am. That is two weeks from this Saturday, and we estimate the pickling cucumbers should be thick out here by then. I’ll also have the dill and garlic. Just bring your own jars. It should be fun. I’ll get some fermenting going as well and demonstrate how simple it is.

Thanks so much for hanging in there with us as we do this farming thing. Here’s one quarter of one row of harvested garlic hanging in the pole barn…yummy.

Happy, healthy eating!

Kip and Amy

Week 9 ~ CSA Newsletter July18-July24, 2011

This Weeks Share: Endive/Escarole, Chard, Beets or Carrots, Summer Squash, Shelling Peas, Garlic Tops or Green Garlic Bulbs, Fava Beans, Broccoli or Cauliflower and Blackberries (Broccoli/Cauliflower missed the photo!).

Endive/Escarole: Lovely braising greens with flair, endive and escarole make a wonderful side dish with other strong flavors such as cheeses or honey-nuts, or simply spice up your salads with this bag of greens and just enjoy them raw. We have no lettuce for your regular share this week, so hopefully these greens can fit in somewhere on the table.

Chard: I do love the word lovely, but  greens are that indeed. We have baby chard leaves mixed in with older leaves and their colorful, bright savory stems for you. We love our chard in salads and also braised….you really can take your pick. I see and endive/escarole/chard green salad in some of your futures.

Beet or Carrots: We are harvesting some of each this week. The beet greens (lovely chard) are really gorgeous this week as well, so if you get beets you get bonus greens too!

Peas: We have shelling peas for you all again this week. It is a little work to shell all the smallish, bursting pods, but you are rewarded with little sweet orbs of spring. Our bushes have yielded heavy, but a bit late so we have super plump peas for the picking. Cook them lightly with a gentle steam, or throw into your favorite stir-fry.

Summer Squash: More summer squash for all. The start is on, of this harbinger of summer crops….may they be plentiful. Zucchini squash and round zucchini are the forerunners this week. The round, Italian zucc’s are great for the grill and also for stuffing and baking. The longer, larger zucchini make fabulous sweet breads or a great chunky, red sauce with garlic and pasta.

Green Garlic heads or tops: We are a garlic loving farm. Hope you are a garlic lover too, and are enjoying the garlic in its different forms and flavors. The plant is truly versatile. While to some it seems uncustomary to harvest a crop in different stages other than the one most “known”, it is industrious to us. Don’t worry, we will have plenty of the cured garlic heads this fall for you as well.

Fava Beans: These large-pod gems are usually earlier in the season, but due to our long spring they are just now ready for the table. If you are new to Fava-beans you are in for a treat. They are a bit labor-intensive, but delicious and so worth it!

I enjoyed this article about Fava Beans on NPR. Please have a read…http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9163283 . It explains the double husking necessary to truly enjoy them. Fava beans have a distinct flavor and creamy texture that makes them a great addition to a wide variety of dishes. A quick par-boil of the beans (post-pod) will help you to easily squeeze-slip off the waxy shell that is still over the delectable, bright-green, buttery bean, perfectly preparing them to add to your favorite dish.

Fava Beans and Seared Zucchini with Garlicky Croutons adapted from Lucid Food

• About 2 cups shelled, fresh fava beans
• 2 zucchini
• 5 Tbsp olive oil, plus some
• 1  1/2  cloves garlic (3 cloves green garlic)
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• A few slices stale baguette or other crusty bread, torn or diced (or pre-made croutons)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup loosely packed Parmesan or other hard Italian cheese, big shavings
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees if making your croutons.
2. To shuck the fava beans, pull on the stem edge unzipping the side of the pod. Each pod holds 3-6 beans. Put the opaque, whitish (with thin skin still on) beans in a small pot with water to cover. Add 1 Tbsp of salt and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the favas are just tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and cool in an ice bath. Peel or slip off the skins revealing the bright green, smooth beans and set them aside. Discard skins and pods.
3. To make croutons, in large bowl whisk together 2 Tbsp of the olive oil with some of the chopped garlic, the thyme and 1 tsp salt. Add the bread and coat evenly all pieces. Spread onto baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir, then continue baking until croutons are crisp and golden, about 5 minutes more. Taste and season with salt. Let cool then set aside in airtight container.
4. Trim ends of the zucchini and cut them in half. Cut halves into slices 1/4 inch thick and season with salt. Heat a skillet to medium-high and add2 Tbsp of olive oil. Working in batches the size of the pan, sear the pieces of zucchini by leaving them 2 minutes on one side then turning and searing 1 minute more, until pieces are cooked through, but still firm. While searing drizzle more oil as needed. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool.
5. Cut zucchini into bite-size pieces and toss with remaining garlic, the favas, mint, Parmesan, lemon juice and the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Plate salad and top with croutons. Serve immediately.

This salad is time consuming to make but the flavors are delicious together. The lemon and mint really compliment the fava beans as well as the seared zucchini squash. Hope you enjoy it!

Broccoli or Cauliflower: We are harvesting both of these for your share’s this week. Tender, sweet and full of vitamins these brassica heads are a firm choice in many dishes for the family meals. Some of you may even get a cabbage I hear…..but that may be more for next week. We enjoy these lightly steamed alone with butter. The girls eat them raw. I have loved the addition of bits of broccoli and cauliflower in my crock on the counter, where I ferment my own sauerkraut. yummm.

Blackberries: Delicious blackberries make it into everyone’s share today. We are harvesting one of our “experimental” varieties, of which we have several. They don’t have names, as much as numbers, but we are starting to rely on their early availability, consistent performance and sweet flavor. Oregon berries- there is nothing quite like them!

BERRY-SHARE MEMBERS: Delicious black-berries are in the two pints for berry-share members this week. The blackberries are looking beautiful and tasting sweet and lusciously rich! They don’t need any honey or sugar if you ask me….just serve over ice-cream or add to your smoothies. This is week 4 of the berry-share with 6 more yummy berry weeks to come.

FARM NEWS: Yesterday came and went with a fury. It was a rough day on the farm with only Kip, myself, and our little “helper’s” finishing up most of the work. We also, for which we are very grateful, had a couple of hours help from a member, but that was it! Where we usually have many more hands on deck, this week started with only a few. That always adds to the chaos, but alas we made it through. This Spring into Summer season has been a strange one, we all can attest. It was 56 degrees at 9 am today on July 19th, which to me is frigid! This weather is setting us up for slow and gradual ripening of the summer crops again . Also, we are at greater risk of berries starting to mold. Come on out sunshine….don’t be shy…we could really use you out here! This temperate weather is great to work in, however! Gotta look at the bright side, right? I hope to pin a date on the pickle-party soon….the cucumbers are slowly starting. Again a huge thanks to all of you for supporting our farm! We couldn’t do it without you. Until the next time….

Shell Peas cooked like Edamame

~ from A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop

Yep! You can do this and it works fairly well. My thanks to Jack Bishop figuring peas in their pods could be treated the same way as edamame beans in their pods. The steamed pods open easily, and are tender enough that my girls can easily open them. Best of all you can serve the tender, sweet little green orbs without all the work of shelling them.

• 1 lb. or so of peas in pods, washed well
• Some sea salt, to taste

1. Fit a wide saucepan with a steamer basket and add enough water to reach from just under to 1/2 inch below the basket. Cover pan and bring water to a boil.
2. Place the peas in the basket, cover and cook until the peas are tender, about 3-5 minutes.
3. Drain and transfer pea-pods to a bowl.
4. Toss with your coarse salt (be generous, since most of the salt remains on the pods) and serve.

Week 8 ~ CSA Newsletter July 11-July 17, 2011

This Weeks Share: Lettuce, Turnips or Carrots, Summer Squash, Peas, Garlic Tops, Collard Greens or Endive/Escarole, Broccoli, and an Herb (bunch of Cilantro, Dill or Mint).

Lettuce: Can you believe it? Last year the lettuce in the regular share’s continued until mid-season (another long spring that was). Here we are at Week 8 with still a nice amount to go around for all. You will be receiving heads or mixed bags. It is great to hear how happy some of you are to count on a farm fresh salad each week. Other’s, I know, have been overwhelmed. I can say the lettuce won’t last the entire season (unless of course you have the salad-share). Enjoy it while it lasts.

Turnips or Carrots: Nice spring planted carrots and turnips are coming up to size for the vegetable share’s, however not entirely enough of a particular one or the other. This week we are harvesting partial crops of both. There will be more of each in the future. The young turnips are great fresh, of course as are the carrots. Below is a wonderful way to serve spring planted turnips. Their refreshing taste and texture is enhanced, but not overpowered, by a sweet, pungent sauce of juicy raisins and freshly grated ginger.

Ginger-Glazed Young Turnips with Cider and Raisins from Farmer John’s Cookbook

• 1/2 tsp salt (plus a dash more later)
• 1 bunch young turnips trimmed and peeled if thick skinned or flawed
• 1/4 cup sugar or honey
• 1/8 cup white vinegar
• 1-2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger (or more, to taste)
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup apple or grape cider (juice works fine)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsely (or try another herb)
• some finely chopped crystallized ginger (optional garnish)

1. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. Add a dash of salt, then the turnips. When the water returns to a boil, cover and reduce heat. Simmer the turnips gently until tender but not mushy, 10-15 minutes depending on the size. Remove pot from heat and transfer the turnips to a dish to cool.
2. Meanwhile, transfer 1/2 cup of the hot cooking water to a medium sauce pot. Stir in the sugar or honey, vinegar and ginger to taste. Add 1/2 tsp salt.
3. Combine the cornstarch and cider in a small glass bowl; let stand until cornstarch is dissolved.
4. Slice turnips in you desired manner, thickness and size.
5. Place the pot with the ginger mixture over medium heat. Stir in the cider mixture and adjust the heat so the ingredients simmer. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and thickened, 2-3 minutes.
6. Remove pot from the heat; stir in the raisins and sliced turnips and continue to stir for a couple minutes, until the mixture reaches a thick, gravylike consistency. If necessary, stir in a bit more cider to reach desired consistency. Stop stirring and let it stand a couple minutes. Garnish with parsley (or another herb) and crystallized ginger.

Summer Squash: This summertime staple crop is to size and ready for it’s first picking and your share’s. These, subtlety flavored, firm gems can be enjoyed in so many ways. I’d bet you are all  familiar with the green zucchini, but we will have a hearty mixed variety of paddy-pans, crook-necks, round, fat, long and thin green, yellow and striped green to pale summer squash for you to try as the weeks go on.

Peas: We’re mostly picking the shelling peas today and through this week. These peas are best out of the pod. There is something relaxing and surely summertime about shucking peas. The kids and I eat them the entire time and occasionally get enough to cook  a dish. Two weeks prior I shared a favorite pea recipe. Scroll down near the end of the Week 6 Newsletter for Salad with Peas, Feta and Mint. If yours can last, they are also nice to freeze as well.

Garlic Scapes: More garlic tops for your enjoyment. They continue to be a lovely addition to every meal. They are super mild if you’re a hard-core garlic lover, but they add a nice green color.

Collard Greens or Endive/Escarole: Your braising greens this week will comprise one or the other. Both are fun flavors to cook and perfectly suited for braising. The Braised Collard Greens with Sweet-&-Sour Sauce from Farmer John is fantastic….go all the way back to Week 1 for the recipe, if you don’t have his book. Collards need longer to cook due to their thicker leaves and texture. The endive and escarole are lighter, but more bitter of greens. I like to try and eat greens everyday. The greens in the just mentioned recipe, as well as the recipe below can make a great side to most any main dishes. Paired with quinoa or rice they make a simple, healthy lunch. With a handful of chopped fresh herbs, just before your pan comes off the heat, give the greens a little something extra. This is an easy, basic method of cooking them….

Sauteed Leafy Greens from Lucid Food

• 1 bunch leafy greens
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced (or your bunch of garlic tops)
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Slice out any fibrous inner stems of your greens and discard. Coarsely chop greens, making sure there are no long strands, then submerge them in cold water (sink works great!). Swish them around the water thoroughly and then place in colander. No need to dry them. The water helps the cooking process.
2. Heat a large saute’ pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Throw in half of the greens, saute’ them for 30 seconds (until they have shrank some), then add the other half.
3. Saute’ until leaves are tender, but still bright green, about 3 minutes (but can be up to 10 minutes  for heavy kale’s and collards). Add dash of salt as you cook. Add the garlic and saute’ for 1 minute more.
4. Turn off the heat and stir in the red pepper flakes if using them. Serve hot, seasoned with just lemon juice and freshly ground pepper. Personally I usually cannot help but add my homemade Italian dressing before serving. I’ll post the recipe some time, but it is just a light basic oil and vinegar dressing. Eat those greens!

Broccoli: Broccoli crowns make it back into your share. We enjoyed a lot of broccoli last week. It is one of our favorite veggies. We don’t have a clever name yet, like coleslaw for cold broccoli salads, but that doesn’t make it any less special or delicious. Our farm broccoli is great simply steamed with butter and salt, but why not try a cold salad this summer?

Sesame Broccoli Salad adapted from Recipe’s from America’s Small Farms

• Steam 2-3 large broccoli crowns until bright green, but still tenderly crisp (al-dente’). Drain well. Set aside or refrigerate if a cold salad is desired.
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Asian sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds

1. Whisk together all but the seeds in a large bowl.
2. Toast the sesame seeds in a heavy skillet; let cool.
3. Mix the broccoli and half the sesame seeds into the dressing. Marinate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, but up to a couple hours. Toss occasionally.
4. Transfer broccoli to a platter. Pour dressing over it and sprinkle with the rest of the sesame seeds.

Fresh Herb: This week we have more fresh herbs. It may be Cilantro, Dill or Mint making it to your table. For me, cooking with herbs makes the act more enjoyable. I love to add fresh herbs to most things I cook…and I don’t always have rhyme nor reason. I find them delightful in salads and in eggs. 

Spicy Cilantro Slaw from The Herbal Kitchen-Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tsp Sriracha sauce (Thai hot pepper sauce)
• 1 lb green cabbage, very finely sliced
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced
• 1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

1. Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, soy sauce, and Sriracha sauce in a large bowl.
2. Toss in the remaining ingredients.
3. Refrigerate at least an hour to wilt cabbage and blend flavors.

BERRY-SHARE ~  This week we are in transition with our berry crops. We’ve pretty much picked our strawberry patch clean of all it is going to really produce this year. However, small amounts may make it to each day’s pick-up. The black raspberries are ripening nicely. So are an early black-berry variety we have. Berry-share members, for this week your two pints may be a compilation of sorts or one type just mentioned. This will be Week 3 for the berry-share with7 weeks to go.

FARM NEWS ~  Lovely weather we’re having isn’t it? I love the heat and don’t mind the rain, but this high 70′s low 80′s stuff is just about perfect to us. It gradually ripens fruits and vegetables and doesn’t particularly stress any one crop. Things can stay irrigated with relative ease and hoeing nor harvesting breaks a back drenching sweat! We’ll take it. The fields are looking fuller as our row plantings become completely established and we knock back tall weeds hoping to flower. The labor of love continues.

On a discouraging note….the hot prospect of our pumpkin patch for kiddos this year may leave us less than wanting. Germination in the field basically failed. We are soon going to miss the already late last window to reseed it. I’ll keep you all posted. : (  Sadly, this may be filed away for next Fall.

On a happy note, I am hoping to have a pickle-making-party! How many of you would like to get together and make pickles? We will have a hefty heap of small cucumbers coming on and they need to go somewhere! We should also have all the dill….I’m still working out the details but if you want to participate, buy your jars now and please let me know. I may even combine the day with a fermentation work-shop too! Interested?

We have been graciously blessed with our help this year. Wonderful volunteers and work-for-share members have literally blown us away with their skills and tenacious determination. We are honored to feed them…you know who you are (I hope!). Here is one of my favorite’s sacked out in the field while her mom transplants away…..Incredible. Much love…

We want to put out a huge thank-you to our member’s – all of you – for supporting our farm! We are 1/3 of the way through 2011 CSA Season and are doing it all by YOUR efforts and willingness to eat local, healthy and safely. We love you!

Farmer Kip and Amy

Week 7 ~ CSA Newsletter

This Weeks Share:  Head Lettuce,  Swiss Chard, Kale, Garlic Scapes, Cilantro or Dill, Sugar-snap or Snow Peas, Crown of Broccoli and Strawberries.

Lettuce: Nice heads keep rolling along…some of you may be getting our bag of mixed baby, lettuce-greens instead, but mostly we have heads.

Swiss Chard: The chard is growing well and tasting lovely. I have enjoyed ripping the stalks from the leaves of the chard and the kale and chopping them for our salads while braising the greens. Braised greens are about perfect when they are bright technicolor green colors.

Kale: This week we’re harvesting  the red Russian kale. It has a more delicate, approachable flavor than the frillier, blue-green varieties that are hardier and tougher. Most folks like to lightly cook kale before eating it. I’m always looking for new, exciting kale recipes. Send me yours.

Garlic Scapes: Again we are harvesting the garlic scapes (the tops) for you. Hope you are enjoying the mild, subtle garlic flavor.

Cilantro or Dill: Why not choose the opposite one from last week? Be crazy.

Snap-Pea or Snow-Pea: More peas, hooray! Likely you have had the pleasure now of a crisp, sweet, snap-pea. It breaks where you bite it, clean, firm, loud and clear, and snappy. Young tender snow-peas break cleanly raw as well, but aren’t as sweet and they are best in stir-fry. Larger snow-peas can get tough.  More mature snap-peas can too. But, mostly if you find a pea bite very tough and stringy and it doesn’t break down no matter how long you chew it, you most likely have eaten a shell-pea. These peas are grown for the tender, tiny, round green things inside the pod. Not for an ‘edible’ pod. Please advise that we are sorry some pea bags have gotten mixed up and may contain the lot. However, the ‘un-edible’ pods have a wonderful use in making a vegetable stock, or even a pea soup base. Also, bunnies like them.

Broccoli Crowns: Wonderful. Steamed a heap for dinner this evening. Add salt and butter. Yum. Finally our broccoli crop is beginning to make a show about here.

Strawberries: Again we offer a handful of these luscious, red, plumply sweet gems to all of our members. Hope you are enjoying them. They will soon be gone.

BERRY-SHARE Holder’s: Week 2 for berry-share offers yet two more pints of delicious strawberries. You will either receive our Hood’s or the Tillamook’s. Eight more weeks of berries are yet to come for you. We are getting more of that sun….and we are seeing more red in the fields. This is good news.

We hope everyone had a great and safe Independence Day holiday….More to come soon.

Hoping…yet to put up a couple recipes. Please check in later.

Thank-you for your support!