CSA Delivery May 27, 2010

We are glad that the weather has finally mellowed out and the crops are looking normal again! I am looking forward to seeing everyone again this week. You'll get some new things this week, one of which is kohlrabi, which is related to cabbage. We peel the bulb and eat it raw, or you can chop it and put it over a salad. The tops can be cooked as you would any other green. Here is a link for a great recipe using mustard greens:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/07/balsamic-glazed-chickpeas-and-mustard.html

This week you can expect the following:

Half share:

• one small bag of lettuce greens
• one small bunch of mustard greens
• one kohlrabi
• one pint of local wildflower honey
• 1/2 dozen local farm fresh eggs

Full share:

• two medium bags of lettuce greens
• one small bunch of mustard greens
• one bunch of chard
• two kohlrabi
• two pints of local wildflower honey
• 1 1/2 dozen local farm fresh eggs

"Keep your chin up!"

That is all I can say. I have planted so much and had so many things in the ground on time and then we got a couple weeks of rain and absolutely no sun. Well, plants like to photosynthesize and kind of need that to grow and survive. I have never seen anything like this and have never seen my garden so ugly so early. I have plants and seeds that need to get in the ground, not to mention the weeding that needs to be done but can't be because of how ridiculously wet it is. It is hard to hoe when you are losing your shoes in the mud!
Izzy and I planted some parsley and basil into some plastic mulch that kept some of the soil dry-ish last week. Today, I got out and weeded some of our beets and tomatoes. I had to water our flats of plants on our benches for the first time in two weeks. I cannot even believe that we got enough rain to kill, yes kill, our spinach, cilantro, dill, and several tomato plants. "Keep your chin up," is all I can say!
Those of you that belong to the CSA, I so appreciate your understanding and kind words after having to cancel last week's delivery. There will be times of bounty coming! We have replacement plants for what we lost to this rain. We have about 60-80 summer squash plants that are growing well, along with about that many cucumber plants that we got in before the rain hit. They are in ridges under plastic mulch, so they are doing very very well.
We will have a delivery this week that will include honey and eggs to supplement the produce that we are harvesting.
Let's hope we will get some milder weather...I'm not so sure about this extreme heat right after all this rain either. There are 1,000 sweet potato plants staring at me and wanting to get put in the ground (that is not yet able to be tilled).

CSA Delivery May 13

Hello everyone!
I am so glad we have gotten this rain, but it is a bit soggy around here! Missed the boat to plant greenbeans and corn this past week, but we got cucumber, eggplant, and summer squash plants in the ground and everything else is coming along beautifully! I hope you enjoyed last week's delivery.

For this week, here is what you will be getting:

Half Share:

• 1 lb. lettuce mix (includes some arugala and spinach)
• 1/2 lb. greens for sauteing (includes chard, kale, mustard)
• small bunch of radishes

Full Share:

• 2 lbs. lettuce mix
• 1 lb. greens for sauteing
• 2 small bunches of radishes
• bunch of green onions
• white and green flower bouquet

In the ground or planted in seed flats are: potatoes, peas, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, beets, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, peppers, chinese cabbage.

See you today!

Recipe Suggestion

Hi Everyone,
I am passing along a delicious recipe from a member. You will most likely get to try it with some more kale or chard this week:

Kale with beans soup
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil

4 large cloves garlic

½ medium yellow onion, chopped

2 cups chopped raw kale

2 cups low-fat, low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 [15 oz.] can white beans such as cannellini or navy, undrained

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup chopped parsley as garnish, if desired



1. Heat olive oil. Add garlic and onion; sauté until soft.

2. Add kale and sauté, stirring, until wilted.

3. Add 1½ cup broth, 1 cup beans, and all of the tomato, herbs, salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes.

4. In blender or food processor, mix the remaining beans and broth until smooth.

5. Stir beans and broth combination into soup to thicken. Simmer 15 minutes or until ingredients are as soft as you prefer. Garnish with parsley before serving.



Makes 4 servings.



Cals. per serving: 182

Total fat per serving: 2.5 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 269 mg

Total carbs: 31 g

Dietary fiber: 7.3 g

Protein: 1 g

First CSA Delivery This Week!!!!

The past month has been a doozie. We had a great visit with some of our CSA members this past Saturday at the Open House/Farm Tour. It was great to visit with everyone and we look forward to meeting everyone at the first delivery. If you are a CSA member, directions have been emailed to you and we will see you between 3 and 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Leading up to the Open House, we lost the plastic on our greenhouse. The wind won, unfortunately. The timing is just fine, though, since we are not worried about frost at this time of year. I was in the greenhouse when it ripped off half of the greenhouse and I thought I was not going to make it out before the whole thing collapsed. It was more loud than actually dangerous, but the winds kept flapping the plastic with the heavy metal tubing that it was connected to on the bottom. All 100 feet of it!!! Needless to say, Andy had to come home from work that day to help me detach it from the rest of the structure before it caused any more damage.

Replacing the plastic will be done in the late summer.

So....for this week's delivery, I have compiled the following links and recipes for you to try if you need some suggestions. We will be delivering kale, lettuce mix, radishes, fresh oregano.

Honey Mustard Dressing (for the lettuce):

Ingredients
5 tablespoons medium body honey (sourwood is nice)
3 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablesppons olive oil
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Serve as a dressing or a dip.
*courtesy Alton Brown @ Food network

Sauteed Kale:

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Directions
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. Raise heat to high, add the stock and kale and toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.
* courtesy Bobby Flay @ Food network

Radish recipes link: http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/06/roasted-radishes-recipe-with-soy-sauce.html

Oregano recipe ideas: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bloregano.htm

I need to go move some irrigation around, see you soon!!