CSA Week 3 and Farm Stand updates

Happy Summer! Last week was the solstice and we experienced all the weather that summer has to offer - rain, sunshine, and even a short-lived hail storm! Sunny days are great for cultivating to control the weeds - we used the tractors, hoes and hand weeding to cover all our bases in the few dry sunny moments last week! Rainy days were largely planting (it rained right after this watermelon planting photo). We got our last winter squash varieties in the ground as well as lettuce, herbs, cucumbers and melons. Our main planting season is starting to wind down and the greenhouses are emptying out but we aren’t quite done seeding yet! This past week we seeded fall crops like kale, broccoli, and golden beets in the greenhouse as well as future successions of lettuce and salanova of course! The hail surprised us but did not seem to do any damage - phew! The strawberries seemed to survive rain last week and look like they will continue producing this week for both the CSA and farm store - we’ll enjoy them while they last!

This week in the CSA:

• Garlic Scapes - These are the stem and flower of our garlic plants! We snap them off this time of year because they are tasty to eat and their removal increases the growth of the garlic bulbs below ground that we will harvest next month for fall eating! Chop and use any way you would garlic, cooked or raw, one scape is equal to about one garlic clove in flavor intensity.

• Beets - This sweet vegetable is great roasted or grated in salads. Don’t forget to eat the greens! They are delicious sautéed with garlic scapes and olive oil!

• Fennel - Our spring fennel is small but tasty! Use in cooking or grated in salad. Both the bulb and fronds are edible.

• Purple Haze Carrots - Why purple? Just for fun!

• Collards

• Swiss chard

• Scallions

• Curly Kale - green and purple

• Kohlrabi

• Mini daikon

• Radishes

• Salad turnips

• Salanova

• Lettuce - butterhead, romaine, panisse and red leaf

• Yukina Savoy - A salad green that makes a great substitute for spinach for raw or light cooking uses.

CSA Pick-your-own:

• Sugar snap peas - To pick, gently hold the plant in place while you snap the stem just above the pea pod. Lift up plants to look underneath for the biggest pods. After removing the top the entire pod is edible - they make a great raw snack!

• Shell peas - Select the plumpest pods. Remove entire outer shell before eating the peas inside (these are generally cooked).

• Snow peas - New this week! Located next to the shell peas. These are flatter pods even when mature so just pick the largest one. Remove the top and the rest of the pod is edible either raw or cooked.

• Strawberries - They are hanging in there! Depending on the weather this might be the last week for picking.

• Herbs: parsley, dill, cilantro, basil and mint
  

CSA pick-up hours:

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm

Saturday 9am - 3pm

This week in the farm stand:

We will have all of the veggies listed in the CSA available in the farm store, as well as zucchini, green garlic, arugula, honey, mushrooms from Fat Moon and pullet eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds.

Farm Store Hours:

Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm

Saturday 9am - 3pm

Carrot and Kohlrabi Slaw

By The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 2 bulbs kohlrabi

• 4 carrots

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (or Dijon-style mustard)

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Steps to make

1. Trim and peel the kohlrabi and the carrots. You can use a vegetable peeler on the carrots, but to properly peel kohlrabi, you'll have better luck with a paring knife: Trim the tops and bottoms of the kohlrabi and set the flat bottoms on a cutting surface; use a sharp paring knife to cut down from top to bottom, removing the thick, tough peel (with this method you'll easily be able to see where the tender white-ish inside ends and the green or purple peel begins, working around the vegetable until all the peel is removed). Set the peeled vegetables aside.

2. In a salad bowl or large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt until well blended. Add pepper, if you like.

3. Using the large holes on a standing box grater or a mandoline set up for fine julienne, grate the kohlrabis and the carrots into the salad bowl.

4. Toss everything together until the kohlrabi and carrot are evenly coated with the dressing. Taste and add more salt or pepper, if you'd like.

5. Serve immediately or know that this salad holds up quite well to be made a few hours ahead of time and kept covered and chilled.

Cold Peanut Noodles

adapted from a recipe by Parsley on GenuisKitchen.com
NOODLES

• 1 lb spaghetti, or you can use linguine

• 1 cup shredded carrot

• 1 cup chopped scallion

• 1 cup chopped sugar snap peas

• ¼ cup chopped cilantro

SAUCE

• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

• ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• ¼ - ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ - ½ teaspoon hot sauce, I use red pepper flakes

• sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Bring a large pot of boiling water to a boil. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions; drain; rinse in very cold water and drain again. Place cooled noodles in a large bowl and toss with the carrots, scallions, sugar snap peas and cilantro. In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients until smooth. Drizzle the sauce over noodles mixture; toss to coat well. Serve room temp or cold. Garnish with sesame seeds if desired.

Beet Greens and Feta Pasta

from chowhound.com

• Kosher salt

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped

• 4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (4 garlic scapes would work great!)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 2 pounds beet greens, washed, ribs removed, and coarsely chopped (about 11 cups)

• 1 pound penne pasta

• 5 ounces crumbled feta (about 3/4 cup)

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. When shimmering, add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the beet greens and cook until just wilted, about 3 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper, remove from heat, and reserve. 

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water Return the pasta to the pot and place over low heat. Add the reserved pasta water and the beet green mixture, then sprinkle in the crumbled feta. Stir until thoroughly combined and heated through. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

We were surprised by hail on the farm Saturday afternoon!