Volume XXIV, Number 2 – June 10, 2014
In this week’s box:
Chard: Bright Lights Mix (big, leafy greens with bright, multicolored
stems)
Garlic Scapes (the
curly, green things)
Head Lettuce: Bronze Arrowhead (maroon oakleaf) and a
bonus/misc. head
Purslane (small
bundle of succulent green leaves)
Radishes (the
final few)
Spinruts (baby turnips) Hakurei (white) & Scarlet
Queen (pink)
Tapestry Salad Mix
and possibly one of the
following:
*Snow Peas (next group in alphabetical order)
*Spinach (next group)
For those with the Cheese option: Roasted Red Pepper
Chevre & Plain Chevre
For those with the Egg option [full]: one dozen
free-range eggs (assorted colors)
For those with the Herb option: Herb share will begin in
a couple of weeks as herbs mature
For those with the Honey option: We are on the bees'
schedule, deliveries will likely start in July
Featured
Recipes (see below): Spring Turnips with greens and
Raisins
Garlic Scape Pesto
The Great Chard E'scape
Huevos con Verdolagas
Precipitation since last
week: 2.13”
What’s up on the farm?
The season is cruising on
here at the farm and we are doing our best to keep up. The recent rains have
been nearly perfect and we were so thankful to miss last week's damaging weather
that took place south and west of us. Nearly everything here is green and lush,
desirable plants and weeds alike! If we could possibly place an order for this
weather to just continue through the season, we would all be perfectly happy
(farmers, crew, animals and crops alike). Well, maybe not
ALL of us. The very earliest crops have begun to decide
that they are finished. Yesterday we cleared the early salad from the high
tunnel and replaced it with the last of the tomatoes and peppers to be planted.
Never fear, there is more salad in the field. The radishes are mostly done, so
we will tuck the very last few into the boxes this week. The spinach was an
unexpected loss, as we usually can coax it farther into June. Not this year,
last week's rain and then warm-up put it over the edge and we were able to
harvest just a few bags before the whole crop just melted. What this means is
that the spinach is done until fall. We know that there are a number of you who
won't have gotten spinach in these first two deliveries, so you will be the
first to get it when the fall crop comes in. We wish we could have gotten it out
to everyone now, but it just wasn't possible this time
around.
Other notable crop
happenings; the garlic is "scaping"! For those of you who are new to the
CSA, scapes are the emerging flower stalk on a hardneck
garlic plant. We remove them to redirect more of the plant's energy into the
bulb, but it also provides us with a delightful fresh garlic treat. It is one of
our favorite crops of the season and we hope you enjoy their curly, garlicky
goodness as much as we do. They are a short season treat though, so we will
likely have them in boxes for the next 2 weeks and then they will be done. What else is happening? Main season
transplanting and sowings are mostly done. Exceptions include melons and some
succession sowings for things like beans, beets and edamame. So now our focus
moves to cultivating/weeding, mowing, harvesting and otherwise attempting to
manage the riot that is growing in the gardens. We have a little mulching left
to complete and a lot of tomato trellising in our immediate future. We are still
on "cria watch" for our impending baby alpaca. We thought there were some
promising developments this weekend, but it appears we are just paying more
attention now.
We had two swarms of bees
on the farm this past week. No worries, it is a natural movement of bees from
one home (hive) to find a new home, but it is always an impressive thing to see.
Sean was able to re-hive one of them for sure, and hopefully yesterday's capture
was successful as well. Both involved him standing at the top of a tall
extension ladder, armed with an extended pole trimmer. So hopefully all will
settle into their new digs and his efforts will translate into two new permanent
hives of bees.
Just a reminder, we have set up a new Facebook page for
CSA members. You can find it here:
Blue Gate Farm Community. If you
have a Facebook account we encourage you to post recipes, photos and questions
about your weekly produce box adventures. If you don't have an account, don't
worry, you can still see/ read anything on the page, but you won't be able to
post anything. We will keep an eye on the page and try to answer questions in a
timely manner, but really this is to encourage the "Community" aspect of
CSA and to provide you all a venue
to share and connect with each other.
A little detail on your produce this week:
There might be a few
unfamiliar items in your box this week, especially if you are new to the
CSA. Most people
know what peas are, but maybe not the
types that we are growing. We have snow
peas (flat pod with little bumps showing immature peas inside) and sugar snap
peas (rounded pods with mature peas inside).
Both have edible pods and can be used interchangeably in recipes. They are particularly good in stir-fries and
salads, though we tend to eat them fresh as a snack. Peas keep best in their plastic bag in the
produce drawer of your refrigerator.
Chard:
A mild-flavored, leafy member of the
beet family that can be used raw or cooked. Chard will keep best if stored in a
plastic bag, with the top folded over and placed in the produce drawer of your
refrigerator. When cooking chard with
large stems, separate stems from leaves and start cooking the stems first, as
they will take a bit more cooking time.
Garlic
Scapes:
One of our favorite crops of the year. These curly green things are the emerging
flower stalk from a hardneck garlic plant. We remove them to redirect more of
the plant's energy into the bulb, but it also provides us with a delightful
fresh garlic treat. These keep very well in a plastic bag in your produce drawer
and can be used in any recipe calling for garlic. They would be perfect in last
week's garlic salt recipe, make a great pesto and can be minced and added to
room-temperature butter, which is then stored in log shape, in the freezer for a
last minute dollop of goodness for vegetables, breads or
meat.
Head
Lettuce: We prefer to store heads
wrapped in a cotton or linen dish towel, then placed in a plastic bag. This
helps maintain a little bit of moisture, while keeping the leaves from touching
the plastic to extend their "drawer-life".
Wash lettuce just before using. The inner-most leaves of the head are the
sweetest, so save those for salad use and take advantage of the bigger, outside
leaves for use on sandwiches or wraps.
Purslane: This succulent plant is a valued green in many parts of the world,
though here in the US, it is mostly
known as an invasive weed. It is rich in vitamin E, vitamin C and beta carotene,
and quite high in protein. Most noteworthy of all, it is considered a
better source of essential omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy
plant. Enjoy raw or cooked in any recipe calling for greens. Store in a
paper towel-lined plastic bag in your crisper drawer and use within a week.
Spinruts/turnips: keep best if separated from their greens. Greens are stored in a plastic bag and can be
cooked like mustard or collard greens.
Trimmed roots can go into a lidded container or zip-close bag. You are
probably also wondering what the story is with the term "Spinruts"? Well, “spinrut” is just the word turnip
spelled backwards and we borrowed this from a larger
CSA in northern Iowa. They decided
that people have some pre-conceived notions about turnips and many of them are
not very nice. But most people have also
only experienced the old stand-by “purple-top turnip” and these glowing white
orbs that we are growing are a totally different eating experience. This is a Japanese spring (or salad)
turnip. It is sweet, crisp and juicy and
our favorite way to eat them is straight out of hand, or maybe chilled with a
quick sprinkle of sea salt. It is tasty
sliced or grated into salads and even thin-sliced on sandwiches. Of course you can also use them in any turnip
recipe, but fresh is when they really shine.
A few other details: Your
greens will keep best if stored in a plastic bag, with the top folded over and
placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator. For those of you who are new to our salad
mix, yes you can eat the flowers.
* You will notice that some
of the box contents listed above say something about the first group, second
group, ect. These are items that we
can’t harvest in sufficient quantities for the whole
CSA to receive at one time. We do track who gets what and we will do our
best to ensure that everyone eventually receives each item. On some items this may take several weeks, so
please be patient.
Is
a weekly newsletter not enough for you and you want to read more about our daily
adventures or see pictures of the farm? Follow us at our blog at http://beyondthebluegate.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook (just search Blue Gate
Farm) and “Like” us.
That’s about it this week, if you have any questions or comments be sure
to let us know.
Best from the
farm,
Jill & Sean (and Blue,
Luci & Indigo)
Spring Turnips with Greens and
Raisins
2 T butter,
divided
2 t olive
oil
1 medium yellow onion,
diced
1 bunch spring turnips and
greens (about 10 small or 5 large turnips
about ½ cup raisins (we
especially like this with dried cranberries)
salt
12 ounces orzo or bowtie
pasta, cooked and cooled (optional)
Heat 1 T of the butter and
all of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium flame. Add onions and cook,
stirring often, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, wash
turnips and trim the leaves from the root. Chop the roots into 1-inch dice.
Discard any yellowed turnip leaves and roughly chop the nice ones. Once the
onions are softened, add the turnip roots. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, stir and
cover. Cook until the turnips can be easily pierced with a knife, about 8
minutes. Uncover, turn the heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring now and
then, until turnips turn light brown at the edges. Add the chopped greens and
raisins and cook until the greens are wilted and tender, another 3-4 minutes.
Add the remaining 1 T butter and salt to taste. Eat this as a side dish or toss
it with cooked pasta for a main dish. Makes 3-4
servings.
BGF Garlic Scape Pesto
1 bunch tender scapes, cut into pieces, and processed in a food processor until finely chopped
Add the following and process until well blended:
1/3 cup olive oil (add more if you like a thinner pesto)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 bunch tender scapes, cut into pieces, and processed in a food processor until finely chopped
Add the following and process until well blended:
1/3 cup olive oil (add more if you like a thinner pesto)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
optional, toss in some basil for additional pesto flavor
if you have it.
This can be served now or frozen for future use. I freeze it in small (1/2 c.) zip-top plastic bags, flattened. Then you can just break off whatever amount you need.
This can be served now or frozen for future use. I freeze it in small (1/2 c.) zip-top plastic bags, flattened. Then you can just break off whatever amount you need.
The Great Chard
E’Scape
½ lb Swiss chard (or other
greens like kale, choi, braising greens, ect)
1 tbs olive
oil
5-6 fresh garlic scapes (or
more to taste) or 1-3 cloves minced garlic
Sea
salt
Cut garlic scapes into 1”
chunks. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic scapes.
Trim large stems from chard leaves. Cut stems into 1” pieces. Add stems to
skillet. Stack chard leaves and roll into a tube. Cut into ½” strips. As scapes
and stems just begin to soften, add leaves to skillet. Cook until leaves wilt.
Sprinkle with salt to taste.
Great served over pasta
with a red sauce or as a side dish. Leftovers are tasty in eggs the next
day.
Recipe Source: Blue Gate
Farm
Huevos con Verdolagas (Eggs
with Purslane)
Ingredients for 2 servings
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (or garlic scape)
1/2 cup chopped Verdolagas (purslane)
Small ripe tomato, seeded and diced
4 eggs, beaten with a fork
salt and pepper
Salsa, your choice green or red
4 corn tortillas
1. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet set over a medium flame. Add onions and verdolagas and cook for a few minutes or until the onions begin to soften and the verdolagas begins to wilt. Then pour in the eggs, and continuously lift and move them about with a spatula until they have firmly scrambled.
2. Set the corn tortillas between two paper towels, and microwave for exactly one minute. (If you don't wish to microwave, heat the tortillas in the skillet after you've removed the egg mixture.)
3. Place an equal amount of egg mixture on each tortilla, top with diced tomato and a dollop of salsa. Then fold the tortilla over, taco-like.
Ingredients for 2 servings
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (or garlic scape)
1/2 cup chopped Verdolagas (purslane)
Small ripe tomato, seeded and diced
4 eggs, beaten with a fork
salt and pepper
Salsa, your choice green or red
4 corn tortillas
1. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet set over a medium flame. Add onions and verdolagas and cook for a few minutes or until the onions begin to soften and the verdolagas begins to wilt. Then pour in the eggs, and continuously lift and move them about with a spatula until they have firmly scrambled.
2. Set the corn tortillas between two paper towels, and microwave for exactly one minute. (If you don't wish to microwave, heat the tortillas in the skillet after you've removed the egg mixture.)
3. Place an equal amount of egg mixture on each tortilla, top with diced tomato and a dollop of salsa. Then fold the tortilla over, taco-like.
Recipe Source:
www.agardenforthehouse.com/
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