July 6, 2009. Week #5.

July 6, 2009 in farm updates, weekly harvest | Leave a comment

From L to R, top row: Arugula, Broccoli, Bok Choy, Lettuce Mix. Bottom row: Hakurei Turnips, Radishes, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Onion Flowers, Lemon Thyme.
From L to R, top row: Arugula, Broccoli, Bok Choy, Lettuce Mix. Bottom row: Hakurei Turnips, Radishes, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Onion Flowers, Lemon Thyme.

In your box this week:
1. Broccoli
2. Hakurei Turnips
3. Radishes
4. Lots of lettuce
5. Lots of Bok Choy (final harvest of this planting)
6. Arugula
7. Oregano (probably the last for a while)
8. Garlic Chives
9. Onion flowers (use them like green onions)
10. Lemon Thyme

CSA member Kevin begins his new modeling career
CSA member Kevin begins his new modeling career

 After a couple weeks of intensive weeding, we are now over the hump and on to the next stage of the growing season.  After we finish mulching these freshly weeded veggies, we will be relatively ready to shift most of our time into harvesting.  We finished weeding just in time too!  The peas and green beans will soon be bearing their lovely seed pods in abundance.  The zucchini are warming up, ready to jump into the game any moment.  We also harvested our first beet!  The boxes will continue to add bulk to their leafy greenness as we progress further into the season.  If you are a tomato lover, you will be happy to know that we have many fruits set on the vines, and they are progressing nicely.

Grandma Vangie to the rescue!
Grandma Vangie to the rescue!

Speaking of tomatoes, roughly 450 tomato plants would like to take this opportunity to formally recognize and thank Tony, Dave, and Vangie for all of the weeding, pruning, staking, and mulching that has happened in the last week or so.  The plants are enjoying the breeze that moves easily through their freshly pruned vines, preventing fungal invasion.  They are enjoying the extra water and space now that the weeds are gone.  And they love the mulch that holds in moisture even on hot afternoons.  THANKS FOR YOUR HELP TEAM!

We paid Dave for his hours of work with one of the first raspberries of the season.

We paid Dave for his hours of work with one of the first raspberries of the season.

 

 

Rainbows, Parsnips, & Weeds, oh my!

July 2, 2009 in farm updates | Leave a comment

The week has flown by!  The veggies are happily growing day by day.  The peas are covered in flowers, so pea pods will be ready soon — hooray! 

 Here are some photos from last weekend, June 27, 28, and 29.  It was a really lovely weekend and Monday harvest.  We are very thankful for the inch of rain last Saturday, and it was a nice change to need long sleeves to keep warm while harvesting on Monday.  Our beekeeper Thea stopped by and because the hives are doing so well she added another super (box) on each hive so they will have plenty of room to expand while Thea, Jim, and Thea’s son Tristan tour Latvia and France with their clogging group, “The Wild Goose Chase Cloggers.”  We wish them safe journeys and that they meet many new friends along the way!

June 29th, 2009. Week #4.

June 29, 2009 in weekly harvest | Leave a comment

[ picture needed.  please email a photo of your box this week, or of a dish you made with your box this week.  Thanks! ]

.

In your box this week:

1. BROCCOLI!  Beautiful, tasty, and lots of it!  Working member Natalie and I (Chris) LOVE broccoli leaves.  We usually pick most of the leaves off of your broccoli and then eat them for lunch on harvest day.  Today, we decided to spread the love.  I’ve heard the broccoli stalk and leaves are more nutritious than the flower buds, so try using up all the broccoli parts we put in your bag!
2. Arugula:  this spicy green is good raw or cooked.
3. Kale:  Red Russian and Dinosaur/Lacinato varieties.  It might be a good week to make Kale Chips!  Lightly coat kale pieces with olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt, and bake until crispy.  [You could do this with the broccoli leaves too.]
4. Hakurei Turnips:  These small white salad turnips are sweet and tasty raw or sauteed.  The leaves are also very tasty, good raw or cooked.
5. Radishes:  While you definitely CAN eat the leaves raw, due to the texture most people like to cook them first.  And of course, eat the red roots!
6. Rat Tail Radishes:  These are the seed pods of a certain variety of radish.  The thin ones are good raw or cooked, and add a nice spicy radish flavor to stir-fry, eggs, sautes, etc.  The fatter pods are more fiborous, and are better raw chopped into salad or sprinkled on the top of a cooked dish.
7. Dill:
8. Chamomile:
9. Parsley: these leaves add a lovely fresh taste and smell to anything, really.  Try sprinkling them raw into your salad or on top of a cooked dish.  When cooking with them, they will retain more flavor if added at the end.

June 22nd, 2009. Week #3

June 27, 2009 in weekly harvest | Leave a comment

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1.  Rhubarb
2.  Broccoli
3.  Turnips
4.  Radishes
5.  Oregano
6.  Chamomile
7.  Onion Chives
8.  Rainbow Chard
9.  Arugula
10. Lettuce & Spinach
11. Baby Bok Choy

Rhubarb Desserts

June 23, 2009 in desserts, rhubarb | Leave a comment

Here are two recommended rhubarb dessert recipes:

1. CSA member Syneva highly recommends the Almond Rhubarb Coffeecake recipe she found on allrecipes.com

Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake RecipeAlmond Rhubarb Coffee Cake
SUBMITTED BY: Neris PHOTO BY: LUSENDA

“This cake is sweet and almondy with rhubarb delectability.”

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 30 Min
READY IN 45 Min
Original recipe yields 2 – 9 inch round cakes
SERVINGS 24

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 inch round pans.

In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla together until smooth. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; add to sugar mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. Stir in rhubarb and 1/2 cup almonds. Pour into prepared pans.

In a small bowl, combine white sugar and butter or margarine. Stir in 1/4 cup almonds. Sprinkle topping over batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake tests done.

 

2. Rhubarb Dessert recipe shared by Carol, one of your farmers.

1 white cake mix, mix as directed.

Mix together and sprinkle on top of cake mix:
3-4 cups rhubarb
1 small package raspberry jello
½ cup sugar, or less, as desired

Mix together until pudding consistency:
1 small pkg vanilla pudding
1 ½ cups milk
fold in 8 oz cool whip
spread on top of cooled cake & enjoy!!

Bok Choy Salad

June 23, 2009 in Bok Choy / Pac Choi, onion chives, onions, recipes, salads | Leave a comment

CSA member Amy found this recipe and loved it!  It’s super tasty, and thanks to the Bok Choy it is packed with loads of calcium, iron, and vitamins A & C.

Due to copyright issues for this one we can provide the link but not reprint it.  The recipe also includes chives/green onions, ramen noodles, and wasabi peas.

Savory Thick Greens Soup

June 18, 2009 in greens, onions, recipes, tomatoes | Leave a comment

From our CSA member Debbie:

This recipe is especially good with kale which is quite substantial.  I haven’t tried it with other greens, but bet it would be good. It’s one of those flexible recipes, fresh or canned tomates, more broth if you like your soup soupier, etc.

Savory Thick Greens Soup

2 bunches scallions (green onions)
2 large tomatoes or 1 can (14.5 oz) Italian plum tomatoes
2 T olive oil
2 cans (16 oz each) red or white kidney beans
1 cup long grain brown or white rice
2 quarts chicken broth or water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh greens such as kale, spinach, turnip, or mustard greens

1. Thinly slice the scallions, including most of the green tops. Puree the tomatoes in a food processor or blender until smooth.
2. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the scallions and saute until just beginning to wilt, about 1 minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, beans with their liquid, rice and broth. Bring the liquid to a boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover pot and cook gently over low heat until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes for brown rice, 20 minutes for white rice.
4. Meanwhile, trim and rinse the greens, then coarsely chop. Add them to the pot and simmer just until wilted, 3-4 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot.

Yum!

 

fireworks & frogs

June 17, 2009 in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

 

I forgot to mention a really beautiful moment from our weekend at the farm — it was our town’s annual ”Pioneer Days” celebration and on Sunday night there were fireworks at the high school.  The school is relatively near to us, so mom, dad, grandma and I took lawn chairs out onto the driveway and watched the fireworks across our neighbor’s field.  The wetlands to the east, south, and west of us were filled with frogs singing along to the booms and blasts, and lightning bugs danced along to the bursts of light.  It was one of those moments that was so beautiful it felt like it was already a rosy memory even as we were living it.

[Photo credit: I found it here.]

June 15th, 2009. Week #2.

June 16, 2009 in farm updates, meet the growers, weekly harvest | Leave a comment

6-15-09 week 2 010 compressed

The greens have arrived!  In your box this week:
1. Rainbow Chard
2. Kale (Red Russian and Dino/Lacinato varieties)
3. Arugula
4. Baby Bok Choy/Pac Choi
5. Lamb’s Quarters (the ones with white or pink powder on them)
6. Green Bunching Onions
7. Radishes
8. Sweet Hakurei Turnips (look like white radishes)
9. Lemon Thyme

I’ve been thinking of this week as a “blood building week.”  After a long winter, the nutrient rich harvests of spring have arrived!  Greens are full of digestable calcium, iron, and vitamin C.  Also, my chef friend Nick taught me that radishes help your body metabolize fat (perfect timing as one of the first spring vegetables following heavy winter foods).  Admittedly, this sudden influx of greens can appear daunting.  Try a raw salad of lamb’s quarters and turnip greens, with radish and turnip slices, and maybe some honey goat chevre cheese and raisins.  Also, greens cook down A LOT!  So an easy way to use them up is to steam, braise, or saute them.  EVERYTHING in this week’s box could be put into a mouth-watering mega frittata.  (That’s my plan for tonight’s supper!)  Even the radish greens are edible and an excellent source of nutrients.  (While they could be eaten raw, due to the texture I’d recommend cooking them.)

 This week at the farm has seen noticeable growth of leaves.  The Alcosa savoy cabbage is still winning the garden beauty contest, in my opinion.  Yesterday while Natalie and I were harvesting the bok choy we had to stop for a moment and admire how the Alcosa leaves glowed in the sun’s backlight, and how they are already curling up into gorgeous little round cabbage heads. 

Sunday was a social working day at the farm.  Some family friends stopped by, and while we were giving them a little tour our neighbor Pete (http://www.roselawnstables.com/) came by and invited us over to see his newly planted blueberry field.  So we all went over there for a bit, and upon returning met up with our beekeepers Jim and Thea, who had come up to the farm to check on the hives.  They got married a couple weeks ago, on a beautiful sunny afternoon under the big oak trees at Theodore Worth Park in Minneapolis.  It was a very beautiful and meaningful ceremony, and I felt lucky to be witness to it.  For their rings they formed beeswax from their hives into bands, made molds, and then poured gold into the molds.  Here is a photo of the newlyweds.  Thea is holding a frame mostly of honey, and Jim is holding a frame mostly of baby bees (aka brood).

6-15-09 week 2 006 compressed

Our main goal at the farm this week is to get more things mulched.  Mulch will relieve weed pressure, retain moisture, and give all those little soil creatures an easier place to live.  We like our soil creatures!  We hope you have a great week, and we look forward to seeing you again next Monday.  I predict your skin will be glowing and your hair will be super shiny after eating all these dark leafy greens this week!

Sincerely,
Chris, on behalf of the rest of the team

 

June 8th, 2009. Week #1.

June 9, 2009 in chamomile, farm updates, garlic chives, herbs, lemon thyme, oregano, weekly harvest | Leave a comment

  6-8-09 week 1 016

In your box this week:
1. Rhubarb
2. Green Onions
3. Chamomile
4. Oregano
5. Lemon Thyme
6. Garlic Chives

Which herb is which?  

chamomile chamomile
garlic chives garlic chives
lemon thyme lemon thyme
oregano oregano

Fresh vs. Dry Herbs:
Use more of an herb when fresh and less when dry. For Thyme, for example, 1 Tablespoon fresh = ¾ teaspoon dry. Herbs can be stored in the fridge to use fresh, or can be hung in a cool dry place to dry.  Once dry, hold inside a bag and crumble leaves off of stems. Then pour into a jar.

To Find Recipes:
Use the search box or click on the ingredient you are interested in using to get a list of all uploaded recipes which contain that ingredient.  CSA member Amy highly recommends the Rhubarb Chutney recipes!

Farm News:
After a very dry spring we are feeling thankful for the rain this past weekend – our farm received a little over two inches! I 6-8-09 week 1 019went to North Carolina for a week (for a nature play training for my day job) and when I returned the plants were noticeably larger. It is an exciting time of year with the plants establishing themselves and starting to show it. The weeds are also staking a claim, and while I was in NC my dad and mom, Darwin and Carol, put in many a hour hand weeding. Once the plants get a little bigger we will mulch, mulch, mulch. The straw helps retain moisture and keep the weeds down.

Share Your Recipes!

If you would like to share a recipe with our members, write it in a comment and then we will paste it into a post. You can then search for recipes by ingredient, either by using the search box feature or by clicking on the category of your choice.

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