Farm updates and CSA Week 7

After spending last week weeding, mulching and trellising we can finally step back and admire our pepper, tomato and eggplant field! The pepper plants pictured above are planted in-between rows of tomatoes to give the large tomato plants more air flow in the hopes of discouraging the onset of diseases. The peppers and eggplant are just starting to come into the store this week and will hopefully show up in the CSA shortly. Tomatoes are not far behind! While last week was a success in catching up on weeding many areas of the farm, there are always new tasks to add to our to-do list. On tap for this week is the garlic harvest, a watermelon rescue project (netting and fencing to keep out the crows!), fall broccoli and kale planting, irrigation, weeding and thinning fall beets and carrots, seeding later fall successions of crops in the field and greenhouse, and of course keeping up with the harvest! 

Store hours:

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm*

Wednesday and Friday 2pm - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold and with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

In the CSA:

• Fresh onions - Red long of Tropea and Ailsa Craig (white) onions. These sweet onions should be kept in the refrigerator.
• Cucumbers 
• Summer Squash and Zucchini
• Red Potatoes - These small red potatoes are great for roasting or boiling for potato salad.
• Celery - Our celery is strongly flavored so we find that it's best for recipes requiring celery rather than an ants-on-a-log snack!
• Carrots
• Red Russian Kale
• Salanova 
• Garlic scapes 
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Kale
• Arugula
• Cherriette Radishes
• Baby Bok choy

CSA PYO:

• Green Beans - We have one planting ready and another on its way so despite the heat it will be a good week for picking!
• Basil- Both the second and third basil plantings are looking nice. One is just past the first planting of basil by the farm stand and the other one is out past where the peas used to be.
• Parsley
• Cilantro 
• Dill - With the third planting of basil out past where the peas used to be.
• Sage
• Thyme
• Mint (peppermint)

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We'll also have some eggplant, green peppers, blueberries and more of our own greenhouse-grown tomatoes. As usual, we'll also have mushrooms and eggs.

PYO Flower CSA:

The pick-your-own Flower CSA has begun! We have a few spots and plenty of picking time left if you'd like to join us! Sign up forms are available in the farm stand. Flowers ready this week include bachelors button, celosia, calendula, zinnias, verbena, orlaya, straw flower, gomphrena, calendula, and more! We plant successions of sunflowers for both the PYO Flower CSA and for the Vegetable CSA and the first bed is almost ready! Check in at the farm store before picking and for more information if you'd like to sign up!

Recipes:

Pan Roasted Summer Squash with Red Onion and Fresh Herbs

From the Healthy Living Market

An easy and tasty recipe for any variety of summer squash.  The vegetables can either be roasted in the oven or on the stove top.

• 2 lbs summer squash in 1” chunks
• 2 large red onions, sliced ½” rings
• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TB balsamic vinegar
• 2 TB chopped fresh basil
• 1 garlic clove, minced (Or 2-3 chopped garlic scapes!)
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• Coarse sea salt

To pan roast: Heat a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over high heat. When very hot, lower heat to medium and place a single layer of squash and onions in the pan. Cook for 6-8 minutes on one side until golden brown with some black spots, then flip to cook other side for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and repeat in batches until all the vegetables are cooked. (The squash and onions can alternately be roasted in a 400 degree oven. First toss with olive oil and place in a single layer on a baking sheet, using multiple baking sheets if needed. Squash and onions are done when tender and golden brown) In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, basil, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Whisk well. Pour the dressing over the vegetables while they are still hot. Toss to coat. Cover bowl and let vegetables marinate for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper as needed.

Grilled Summer Squash and Zucchini

Gourmet, June 2007

• 6 medium yellow squash and/or green zucchini (3 pounds)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
•  1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
•  2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•  2 teaspoons coarse-grain mustard
•   1/4 teaspoon sugar
•  Prepare grill for indirect-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (high heat for gas).

Trim squash and/or zucchini and halve lengthwise, then toss with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl.

Oil grill rack, then grill vegetables directly over hottest part of coals, covered only if using a gas grill, turning over once, until grill marks appear, about 6 minutes total. Move vegetables to area of grill with no coals underneath and grill, covered, until tender, about 4 minutes more. Transfer to a platter.

While vegetables are grilling, whisk together lemon juice, mustard, sugar, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small bowl. Pour dressing evenly over vegetables before serving.

Farm updates and CSA Week 6

This week we are sadly saying goodbye to Emma, one of the first people we hired to work on the farm! For the past 3 seasons, she has been cheerfully helping out customers in the store, thoroughly watering our greenhouses, helping out with harvests, and tackling the various odd jobs we've thrown at her. Emma graduated from CCHS this spring, and she is now off for a well-deserved summer adventure before she heads to college this fall. We will miss this warm, enthusiastic and kind young person, but we know she is off to do good things for the world, and we hope we can entice her back to the farm next summer to do a few more good things for us!

In other farm news, it is the height of weed season! We had been doing a pretty good job keeping on top of the weeds through most of June, but the combination of some inconveniently-timed storms, hotter days, and our field crew being below full strength for a few weeks led to a weed explosion that we are still fighting. We have most of our crew back this week, though, and we're confident that we'll get it under control!

Store hours:

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm*

Wednesday and Friday 2pm - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold and with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

In the CSA:

• Fresh onions - the variety we harvested this week is called Red Long of Tropea. These are sweeter than the cured dry onions you find in the grocery store (we'll have those later in the season!). These are particularly suited for grilling season. Slice them up raw to put on top of your burgers or grill them with meat or tofu on kebabs.
• Potatoes - the first variety we're harvesting is Red Gold. As the name indicates, it's red skinned with yellow flesh. These potatoes are on the smaller size - perfect for roasting whole or cut in half. Though we've put in a lot of thought and energy into our potatoes this year - we "green sprouted" all our potato seed before planting, kept them virtually weed-free, converted them to drip irrigation, and spent hours hand-picking bugs off of them - we still have small red potatoes thanks to intense Colorado potato beetle and potato leafhopper pressure. The last-resort organic spray we used to use for potato beetles is no longer effective, forcing us to resort to some creative pest control measures (see last week's photo of Lise burning bugs with our flame-weeder!). Some of the later varieties are still alive, though, and we're trying to keep them growing for some larger potatoes later on!
• Summer squash and Zucchini - after a brief burst in production early last week, things slowed down. We're hoping to irrigate this week, which will hopefully trigger some better growth by the end of the week!
• Carrots
• Cabbage - green, purple and caraflex
• Kale
• Garlic scapes
• Lettuce
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Baby bok choy
• Arugula
• Red Russian kale

CSA PYO:

We clung to strawberry and pea-picking season longer than usual this year, but they are now both officially over. We have lots of nice herbs this week while we wait for the next pick-your-own crops coming soon: green beans and sunflowers.

• Basil- Both the second and third basil plantings are looking nice. One is just past the first planting of basil by the farm stand and the other one is out past where the peas used to be.
• Parsley
• Cilantro - we opened a new cilantro planting last week and it still looks pretty nice!
• Dill - new planting this week, with the third planting of basil out past where the peas used to be.
• Sage
• Thyme
• Mint (peppermint)
• We may have a small amount of green beans available for picking later in the week.

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We'll also have some cucumbers, gooseberries and blueberries (it looks like we may have some rain showers this week, and on those days berries may not be harvested if it's too wet before we open). Another exciting item that will make a limited appearance this week: our own greenhouse-grown tomatoes! The tomatoes were an experiment this year, so we just have small quantities, but if it's a success, we'll grow more next year. As usual, we'll also have mushrooms and eggs.

 

Recipes:

This week we're focusing on two recipes that not only make good use of the cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic scapes and baby bok choi, but also the wide variety of herbs available!

 

Sweet “Winter” Slaw

Adapted from Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi

I know the recipe calls this a winter slaw (cabbage is after all a winter staple), but this is so refreshing and is a perfect use of the mini cabbages and herbs we have right now! 

For the dressing

• 6 ½ tbsp lime juice
• 1 lemon grass stalk, chopped into small pieces
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 4 tbsp light olive oil

For the salad

• 1 ¼ cups macadamia nuts (or cashew nuts)
• 2 tsp butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 6 oz shredded caraflex cabbage
• 10 oz shredded red cabbage
• 1 mango cut into thin strips
• 1 papaya, peeled, deseeded and cut into strips (or you can just do extra mango instead!)
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and cut into thin slices
• ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

To make the dressing, put all the ingredients except the olive oil into a small saucepan, and reduce for five to 10 minutes, until thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat. Once it has cooled down, strain into a bowl, stir in the oil and set aside.

Put the macadamias in a hot frying pan and dry-roast for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly coloured on all sides. Add the butter and, once it has melted, the sugar, salt and chilli. Use a wooden spoon to stir constantly, to keep the nuts coated in the sugar as it caramelises. Be careful because this will take only a minute or two and the nuts can burn very quickly. Turn out the nuts on to a sheet of greaseproof paper and, once cool, roughly chop them.

Put the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl, along with the rest of the salad ingredients. Add the cool dressing, toss and taste. Add salt if you need to, and serve immediately.

 

Vegetable Summer Rolls

Gourmet | May 2001

Peanut sauce

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove (or scape), minced
• 3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar

Summer rolls

• 1 ounce bean thread noodles (cellophane noodles)
• 1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
• 4 (8-inch) rice-paper rounds
• 2 lettuce leaves, ribs cut out and discarded and leaves halved
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced bok choi or Napa cabbage
• 1/3 cup coarsely shredded carrot (1 medium)

Make sauce:

Cook onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in oil in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden, about 4 minutes. Whisk in remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer, whisking, 1 minute, then cool.

Make summer rolls:

Cover noodles with boiling-hot water and soak 15 minutes, then drain well in a sieve. Pat dry between paper towels and toss with vinegar and salt to taste. Put a double thickness of paper towel on a work surface and fill a shallow baking pan with warm water. Soak 1 rice-paper round (make sure there are no holes) in warm water until pliable, 30 seconds to 1 minute, then transfer to paper towels. Arrange 1 piece of lettuce on bottom half of soaked rice paper, folding or tearing to fit and leaving a 1-inch border along edge. Spread one fourth of peanut sauce over lettuce and top with one fourth each of mint, basil, cabbage, and noodles. Roll up rice paper tightly around filling and, after rolling halfway, arrange one fourth of cilantro and carrot along crease. Then fold in sides and continue rolling. Transfer summer roll to a plate and cover with dampened paper towels. Make 3 more rolls in same manner. Serve rolls halved on the diagonal.

Special Holiday Week hours (CLOSED July 4th, open extra hours on July 5th)

Happy Fourth of July! The farm stand and CSA will be closed for July 4th but some things on the farm like harvesting squash and the control of Colorado potato beetles just can't wait until after the holiday!  Beetles are doing heavy damage to our potato plants. We've tried picking them off, spraying organic approved pesticides, and now shaking them off the plant and burning! This last method seems to be the most effective thus far. Our hope is to save the plants enough that the potatoes will continue to grow. While the potatoes are suffering, many of our crops like the zucchini and peppers (hopefully ready next week!) are loving the heat in combination with our frequent rains. We are looking forward to seeing folks back on the farm for the farm store and CSA starting Wednesday at 11am.

Week of July 4th Schedule for CSA and Farm Store:

Tuesday CLOSED

Wednesday 11am-6pm

Thursday 11am-6pm

Friday 2pm-6pm (store only)

Saturday 10am-3pm

In the CSA

• Zucchini- First of the season but with this hot weather it is also plentiful! 
• Summer squash
• Cabbage- Our mini "spring" cabbages include green, red, and a cone shaped one called caraflex.
• Kale
• Carrots- Mostly orange this week but you might see some purple in the mix!
• Garlic scapes
• Lettuce
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Baby bok choy
• Arugula
• Beets

CSA PYO:

• Basil- We have multiple plantings ready for picking so it's time for pesto!
• Parsley
• Peas: snow and sugar snap 
• Dill
• Strawberries- The strawberries are almost finished for the year, but we'll keep them open for picking this week as long as we can. The berries at the end of the season are always small, so picking will take longer than it did at peak two weeks ago.

In the store:

Most everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store (strawberries will likely not be available, but we are hoping to have other berries very soon in the store!). We'll also have scallions, mushrooms and eggs.

Recipe

Kale, Cabbage & Carrot Salad With Creamy Caper Dressing

by chef Michael Anthony available at Epicurious.com

•  1 egg yolk

•  1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

•  ¼ cup grapeseed oil

•  ¼ cup olive oil

•  2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped

•  1 tablespoon caper pickling liquid

•  1 large clove garlic, smashed to a paste

•  ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

•  Salt, to taste

•  2 tablespoons snipped chives (optional)

•  ¼ head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced

•  1½ large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced into bite-size pieces

•  1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves thinly sliced or torn into bite-size pieces

•  ½ yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced

•  2 tablespoons chopped mixed herbs, such as parsley, basil, chives or dill (optional)

In medium bowl, whisk egg yolk with mustard. While whisking constantly, slowly dribble in oils. Continue whisking until oil is fully incorporated and mixture is thick and pale in color. Whisk in capers, pickling liquid, garlic and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste and snipped chives, if using. In a large bowl, combine all vegetables and herbs, if using. Add dressing and toss, using both hands to mix until dressing coats all ingredients. Allow salad to marinate until vegetables soften, at least 10 minutes.

Farm updates, CSA week 4 and special 4th of July week hours

The longest day of the year is a milestone for us, the crops, and the weeds! While in the spring we keep the weeds under control, every year around the summer solstice the weeds start to look like they might win the battle! We will continue to cultivate, hoe, and weed in earnest and eventually the shorter days will start to slow the growth of the new crop of weeds to a pace that we can keep up with. Our office seems to suffer a similar fate this time of year but the weeds get first priority! Summer also means the 4th of July is right around the corner. We will be closed Tuesday the 4th of July and open for the farm store and CSA distribution on Wednesday 11am-6pm in addition to our regular hours Thursday (11am-6pm), Friday (2pm-6pm store only), and Saturday (10am-3pm).  

In the CSA:

• Purple carrots - We plant a variety called "purple haze." Most bunches will be mixed orange and purple.
• Garlic scapes -  Scapes are the stem and flower of our garlic plant which taste just like garlic with a slightly milder flavor. We snap the scapes off the top of the garlic plants for the great flavor and to encourage bulb growth for the fall. 
• Kale
• Beets
• Scallions
• Arugula
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Lettuce 
• Fennel
• Kohlrabi
• Yukina Savoy

CSA PYO:

• Strawberries - This will likely be the last week for strawberry picking
• Shell peas 
• Sugar snap peas - While one planting is pretty much done the second one is still producing. 
• Snow peas
• Herbs: basil, cilantro, dill, sage, thyme

In the store:

Everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We'll also have salad turnips, "Happy Rich" broccolini, mushrooms and eggs.

Store hours this week of June 27th:

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm*

Wednesday and Friday 2pm - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold and with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

 

Store hours week of July 4th:

Tuesday, July 4th: CLOSED

Wednesday, July 5th: 11am - 6pm*

Thursday, July 6th: 11am - 6pm*

Friday July 6th: 2pm - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold and with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

Recipe:

Arugula Pesto

adapted from NYTimes recipe by

MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

Makes about 2/3 cup

FOR THE ARUGULA PESTO

• 4 garlic scapes, chopped
• 2 heaped tablespoons shelled walnuts
• 4 ounces arugula, stemmed, washed and dried 2 cups leaves, tightly packed
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ to ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, as needed
• ⅓ to ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, to taste

Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic cloves. When they are chopped and adhering to the sides, stop the machine, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the walnuts. Turn on the machine, and process until they are finely ground. Scrape down the bowl again, and add the arugula and the salt. Pulse until the arugula is finely chopped, then turn on the machine and run while you slowly drizzle in the olive oil. When the mixture is smooth, stop the machine, scrape down the sides and process for another 30 seconds or so. Work in the cheese and combine well.

Farm updates and Week 3 of the CSA

June is probably the busiest time of the year for us, and while things have felt pretty well under control this season (thanks to our fantastic crew!), last week was the first time this year that we looked at our to-do list and thought "can we really do this?" Though we didn't tackle everything (we rarely ever do!), we did manage to make a pretty significant dent in our list. In addition to our daily harvest, we also planted, seeded, weeded, mulched, mowed and trellised. Saturday in particular was a whirlwind transplant day for us - golden beets, celery, basil, popcorn, broom corn, lettuce and cucumbers! And we still had a half hour left at the end of the day to seed a few things in the greenhouse!

While we're proud of what we got done last week, there's plenty more to do this week!  In particular, we want to finish mulching our tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cakes and melons before the weeds get out of control. We are also planting edamame, Brussels sprouts, our weekly lettuce and greens, and our FALL beets and carrots!

Store hours:

Tuesday and Thursday 11am - 6pm*

Wednesday and Friday 2pm - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold and with an asterisk are also CSA pick-up hours

In the CSA:

• Carrots - this variety is called Mokum. Our go-to spring carrot variety since both of us started farming 10+ years ago has been a variety called Nelson, but that is sadly being phased out of production. So far, we like the flavor of these ones, and we'll try out one other later to see if we can find a permanent replacement!
• Yukina savoy - I've heard this mild green described as looking like a green lollipop. It's certainly not as sweet as a lollipop, but it's a great addition to salads and stir fry.
• Scallions
• Fennel
• Radishes
• Kohlrabi
• Bok Choi
• Arugula
• Red Russian Kale
• Salanova
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

• Strawberries - these are looking good this week, though we're unsure how much longer they'll last beyond this week. Thanks to some extremely rocky soils and a wily group of crows (who decided to rip out a bunch of plants last fall when it was too late for us to plant more!) we have quite a few bare patches in our strawberry field, meaning a less consistent harvest than we would have liked, especially among the late-season variety we planted.
• Sugar snap peas - we'll still be picking from the same planting as last week, as well as a newer planting.
• Snow peas
• Dill
• Cilantro
• Sage
• Thyme

In the store:

Everything we have in the CSA will also be available in the store. We'll also have salad turnips, "Happy Rich" broccolini, mushrooms and eggs. Strawberries have been selling out pretty quickly in the store, but Tuesday and Wednesday the strawberries are likely to last longer as we tend to have bigger harvests those days after the strawberry patch has had a brief rest over the weekend.

Recipes

This is definitely stir fry season. I like to sauté things like carrots, peas, scallions, radishes and greens with some ginger, soy sauce, garlic and maybe some cilantro thrown in at the end. You can also add tofu or meat to the mix, and eat atop rice or rice noodles.

Below are some more ideas: 

Julienne of Carrots With Snow Peas

by Pierre Franey, NY Times Cooking

• ½ pound carrots, peeled and trimmed
• ½ pound snow peas, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
•  Freshly ground pepper to taste

Slice the carrots into julienne strips about 1 1/2 inches long.

Place the carrots in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer 4 minutes. Add the snow peas, bring to a boil, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Drain.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the carrots, snow peas, garlic, soy sauce, scallions and pepper. Stir and cook 1 minute. Serve.

Kohlrabi Carrot Fritters with Avocado Cream Sauce

from acouplecooks.com, January 16, 2013

• 2-3 kohlrabi
• 1 carrot
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ cup grapeseed or vegetable oil (enough for ¼-inch depth in a large skillet)
• ½ avocado
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• ½ lemon
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Scallions (for garnish)

Cut the leaves off the kohlrabi and peel the bulb. Peel 1 carrot. Shred the vegetables in a food processor, or by hand using a grater. Squeeze the shredded vegetables in a tea cloth (or with your hands) to remove moisture, then add to a medium bowl with 1 egg, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon cayenne. Mix to combine.

Place ½ cup oil in a large skillet (enough for ¼-inch depth). Heat the oil over medium high heat, then place small patties of the fritter mixture into the oil. Fry on one side until browned, then fry on the other side. Remove and place on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain excess oil.

In a small bowl, mix ½ avocado, ¼ cup plain yogurt, juice from ½ lemon, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt to make the avocado cream (or blend the ingredients together in a food processor). Serve fritters with avocado cream and sliced scallions.