Week Four Newsletter

Greetings to all of our members!  We are very glad to see that May will soon be coming to an end; it is our busiest month of the year as we're harvesting all our spring and overwintered vegetables and flowers as well as planting late spring items and many of our summer ones.  We have logged some 60-70 hour work weeks and we'll be glad to have things ease up a little.  Berries are almost over, so savor them these next two weeks.  On the farm we've been dealing with all kinds of mishaps and pests.  This first picture is of a stink bug feasting on a Colorado Potato beetle larvae.  The potato beetle is one of our biggest pests as it likes to devour our potato plants.  Next year we plan to buy an organic spray called Entrust to kill these nuisances.  Speaking of potatoes, besides some of the plants being hit hard by the beetles, it does look like our best crop yet, so expect some delicious potatoes in your boxes in three to four weeks.  As our members who have been with us for more than this season know, we are not the best potato growers, but looks like this year they will make more than one appearance in your boxes (hopefully!)  

We have also had another nuisance come onto our farm; we had a thief come and steal our very nice comet sprinkler worth about $300.  They must have come in the middle of the night, crawled through our electric fence, and used a screwdriver to get it off of our irrigation hose.  Punk losers, right?  We were very disappointed and are still recovering from the shock and violation.  So watch your things and watch your back, people must be desperate to be stealing from farmers.  Good news to announce to you all is the progress we've seen on our composting toilet, as pictured.  Gerard is a good friend of ours and a great builder and he is doing an excellent job on this future throne.  We're really looking forward to being able to use it on farm as we currently have no bathroom.  We'll have some facts for you all about composting toilets as I'm now reading some bits from The Humanure Handbook.  Also pictured here are some goodies that will be making appearances in your box in the not too distant future.  Stuart and I have been enjoying the first of these summer veggies that are coming from our hoophouse, and before long you will be as well.  

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:  This past week we had a mishap occur where a CSA member accidently took a full share instead of a half-share so that one of our full share members did not get what they paid for.  Please note the size of your boxes when you pick them up so this doesn't happen again.   Also, at Fosters this week, one of the full shares will be clearly labeled with a name on it, so please do not pick up this full share unless it is your name written on the box.  We'll try and set it aside from the others so it is a bit more clear.  Also, if you're having a friend pick up your share for you, please let your friend know which size share you have and be clear about the two sizes of boxes.   

IN YOUR BOXES THIS WEEK:

half shares

two pints of strawberries 

two pints of peas (snow peas/sugar snaps) 

turnips 

carrots

lettuce

full-shares

half-share plus

extra pint of peas

extra turnips

collards

Recipes

Stir-Fry snow peas and sugar snaps with carrots and garlic

snow peas and sugar snaps, washed and with strings pulled

2-3 small cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

carrots rinsed and cut into two inch long 1/4 inch thick slivers

oil (1tbsp) and butter (optional, 1/2 tbsp)

salt and pepper to flavor

warm olive oil and butter in saute pan over medium heat.  add garlic and saute garlic for about a minute, stirring and making sure it doesn't brown.  add carrots and peas.  stir and saute for around 8-10 minutes, adding a little water if the veggies start to stick to the pan.  add salt and pepper to flavor and you're done!  

Sauteed Collard Greens from Epicurious; this recipe calls for more collards than in your box so just pare down the other ingredients.  

FLOWER SHARES:

This week the flowers will be larkspur bouquets, not the blue-cloud larkspur you got last week, but the sword shaped larkspur.  Hope you enjoy them.  Also as a reminder, strip the flowers of any foliage below your water line as any foliage floating in the water is a bacteria's heaven.  

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments!  thanks everyone!

Week Three

Hello everyone!  Hope you all are doing well, feeling healthy with all these fresh veggies, and enjoying the anticipation of summer. Life on the farm is good, although we are feeling a little bit of pressure as we are behind in getting some plants in the ground for various reasons. But this week, in goes corn, edamame, eggplant, green beans, okra, peppers, tomatoes, and loads of flowers for all of our summer pleasure. So this first photo is to get everyone excited about PEAS! They are not in your box this week, but next week get ready for one of the most delicious items of the whole season. We have had the first few that have been big enough to pick in our dinners this week and WOW they are so good. A true culinary delight. So look for those next week in the box. This first picture is also to introduce everyone to our farm dog, Clover Honey. She is the best and quite the motivator. If you ever need to borrow her to get some serious work done, we'll consider it.
REMINDERS: We would love to have everyone who has purchased a flat of berries from us to please return the white tray and pint cartons (unless you have disposed of it or given them away!) We can definitely reuse these, so if you could just return them with your box that would be fantastic. Also, we would like to thank all of you who have bought the extra flats. It saves us so much time and effort to be able to turn to you all when we have these extra berries, and this is just one more reason for us to love having a CSA.  So thanks and we hope they have been worth it!  
IN YOUR BOX THIS WEEK:  

half-shares

3 pints berries

d'avignon radishes (french breakfast)

kale (red russian or dinosaur)

lettuce

frisee

Full-shares

same as half with additional-

pint of berries

extra head of lettuce

pint of peas

RECIPES   

We have found that as frisee is a bitter green, it pairs very well with something sweet.  We urge you all to try this green with some cut up strawberries and a balsamic vinaigrette.  You could also try any dried fruit as a topping on the frisee salad.  Here is a recipe from epicurious demonstrating the use of dried fruit.  We love goat cheese with it as well.

Frisee and Apple Salad with Dried Cherries and Walnuts

A new item in your box this week, kale.  Kale is one of the superfoods with a very high vitamin and mineral content for a small amount of calories.  If you're looking to eat healthy, look no further than the kale in your box.  We are big fans, and there are lots of ways to cook it.  It has a slightly briny flavor and a chewy texture---we typically saute it, but you can cook it any which way.  Here are a couple recipes; please, give it a try, we think you'll like it.  

Sauteed Kale

Kale with Garlic and Bacon

Tuscan Kale Chips

FLOWERS:

This week everyone will be receiving a very large and poofy bouquet of blue cloud and white cloud larkspur, mixed with a couple stems of bupleurum, also known as green gold.  Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks everyone and please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments.  Enjoy your produce and flowers!

-Alice and Stuart 

Week Two

Hello everyone!  Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms!  We hope everyone enjoyed the first week of veggies and strawberries and that getting your box and flowers was smooth and easy.  This past week all the rain we've been getting has made things a little difficult for us.  Loads of our berries are rotting; we really hope no one got any bad ones, we went over them again and again, but you can probably never get them all.  We have to spend lots of extra time with them when they're wet, looking over each one as we pick them to make sure there are no bad spots.  This detail work seems to hinder our progress in other areas, like weeding and planting, but so it goes with life on the farm.  The good news is that the sun will be out tomorrow and Wednesday to bring some cheer and dryness.   
PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR BOXES BACK THIS WEEK.  It's best if everyone could break them down (which means have them be flat instead of in box form) when you return them.  At Foster's market, there will be a spot in the cooler where you can place the flat boxes--there will be a sign.  Thanks everyone!  I think we may in future years issue out reusable Bluebird Meadows canvas grocery bags that you can use to put all your goods in instead of having to bring home the waxed box.  An exciting feature of our 2010 CSA.  :)

IN YOUR BOXES THIS WEEK:

half-shares

3 pints of berries

bunch of our sweet, overwintered carrots

two heads of small lettuce (lovely speckled mottistone and a red lollo)

a bunch of stir-fry asian greens (komatsuna and bok choy)

full-shares

half share + 

extra pint of berries

extra bunch of carrots

bunch of red russian kale

NOTE:  We have not picked this produce yet, so when we list these items there could always be the possibility of something changing at the last minute.  Hopefully not, but just in case, we thought we'd go ahead and tell you this.

RECIPES:  For the asian greens, both of these items cook fairly fast and we hope you give them a chance as they are quite delicious and flavorful.  We like to saute the greens with a store-bought teriyaki sauce.  They pair very well with rice or rice noodles like pad thai.  We usually use tofu or chicken as our protein source with them.  

We use a little bit of olive oil to coat the bottom of the saute pan and a pad of butter, place over medium heat till the oil warms and the butter melts, add a chopped up clove of garlic, saute for a couple minutes being sure to stir the garlic, then add the chopped up asian greens and saute over medium heat for about 7-10 minutes, adding a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce about halfway through the saute.  Voila, easy asian stir-fry greens are done!

A more professional recipe can be found over at epicurious, our favorite online recipe source.  Just click on the word epicurious above and it'll take you to a tofu and asian greens recipe.  

FLOWER SHARES

This week for Wednesday CSA members, you will be receiving Dutch iris as pictured above.  They are a lovely cut with a great vase life and we hope they brighten your week!

Thanks everyone and let us know if you have any questions or comments.  We'll be seeing you soon!  We'll let everyone know again if we have extra flats of berries this week.  Take care.

Week One of our 2009 CSA starts this Wed. and Sat.

Can we say strawberries??!!  Yes we can.  Our farm is officially going full speed ahead at this point now that the berries have come in; we are now reaping the rewards of lots of work and planning back in the fall and winter and we're trying to keep up with everything.  It is time to sow the last planting of peppers and tomatoes that we'll have in August and early Sept.  We're direct seeding corn, okra, and edamame this week as well as planting out transplants of melons, cucumbers, and winter squash.  We just direct seeded a late crop of lettuce mix so you all can enjoy a salad in June.  Everything looks so amazingly good in the field.  With exceptions of course.  We are at war with the devastating flea beetle, the colorado potato beetle, and soon we'll be waging battles against the Japanese beetle just to name a few pests.  The greens on your turnips in your box this week are the result of flea beetle damage; the turnip root itself is fine and delicious, sweet and tender.  The tops are still edible, just perhaps not so visually appealing.  We hope this is okay with everyone.  

We'd like to thank all of our CSA members who came out to see our farm for the Piedmont farm tour.  We loved seeing everyone and meeting members, showing off our beloved farm where we spend almost all of our time and devote almost all of our energy.  We hope it was worth the trip out for you all!  We would also like to thank all of you for helping make this whole farming adventure possible by joining our CSA.  We really do love what we do and we hope the vegetables and flowers you'll be receiving are able to somewhat convey this love in a material form.  Cheesy I know, but true.  

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR EVERYONE:  We will be delivering our boxes in two size boxes, one for the half-share and one for the full-share.  The half share is going to be in a 1/2 bushel box, and the full share will be in a 3/4 bushel box.  They will be in separate stacks so PLEASE take note of the appropriate size share that you signed up for.  We reuse these boxes so please try to and keep them in good condition and RETURN them each week.  There will be a place for you to put your box from the previous week so please remember to return you boxes so we don't have to scramble for extra boxes.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR FALCONBRIDGE MEMBERS:  The official pick up time for this location is going to be from 3:00 to 6:30.  Please be respectful of the time alloted!

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR DFM CSA MEMBERS:  As we harvest your produce on Fridays, items in the boxes are possible to be slightly different than what we list in our newsletters.  for the most part things will be the same, but we just want to let everyone know there might be one or two items that could be different than what we list mid-week.  

IN YOUR BOXES THIS WEEK:

half-shares

3 pints of strawberries 9.00

bunch of turnips 2.50

two heads of mini-lettuce 3.00

small head of endive 1.00

bunch of radishes  2.50

full shares

same as half with additional-

pint of berries 3.00

carrots 3.00

extra 1.50 worth of turnips

All members will be receiving carrots eventually, so half-share members do not fret.  They will make several appearances this season (and they are SOOOO good.)  

RECIPES:

For those sweet and tender turnips, we love to do mashed turnips.  de-top and rinse turnips and cut into half inch pieces.  Place in a saucepan with just about a 1/4 inch to a 1/3 inch water in the bottom.  Cover and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low and let cook for about 12 minutes or until tender.  Mash up with a fork, add butter and salt and pepper, and you have yourself a deliciously healthy side dish.  

Another great and easy way to do turnips is to roast them.  As you'll see with our recipes we like to share, we love to roast vegetables as this cooking method really emphasizes the flavor of the vegetable.  De-top and rinse turnips and cut into half-inch thick pieces.  Coat generously with olive oil and salt.  (I'd say two tablespoons of olive oil and a half teaspoon of salt).  Place in oven on 415-425 degree and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.  Another great way to enjoy this traditional vegetable.  

FLOWER SHARES:  Batchelor button blue is in!!!  Wikipedia says the following about this vibrant flower.....In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man's love was unrequited.

Interesting.  Hopefully all of the batchelor buttons you receive will stay vibrant for you all week long.  This is one of my favorite flowers.  It is simple, stunning, and brings loads of beneficial insects to the farm as well as gold finches and indigo buntings.  I'm not sure why a lot of farmers around here have it in and around there crops of wheat---I think they think the flower is a nuisance.  We have a lot of customers at market mention that it reminds them of their childhood.  We hope you enjoy this blue.  It is one of a very small handful of flowers to bloom a true blue.  There are people who have devoted their entire careers to try and get the rose to bloom blue to no avail.  Why they try I'm not so sure.  Just grow some batchelor buttons. 

Flower share members remember to bring a vase or a wet paper towel and baggie to put your flowers into---they will survive not having water for only so long.  Remember to retrim your stems when you get home as well as this prolongs vaselife.  Also please take one bunch unless you have signed up for two flower shares.  Thanks so much!

THANKS EVERYONE AND WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR FIRST BOX OF GOODIES!  Let us know if you have any questions or comments.