Full Shares: Carrots, Broccoli, Salad Mix, Romaine Head Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Sugar Snap Peas, Basil, and Kale
Partial Shares: Broccolini, Head Lettuce, Carrot, Sugar Snap Peas, Broccoli, Garlic Scapes, and Basil
Hello CSA members!
Well, you couldn’t have asked for nicer weather for the 4th. Hopefully you have a river, lake, or shade nearby. As the old farm saying goes, your corn is supposed to be “knee high by the fourth of July”. That’s a real challenge in Montana, but I think we nailed it again this year.
One thing we haven’t been getting quite good enough lately is the moisture content of our salad mix. We’ve been trialling different varieties this summer, and the latest batch of Red Planet has just been too wet. We’re not sure if it’s the texture of the leaf, or if our commercial salad spinner is just worn out. So, in the name of quality, we went out and found a solution. Turns out commercial salad spinners don’t quite have the RPM’s necessary to get greens dry enough. But you know what does? A washing machine. Now, lots of farms have used actual washing machines to dry greens, but I’ve never liked the look of them and the issue with having an agitator in them. Fortunately, other farmers have shared my opinion and someone set out to create a retro-fit. Super easy. Step one: go buy a brand new washing machine.
What do you mean this voids my warranty?!
Step two: hack the top off with an angle grinder, tear out all the electronics, and then rewire the motor to a timer switch. And for those of you who were concerned, no, i did not use the angle grinder while wearing a tank top.
Step three: Spin your mix
Now all we need to do dial in how long to spin it for, and I think we’ll be all set. Hopefully this will improve for all our greens for years to come. And not only does it make a dry salad mix, but you can wash your socks at the same time.
Just kidding.
So the newsletter is a day early because the Whitefish CSA pickup has been moved back a day to Monday between 5 and 6:30 at our market location (in case you didn’t get the email). This week’s share has some beautiful broccoli heads in it, as well as more carrots, sugar snap peas, and garlic scapes. Looking for a scape recipe for your 4th of July steak. Look no further!
And while your on Dishing up the Dirt’s website, check out some of the broccoli recipes such as this one, or this one, or this one.
Well, stay safe out there and enjoy the weather. We’ll see you at CSA distribution!!!
Todd :& Two Bear Farm Team
