Full Share: Carrots, spinach, salad mix, hakurei turnips, garlic scapes, spring onions, Napa cabbage, baby bok choy, and rainbow chard
Half Share: Carrots, head lettuce, hakurei turnips, garlic scapes, Napa cabbage, spring onions and chard
Hello CSA members!
What a beautiful start to the week from a weather standpoint! The nights have been getting a little too cold for our liking, but the partly sunny days in the 70’s are tough to beat. The farm has been crazy the past few weeks with trying to harvest 5 days a week and also get all the warm season crops planted. But we’re happy to report that we are just about done with the planting, and about to shift to weeding mode, which is a bit overdue. The last of the sweet corn was planted today, the potatoes were hilled this weekend, the tomatoes are all in the ground, and preparations were made for a big weeding push by weeks end.
On the harvest side of things, it’s been a tale of two turnips (not to be confused with the Charles Dickens novel). A few weeks back, I struggled through a poor quality bed to make enough bunches for CSA. and lamented whether we should even bother growing that crop. This week, we harvest turnips from a different part of the field, and they are perfect. Like, really perfect. No bug damage, perfect size, bright white, and the tops were the nice and compact….we could all be so fortunate to grow into such perfect specimens of our species( sorry, no pressure, we love you just the way you are). And Napa cabbage….same….perfect. As I waxed eloquently to the apprentices (or ad nauseam I’m guessing from their perspective) about the goal of attaining perfect form, I couldn’t help but look past the humor and see how it’s perhaps more true than not. Is it simple vanity, or a more respectable form of pride to try to make things nice? Here’s a great example, as many of you who followed our post over the winter are familiar with. We had a really old, worn out tractor sitting around the farm that was of little use. It stressed me out every time I looked at it.
See, looking at this would stress you out too.
I either needed to junk it, or fix it, but I was tired of looking at it in it’s dilapidated state. I’ve never rebuilt a tractor before, but that’s what needed to be done, so that’s what I did. And now, I must say, it brings joy to my eyes. Not only does it look better, but we now use it on the farm on a weekly basis. And it feels good to know the tractor is closer to it’s perfect form than it was a year ago. In fact, on Sunday morning I had the pleasure of hilling potatoes with it, and I quite enjoyed it.
I know, enough already, get to the recipes, you say. Well, since the carrots seem to get consumed on the spot, I will forego any recipes for those. And the crazy looking garlic scapes….well, they can be used just like garlic (they are part of the same plant, after all). As for the Napa cabbage, how about this tangy cole slaw from our favorite white gloved friend. And I don’t know who “she” is, but apparently “she knows’ a lot about cooking napa cabbage. And how about the Swiss Chard? A garlicky saute, or perhaps with some bacon (no brainer!). Or how about this colorful option with lentils and feta cheese?
Well, it’s past my bedtime, and my proof reader has already turned in for the night, so hopefully I won’t be in trouble in the morning. Enjoy the beautiful weather, thank you for supporting local food, and we’ll see you at CSA distribution!
