Full Shares:  Carrots, head lettuce, braising greens, Lacinato kale, green cabbage, Mesclun mix, and garlic scapes, 

Partial shares:  Carrots, head lettuce, Lacinato Kale, Mustard Greens, green cabbage, and garlic scapes.

Hello CSA members,

One can never get too comfortable with this farming thing.  There needs to be rules and systems in place, and nature, that temptress, can not be allowed to sway one into over confidence or careless mistakes.  Take for instance this season.   Warm temperatures and no frost since early May could lead a farmer to get a bit optimistic about the season.  Maybe the new plantings don’t need hoops, and row covers, and sand bags.  It sure would be easy to skip all that.  After all, it hasn’t frosted since early  May.  And then BAM!!!!  Hard frost on June 15th, followed up by another frost on June 17th.  All that hard work laid to waste by the fickleness of the weather.  Fortunately, we have leaned not to break the rules, and so the frosts last week had no negative affect on the farm.  Phew!   The average last frost date for this part of the state is June 10th, and you can’t get that sort of average by not frosting after early May.  Just another reminder about how difficult it can be to grow vegetables in Montana.  Not many other places in the lower 48 list frost in June as a big concern.

As for the CSA this week, we have moved our harvest out of the high tunnels and hoop houses, and into the main fields.  We’re onto to our third succession of carrots already!  One thing I have notices while handing out CSA’s is that there is a wide diversity of how people cook, store, or generally cope with the shares each week.  The last thing we want people to do is get overwhelmed.  In fact, we want your CSA to be enjoyable.  Yes, maybe it forces you to expand your culinary skills a bit to deal with new ingredients, but this should be a enjoyable experience, even if it is a bit of a challenge. So let me relay an experience I had last week, as a teachable moment.  As I was handing out a share, a CSA member was concerned with what to do with the greens throughout the season.  I told her that when in doubt, you can always turn them into pesto for later use.  I think she was a bit exasperated by the suggestion, stating that she didn’t have time to make pesto.  But that was my fault, because I didn’t really mean “pesto”, with pine nuts and garlic and parmesan.  What I was trying to say is…quickly steam/blanch the greens, throw them in a food processor with some olive oil, blend them up, throw them in a ziplock bag and put them in the freezer.  Wham, bam, a super quick way to save the greens for later use in soup stocks, pasta sauces, etc.   Or simply blanch them and freeze them whole.  It might seem a ways off, but you might find some enjoyment this winter when you slyly pull some frozen greens out of the freezer and bask in your domestic skills as you whip up a delicious Kale and White Bean soup.  Let’s admit it, there was a time we were hunter gatherers, and deep down I think there is a genetic remnant that enjoys the idea of self sufficiency, even it comes from some eating some frozen greens next winter.

As for this week, I encourage you to make a fresh slaw with your green cabbage.  These spring cabbages are super sweet and tender, and vinegar based slaws seem to be gaining in popularity over the traditional mayonnaise laden variety.  Spicy asian slaw, anyone?  It may be a bit of a reach, but how about pot sticker burgers?  I love the line ” you taste pot sticker, but you see burger”.  Stir fried pork and green cabbage and black bean sauce?  That makes my mouth water, and I just finished dinner.

Oh, and one note on the garlic scapes, in case you are unfamiliar with them.  These curly buggers are the tops of hard neck garlic, and they are only around for about two weeks per season.  They taste just like garlic, because they technically are garlic, just from a different part of the plant than we’re used to.  Cut off the builb and the whip end and discard, then use the uniform round part below the bulb.  They are great sautéed with any of your veggies to add a bit more flavor.

See you at CSA distribution!

Todd and the Two Bear Farm Crew