CSA Share Notes:

Excited to offer yet another jumbo packed share for you all. Here’s your vegetable line-up

• Kale—Regular shares received Red Russian kale (flat, oakleaf). We’ve got a great technique: massaged kale salad, to which you can add any number of delicious toppings.  I suggest making a honey-citrus dressing with fresh squeezed grapefruit and orange juice.
• Collard— Large shares received this crop. I would cook them up with bacon fat or ham and lots of red pepper flakes for a nice kick.
• Turnips—This week we made a big pile of butter-drenched mashed potatoes and turnips and tomorrow night we’ll be having our roasted turnip and grain salad.
• Radish—Large shares only.  These are of course perfect for a salad, but are also excellent on rye bread with butter and salt. Replace the butter with mashed avocado for a special treat.
• Spinach—A nice big bag of fresh, iron-rich spinach. Some of these leaves are bigger than you’d typically want for a salad. They’d be great in a Minestrone.
• Arugula—A large bag of super tender and delicious peppery arugula for everyone.
• Leaf Lettuce—For all the Large shares. These leaves are super soft and tender, so handle them delicately and eat it up soon before it spoils. It’s insanely good right now. Enjoy!
• Spring Mix—For all the regular shares only. A big bag of our Asian spring greens mix that includes frilly mustard greens, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, and tatsoi. It’s a range of spicy and sweet with all sorts of wonderful textures. It can be used in a salad when it’s young and tender, but is also great for braising like you would collard greens or kale, or roasting into a big batch of our turnip and grain salad.
• Broccoli—Just a bit for everyone. I would toss these beautiful leafy florets with a bit of olive oil and salt and put them straight into a hot oven to roast, as is, no trimming.
• Brussels Sprouts—Just a small serving for each share, but we are so, so happy to be sending you these! Brussel Sprouts have proven to be one of the trickier things we grow and you can only get them in the Winter CSA (and only in the years that our crop does well!)  We hope they’ll ripen quickly and we’ll be able to give you more next harvest, too.
• Beet greens (thinnings)—Mostly Chioggia variety for the large shares,  and mostly Red Ace variety to the regular shares. These are excellent paired with toasted walnuts, or sauteed with a whole bunch of browned butter and tossed with a good quality pasta. (sounds strange, but I’m tellin’ you). A chef-roommate of ours prepared them for us this way many years back and I was sold.

Veggie Storage tips: Everything will keep longest stored in the fridge sealed up in produce bags. I suggest grabbing a box of Peak Fresh or similar type of reusable bags that release ethylene gas at Natural Grocers or online to help preserve your abundant harvest as log as possible. All root crops should be severed from their tops to keep the roots from getting rubbery.  Everything will need a gentle washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent spoilage. We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

Regular Share

Regular Share top left to right:  Kale, turnips, Brussels sprouts, broccoli florets, beet greens.  (2nd row) Arugula, spinach, and Asian Spring Mix.

Large Share

Large Share top left to right: Collard greens, turnips, Brussels sprouts, broccoli florets, beet greens.  (2nd row) Easter Egg radishes, arugula, spinach, and leaf lettuce.