Share Notes 6-13-19
CSA Share Notes:
Welcome to week 6 of your Spring CSA share. We think we’ll get one last harvest out of the spring garden for you, but we’ll see if we can’t eek out two. The last harvest of Spring will be either June 20th or June 27th. Keep your eyes peeled for an email announcing it.
Remember, your shares do not automatically continue into the next season, you have to sign up! If you’d like to come along for the next season filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, and more, you can sign up here.
Now on to your vegetable line-up!
- Lettuce—Everyone received a Curly Romaine, Green Summer Crisp, and some Butter Crunch with the large shares getting larger heads, or multiple heads of some varieties.
- Carrots—This picking is from our Malbec variety, so they are a darker red with a pretty intense flavor. (warm weather carrots can get a little bitter). To bring out their sugars and mellow them, roast them in the oven or grill them until a little charred. They’d be excellent with the herb sauce I mention below. Did you know the tops are edible? The greens can be blended with hard cheese (parmesan, romano), roasted nuts, and olive oil to make an incredible carrot top pesto.
- Blackberries—For all the regular shares. These blackberries are grown by Jessica’s mom and dad, right here at Red Moon Farm, and have been cared for organically every step of the way.
- Peaches—For both regular and large shares. We made a mixed-berry peach crisp this week, topped with an oat, cinnamon, and brown sugar crumbly topping. It was excellent. These were grown by our friends at Winona Orchards. Here’s my tip for cleaning your non-organic produce: submerge for a couple of minutes in a bowl of cold water with a tablespoon of dissolved baking soda, then rinse well.
- Winterbor Kale— Large shares received winterbor kale, and about 5 of you received Lacinato kale. Both are excellent for cooking in a soup or turning into kale chips. The Lacinato is highly prized by chefs, so to the few who got it, enjoy! We’ve got several kale ideas in our kitchen blog for you.
- Red Russian Kale/Collard—Regular shares all received either the Red Russian Kale or our collard greens. My tip is the same this week, as it’s simply fantastic: Slice the leaves into ribbons, then hand rub with kosher salt and olive oil until it is silky and soft, then top it with a couple of diced up ripe peaches or a ripe mango.
- Onions— Expect to see these great yellow onions regularly for quite some time. We had a very abundant harvest this year! Red onions are soon to come.
- Potatoes—Red La Soda potatoes are an heirloom from Louisiana, where it’s too wet and humid for many potato varieties to grow, which is why it did so well here this season! It’s a waxy type and is great boiled, baked, or steamed. Did you try my herb sauce tip last week? If not, give it a go this week! Either roast or boil then dress with herbed tahini sauce: 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 c. tahini, squeeze of half a lemon, a bit of oregano, a big handful each of basil and parsley, and a bit of salt, all blended into a scrumptious sauce.
Veggie Storage tips:
Sever roots from their tops to keep them from getting rubbery. All your greens will want to be stored cold in the fridge sealed up in a bag. Carrots should go in the fridge too, as well as your berries. Shelf life on berries is short, so eat them up soon! Peaches should stay at room temp to ripen for about 2 days. Your onions and potatoes will be happiest at room temperature. 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
