CSA Share Notes:

We have mostly the same crops ready right now that we had last week, so you’ll see that the shares look a bit similar to last week. But the items are all really fantastic and delicious this time of year, and we tried to make sure we swapped out types of greens and types of radishes for the various share sizes so you’re getting to try a little variety.  We’re waiting for about 20 more crops to mature, and 5 of them are reeeeally close to being ready,  so trust there’s tons more coming soon. Here’s this week’s vegetable line up.

• Hakurei Turnips—These are a Japanese, fresh-eating salad turnip. You’ll eat these raw, either sliced, or just crunch right in. Think you don’t like turnips?? Give these babies a shot. They’re more like a mild, delicious, creamy radish, and they’re super yummy.  The greens are edible too! Take advantage of enjoying our turnip greens while we’ve got them.  The bugs go CRAZY for turnip greens and even the organic certified pest-control measures we use don’t really seem to make much of a dent on flea beetles and harlequin bugs who love our delicious turnip tops.  The turnip tops only look pretty for the first couple of weeks of the season so enjoy!
• Parsnip— Large shares received these treasures. They take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to grow, so we’ve been working on these since October for you and they’re finally big enough! Roast them up with your carrots and sweet potatoes for a wonderful root veggie blend!
• Kale—Lacinato for the Mini shares, Winterbor (curly) kale for the Regular shares. Red Russian kale for the Large shares.  These crops can be used interchangeably in any recipe that calls for kale.  Red Russian is often the most tender, though the Lacinato has been soft enough to use raw lately, too. The curly kale is my go-to for use in soups, or for cooking into my morning veggie-egg scrambles with garlic and mushrooms (and Lonesome Lady’s breakfast sausage).
• Spinach—Everyone received a small bag of tender spinach. This may be our last harvest of our winter planting, but we’ve got a more recent spring planting that will be ready in a couple of weeks.
• Arugula—A bag for everyone this week.   We served a monster-sized arugula and kale salad as the dinner main last night, with toasted pecans, fresh local strawberries, hard boiled eggs (from Cedar Ridge!), red onion, loads of parmesan, and a homemade balsamic dressing. It was satisfying and so vitamin-packed.
• Carrots—Everyone received another nice bunch of our lovely rainbow carrots.  Pretty shades of yellow, orange and white. To display the loveliness of these carrots, we suggest a raw salad of shaved carrot ribbons, using each color of carrot. With fresh herbs, red onion, and a tangy dressing, it’ll be great. If you have a veggie spiralizer or a mandoline, they’d be perfect for this.
• Radishes— Easter Egg for everyone. These are a wonderful, beautiful variety. We like to slice them thin on sandwiches or salads, or dip into hummus, but our favorite is to just snack on them sliced thin with sea salt and lemon juice.  FYI, radish tops are edible! You can cook them like kale or turnip greens. They tiny hairs come right off when cooked.
• Sweet potato—Just a few of these left, and that’s the last of them till fall! It’s incredible how long a good quality sweet potato can store. I love a good sweet potato black bean chili when I’m in a vegetarian mood, served with a super buttery pan of cornbread.

Veggie Storage tips:

Most everything will keep longest stored in the fridge sealed up in produce bags.  All root crops should be severed from their tops to keep the roots from getting rubbery, and the greens stored separately, sealed up to stay fresh. 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: Hakurei turnips, Easter Egg radishes, curly Winterbor kale, (bottom row) rainbow carrots, spinach, arugula, and sweet potatoes

Large Share

Large Share top left to right: Red Russian Kale, rainbow carrots, arugula, spinach (bottom row) Easter Egg radishes, Hakurei turnips, sweet potatoes with Parsnips tucked in the middle.

Mini Share

Mini share: Easter Egg radish, rainbow carrots, Lacinato kale, spinach, and sweet potato.

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