Share Notes April 23 & 25, 2020

Share Notes April 23 & 25, 2020

CSA Share Notes:

Thanks so much for being a part of our CSA this spring! We hope you enjoy your harvests.

 

From our friendships we’ve built with other members at Rose City Farmers Market, we’re bringing you lots more in our web store. We hope you enjoyed perusing it!  Zillmer Farms’ “no-spray” strawberries were a huge hit and got snatched up pretty fast, but we should have some available every Thursday and Saturday for a few more weeks. ETX Aquaponics duck eggs are also in pretty good supply right now, so you can either add them to your CSA subscription for a guaranteed weekly share of eggs (you do this from within your member account), OR just add them to your cart week to week in our web store when we have extra available.

Remember, the web store has a limited shopping window! Shopping days are:

  • Monday and Tuesday to have items ready for Thursday delivery
  • Wednesday and Thursday to have the items ready for Saturday’s delivery

Now on to your vegetable line up!

  • Kale—Regular shares received Red Russian Kale (except for a few who received curly), Large shares received curly kale. Try our Rainbow kale salad with lentils, or this massaged kale salad, to which you can add any number of delicious toppings. I love it with just fresh strawberries or mango and a bit of feta.
  • Spinach—A bag of fresh, iron-rich baby spinach for the Large and Regular shares. This stuff is SUPER tender, so handle delicately and savor it! It’s some of the best we’ve grown and it’ll be gone in another week or so, but there’s more on the way later this season.
  • Arugula—A bag for everyone! These leaves are super flavorful and are excellent paired with parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and fresh or dried fruit.
  • Spring Mix— A big bag for everyone. This is an intensely flavored mixed greens that’s ideal for braising with a bit of pork like bacon or ham hock, or you can use it in a salads but be forewarned, it’s peppery, nutty and spicy! The various have a great array of textures and colors too.
  • Pac Choi—(also known as bok choy) for everyone! This Chinese cabbage is excellent in Thai coconut milk curries like yellow curry with potatoes and onions, but they’re also great in home made kim chee, or in our sesame noodles with bok choy recipe..
  • Radishes—these are French Breakfast radish, a wonderful, crunchy heirloom, and boy are they HUGE this week! 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 use them in a salad or cook them like kale.
  • Cabbage—Only for the large shares. 2 Green savoy leaved or smooth leaved cabbages. We grow nice little petite cabbages so they’ll fit in the CSA box.
  • Carrots—only for the Mini shares. These are left from our big winter planting and they’re super sweet from the cold night temperatures we’ve had this week! Enjoy. Next carrots will be ready in about 6 weeks!
  • Snow Peas—only for the Mini shares this week. Great for snacking or stir fry. There are more coming and we should have enough to spread around to each share size over the next three weeks, though each member may only receive them one time. This year’s planting did not do too well so we won’t get nearly as many as we have in years’ past.

Things to look forward to: Our head lettuce plantings are doing splendidly and we should be cutting nice full heads of romaine and butter crunch lettuce really soon. The next round of spinach is doing very well. Also, the kohlrabi, broccoli, and beets look amazing, though they won’t be mature for about 3-4 more weeks. We’re watching the garlic like a hawk, eager to see the first garlic scapes come up and we KNOW you’re going to love them. Scapes are such a special treat. They may be just 1 or 2 weeks away. We’ve got so much great stuff coming your way!

 

Veggie Storage tips:

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.  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:  French Breakfast radishes, Pac choi, Red Russian kale,  spring mix, spinach, and arugula.

Large Share

Large Share top left to right:  Spring mix, spinach, and arugula, and curly kale. 2nd row: French Breakfast radishes, savor cabbage, smooth cabbage, and pac choi.

 Mini Share

Mini share: Pac choi, French Breakfast radishes, snow peas, and carrots. 2nd row: arugula, spring mix.