CSA Share Notes:

Now that we’re mostly past the indulgent holidays, it’s time to nourish our bodies, and we’re here to help you do it. We’re so excited about some of the new crops we have ready for you this week:

This marks our first year of really good success at watermelon radishes. Every radish type we’ve grown has been simple and straightforward and thrived in our climate except for this one. But THIS year, we’ve got the most gorgeous, mild, hot-pink-centered radishes for you and we are delighted. Hope you are too.

Also the most incredible, humongous Purple Top Turnips (a true Southern heirloom. Enjoy our culinary heritage, as it’s so deliciously rich!) are ready this week. We’ve got the traditional preparation method outlined below.

Heads up: Even though the gregorian calendar says that Fall was technically over on December 21st, our fall garden still has several really good harvests coming. We’re deciding how to handle this for our members who might be ready to conclude their membership, as we’ve never had a fall season last past the first week of January. But for those who are excited for more and want to see this season through to its’ natural end, we’re going to have amazing stuff several times over the next couple of months. Watch your emails for opt-in and opt-out options coming soon.

Here’s this week’s vegetable line-up:

• Turnip – Purple Top (Southern heirloom!) for the Large and Regular shares. (a few regular shares received Scarlet Queen turnips, instead. Very similar to purple top) Cut off the greens, and sort and clean well. They’re very sandy. Chop up the greens into one inch ribbons, cube up the roots, dice an onion, mince some garlic, and chop up a couple strips of bacon.  Cook the bacon, onion, garlic and a pinch of optional red pepper flakes together for a bit, till bacon is cooked, but not crispy.  Add the chopped turnip roots and sautee about 5-7 minutes till fork tender, toss in the ribboned greens and add a few splashes of chicken stock. Cook till the greens are nice and tender. Salt and eat as is, or add a bit of hot sauce, or the hot-pepper-vinegar that you made this past summer which is the PERFECT topping to this dish.
• Hakurei turnip – for mini shares only. These are a salad turnip and are delicious raw, sliced on a salad, sandwich, or eaten in big crunchy bites.
• Watermelon Radish – Large and Regular. These are so gorgeous! They’ve got light greenish white exteriors and hot pink centers. They’re mild and amazing. Make your next salad beautiful!
• French Breakfast Radish – Mini shares only. These are flavorful and crunchy. The greens are tender enough you can use them in a salad or mixed in with some cooking greens.
• Spicy Spring Mix – Large and Regular. This is a wonderful flavorful salad or braising green, with loads of interesting and beautiful Asian greens, offering a blend of textures and colors for a lively salad.  Settle it down a bit by using it 50/50 with lettuce, spinach, or tender kale. Definitely top with sliced radishes.
• Arugula – Everyone gets this crop this week. Peppery and delicious. We like a good arugula salad with fruit, cheese, and toasted nuts along with a creamy balsamic.
• Kale – We’ve got gorgeous bunching greens this week. We have a couple of good kale recipes on the blog: roasted squash and kale salad, as well as kale pesto potato salad,  but options abound online.  This week the Large shares received Curly kale and Lacinato kale, Mini shares received curly kale.
• Cabbage – Large shares. This savoy leaved cabbage is sweet and tiny. Perfect to shred for a slaw, or to top loads of tacos and sandwiches, or to ferment a mini batch of kimchee. Some turnips or radishes would be the perfect addition!
• Collard – This crop went to the Regular shares this week. This green is excellent cooked as described in the Turnip blurb up top.  That’s the proper southern way to do it. But it’ll work really well in any recipe that calls for Kale, too!
• Chard – This went only to the Regular shares this week. This variety is called Bright Lights. It’s closely related to spinach, so feel free to swap it in to a recipe that needs cooked spinach. Make a beef roast in your crock pot and toss in large-torn chard leaves for the last 30 min. to braise. It’s delicious. We also use ours in veggie egg scrambles, in quiches and frittatas, or sauteed and topped with parmesan and pine nuts.

Below are all the items we’re sharing with you today that were not grown by Red Moon Farm:

• Sweet Potatoes from Tony Philips, Grand Saline, TX. We’ve got the same wonderful sweet potato producer just a couple of miles from Red Moon Farm, Tony Phillips. He’s been in Sweet Potato cultivation for decades and uses no synthetic herbicides or pesticides. Additionally, he never uses post-harvest growth-inhibitors (endocrine disruptors) which you’ll find in regular grocery store tubers.

Veggie Storage tips:

• Everything wants to be washed well before cooking, but keep the dirt on till then, to prevent faster spoilage.
• Sever all roots from their tops -this keeps the roots from turning rubbery- and either discard the greens or save them for your braising pot or next batch of home-made stock.
• Leafy greens and bunched root crops want to be stored fairly dry and sealed up in a container/bag in the fridge.
• Sweet potatoes should be stored at room temperature.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Tag us on Instagram or Facebook, showing us how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers, Jess & Justin

Regular Share

 

Today’s Regular Share:
Left to Rt (top row): Watermelon radish, spring mix, arugula, and chard (2nd row) Scarlet Queen turnips, sweet potatoes in the center, and collards

Large Share

 

Today’s Large Share:
Left to Rt (top row): Watermelon radish, spring mix, arugula, and curly kale (2nd row) Purple Top Turnips, sweet potatoes, cabbage, and lacinato kale

 Mini Share

 

Today’s Mini Share:
Left to Rt (top row): French Breakfast radishes, hakurei turnips, curly kale (2nd row) arugula, and sweet potatoes.