Share Notes Jan 16, 2021

Share Notes Jan 16, 2021

CSA Share Notes:

Here’s this week’s vegetable line up:

  • Kale— Large shares received a bag of curly kale, Regular shares received a mixed bag of Lacinato and Red Russian Kale.  This crop makes and excellent massaged kale salad, a great base of a buddha bowl, or it into all kinds of soup.
  • Swiss Chard— Large shares received this colorful green, perfect to use in place of spinach in a minestrone, or veggie lasagna
  • Spinach— Regular shares received a large bag of spinach, enough for multiple servings. It’ll be great in a veggie egg scramble, or a minestrone, or in our Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Greens recipe.
  • Arugula—A nice big bag for everyone. Delicious in a fresh salad. We often do feta or parmesan, loads of toasted nuts like walnut, pecan, or pine nut, and some fresh apples, pears, or dried fruit.
  • Lettuce— Everyone received a nice bag of this crop, delicious and tender. Make a plan to have loads of salads this week!
  • (Just a couple of quick notes on all the greens: Regular shares received 4-6 oz of each of their greens, while large shares received between 6-10 oz of their various greens.  To help you use them up before any of them spoil, the lettuce and arugula typically have the shortest shelf life, while the spinach, chard, and kale will last longer. Just make sure to keep them all nice and cold and they will all last at least 8 or 10 days.)
  • Broccoli— This broccoli has been growing under super cold conditions which makes the sugars concentrate and the broccoli taste so, so good. Enjoy it roasted, steamed, grilled, or in a soup.
  • Carrots— Just a taste! This crop is just coming on and needs a few weeks of good conditions to reach their full size. They’re crunchy and sweet, though We hope to bring you lots more in either the next harvest, or the harvest after that.
  • Sweet Potatoes— all shares received these.  We don’t grow the sweet potatoes (we just don’t have the space or equipment for a big sweet potato crop). These beauties are grown by Tony Philips, a great farmer just up the road from us here in Van.  While Tony doesn’t grow in full alignment with organic practices, we’ve got a hole handful of reasons why we love eating these locally grown sweet potatoes, even though they’re not organic: 1. the soil of Van Zandt County is so incredibly perfect for growing sweet potatoes, they are a breeze to grow without chemicals. Very few pests bother them, so very few chemicals ever get applied. 2. Whenever he has (in prior years, not this year. How great!) needed to use any products on the crop to combat pests, only the leaves of the growing plant are sprayed while the harvestable potatoes are safe underground with little to no contact with the products, and 3. Unlike your conventional grocery store potatoes that have anti-sprouting chemicals sprayed on them after the harvest is over (recently found to be quite serious hormone disruptors, specifically effecting they thyroid) Tony doesn’t apply anything to the potatoes post harvest, his team just sorts them for size and runs them through a quick rinse under plain, clean water to get the sandy soil off of them.  All of this makes us feel really good about enjoying these awesome quality, 100% ETX local potatoes, even though they are not organic. We hope you feel the same!

Veggie Storage tips:

Sever all roots from their greens so they don’t get rubbery.  Store all greens, roots, and broccoli sealed up in bags in the fridge. Sweet potatoes prefer to stay at room temp.  Everything will need a significant washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent faster 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

Large

Large Share (top left to right): Lettuce, Curly kale, Swiss Chard, arugula, (2nd row) sweet potatoes, broccoli florets, and carrots.

Regular

Regular Share (top left to right): Lettuce, Red Russian and Lacinato kale, spinach, arugula, (2nd row) sweet potatoes, broccoli florets, and carrots.