Share Notes May 2, 2024
CSA Share Notes:
GUYS, IT’S SALAD SEASON. We’re loading you up the next couple of weeks!
Normally we are able to send you the head lettuces nicely spaced out over 6 weeks’ time, but that plan ain’t jiving with the warm, wet weather. So you’ll probably get a whole lot of lettuce in a short period of time. Prepare to eat salads with every dinner, and prepare to share your extras with friends and neighbors. Enjoy!
The frequent heavy rains and warm, humid conditions are actually having a fairly widespread effect on some of our crops. Know 2 key things:
1. We are really pleased overall with how our soil and plants are handling the excessive moisture
2. No crops can tolerate their feet (roots) being saturated for days on end- they need oxygen in the soil- and we are experiencing some crop loss on certain species, meaning you’ll see less of those items in the box this spring. Luckily, we plant a few dozen different spring crops, so your boxes will still have nice variety this season, you just might not get very much broccoli or snow peas, for example.
Here’s this week’s vegetable line up
- Head Lettuce — 3 for the large, 2 for the regular, and one for the mini. We’re sending an array of lovely lettuces over the next few weeks. Some perfectly tender for lettuce wraps, others for topping your burger, and all excellent for a fresh salad. Mix up your toppings and serve a side salad with every dinner to help you use up all your salad greens!
- Kohlrabi — For everyone! A funky looking, but DELICIOUS crop. This crop comes from the same family as broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. The edible part is the round bulb. It’s crunchy, and a bit sweet and juicy. Kind of like eating broccoli stems, but yummier. You’ll peel it and then slice and eat raw (excellent in a slaw or salad) or chop and roast in a root veggie medley (with the parsnips/beets from last week if you’ve still got them!). It’s also excellent in a cream soup if that’s more your style. If our second planting of these grows well, you’ll get to see them one more time this Spring.
- Pac Choi — When we went to harvest these this week, they were in the optimal stage for culinary use. The timing is just perfect, y’all: Tender, young, and crisp, we hope you really enjoy these, cause we’re excited to send them! This crop is a Chinese cabbage. If you’re not familiar, it’s excellent in a stir fry or noodle bowl, a Thai curry, a Japanese soup, or you could use them with your kohlrabi, radishes, and salad turnips to make an **excellent** slaw with sweet and gingery Asian dressing.
- Kale — Curly kale for the Large shares. These crops can be used interchangeably in any recipe that calls for kale. We suggest trying our Rainbow Kale Salad with Lentils this week!
- Collard — A bunch of super tender fresh collards for the Large shares.
- Chard — Mini shares. This colorful crop is eye catching and tastes a whole lot like spinach. This week I sauteed mine in the cast iron according to the method mentioned below for turnip greens, and then topped them with parmesan and pine nuts and put them under the broiler for a few minutes. It was heavenly.
- Spinach — A bag of fresh, iron-rich spinach for the Regular and Mini shares
- Arugula — A bag for the Large and Regular shares. This mix is colorful, and loaded with different textures and flavors. Also, these leaves are a little spicy, and are excellent paired with crunchy almonds, and a sweet sesame ginger dressing. A little sweetness cuts through the peppery bite of the salad greens. These greens can also be sauteed or braised like the collard, kale, or chard, but I think they’re best raw.
- Radishes — Mini shares received French Breakfast radishes. Large shares received Easter Egg. Great on sandwiches, salads, or dip into hummus, or slice thin and serve with sea salt and lemon juice. Also wonderful dipped in melted butter! FYI, radish tops are edible! You can cook them with your kale or collard greens. They tiny hairs come right off when cooked.
- Turnips — Regular and Mini shares received our Hakurei salad turnip, a white turnip you actually eat raw. Slice them and sprinkle with lemon and salt, add them to salads, or just chow down on them plain. Large shares received our beautiful magenta Scarlet Queen turnips. These are a delicious cooking turnip. The sourthen way is the exact same process I’ve trained you on for Collards: chop up a couple of strips of bacon and cook until no longer raw, but still soft. remove from skillet. In the bacon fat, cook a sliced onion and chopped garlic (to taste) until softening. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you’re daring. Next toss in the chopped turnip roots and cook for a a few minutes till softening, and last toss in the shredded or sliced turnip greens to wilt the final 1-3 minuts. You can do this same recipe with Collards, Kale, or Chard. Include your radish greens too!
- Head Lettuces — Regular shares received a green butter lettuce, Large shares did too, but also received a red summer crips, and Mini’s received Skyphos, a super tender and delicate lettuce that just happens to be my favorite. The lettuces are a little beat up by the pounding 4 inch rain we got Saturday. You’ll notice some brown spots and random tears on outer leaves, and you’ll need to trim those away. We cleared out most of the ones that had damage this week and next week they should be looking much prettier!
Veggie Storage tips:
Consult the e-book we sent you for a comprehensive veggie storage guide! All leafy greens will keep longest stored in the fridge sealed up in produce bags. 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 you can 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. Tag us in Stories, send us a note, or post comments of how you’ve used your CSA share!
Your farmers, Jess & Justin
