Share Notes May 5, 2022
CSA Share Notes:
Welcome to another abundant week. The lettuces are rocking strong, the cooking greens are still beautiful, and so many more roots are on the way. We were excited to pick a handful of garlic scapes, a couple dozen snow peas this week, and we can see a few broccoli heads beginning to form up. That means all of those super desirable crops will be ready to go in the CSA boxes really soon.
If you haven’t snatched a spot in our Summer season yet, you can head here to register: https://csa.farmigo.com/join/redmoonfarm/summer2022 (harvests start at the end of June or early July and run till mid-August, most years.) Remember, once your spring shares come to an end (in the ballpark of 4-6 more weeks? ish?), that’ll be curtains for your access to our weekly boxes, unless you are signed up for the next season!
Now on to your vegetable line up.
- Head Lettuce—Salad time, baby! Romaines, oak leafs, and skyphos (my personal favorite!) Take advantage of this abundance of leafy greens, because the greens do not last. As soon as it gets hot, they’ll be done until late October, and you’ll be missing them!
- Hakurei Turnips— For mini shares. These are a Japanese, fresh-eating salad turnip. You’ll eat these raw, either sliced, or just crunch right in. They’re more like a mild, delicious, creamy radish, and they’re super yummy. (Of course you CAN roast them, but we think they’re best fresh) The greens are edible too! Take advantage of enjoying our turnip greens while we’ve got them before the bugs take them!
- Scarlet Queen Turnip— For the Large and Regular shares. These red beauties are NOT BEETS! They’re peppery and loaded with minerals. They’re fantastic roasted and slathered with butter. Try our turnip and grain salad, served warm. Super delicious.
- Kale/Collard—Lacinato for the Regular shares, curly kale for the Mini shares. and Collard for the Large shares. These crops can be used interchangeably. For the lacinato and collards, I suggest slicing them all into very, very thin ribbons. Sautee a little onion and garlic, then add a splash of chicken stock and red pepper flakes to the pan, next toss in your ribbons of greens to braise. Let them cook down to a good tenderness in that nice liquid and enjoy.
- Pak Choi— this lovely little plant is an Asian cabbage, and it’s fantastic in a crunchy slaw, or a Thai green, red, or yellow curry, or a Japanese soup, or in a bowl of Vietnamese pho, or on top of Korean BBQ sandwiches… YUM! Of course you’re not limited to Asian cuisine with this crop, but the options therein are so fabulous, you should definitely try one of the above mentioned dishes!
- Radishes— Daikon for the large and regular shares, watermelon radish for the minis. Daikons are wonderful pickled. Slice them up and try our easy pickle recipe (this would be great with some leftover carrots tossed in, too!) And watermelon radish are so exquisite, you gotta eat them raw on a salad.
- Spring onions— for the large shares only. One red, one purple. These are un-cured so you’ll wanna store them in the fridge rather than at room temp. They’ll have great flavor and are incredibly fresh
- Swiss Chard— For the large and regular shares. This pretty crop is one of my most favorite spring crops, it’s so lovely. We enjoy it raw early in the season when it’s still super tender. It’s also excellent tossed into the last few minutes of a crockpot Sunday roast. Also excellent roasted or sautéed and topped with parmesan and pine nuts.
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: Romaine lettuce, Scarlet Queen Turnips, (bottom row) Skyphos lettuce, chard, Lacinato kale, and daikon radish.
