July 23rd Newsletter

NICK’S FARM REPORT

July 23, 2010

Another hot one this week, hardly remarkable for the middle of July, but we are glad to finally get a little rain. The major push has been to consolidate the irrigation so all the recent plantings and seedings can get some of that good H2O, while staying on top of the harvest and other cultivation jobs.

One lucky stroke we are thankful for finding this year is that our fields have a fairly minimal weed seed bank. This means that the concentration of weed seeds in the soil that we tilled is low, and compared to other fields we have worked in, we have a lot less hand weeding and hoeing to do. The current theory is that since the field we are working has been in alfalfa for decades, the wide variety of weeds we would normally finds has over the years been pushed out by the more tenacious perennial grasses and clover. What this means for us is more time for planting and harvesting!

One fruit of the garden that is coming on in a big way for us is cucumber (“cukes” in the business), so hopefully you feel taken care of in that department. Of course, the zucchini is coming in distressingly large quantities as well. In fact, at our market in Rogers Park there is loose talk of organizing a summer squash-aganza type celebration, including such delights as singing squash-o-grams, and ding-dong-ditching the local businesses with a gift basket of zucchini. We’ve included a recipe for cool zucchini-buttermilk soup and several cooling cucumber recipes below to head off this kind of behavior.

Also, I do recall receiving a few requests for such as pickling cucumbers, of which the garden is still providing a plentitude. Please feel free to call or email anytime if there is something you would like to arrange to receive a quantity of for your canning and preserving needs.

Another big deal for the operation this week was securing out egg license, which allows us to sell eggs at farmer’s markets. Over the last couple of weeks, we have been adding a some eggs to the bags according to what the chickens have been able to provide (they are still laying slowly). Now we are able to sell the eggs at market and start recouping the costs of feeding the layers for the last twenty weeks. A big thank-you goes out to all our CSA members, whose early-season investment made the chicken project possible. We will provide more eggs to the CSA as the season progresses!

In the CSA Bag This Week:

Red Ace Beets – To store, cut or twist off tops of beets. Store tops and bottoms in plastic bags in your fridge. The beet greens are delicious cooked as you would any other green, and I’ve included a recipe for beet-orange salad below.

New potatoes –Store in a cool, dry place, and use within the next week or two.

Green Beans – Remove the stem ends, rinse well, and boil or steam until tender. Store in your fridge for about a week.

Basil – Place your basil in a glass of water on the kitchen counter, cutting the stems fresh each day. Since basil does not keep well after being cut and wetted, we do not usually wash the basil thoroughly, so you will want to do this before you use it. This might be a good week to make pesto (see below).

Broccoli – Broccoli is a vegetable that matures all at once, which is why we’ve included it the past few weeks. I made “broccoli-green chips” last night by chopping and sautéing the greens in a heavy skillet with olive oil and salt until crisp and a little bit brown. Delicious! To store, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Summer Squash – To beat the heat, try the chilled summer-squash-buttermilk soup recipe below!

Suyo cucumbers

Slicing cucumbers – Cucumbers are plentiful during the heat of the summer, which is convenient, as they are renowned by many cultures as a cooling food. I’ve included a few recipes below that should help you beat the heat in the kitchen. Cucumbers can also be sliced into water jugs or glasses and are used as garnishes on many mixed drinks (who knew that cucumbers got around so much?).

Beet salad with orange-basil vinaigrette

Salad:

2 c. beets

½ c. finely chopped red onion

1 orange, peeled, sectioned and chopped into bite-sized pieces

Prepare the beets in one of two ways:

Suggested by my mother: Scrub the beets well and place in a baking pan covered in foil. Roast at 350°F until tender. Cool, peel (the peels should slip right off) and slice.

-or-

Suggested by Ann from the Glenwood Market: Peel the beets and grate them raw.

Vinaigrette:

1 c. olive or canola oil

Juice of 1 orange

¼ c. white wine or red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. chopped basil leaves

Combine ingredients for vinaigrette.

Combine beets with chopped orange, onion, and vinaigrette to coat, and chill for at least one hour. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Basic Pesto Recipe

2 c. fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan- Reggiano or Romano cheese

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

1/3 c. pine nuts or walnuts

3 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine basil, nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse a few times. Slowly add the olive oil while the food processor is on, then add the grated cheese and pulse a few times more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pesto can be tossed with pasta, used as a topping for chicken and egg dishes, or spread on sandwiches. Yum!

Curried Zucchini Buttermilk Soup

1 tsp. olive oil

1 c. onion, chopped

4 c. zucchini, unpeeled and chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. curry powder

2 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable broth

11/2 c. Buttermilk

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion until soft, stirring occasionally.

2. Add zucchini and salt, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Add black pepper, red pepper flakes, cumin, and curry; increase heat to medium-high and cook about 1 minute. Add broth and cook about 1 minute more.

4. Working in batches, puree zucchini mixture in blender or food processor. Pour into large, non reactive bowl, and stir in buttermilk. Let cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours. Serve cold.

What do I do with Cucumbers?

Cold cucumber yogurt soup (from the Moosewood cookbook)

4 cups peeled, seeded, chopped cucumber

2 cups water

2 cups yogurt

1 clove garlic

Several fresh mint or basil leaves

1 tbsp. honey

1 ½ tsp. salt

Fresh dill to taste

Puree everything together in a blender. Serve cold! Serves 4-6 people.

Cucumber smoothie (lassi in India, where it is highly regarded as a cooling drink)

Combine about 1 peeled, chopped cucumber with about 1 cup plain yogurt and 1 tsp. salt in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Season with pepper, honey or sugar, and/or fresh herbs (such as dill, mint, or basil).

July 16th Newsletter

NICK’S FARM REPORT
July 16, 2010

Happy summer! Although technically, we’ve been enjoying the hot season for a few weeks now, this is the first CSA bag that feels to me like a summer bag. Maybe it is the green beans that are triggering the summer memories. In any case, if the veggies don’t put you in a July mood, I’m sure the recent weather has. The heat has been good for the tomatoes and peppers, but we wouldn’t mind a little rain, either.
One sure sign of mid-summer is the first harvest of new potatoes. Generally, potato plants are allowed to grow until they die back, and the potatoes are allowed to “cure” in the ground until they are dug. Early potato varieties die back sooner than the later, storage potatoes. This year, we will be harvesting several varieties of potatoes earlier than usual. A few weeks ago, some of the potato plants showed some signs of disease. Nick decided to kill these potato plants early rather than risking the spread of illness to the rest of the potato crop and the tomatoes (potatoes and tomatoes are related and thus share many of the same diseases). Luckily, most of the plants that we had to kill had already produced sizeable potatoes. Sometimes, making the best out of a bad situation can be delicious!
Another summery item in the CSA bag this week is sweet corn. Some of you may wonder why we don’t grow sweet corn ourselves, rather than buy it in from another farm. Growing organic sweet corn is something that we would LOVE to do, but it is a crop that we will wait to tackle until we have more space and more control over our field fertility.
We were lucky last year to observe the process of growing sweet corn on the mid-sized organic farm at which we worked.
In addition to requiring a lot of nutrients, the major source of frustration in growing sweet corn is herbivory! It turns out sweet corn is just as delicious to animals, insects, and even microorganisms as it is to us. As a seed, sweet corn often gets eaten by rodents or attacked by fungus after being planted in the field. Once grown, sweet corn is a favorite snack of birds and raccoons (both of which are crafty and hard to deter). In the meantime, we are still working to find a local, organic sweet corn producer. Nick was lucky this week to pick up this corn on the way home from a feed run to Wisconsin. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have this week!

In the CSA Bag This Week:
New potatoes – These are the first potatoes of the season. They are harvested soon after the above-ground plant is dead, which means that the skins are more tender than storage potatoes. However, new potatoes will not store well for long periods of time. To serve, boil or roast the potatoes in their jackets, and roll in butter or olive oil and dill or rosemary, or any other desired spice. Store in a cool, dry place, and use within the next week or two.
Swiss Chard – See the recipe below for Swiss Chard Tart, shared with us by Laura, a fellow CSA member! To store Swiss chard, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Green Beans – Remove the stem ends, rinse well, and boil or steam until tender. Store in your fridge for about a week.
Dill – Use to flavor potatoes, green beans, or to make pickles (see recipe below). To store, place dill in a glass of water in the fridge.
Broccoli – Hopefully, you can see the improvement in this broccoli, which comes from our second succession. Last week, we chopped and stir-fried the stalk, leaves, and head together in olive oil, and I really enjoyed the broccoli greens! To store, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Summer Squash – The squash is now coming on in full force! I’ve included my favorite recipe for zucchini bread below, along with some tips for freezing squash so that you can use it later in the year.
Suyo cucumbers – Suyo cucumbers are a variety of cucumber that we fell in love with in California. They look great when sliced up for a salad.
Pickling cucumbers - We’ve included a small-batch pickle-making recipe below, shared by another CSA member, Ben Stark.
 And, a special buy-in this week
Sweet corn – This corn comes from a conventional farm in Broadhead, WI.




Swiss Chard Tart
(thanks to Laura for sharing this great recipe!)

2 lb. Swiss chard, washed and spun dry
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/8 c. chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, and lightly grease a shallow 9-inch round baking dish with olive oil.

2. Bring 8 quarts water to a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

3. Chop the Swiss chard, discarding the rough stems, and add to the boiling water. Cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

4. In a saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

5. Add the Swiss chard and the parsley. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool.

6. Meanwhile, break the eggs into a small bowl. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano and whisk until the ingredients are well-blended. Combine the egg mixture with the cooled chard.

7. Dust the bottom of the baking dish with 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Carefully add the Swiss chard and egg mixture to the dish. Dust with the remaining Parmigiano and bread crumbs.

8. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve hot or room temperature.
Freezing Summer Squash

Zucchini and summer squash are heavy producers, and so it makes perfect sense to store extra zucchini during times of plenty for use in soups, stews, and baked goods (all recipes to be avoided during July and August!). I use the following technique to freeze squash:

Grate squash, using a handheld grater or food processor. Pack into pint ziplock bags, press out the excess air, and freeze. When defrosted, the zucchini will lose a lot of water, and should be drained before use.

Zucchini Bread
(from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

3 c. shredded zucchini
1 2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. baking powder
½ c. chopped nuts or raisins, if desired

1. Heat the oven to 350˚F. Grease the bottoms of one 9 x 5 or two 8½ x 4½ loaf pans.

2. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in a large bow. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts and raisins. Stir in nuts and raisins. Divide batter evenly between pans.

3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaves 70 to 80 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes in the pans.

4. Remove loaves from pans and cool completely. Wrap tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate to store.




Making Pickles

(The information about pickling and recipe below come to us from Ben Stark, a CSA member and Becky’s dad. Ben is a microbiologist by training and a farmer at heart, and has been involved in the pickle-making process since working in the cucumber fields of Michigan at the age of 15.)

Important note for anyone trying canning for the first time:
Before attempting any canning at home, I would highly recommend the following two books: Putting Foods By (by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan), and Stocking Up (by Carol Hupping). I also highly recommend reading the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, available here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.

With home canned foods, it is important to always check for signs of spoilage before eating. Do not eat anything that comes from a jar with a bulging top, that is discolored or has an odd smell. Dispose of any questionable foods immediately. A good rule of thumb is that your canned food should look and smell (approximately) coming out of the jar like it did going in. The most important rule of home canning is: When in doubt, throw it out!!!!

About Pickling

Pickles are produced when cucumbers are soaked in a solution that has salt and vinegar added (a brine solution) over the course of 2-4 weeks. Specific lactic acid bacteria (which occur naturally on the cucumbers) convert the sugars in cucumbers into lactic acid, which gives pickles their characteristic tart flavor. The salt and acidity of the brine (due to the vinegar) inhibit growth of bacteria that would spoil the food, but allow growth of the lactic acid bacteria. The process of converting sugars into lactic acid is called fermentation. The lactic acid gives the pickles (and other fermented foods) their characteristic tart flavor. While there is initially some oxygen present in the pickle preparation, it is used up quickly as the lactic acid bacteria grow. The lactic acid bacteria grow with or without oxygen, but only make lactic acid once the oxygen is used up (when they grow “anaerobically”).

Small-Batch Pickle Recipe

Brine
This recipe comes from Mrs. Bessie Levine (as recorded in the Ann Arbor Hadassah cookbook of 1952), and can be adjusted depending on how big a batch you are making. In general, though, I have found that 1 quart of brine solution is more than enough for about 2½ lb. of pickles (the pickles take up about 40% of the volume of the jars when you pack them pretty tightly, so that the remaining 60% of the volume must be filled with brine). It doesn’t hurt to make a little extra brine, because that is one thing you don’t want to run out of during the making of a batch.

Here is Mrs. Levine’s brine recipe for a large batch. You can adjust the volume of brine as needed:

10 quarts water
1 cup coarse salt (or pickling/canning salt)
½ cup sugar (this is used to help start the growth of the bacteria, just like a bit of sugar is added to bread dough to help the yeast to start growing)
½ cup white vinegar

Dissolve the above ingredients in a large pot and heat until boiling. Before use, allow the brine to cool to the temperature of a very hot bath. You should be able to put your finger in the brine before you add it to the cucumber-filled jars. Cooling the brine is important, since boiling water will kill the lactic acid bacteria on the cucumbers!

Preparing the jars
I combine the cucumbers and brine in pint or quart Mason jars with two-part closures, and allow the fermentation step to take place right in the individual jars. To prepare the jars, wash the jars, lids and rings in warm, soapy water and place them in a kettle with about ½-1 inch of water in the bottom. Cover the kettle and bring to a boil; then heat for an additional 15 minutes. Use tongs to remove the jars, lids and rings, and place on a clean kitchen towel when you are ready to use them.

Assembling the jars
Rinse the cucumbers (don’t scrub them, but do get off any dirt), and slice them into spears (or halves, if they are small) and fill the jars with the fruit. Also add a couple of slices from a clove of garlic and some dill. Fill jars to the top with the hot brine, leaving ½ inch headspace in the jar, cover, and seal.

Fermentation
Store the jars in a cool (not cold, not hot) place and let the natural fermentation work. You should see bacterial growth in a day or at most two days; this will be evident as the brine becomes cloudy. Don’t be alarmed if the brine gets cloudy. That is how it should look. Mrs. Levine says they will be ready to eat in 3-4 weeks, but it might be worth experimenting, as I have found them ready after only about 2 weeks. I have also found that initially the pickles are crisp, but as they sit, while they do not spoil or lose their flavor, they do lose the crispness.

Occasionally I get some fungus that grows on the top of the pickles, and then they have to be thrown out. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause of that particular problem, but my best guess is that fungal spores collect in moisture around the rim of the jars during sealing and can grow in that moisture. Lately I have dried the rim of the jar with a paper napkin or Kleenex just before sealing and that seems to help.

Note from Becky: You can also process your pickles for 15-20 minutes in a boiling water bath after the fermentation process is complete.

Cool story!

Here is a totally neat story from the NY Times - a young lady in Michigan with a CSA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/magazine/18food-t.html.

NICK’S FARM REPORT

July 9, 2010

It has been busy around the farm this week! Almost all our broiler chickens are now out of the field and in the freezer. Now that we are left with just the turkeys and the laying hens, poultry duties have become a lot easier. That’s good, since the tomatoes will be here soon, and our second succession of summer squash and cucumbers are beginning to put on fruit! We’ll certainly have our hands full once the tomatoes begin to ripen.

This week, we have been reflecting on how lucky we are to have so much help and support from friends and people in the community. Nick, with the help of our friends Andy, Todd, and Jeff, was able to slaughter almost all of our chickens in a few days. True friends are the ones who will show up at 7 AM to help with the messiest job on the farm. Throughout the whole season, we’ve also had tremendous help from one of our Prairie Crossing neighbors, Charlotte, in keeping ahead of the weeds. And today, we’re very excited to have Nick’s cousin Jeff as a visitor and volunteer (see above). He helped us pack CSA bags and plant new successions of cabbage and lettuce.

As you unpack your bag, you will notice that we’ve included broccoli, complete with leaves and stalk, in your share this week. All parts of the broccoli plant are edible, with the taste of the stem resembling kohlrabi, and that of the leaves resembling kale or collards. Broccoli stalks are often peeled, shredded, and added to coleslaw, or stir-fried together with the crown. The leaves may be cooked as you would kale, cabbage, or collards, or combined with any of these greens and cooked together.

The other thing you will also notice about our broccoli is that the crowns are quite small! As with everything this year, these broccoli crowns represent one more step in the learning process. For successful growth, broccoli requires lots of nutrients, and does not respond well to periods of extreme heat. Because this is our first year farming the land we are leasing, we have learned a lot about the fertility of our soil by observing what grows well, where. One thing we learned is that the fertility in our first broccoli field was pretty bad. Luckily, broccoli is a crop that we plant many times throughout the season, and we have already planted more successions of broccoli, which we have amended with several types of fertilizer. Hopefully, the next broccoli you get will be less leaf and more crown!

In the CSA Bag This Week:

Collard Greens – Collards are in the same family as kale, and have a similar taste. They can be prepared as you might other greens, but they do need some extra cooking time, as they are very hearty. Collards go very well with meat dishes – after preparing roasted or baked meat, combine chopped collards with any drippings left in your roasting pan, and cook in a heavy skillet. To store fresh collards, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Napa Cabbage – Napa cabbage is in the same family as regular cabbage, but it is more tender, with a milder flavor. Napa can be used for coleslaws and salads, or can be shredded and added to stir-fries (see recipe below). To store, place in a plastic bag in the fridge. Napa will keep for some time if stored this way.

Carrots – To store, cut or twist off the greens. Place carrots in a plastic bag or container in the fridge.

Broccoli – See above for a description of the different broccoli parts. You can combine broccoli leaves with collard greens when cooking. To store, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Summer Squash – See the recipe for honey squash below!

Cucumbers, slicing and pickling – Pickling cucumbers can be used and stored in the same way as slicing cucumbers – in the warmest part of your fridge!

ïïï And, a special buy-in this week

Cherries – These cherries come from Wayne Miller Farms, a family owned farm located in Southwestern Michigan, near Coloma.

Honey Squash

About 1 lb. summer squash

Carrots

2 tbsp butter

¼ – ½ c. water

1 tbsp honey (more, if desired)

1. Slice squash and carrots into rounds.

2. Melt butter in a skillet on low to medium heat.

3. Add the carrots, and sauteé for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Add the squash, and sauteé for a few minutes more, continuing to stir.

4. Add water and honey, reduce heat to low, and cover, stirring every few minutes, until squash is translucent and carrots are tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Napa Cabbage Stir-fry

1 tbsp sesame or vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Carrots, broccoli stalks, and/or onions,

chopped (if desired)

Up to 3 c. chopped napa cabbage

1 tsp oyster sauce

1. Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat (you can use half sesame, half vegetable oil, if you like).

2. Add garlic, and stir until browned.

3. If desired, add carrots, broccoli stalks, and onions, or any other “harder” vegetables to the skillet. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add napa cabbage to the skillet and cook for 1 minute, stirring continually. 5. Add oyster sauce, and continue cooking and stirring frequently until the napa cabbage is as tender as you wish.

And, finally, Cole Slaw with Peanut Sauce (from last week’s news letter) can be made with a combination of napa cabbage, shredded carrots, and cubed or shredded broccoli stalks!

Newsletter - July 2nd

NICK’S FARM REPORT

Chickens on the brain…

July 2, 2010

Well, finally a break from the rain! We hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend. We are glad to have some more time to seed and plant our next successions of lettuce, bok choi, onions, and more! It is also fun to watch the tomato and pepper plants putting on small fruits. I dreamed last night that some of the tomatoes were almost ripe, but in reality, we are still some weeks away from that.

In other exciting news, this week Nick found the first egg laid by our hens. The birds start by laying “practice eggs”, which are usually very small or very big, and are occasionally ridged from tip to tip. As they get older, the hens begin to produce eggs with more uniform shapes and sizes. We’ve had quite a struggle keeping the hens safe from our resident family of coyotes (a mom and three pups), but the hen-house that Nick constructed seems to be doing the trick. We’re also preparing to slaughter our flock of Cornish Cross chickens early next week, and a grateful to have a group of friends coming out to help.

Livestock certainly represent quite a time commitment, and on some days it certainly feels easier to weed the beets than to lug water to the birds or to chase after some errant hen. However, keeping livestock provides us with benefits in addition to just eggs or meat – we get manure as well! Because we follow sustainable growing practices, we use compost or manure rather than inorganic sources of nitrogen or phosphorus to fertilize our fields. The organic certifying bodies outline a strict set of guidelines to help us time the application of manure so that the foods we harvest are safe from pathogens.

There are a number of reasons why organic farms choose to use compost or manure. These types of fertilizers help to replenish organic matter in the soil. They also allow nutrients to become available to the plants slowly, reducing the runoff of nutrients such as nitrogen, which can cause imbalance in lake and stream ecosystems. Also, by using fertilizer that can potentially be produced on-farm (via chickens, for example) we work towards becoming more independent from outside inputs.

We’re looking forward to taking advantage of the manure produced by our chickens to help improve our soil fertility for the coming season!

In the CSA Bag This Week:

Kale – Kale can be used raw in a variety of salads (see recipe below). To store, rinse with cool water, shake dry, and place in a plastic bag or container in the fridge.

Snow and Snap Peas – Add to salads and stir fries. Store in the fridge.

Basil – Add to salads, pasta dishes, or just inhale deeply. To store, place the basil in a glass of water and keep it on your kitchen counter. Change the water daily.

Cucumbers – Add to any salads as a refreshing, cooling element, or let them star in their own salad (see recipe below). Store in the warmest part of your fridge.

Summer Squash – Great for grilling, either plain or marinated with your favorite vinaigrette. To store, place in a plastic bag in your crisper.

Green Onions – To store, cut off any part of the greens you will not be using and place in a plastic bag or container in the fridge.

Cabbage (Flat Leaf or Savoy) – We’ve included a recipe for an unusual and yummy cole slaw below. To store, place in a plastic bag in your crisper. Cabbage will keep for a long time, and if the outer leaves begin to yellow, just peel them away.

Nana’s Cucumber Salad

(This is one of my grandmother’s favorites)

Slice two cucumbers into rounds as thinly as possible. Slice green onions (I use 2-3 per cucumber, but you can omit them if you don’t like onions). Toss the cucumber and onion with: ½ c red wine or white vinegar, ½ tsp salt, ¼ c water, and ¼ c sugar. Cover and place in the fridge for two hours to overnight. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Kale Salad, 3 Ways

Recipe courtesy of Linda Szarkowski, from the Glenwood Sunday Market

2 small bunches kale, stems removed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 avocado, diced

1/4 cup diced, seeded tomato

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 dash cayenne pepper

1. Chop kale leaves into bite-sized pieces.

2. Place the kale in a mixing bowl along with the olive oil, lime juice, and salt, and toss well with your hands, working the dressing into the greens.

5. Mix in the cumin, cayenne, tomato, bell pepper, and avocado.

Variation #1: Substitute lemon juice for lime juice. Mix in 1/4 cup pine nuts & 1/4 cup golden raisins, soaked for about 10 minutes and drained. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Variation #2: Substitute lemon juice for lime juice. Mix in 1/4 cup sliced Kalamata olives & 1/4 cup diced bell pepper. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Cole Slaw with Peanut Sauce

Shred cabbage, and chop any additional vegetables you would like to add (green onions, pea pods, or shredded carrot are all good additions). You may also add a hand-full of uncooked, crumbled ramen noodles (sounds weird, but it is really good).

For the dressing, mix until smooth:

1/3 cup rice or cider vinegar
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Dash red pepper flakes

(for a peanut-less salad, omit the peanut butter)

Toss your vegetables and ramen noodles with the dressing, using enough dressing to coat. If desired, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds or toasted chopped peanuts.

Newsletter - June 25th

NICK’S FARM REPORT
Summer has sprung…
June 25, 2010

This week has been another crazy one for weather in Illinois! We hope that the storms left little damage at your homes when they came through. We were lucky to get only some heavy rains up at the farm. With the hot weather and the plentiful water, the traditional summer crops like zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes are well on their way to producing fruit – in fact, you will receive the first summer squash of the season in this week’s share. It is hard to believe that it is already time to begin harvesting these crops.

If you’ve ever grown squash in your own garden, you know that fruiting plants such as these have a tendency to be prolific. This is great for us farmers, and it also means that, come July, we begin to devote a lot of time to harvesting the fruits of our labors. It is especially important to pick these types of produce regularly, in order to ensure that we get them at the right stages of size and ripeness. I am consistently amazed by how quickly a tiny summer squash can turn into a big honker if it doesn’t get picked in time.

One of the investments in time that we make early in the season is trellising, staking, and tying tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas. Not only does this help the plants to support the weight of the fruits they will bear, but it also allows us to harvest while walking up and down the rows, as opposed to bending down. We believe in working hard, but we also believe in working smart.
Finally, we wanted you all to know that we hope that our newsletters have been informative thus far. If there is anything that we can do to improve your CSA experience, please do let us know!

In the CSA Bag This Week:
Red and Gold Beets
Snap and snow peas
Lettuce Mix
Purple Kohlrabi
Tokyo Bekana and/or
Roquette Arugula
Summer Squash

Kohlrabi fans, new and old!
Kohlrabi received a lot of attention at the market last week. Many of our customers identified it as a crop grown long ago in victory and kitchen gardens. We also spread the good word about kohlrabi to many customers who were taken with its odd appearance. Tip of the week: kohlrabi can be marinated in oil, vinegar and herbs and grilled, as you would with summer squash!

Tips and Suggestions from our kitchen:

Look for two interesting new types of greens in your bag this week:

Tokyo Bekana
Tokyo bekana is a mustard with broad, leaf-hopper-green leaves and the mildest of mustard flavors. It does well as an addition to tossed salads, or sautéed as with other greens for one to two minutes.
Arugula
Arugula is a tiny green with a characteristic peppery flavor. Its leaves come in many shapes, some super fancy (like the Roquette in your share this week)! This week’s arugula is quite mild in taste and will appeal even to those who don’t usually care for it. It can be added to salads and sandwiches – we like bacon and arugula on toast!

And welcome summer squash to the share as well! Enjoy the first squash of the season with a mix of other veggies, in a stir fry or as part of a kebab on the grill (perhaps with some sliced kohlrabi!).

The red and gold beets are another favorite vegetable of ours. Red beets have the traditional earthy, sweet flavor, while gold beets are brighter in taste and slightly less sweet. As for the bulls blood beets from earlier in the season, the beet greens in your bag are delicious when sautéed.


Beet and Green Pea Salad

Trim leaves and roots from beets, and boil until tender. When cool, remove the beet skins (they should slip off easily). Slice or cube the beets. Trim the green peas, and cut the pods into bite-sized pieces. Combine the beets and peas and marinate with your favorite vinaigrette or other salad dressing for 2-3 hours or overnight. Serve the marinated vegetables over mixed salad greens along with sliced, hard-boiled eggs, if desired.