What's in the box?

All Shares

bok choi
salad mix
green onions
garlic scapes
radishes
arugula
broccoli
herb pot (basil and parsley in most medium shares, basil and mint in most small shares)

Large and Medium only

Scarlet Queen Red Turnips
Napa Cabbage
Head Lettuce

When harvesting your basil leaves, pinch the stem above where you see little leaves growing next to big leaves. This will encourage your basil to bush out and grow more leaves. Try to keep the flowers pinched off. Basil and parsley will grow nice and big if you plant them in the ground or in a bigger pot. They like sun.

Cheese Share

cheese curds
feta cheese - quote from farmers market customer "This feta just ruined all other fetas for me" Yes. It has been a real hit at the market and we are excited to deliver it to you! Save some for next week when we have peas. Feta, Mint, and Peas are so good together!

Notes on the box

We checked out the sugar snap peas and they weren't quite ready. This variety is a new one for us and doesn't taste so great when under-ripe, so we are holding off for another week. Next week there WILL be peas!

Broccoli is here! Quite delicious and more on the way in the coming weeks. Store it in your crisper. If you want to save veggies for later in the year, broccoli is easy to chop, blanch, bag, and freeze.

The Scarlet Queen Red Turnips have the most beautiful greens. They are tender and have a really wonderful flavor. To make the roots and greens store longest, cut the roots from the greens and store both in a plastic bag in your crisper. A really great quick way to enjoy these is to cut up the roots and sautee them in some butter or oil until tender, then add the chopped greens (and maybe some chopped garlic scapes or green onion) and continue to saute until the greens are wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Napa Cabbage may be new to your plate. It's similar to bok choi in that it's great added at the end of a stir fry or added to noodle soups. It's also really fantastic fermented and will last a very long time in your fridge that way. Homemade pro-biotics! Recipe below...

Recipes

Week 2 Kimchi
1 large Napa cabbage, cored and chopped into (roughly) 2 inch pieces
2-3 Tablespoons unrefined salt
1 bunch green onions, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
some radishes, thinly sliced
4 garlic scapes, cut into half inch pieces
knob of ginger, peeled then minced or grated
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper (optional)

Take a leaf off of the outside of the cabbage and set it aside. Place cabbage pieces in a large bowl, sprinkle salt on the leaves, then toss to distribute well. Allow to rest 30 minutes as the salt pulls moisture from the cabbage. Using clean hands or a wooden pounder, gently mash the cabbage leaves to further release juices. Add in the remaining ingredients and combine well. Transfer the kimchi mixture to a sterilized quart-sized wide-mouth jar, pressing down with a wooden pounder or your hand. Pack the jar so that more brine juices are released. Your goal is to fill the jar just up to 1-inch below the lip, allowing space for expansion. Cut or fold the reserved outer leaf to fit on top of the mixture and press it down so that the brine is above the leaf. If your cabbage did not exude very much moisture, you may need to add a little filtered water to the finished product so that the brine is above the kimchi ingredients.

Loosely cap the jar and place out of direct light in a dish to capture liquid that may bubble out of the jar as it ferments. Allow to ferment for 3 to 21 days (warmer temperatures make fermentation happen more quickly. The longer the kinchi ferments, the more pungent it will become). Add/remove brine if the level is not maintained at 1-inch below the lip of the jar. You should see occasional tiny bubbles rising along the inner sides of the jar as the veggies begin to ferment. After 3 to 21 days, move the kimchi to the fridge. Serve with beef, chicken, pork, eggs, as a condiment with rice.

The ideal household temperature for vegetable lacto-fermentation is 72 degrees. Fermenting may occur more slowly at cooler temperatures and more quickly at warmer temperatures
Enough salt in the ferment should keep mold from growing on your kimchi. Lacto-fermenting is considered to be a very safe technique for preserving foods but, when in doubt, throw it out.

Lots of links!

This one from Thursday Night Pizza makes a pesto from the turnip greens and puts it on a pizza! YUM! Early Summer Harvest Pizza with Turnips and their greens, Garlic Scapes, and Aged Cheddar sounds very tasty!

Napa Cabbage Wedge Salad with Apples and Buttermilk Dressing

Asian Coleslaw is a lot like the Spicy Peanut Slaw recipe that we put on the blog every season, but it uses Napa Cabbage. Calls for grated carrots, but why not try grated radish or turnips?

Grilled Napa Cabbage with Chinese Mustard Glaze

Scarlet Queen Red Turnip with Feta Salad recipe calls for cucumbers, which are still growing, but I think would be great with lettuce or arugula instead.

Turnip Greens Tart from 101 cookbooks if you are feeling ambitious!

Next Week...

head lettuce
salad mix
green onions
garlic scapes?
napa cabbage?
broccoli
peas!! (for real)
swiss chard

On the farm

The first delivery went pretty smoothly! Thanks to you guys for being great communicators and letting us know as soon as any issues came up. This makes everything happen! Our hearts are FULL and we are so grateful for all of the wonderful emails and comments we have gotten after the first delivery! We were a bit nervous about putting so many vegetables that may not be familiar to people in the boxes right away, but we are so glad that so many people are feeling it and happily eating their greens! This week brings more greens and more new veggies, but rest assured that your familiar favorites are growing BEAUTIFULLY in the fields. We've had a nice mix of sun and rain and the right amount of heat for this time of year. We are having fun packing these very full boxes, and we look forward to all that is to come this season. We are planning our farm events and will get the dates solidified and let you know as soon as we can so that we can hopefully get onto your Summer calendar. Meeting our new members and seeing our returning members season after season is a real treat for us. We are excited to share the farm with you!

If there are ever any problems with your delivery or your box, please contact us. Sometimes there are mix-ups or we miss something on the pack line. We will always try our hardest to fix any problems that arise. Thanks!

We put a postcard with your CSA box about our friend and neighbor Nancy of Red Clover Herbal Apothecary CSA. Here's the link for you to check out her website. She does amazing work and we hope you will consider her seasonal herbal CSA share to help you feel your best and get the most out of the Summer.

We are so lucky that Dana is here doing an amazing job of documenting our work and the farm (and not just taking cute pictures of the kids like we always do!). We shared some of her photographs in last weeks blog and there are more below. Please check out her Etsy page if you are interested in owning some of her photos of farm life.

Here are more of her photos...