Week 2; June 14, 2018.

What's in the box?  

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Romaine lettuce
Leaf lettuce
green onions
arugula
Spinach
Herb pot
Strawberries for Medium, Large. hope we can get more next week.
Salad Mix
Kale
Storage beets

Notes on the box.

The strawberries were picked ripe from our friends patch at Sleepy Root.  Sleepy Root isn't doing a CSA this season but have a beutiful berry patch and let us come pick at their place.  Eat the berries ASAP!  I sure you wont have any trouble with that one!  We were only able to get enough for medium and large shares this week, but hope to get more for next week for small shares.
More beautiful lettuce and salad mix.  As well as beautiful spinach and arugula.  I really like to have the beets peeled, diced, and steamed or roasted and them put them in a container in the fridge to put on salads.  The spinach leaves are big, but still tender.  I like chopped spinach or arugula in a salad with roasted beets, feta, and some toasted nuts.  
Everything should be stored in plastic bags or containers in the fridge.
I know if can be tricky for some folks to get through all the lettuce and greens before the next share rolls around.  If it's at all possible to wash, spin, chop, and store the lettuce in a ready to eat way, you are more likely to get though them.  Have your favorite dressing on hand and have a salad with your meals.  
 

Cosmic Wheel Creamery Cheese Shares.  

This week I included two cheeses that I love on salads!  Feta and our cow's milk manchego called Antares.  If you don't think you'll eat the feta in the next few days, you can make a brine to store it in.  2 cups of water and 2 tsp salt and keep it covered in the brine to extend the shelf life. Feta is great crumbled on salads, on top of pizzas, on scrambled eggs or fritatas.  
Manchego is normally made of sheep's milk, so this cow's milk version will be different.  This batch of Antares is very creamy since it was made at the end of the season when there's a lot of fat in the milk.  Cube or shred it on top of a salad or shred it on eggs or on cooked greens like the kale. It's got a really nice piquant lingering finish and is a favorite at farmers markets.  

Recipes.

Skillet Poached Eggs
Wash and chop a bunch or two of spinach (You can include the stems.  Use more than you think you need since it cooks down a lot.  Also works for arugula and chard or any combination of these greens).  The water from washing will help with steaming.  Heat 2 Tbsp of butter or oil in a pan.  You can add minced garlic, onion, or green onion at this point stir those around.  Add the chopped greens. If you like you can squeeze in some lemon juice.  Stir and cook until just wilted.  This will only take a couple minutes.  Spread the greens over the bottom of the pan  and make little wells, spaced out, for as many eggs as you want to cook.  Crack  eggs into the wells and put the lid on top.  Cook until whites are set, about 5 minutes.  Shred on some Antares cheese if you have it!  Serve over toasted sourdough.  

10 Salad Dressings to Know by Heart

Lemony White Bean and Arugula Salad -confirmed delicous by Robbinsdale host, Paula.  Thanks for the suggestion, Paula!
 

On the Farm.

Mark July 14th on your calendar  We are participating for the second year in the Local Farm tour.  https://www.coopfarmtour.com  We will have a self guided tour of the farm with a map, cheese tasting (and buying), and some burgers and hot dogs on the grill. 

We will also have 25# packs of 100% grass fed ground beef on sale. Pick up on the farm only. 

Mostly we hope you get to visit the place where your food is from. 
We will have other events too, if you cant make this one. 

We often get the question "Did you get all the planting done?" It's usually taken as more of a "are you caught up, are things going well?"  But technically they are two different questions and two different answers. We plant something every single week of the summer, ending only in late September with a few last ditch efforts at spinach and radishes. When we start harvesting I'm thinking about the end. Not because I wish it to be over, but because that's what the timing requires.  Early July marks about the last window to get anything transplanted into the field (think broccoli) and still have.a good chance of making a crop. Most transplants require 4 weeks in the greenhouse. Seeding carrots of any storage size also share this same window. That makes the first half of June a critical moment where the beginning meets the end.  We are less than 100 days from average first frost which seems crazy to think about, but we have a very short growing season here so we have to make every moment count!

Recently we finally got the spring weather we were hoping for back in May!  Tomatoes are trellised and pastures are tall. The first fruits of summer squash are showing themselves, and some hoop house cucumbers are making fruit.   Weeks 4-5 can be tricky ones, when summer is here, but Spring is done sprung.  Hopefully the plants with fruits keep growing and the weather cooperates...

Next week
Head Lettuce
salad mix
Spinach
Napa cabbage
Kale or Collards
Cilantro?
green garlic or scapes?
Come on Broccoli!