CSA Week 5: Mystery veggies and movie night at the farm

In this week’s share, members will find kale, lettuce mix and kohlrabi as well as some new arrivals to this season: fresh garlic, scallions and an herb popular in Asian cooking called shiso. Depending on which box you pick up, you will also find one of the following: cucumber, broccoli, Romanesco cauliflower or zucchini (we have limited availability of each, so we are putting one of these into each box). We are calling it the mystery box.

As always, scroll to the bottom for some recipes for this week’s produce.

A smaller share this week

Way back in early June, right after the freeze, it got pretty darn hot in Barnum. And also pretty dry. And, yes, it’s been hot since Memorial Day. And, yes, it’s also been dry.

But, that week was particularly hard on our farm because we had just put into the ground more than 100 baby transplants: cabbage and broccoli and cauliflower, to name but a few.

And when we got home one afternoon and pulled back the protective row cover, we could smell the burned cabbage and see the charred leaves. These plants had been started from seedlings in early April. We nursed them in the greenhouse through a very cold spring. And we’d transplanted them, expecting to harvest them, well, about now.

During that time, we had also seeded peas, beans and carrots, and despite our attempts at watering, watched as no seeds germinated.  It was just too hot and dry.  Those too, would have been part of shares this week and next.

So, way back then, we knew this week was coming.

And now it’s here. 

Yesterday, as we walked the field, trying to decide what we could bring to members, we marveled that there was so much growing and so much promise and, ultimately, not so much that we could actually harvest. 

Heather-Marie calls it a lull.

As you read through this newsletter, we hope you’ll also be impressed by what we’ve accomplished this year and be eager to enjoy what’s about to come. 

What to look forward to

We are very excited about what’s growing in our greenhouse and our field: 

• Cucumbers: We are harvesting pickling cucumbers daily now and slicing cucumbers are beginning to catch fire. We hope soon that there will be enough that even we can eat a few! 
• Tomatoes: The high tunnel tomatoes are starting to ripen, and we expect that we’ll have enough to put in shares next week (hopefully) or the week after (for certain). Meanwhile, our field tomatoes — about 160 plants — are growing heavy with fruit. Soon, we’ll be offering you the chance to buy tomatoes in bulk for sauces, canning and freezing.
• Snap peas: The first round of sugar snap peas are starting to produce, and we are very hopeful they will be in shares next week. 
• Zucchini and summer squash: These plants are taking off and have lots of small fruits on them. We expect those in the boxes very soon.

A little further down the line, our green beans, potatoes and cabbages are not far away. Meanwhile, all our fall crops are looking fantastic — as are the many varieties of hot and sweet peppers we’ve planted.

Garlic: A sample of what’s to come this week

This week, we are giving you all a couple of heads of freshly picked garlic as a little treat and to whet your appetite for what’s coming. This week’s garlic is not cured, so it won’t keep. We recommend you use it quickly; we enjoy the wet, spicy taste of fresh garlic.

We planted 85 pounds of German extra hardy garlic in the fall, and it’s nearly time to harvest and cure this crop. Heather-Marie grows just one variety of garlic because it’s large and flavorful and productive. Members will receive some garlic in their weekly shares, but we will also be offering garlic shares to those who’d like to buy more. 

Look for an email with the order form. Garlic will be ready in late September, early October, after it has cured.

A few milestones at the farm

You are probably a little tired of reading about a few of the projects we’ve been working on here at the farm. Trust us, we’re tired of working on them. But this week, we can check a few pretty big items off our list. 

First, we finally finished our walk-in cooler. This means we can pick veggies all week long and keep them cool and fresh for delivery day. It also means, all of our greens and lettuces can be harvested early and kept cool and dry. 

This is a game changer for us and what we can do at the farm.

We also welcomed the arrival of our long-awaited walk-behind tractor and the various attachments that will allow us to be much more efficient in the field. Now, we just need to figure out what all these knobs and levers do. Last March, we drove to Kentucky to look at and purchase our Grillo 110 from a company called Earth Tools. The tractor was made in Italy. We’ll be using it to mow down cover crops and create “green mulch” in our garden beds that will help add nutrients and organic matter to our soil. (The walk-behind tractor became a “must have” item for market gardeners thanks to Jean-Martin Fortier’s book, “The Market Gardener,” which we recommend.)

It’s been a whirlwind of a year. Some days, we feel like someone else did all this work. Then we realize how tired we are and that reminds us that, yes, we did this — with so much help.

There are always new things that need attention, but for the most part, we are feeling on top of things. Except for a new irrigation system. And finishing the fence. Oh, and the weeding. But other than that, we are ON IT!

CSA member events for the season

We have also made plans for the final CSA member events of the season.

Movie night at the farm (Saturday, July 31): Yesterday, you should have received an email about our July CSA monthly member event: movie night at the farm! We did a test run of this last weekend and had a wonderful time. We just can’t decide which movie to watch. There have been many suggestions: Twister, Princess Bride, Grapes of Wrath, Soul, Super 8 and Bambi for starters.

Kimchi Kamp (Sunday, August 15, 3 to 5 p.m.): We are excited to be hosting a fermentation cooking class led by CSA member Jean Sramek at Peace Church in Duluth. Stand by for more details.

Annual CSA Member Potluck (mid-September): We will close out the year with our annual farm potluck out here at the farm.

This week’s recipes and veggies

We hope that you are starting to catch on to our mantra of simply looking for ways to make vegetables part of your meals. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. If you’re like us, you don’t have time for anything elaborate. 

As mentioned, shares this week will include freshly picked garlic. This stuff is a real treat and we’ll be combining ours with kale to make massaged kale using some version of a recipe from Eating Well that we’ve shared with you before. And, why not throw some grated kohlrabi in there as well? No way is that going to be bad.

Heather-Marie’s Homemade Ramen Noodle Soup

Buying ramen is a simple, and cheap meal, but we do love making our own, adding whatever vegetables happen to be in season.  Sooo much better!

* Protip: Try tearing up some of your shiso leaves and sprinkling on this dish as a garnish.

Ingredients

Carrots

Dried, or fresh, mushrooms

Fresh ginger

Hard boiled eggs

Bitter greens, or kale, collards

Leeks, scallions or garlic scapes

Broth- homemade or bought

Thin Asian-style noodles (we use rice noodles) 

Kimchi, fish sauce, soy or coconut aminos, optional toppings

Directions

Soak dried mushrooms in a bowl with boiling water until soft.  Saute carrots and leeks/scallions/scapes for a few minutes in butter, or oil.  Add broth, ginger and noodles.  Cook until noodles are cooked, adding greens in just before finished.

Perfect Protein Salad

I love this salad from the Whole Foods Co-op.  I found this recipe online and it looks pretty similar — in parenthesis are suggested replacements for the coop salad.  And if you don’t have spelt (and who does), use quinoa.  Basically, throw what you have, and what’s in the share this week, in this salad.

SERVES: 6-8

Ingredients

SALAD:

1 cup spelt berries (or wheat berries)

3 cups filtered water 

1 25-ounce can garbanzo beans

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced 

1 organic green bell pepper, seeds removed and diced (or chopped broccoli)

3 stalks, about 1/3 pound, celery, diced 

1 organic carrot, diced, about 1 cup

1/4 red onion, diced 

1/2 bunch green onion, diagonally sliced 

1/3 bunch parsley, chopped 

DRESSING:

1/2 cup mayonnaise (or vegan mayonnaise) 

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

1 teaspoon dried dill 

1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt 

1 teaspoon dried basil 

1 teaspoon minced garlic 

Preparation

Boil spelt berries in the water until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and cool.

In a salad bowl mix together the cooked spelt, garbanzo beans, diced cucumber, green pepper, celery, carrots, red onion, green onion and chopped parsley.

Mix together the dressing and pour over the salad, mixing well.

Recipe by PCC Deli