Week 6 CSA: Looking ahead

Welcome to week 6! 

Seems crazy to think that we are past the halfway mark. We have been planning all winter for this point in the season: successive plantings, planting dates, etc. Some things are where we want them to be while others are lagging behind. Today’s rain helped a lot and we are thankful.

We realized that with this halfway mark and the next month comes a lot of transitions for not only the farm, but your farmers as well. Those of you that made it to our May Member Meeting heard more details, but we wanted to share them again with everyone.

Part of the reason we are doing a 10-week, shortened season is that we need to move. That part of our lease has ended, although we will be able to continue farming at this location.

The other reason for the condensed season is that this spring John was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He will be teaching Journalism at the university there. It is quite an honor! That means that we’d like to move the tiny house this month before he leaves at the end of August. We have a lot to do! 

September will give Heather-Marie the time to start wrapping up the field, selling at the farm stand and getting ready to leave herself. After the October Fall Shares are delivered, Heather-Marie will then work with Tractor John to till the field, prep beds and plant garlic.

Phew! At that point, once the farm is all wrapped up, then she’ll head to Vietnam to join John. 

Our plans are pretty loose for next year. John’s contract is through July — that’s about all we know so far. Heather-Marie would like to return a bit earlier to work a smaller part of the field and focus on the farm stand.

There will most likely not be a CSA that summer. We will miss our CSA  family but feel it’s not realistic to make it back in time to commit to a full season, with so much winter planning and starting seeds.

Farm stand

We had our second farm stand this past Friday. We weren’t sure what to expect. The first farm stand was mildly successful, but we had a lot of produce left over. Our first priority is to our CSA members and so we can only harvest so much for farm stand customers.

So we, along with Heather-Marie’s college friend, Mary, harvested a modest amount with low expectations. But what we hadn’t counted on was that many of the people in the area around the farm and farther afield to Floodwood had read the featured article about us and the farm that made its way to three different newspapers.

The result was that we sold out in an hour and a half AND we even ran out to the field to harvest more! People just came flooding in. It was amazing. And even more interesting was that it was clear that people were following us on Facebook and Instagram and knew exactly what they wanted to buy. Some people walked right up to the stand and said,

“I’ll take that, that and that.”

We felt like a store! It was really heartwarming to see all these people in the community supporting local food and us.

In your shares this week:

Salad mix, collards, green cabbage, green/purple beans, green-top carrots, summer squash/zucchini and scallions. Members will also have a choice between one broccoli or cauliflower. (We had poor germination with broccoli and the cauliflower plants are growing big but not producing much in the way of flourets.)

Carrots will be delivered with their green tops on, but do take those off or they will get rubbery.

Recipes for this week

Grilled Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto

“Farmstand Fresh” publication from Fine Cooking

For the pesto

Carrot tops from a 1-pound bunch carrots

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil

1 clove garlic

½ tsp kosher salt; more as needed

¼ cup pine nuts

½ cup olive oil

For the grilled carrots

1 large bunch thin carrots (about 1 pound), peeled or just scrubbed if the skins are delicate (if the carrots are thick, split them lengthwise)

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pesto:Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Trim the thick stems and any wilted greens from the carrot tops, and plunge the trimmed greens into the water.  Blanch for about 1 minute, then scoop them out and spin dry in a salad spinner (keep your water hot, as you’ll use it again).  Chop coarsely and measure out about 2 cups. Put the blanched greens in a food processor along with the basil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts.  Pulse until you have a coarse purée, then with the motor running, pour in the olive oil and process until smooth. Taste (be careful of the processor blade!) and add more salt if you like.  Set aside.

Grill the carrots: Bring the carrot top water to a boil again and blanch the carrots just until tender, 5 to 6 minutes.  Drain well, and when cool enough to handle, slice in half lengthwise. Toss with the olive oil to coat and season with salt and pepper.  Heat a grill to medium-high heat (you may also use a cast-iron grill pan) and place the carrots cut side down on the grill. Let cook until charred marks form on the underside, 2 to 3 minutes, then flip and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes.  Arrange the carrots on a serving platter and serve with a bowl of the pesto on the side.

Squash Souffle

This recipe is drawn from John’s Southern heritage. It is for people who don’t actually like yellow squash. It is decidedly not healthy. 

Source: Southern Kitchen

Serves: 10 to 12

Hands-on time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Total time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing

2 onions, diced

Kosher salt

4 pounds yellow squash, halved, seeded and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 1/2 cups milk

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Onion powder

Garlic powder

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup panko breadcrumbs, or other dried breadcrumbs

Fresh thyme leaves

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9- by 13-inch baking dish or similarly-sized shallow casserole dish.

In a Dutch oven, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. When the butter is foamy, add the onions and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the squash and sugar and stir to combine. Cover the pot and continue to cook, stirring about every 5 minutes, until the squash has given up much of its liquid, 20 to 25 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, if needed, until the squash and onions are very tender, about 10 minutes.

Pour the squash mixture into a large strainer set over a sink and press gently to remove as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a food processor and process until the mixture forms a smooth puree, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the cheese, milk and flour. Season to taste with onion powder, garlic powder and additional salt, if desired. Stir in the eggs.

Transfer to the prepared baking dish and bake the souffle until it is only slightly jiggly in the center, about 45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Pour it into a medium bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs. Season to taste with salt.

After 45 minutes of baking, remove the souffle from the oven and top evenly with the breadcrumbs. Return to the oven and continue to bake until set, about 10 minutes. If the top is not yet browned, turn the oven to broil. Broil just until golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. 

Let cool for about 10 minutes, sprinkle with fresh thyme, and serve.

Seared Green Beans

This is simple, fast and good. Let the green beans be the star of the show in this recipe from Moosewood’s Mollie Katzen. 

Dramatically Seared Green Beans with Garlic and Chile

from The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without

Yield: 4 – 6 servings

Once the beans are trimmed, all you need is a large hot pan, and the rest is one big, quick sizzling action!

These will keep for up to a week in a tightly covered container (or a zip-style plastic bag) in the refrigerator.

2 tablespoons canola oil or peanut oil

1 pound whole green beans, trimmed

Salt 

1 tablespoon minced or crushed garlic

Red pepper flakes

Place a large, deep skillet or wok over medium heat. After about two minutes, add the oil, and swirl to coat the pan.

Turn the heat to high, and wait another 30 seconds or so, then add the green beans and a big pinch of salt.

Cook over high heat, shaking the pan and/or using tongs to turn and move the beans so they cook quickly and evenly.

After about 3 minutes, take a taste test and see if the beans are done to your liking. They should be relatively crunchy, but you get to decide. If you like them cooked a little more, keep going until they’re your kind of tender.

Sprinkle in the garlic and some red pepper flakes, and cook for just a minute longer. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.– 

Collard Greens

When John was in Charlotte, North Carolina, a couple of weeks he had some of the best collard greens he’s ever had. Surprisingly, they were made without any pig meat.

Here is the recipe from Mert’s Heart and Soul

Ingredients

1 lb. of greens (collard, kale, mustard)

1 onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add ingredients, stir frying over high heat about 5 minutes or until greens are tender.

Tangy Shredded Cabbage Salad

from the blog “Smitten Kitchen”

Heather-Marie makes this salad often.  It is so good! She recommends tripling this recipe but you might not want to triple the hot peppers!

2 c tightly packed, shredded green or red cabbage

1 small Serrano chili, seeded and minced

2 T fresh lemon juice, or more as needed

¼- ½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

1 T canola oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

In a medium bowl, toss together the cabbage, chili, lemon juice, salt and sugar.  Taste and adjust the seasoning. (Look for balanced sweet/sour)

Heat the oil in a small skillet over high heat.  When oil begins to smoke, add the mustard seeds, covering the pan with a lid.  When seeds stop popping, immediately pour the oil over the cabbage salad and toss well.  Let the salad sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.