Author Archives: olystephanie

CSA – Week 3

China Gold Napa Cabbage is new to your box this week! While it’s the main ingredient for making your own kimchee, we’ve also found it our go-to for slaw. We love it tossed with canola oil, lime juice, cilantro, shredded or sliced radishes and turnips and a pinch of chili powder and salt as a great summer side. You can also try it with peanut oil, sesame oil and mirin – wherever your menu and your tastebuds take you! Garlic scapes also hit the box this week – they are the flower and stem part of the garlic plant, trimmed to keep the energy in the development of the bulb/cloves. Chop up and add to a stir fry, or pair with the basil in your box for a garlicky pesto. Flashy Troutback is the lettuce of the week! While we’re not big on kitchen gadgets, we highly recommend a lettuce spinner for washing and drying your lettuce once you get your box home. Keeping the lettuce in the spinner in your fridge keeps it both moist and dry – an antidote to wilting. Also, it’s much more likely to get used if it’s prepped and ready to go! We’ve picked up spinners at the big thrift stores (if you are so inclined), and have found them useful for gently washing and drying herbs and berries as well.

CSA – Week 2

Last year’s box – don’t worry, kale’s on its way!

This week brings new box additions of radishes and chard, with romaine lettuce. Only a few years ago I learned about the french connection of sliced radishes, butter and a little flakey salt on a baguette (or forget the bread and dip your radish in soft butter with a dash of salt). I remain intrigued, and can’t wait to try this recipe I found of butter braised radishes with sorrel! Here’s a roasted preparation that includes both radishes, turnips and their greens. As for the chard, if you’re looking for something hardy, try this one-pot meal that brings chard, lentil and kielbasa together with onions, tomatoes and smoked paprika (the recipe gives the option of regular paprika, but trust me – it’s not optional!)

With salads such a mainstay this time of year, here’s a wilted salad with ginger sesame dressing to try with your Tatsoi. As for the romaine – you know what to do: Caesar salad anyone? Enjoy! Got good recipes? Add them to the comments below!

CSA – Week 1

Our inaugural week’s boxes host a medley of greens, including mustard, Tatsoi, Pac Choi, salad turnips and New Red Fire lettuce. Together, these can be torn and tossed as a bed for our favorite salad topped with soba noodles, and the protein of your choice. Individually, the Pac Choi can be marinated and grilled as a side, as we did above, while mustard greens are a classic pairing with sausage and chunky pasta. The first local lettuce salad of the year is always a treat, simply dressed, and the salad turnips can be treated like a milder cousin of the radish, a crisp and crunchy salad topping sliced raw. Enjoy!

Organic: It Ain’t What You Think

Recent years have seen a progressive weakening of the standards regulating what it means for food to be certified as “organic.” The corporations that now control the USDA certification process have so weakened the definition of organic that today “organic” bears little resemblance to what was intended when Congress passed the Organic Production Act (OPA) in 1990.  Despite the fact that the OPA required that organically certified produce be grown using soil improving practices, last week a judge ruled against a group of true organic farmers, bizarrely and erroneously stating that food doesn’t even have to be grown in soil to be certified as organic. This is another good reminder to be skeptical of the “organic” produce you see on the store shelves, and to build relationships with local farmers you can trust to grow your food sustainably and truly organically, in fertile, healthy, biologically diverse soil. To learn more about the lawsuit check out the email below:

https://mailchi.mp/realorganicproject/john-tester-5223880?e=a98f288347

Real plants in real soil in our high tunnel.

Plant Sale Starts April 10!

We’ve been busy on the farm lately, starting all sorts of plants from seed. In a few weeks, they’ll be ready to go into your garden! Details on our Grow Yer Own webpage, including plant list and prices. Start planning your dream garden and we’ll see you Saturdays and Sundays, 9am-2pm, starting April 10.