Week 6; July 31, 2014

What's in the box?

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Red Cabbage

Green Beans and Dragon Tongue Beans

Head Lettuce

Collard Greens

Red scallions

Basil

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Bell Pepper

Tomatoes (cherry or slicers)

Summer Squash/ Zucchini

Cucumbers

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 Red Cabbage

Green Beans and Dragon Tongue Beans

Collar Greens

Basil

Red Scallions

Cauliflower

Broccoli 

Green Top Carrots

Cukes

Summer Squash/ Zukes

Notes on the box...

 We put carrots in Single Shares only this week, but full shares will have them next week.  To help your carrots keep longer, be sure to remove them from their tops.  Store the carrots in a plastic bag in the crisper.  They are so sweet and bursting with flavor, I'm sure they will be eaten as a snack. Of course, they are also great in stir fry, roasted, shredded in coleslaw, etc.  But you can't beat them enjoyed all on their own as a snack.  The tops are edible and we have finally actually found a good recipe that uses carrot tops!  See the recipe section for Carrot Top Pesto!  Carrots are a crop that are usually grown with lots of specialized mechanization on a large scale.  This makes carrots pretty dang cheap in the store.  At our scale, we spend SO MUCH time growing these lovelies for you!  You wouldn't believe the amount of time that goes into hand weeding, harvesting, bunching, and washing these guys.  We hope that you can taste the difference!  

Peppers and tomatoes in Full shares only this week, but hopefully both next week as more ripen.  Think warm thoughts!  It's almost August and the tomatoes are JUST coming on.  It's pretty late!  Lets hope for a late frost this season so we all get our fill of these beauties.  

Recipes...

 Collard Greens with Butter Beans

Cauliflower tots

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Notes from the field....

It dried up!  Now we are irrigating.  But it's really hard to complain about this weather. I mean, we could use a little rain and yeah the cool temps are slow to bring on the summer crops but... really, it could be 90+ and we could have had hail storms and pest infestations, but we don't. We lost a good amount to plants drowning, but now it seems to be dried out and some plants might hopefully bounce back.  I'm counting our blessings, this is a beautiful Summer. We hope everyone has been eating all their vegetables and having a great time doing so.  We love hearing from you, send us pictures, post comments good or bad. Let us know you actually read this; we spend quite a bit of time coming up with the recipes, taking pictures, and writing all this stuff to give you a window into our farming lives and where your food is coming from!  We don't always respond right away, but comments mean a lot to us. It lets us know you care.

Fall extension shares

  We are hoping to have some of our fall extension shares listed on our website soon, as we start bringing in and getting a grip on fall crops. This will bring your harvest out to Thanksgiving, adding another 4 weeks on with some fantastic cold sweetened greens, brussels, savoy cabbage, spinach, plus all the standard root crops and onions that store well  packed in a bigger box.  A perpetual Thanksgiving with many crops that will hold well into Jan-Feb if stored properly. We will let you know as soon as they are available.  

 Fantastic garlic add on share

   We also will be offering a one time garlic add on to your box. Normally we'd like to just give you the garlic, but here is why we are doing the add on... Last year we moved the farm and had to leave our garlic crop (that was planted in the fall of 2012) behind.  This was years of seed saving that allowed us to be able to give everyone an abundance of garlic. Some were really nice heirloom varieties that were gifted to us from friends over the years. We were so bummed to have to leave it behind!  But it was lost. So last fall we bought 100 lbs of seed garlic. That was all we could find or afford as seed garlic prices are very high due to a disease that spread across many midwestern garlic growers in 2011-2012. So our hope is that we can take the money we get from the add on garlic share to help buy more seed garlic (on top of what we save) this fall so that everyone will get garlic in the box next year and we can continue to build up our seed stock again. Sign into your account to add garlic or just send us an email and we can do it for you.   

Don't forget about the farm events coming up.  Summer cookout on August 16th at the farm.  We will be grilling and hope you bring a dish to pass.  There will be farm tours and plenty of time and space for kids and adults to explore, sample goodies straight from the field, get to know your farmers, breathe some fresh air, and get the wiggles out!  We’ll plan on dinner at 6 PM,  You can come a little early to explore the farm (around 4 or 5) and feel free to camp out overnight if you’d like.  Please let us know if you plan on attending!  We are on google maps, just search for Turnip Rock Farm  Please RSVP so we know how many people to expect!  

Our Harvest Party will be September 20th.  Another potluck!  Mark your calendar!  pumpkins to pick, and fall colors. 

green house of towering heirloom tomatoes, just waiting to ripen...

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 No one feeling picture day while bunching carrots! Except for the carrots.  They were pretty photogenic.

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 Hats by Herban Outfitters.  It's fashionable to look like you don't carrot all!

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Week 5; July 24, 2014
Full Share
Full Share

What's in the box?

head lettuce

broccoli!!!

green cabbage

cucumber

summer squash/ zucchini

green and dragon tongue beans

cauliflower

lacinato kale

red scallions

Single Share
Single Share

salad mix

green and dragon tongue beans

summer squash/ zucchini

cucumbers

red scallions

lacinato kale

broccoli!

Notes on the box...

Well, we planted a lot of broccoli and staggered the plantings so that we would have a couple of pounds of broccoli for each member over several weeks.  Then we had nice cool weather that had it growing beautifully, then some really hot days and BAM!  all the broccoli is ready to pick all at once!  So we put a lot of broccoli into the boxes this week.  YUM!  And if you get the sense that there's no way that you will be able to get through the amount of broccoli that you have in your box, it is amazingly easy to freeze for later use (this link includes using the stalks since they are edible and really delicious which is why we cut them long!)  

With all the broccoli, there wasn't enough room this week in the single shares for cabbage.  We will include red cabbage next week in the single shares.  The full shares got another wonderful week of green tendersweet cabbage.  This cabbage can be cooked, but it really shines eaten raw.  If you can't eat it in a week, rest easy as it will keep for several weeks in your fridge (although the flavor and texture isn't as superb!)  Cabbage is great for coleslaws, of course, but also in stir fry or shredded and used as a stand in for rice or you can use large outer leaves to make wraps.  

Cauliflower is  a vegetable that many people think that they don't like until they try it really fresh and in season.  This cauliflower is wonderful (and I really don't like the stuff if it's not fresh from the farm!).  We should have more for you next week as well.  

Recipes...

Roasting Vegetables brings out their flavor and keeps a nice nexture, especially for those that don't like "mushy" veggies as can happen when steaming at times.  In the box this week broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans are all super tasty as roasted veggies.  Here's a link to veggie roasting 101 with times and tems and other suggestions.  Really, if you haven't tried roasted broccoli, now is the time to do it!

Crispy Cauliflower Tacos with Mango Salsa (this recipe uses cauliflower as a stand-in for fish)

Quinoa Cauliflower Patties (this recipe looks so good!  We haven't tried it yet, but we will be soon!)

 Kale Noodle Bowl with Avacado Miso Dressing

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On the farm...

We are starting to transition out here from spring crops to summer, these transitions are always a little tricky. too hot for spring crops, and not warm enough for summer crops to mature quickly.  Falls crops are going in now as the window for planting for the fall is starting to close. More broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, etc. to be ready when the summer crops come to an end. But that's still tomatoes and corn and melons away... On the farm the years are like days, and the months are hours in the day.  We always seem to be looking forward onto the next task that needs to get done right away.  It can be hectic to be sure, but sometimes a nice breeze will come, or a particularly beautiful sunrise, or we bite into a crisp greenbean still cool from the morning air and damp with dew and we are suddenly nowhere but in that moment.  take a deep breath and soak it in...  then off we go again!   

We have had a lot of great positive feedback this season, but we've also had a member voicing concern that the value of the boxes aren't adding up.  We want to address it so that anyone else who is feeling the same way but hasn't contacted us knows what's going on.  The early season boxes are often "light and leafy" but more often than not the value averages out over the course of the season, and surely over many years your investment into a farm will be worth it.   Things are looking nice out in the fields, though the fruiting Summer crops are coming along a little slower than normal with the later planting and cool temperatures.  We've had some plants die off in lower spots in the fields because of excessive rain again this Spring.  We also had washout of some direct seeded crops early in the season, so we had to replant carrots and beets and a few other things that should have been in boxes at this point.  But we are staying on top of the weeds (for the most part!), getting plants fed in the short term and working on soil fertility for the long term.  We remain optimistc and think we will get a good value into the boxes over the course of the season.  

One very important thing Community Supported Agriculture is about is connecting with where your food is coming from...  So, we are excited to invite you and your family out for a Summer cookout on August 16th at the farm.  We will be grilling and hope you bring a dish to pass.  There will be farm tours and plenty of time and space for kids and adults to explore, sample goodies straight from the field, get to know your farmers, breathe some fresh air, and get the wiggles out!  We'll plan on dinner at 6 PM,  You can come a little early to explore the farm (around 4 or 5) and feel free to camp out overnight if you'd like.  Please let us know if you plan on attending!  We are on google maps, just search for Turnip Rock Farm

Our Harvest Party will be September 20th.  Another potluck!  Mark your calendar!  pumpkins to pick, and fall colors. 

potatoes, sweet corn, carrots, sweet onions, peppers are all right around the corner. 

Now... go get to eating some broccoli! 

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Week 4; July 17, 2014

What's in the box?

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Full Share (sorry for the blur!)

cabbage

curly kale

lettuce

green onions

parsley

summer squash/ zucchini

broccoli

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Single Share

green beans and dragon tongue beans

parsley

summer squash/zucchini 

broccoli

lettuce

rainbow chard

green onions

Notes on the box....

There will be more cabbage and more broccoli in the coming weeks.  These crops and the greens are loving these unseasonably cool temperatures!  

Lettuce, parsley, kale and chard will all keep best in an open plastic bag in your crisper.  

We will give full shares beans next week.  The Dragon Tongue beans are an heirloom that we've grown off and on for several years.  The flavor is wonderful raw and we love how pretty they are added to salads.  They are also yummy cooked, but they lose their nice purple spots.  

Have you been staying on top of using your green onions?  We've been adding them to everything in place of onions, including the green tops and all!  I've also been making quick minced green onions mixed with a handful of whatever herb I have around and adding it to soups, stews, eggs, sauteed vegetables, and sprinkling on top of fish, chicken, or porkchops at the very end of cooking.  It adds a nice freshness and a lot of flavor.  I just put the roughly chopped onion and herbs (and maybe a little olive oil and salt)  into the mini food processor and buzz it until everything is nice and finely chopped.  You can also add this to homemade salad dressing.  Super quick and easy way to bring simple dishes to the next level!  

Recipes...

 Kale Salad with Miso and Pistachio

Sweet Cabbage Slaw with Parsley and Green Onions

Light Swiss Chard Fritatta

Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad

Zucchini Pasta and Green Goddess Dressing

 Try this Green Barley with Kale, Chard, or see the note at the bottom of the directions to see how we made this with Broccoli!...

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On the farm...

Wow, the weather has been cool.  Record cold weather out here for this time of year.  Sigh.  How we long for a nice average season!  The Summer crops are shivering a bit and very slow growing, but the spring crops and lettuce are really liking it just fine!  Summer will come soon, right??!  

We are in the process of rescheduling dates for farm events for the season.  Most of them have been set around certain crops being ready and those dates are being pushed back by the weather.  We hope to have a good idea by next week of our farm events.  In the meantime, have a look at the calendar of events happening at our neighbor and community meeting place, the Hungry Turtle Farm and Learning Center.

Green bean harvest. 

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Green Beans underwent strict quality control inspections by Sadie, Sam, and the rest of us.
Green Beans underwent strict quality control inspections by Sadie, Sam, and the rest of us.
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Otto's recipe for Jelly Beans: rub your greenbeans on your morning toast that has jelly on it.
Otto's recipe for Jelly Beans: rub your greenbeans on your morning toast that has jelly on it.
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The harvest was great and the garlic was beautiful!  Our first year after planting new seed, so we are quite happy! The Garlic will have to dry and cure for a while.  We will update you on it soon!

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