Snow’s Heritage Acres CSA – Week 2 – May 24, 2008

Hello everyone!! We hope that you enjoyed last week’s produce offerings. We have been enjoying some wonderful salads here on the farm this week. We can’t wait until we have fresh tomatoes and cucumbers to add to them.

We did receive a really nice rain today. I think it is the 1st “gentle” rain we have had this spring. We were able to get the eggplant, peppers, and about ½ of the potatoes in the ground before it rained. We received about 0.6 of an inch…just enough to soften up the ground and give the plants a good drink. Hopefully we won’t receive much more and we will be able to get a lot more planted in the next few days. We always feel a little stressed when we begin harvesting and still have planting to do. It seems like the weeds start coming on about this time as well so there are never enough hours in the day. We do feel truly blessed though that we are doing what we love and are doing it together as a family.

We have a few strawberries coming ripe so Travis is stealing all he can get away with. That is one of his 1st loves!! He says we can’t put them in the shares until he has his 1st strawberry pie of the year so I guess mom will be making a pie next week. I’ll make sure and include the recipe…it really is wonderful albeit not so healthy for you.

Things are looking great on the veggie side. The sweet corn is up about 2 inches and the green beans are poking through the ground. We are finally seeing blooms on the peas…they are very sparse and the plants aren’t very big but hopefully we will at least have some to add to salads. It seems like we are playing a waiting game…we need a lot of patience!!

In this week’s share:

Lettuce, Salad Greens, Baby Beets w/tops, Baby Carrots w/tops, Chives (the purple flowers are edible), Over-wintered Onions, and radishes??…

How to store this week’s produce:

Lettuce and Salad Greens: Remove root ends and rinse in cold water. If you have a salad spinner, spin dry. If not, shake off as much excess water as possible. Store in a closed bag in the refrigerator. Being fresh, these items will keep for several weeks as long as they are stored without excess moisture.
Baby Beets, radishes, and Carrots: These will store best if the tops are removed; the carrots tops can be juiced and the beet greens can be cooked (see recipe below); store in a sealed bag in the refrigerator.
Over-wintered Onions and Chives: Store in the refrigerator in the bag we send them in. To use just rinse off.

**We field wash the produce only so please rewash before you use it!!**

Recipe for this week: How to use Beet Greens (From Shareholder Diane Pike)

I rinse them ... and rinse them, and rinse them. Then I chop them up. I sauté some garlic and/or onion and/or shallots in olive oil (don't burn) with salt and pepper. Add the greens and adjust seasoning. You can toss in some red pepper flakes if you like spicy! Sautee to desired tenderness and at the last minute splash in a few dashes of balsamic vinegar. I like to "gild the lily" with horseradish on the side. Some people add butter but olive oil is healthier and I prefer it over butter.

Coming on May 31st: Lettuce, Salad Greens, Swiss chard, Spinach, Baby Carrots, Baby Beets, radishes, Green Onions and the first of the strawberries. (This is subject to change but it is what we are projecting will be ready)

Growing for you,

Brian, Beth, Kaity, Travis, Nathan, and Kara

**If you have any recipes you would like to share for the produce that is in or will be in your share please pass them along and we will try to use them. We are working to get a recipe section on our website; we are just not quite there yet.**