Hello CSA members! Welcome to our program. Each week, on Saturday before the CSA delivery, I will send out this newsletter with photos of the veggies you will find in your box. I will share some info on the veggies as well as storage tips and ideas on how to use them in your kitchen. I will also share stories from the farm and any updates about delivery.
Your veggies will be packed in a WAX BOX with YOUR NAME on it. Please only take the one with YOUR NAME. You will be able to take this wax box with you at pickup. We can/and would love to reuse these week to week. You are welcome to bring them back to us each pickup and we will sanitize them between uses. PLEASE DON’T throw them away, we can reuse them!
Thank you for joining us!
On the farm…
June is such a crazy month because every time I look back on the week, I’m AMAZED on how much we accomplished. The day lengths are almost as long as they will get through the whole year, and our activity on the farm matches that.
This week we transplanted all of the tomatoes and peppers. It feels SO GOOD to finally have them in the ground so they can produce some of everyone’s favorite summer vegetables. We’ve been giving them plenty of water as they establish themselves in new ground. We’ve almost finished transplanting ll of our summer crops into the field. This week we will plant our summer kale, tomatillos, and another round of green onions. Then we will plant our fall crops at the end of June. We almost have the whole farm planted!
This year we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Lakewinds Food Coop through their Organic Field Fund. They funded our farm to build 3 hoop houses (small greenhouses). We finished building the 3rd one last weekend! They are now all planted with food. We planted the first one we built with spring crops and much of the food in your share this week was harvested from there! Having greenhouses on a vegetable farm is essential in Minnesota because it gives us space to grow that is protected from inclement weather and gives us a boost in the shoulder seasons. Let me know if you want to come to the farm to see the greenhouses!
In the box….
Large Share
Chard, prize choi, french breakfast radish, lettuce head (x3), asparagus, oregano, kale, cilantro.
Small Share
Chard, prize choi, french breakfast radish, lettuce head (x2), asparagus, oregano.
Inspiration….
There are so many amazing spring veggies in the box this week! I hope you have no problem using up the fresh, nutrient-dense food. The asparagus is a real treat. It has continued to produce for us into mid-June, later than normal years.
The lettuce heads can be broken down, washed, and used in salads, on sandwiches, with eggs, you name it! I’ve been eating pretty much everything I cook on a beautiful bed of lettuce, drizzled with olive oil.
The Prize Choi is a type of Asian green. It has a smooth and mild flavor and is best used cooked, either steamed or sauteed.
As you can see, there is some pest damage on the leaves. The flea beetles really enjoy the flavor of this prize choi and ate some of it before we could harvest it! It is totally safe to eat.
Each of you has also received a bunch of fresh oregano. You can chop it up fresh to garnish your meals, cook it into a tasty tomato sauce, or dry/dehydrate it to use for later. If you want to keep it fresh, I recommend putting the stems into a jar of water in your fridge for best keeping.
If any of you greens start to wilt, you can place them into a clean sink with cold water for 30 mins. This will perk them right back up!
Let me know if you have any questions about the week. We will see you tomorrow!
Eleanor (and Pearce)