I hope everyone had a fabulous first CSA week! Fresh food is everything this time of year. We really enjoyed meeting some of you at our dropsites last Sunday. We hope to meet you all at some point during the season, but for now we’ll just keep sharing photos and updates to keep you in the loop of farm happenings.
Has everyone been able to access our CSA Member discussion board? Let me know at pickup tomorrow if you need/want help setting it up on your phone/computer. I love posting fun updates from the farm on there and I don’t want anyone to miss out! Please keep sharing your photos and recipes, too. We love seeing our veggies in action.
We would LOVE your wax boxes back from the first drop. You can give them to us when you pick up your share, or leave them at your dropsite and we will pick them up next week. We will sanitize the boxes between use.
On the farm…
I’m going to be honest with you, this spring has been really slow. If you compare this year’s harvests to last season, we are about 3 weeks behind. Things feel really sparse, even though it’s the middle of June. The long, cold spring really set us back, and most of our field crops are still establishing themselves. We’re barely harvested from our outdoor field and we’re still relying on the greenhouse crops we planted in April and May. As much as I want to be reeling in the bounty, I need to be patient. The earth will provide when it is ready. The CSA shares might feel a little skinny for the next few weeks as wait for the field to catch up.
On the farm this week we did SO MUCH. Our piggies got a new feeding trough to eat out of (as well as some belly scratches), we planted sweet potato slips (hello FALL favorites!), we pruned and trellised our tomatoes, and we weeded (A LOT). The tasks pile on quickly this time of year, so we’re working on staying level headed and being grateful for what we CAN accomplish. There’s always things left undone on the farm, but that’s the nature of raising food.
We’re excited about this week’s harvest. We will fill your plates and also attend the Farmers Market in Stillwater tomorrow morning! We attend the Stillwater Market every Saturday in the summers from 7:30am-12:00pm. If you ever need extra veggies, you can find us there!
In the box….
Large Share
Chard, lettuce (X2), green onions, cilantro, dill, sage, rhubarb, asparagus.
Small Share
Kale, lettuce (X2), green onions, cilantro, dill, rhubarb.
Inspiration….
Lots more spring greens this week! Along with a few surprises, like the RHUBARB! We help manage the rhubarb plot at the farm where we rent land, so this week we were able to harvest some for all of you!
Here is a recipe for Rhubarb Oat Muffins. The would be so fun to make to eat for breakfast with a cup of coffee, YUM. You could also make a Rhubarb Compote to spread on toast with butter, or drizzle over baked chicken. It’s such a versatile stem! It can be tart when eaten fresh, so I recommend cooking it down and sweetening it before using it in a dish.
If there is too much rhubarb in your bundle for you to eat this week, feel free to chop it up while it’s still fresh and freeze to use later. I froze so much rhubarb last spring and this winter I was able to make so many rhubarb pies! A taste of summer sunshine in the winter.
We harvested lots of herbs for you this week! You can dehydrate and dry all of them to use for later, or you can use them fresh. Fresh herbs are stored best in the fridge with the stems in a jar of water.
You could use the dill to make your OWN ranch dressing dip and the cilantro could be used to make a tasty cilantro-lime crema. Both of these sauces can be used on just about anything! Salads, eggs, chicken, grilled veggies, you name it!
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!
Enjoy the bounty of this season! All the veggie love
Your farmers,
Eleanor and Pearce