Sugar Snap Peas Snack on these as they are or toss them in stir-fries or salads. Basil Store these on your kitchen counter with the stems in a glass of water to avoid the blackening and wilting that can happen when kept in the fridge. Use quickly to get the most aroma and freshness out of this herb. I toss basil in just about anything to give it that aromatic complexity- sandwiches, salad dressings, soups, curries, stir-fries, and pasta dishes. Napa Cabbage This savoyed (meaning- crinkly leafed) cabbage is incredibly crisp and juicy. I love to make a sesame marinated salad with it. Try slicing it thin with chopped peas, basil, scallions, and cucumbers and letting it sit for a few hours in a marinade of sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and garlic. Cucumbers You have two varieties of cucumbers this week- one is a Persian type that is small-ish, smooth, and small-seeded. The other is an heirloom called a Lemon cucumber. It doesn’t taste like a lemon but it adds a little fun to what is likely to be an abundant cucumber season. Kale This nutritious green is perfect for roasted kale chips (see recipe on website), soups, massaged salads, curries, stir-fries, or simple steamed greens. Zucchini We grow a few varieties of zucchini and summer squash. This one is called Alexandria and is popular in the mid-east. You know your zucchini is super fresh when it “sweats- beads of moisture appear when you slice it. Scallions Also sometimes referred to as green onions, these young onions are can be eaten raw (try it with marinated napa cabbage salad or chopped as a garnish on rice, noodles, or curries) or cooked in stir-fries. You can use the entire thing- both the white and green part. Lettuce You have two heads this week- a red leaf lettuce that is delicate and a romaine that is very crispy. Snap Peas Snack on these as they are or try them in raw marinated salads or stir fries.
Garlic Scapes Garlic plants send up a flower stalk at this time of year called the scape. If left on the plant, it will make a beautiful flower. If removed, as we did this week, it will make a delicious garlic flavored veggie with the texture of a green bean- plus, the plant will be able to put more energy into its’ bulb giving us a larger harvest of beautiful big cloves in a month. Chop garlic scapes up and put them in stir-fry or try blending them with other greens and nuts for garlic scape pesto. Lettuce You have two heads this week- a butterhead and a leaf lettuce. The butterhead is the one that has rounded leaves and it is more tender. Both have a beautiful green and red color pattern. Swiss Chard This colorful spinach relative cooks in much the same way that spinach does. The rainbow stems are also edible, requiring just a little more cooking time than the greens. Radishes Try tossing the greens into stir-fry along with the radishes themselves, garlic scapes, swiss chard or snow peas. Cucumbers This variety is smallish, with smooth skin and small seeds. Salad Mix This triple washed mix of baby mustards and lettuce is ready to eat. The only blemishes we allow on the produce we bring you are aesthetic.You may notice small, clean holes on some of the leaves which do not compromise the quality, storage life, or taste of the greens. Rather, they serve as proof that we do not spray harmful insecticides nor do we waste food that is otherwise excellent. Sugar Snap Peas Snack on these as they are or toss them in stir-fries or salads. Cucumbers We grew this middle eastern variety in a high tunnel to extend the season and get such an early harvest. Collards These greens take longer to cook than others, 20-30 minutes simmered in stock, oil, or animal fat. Bok Choi Try it raw as a veggie stick with dip or saute the ribs for about five minutes, adding the greens in for another few minutes once the crunch has softened. Spinach This dark green full-size spinach is best for cooking into soups, dips, sautes, or casseroles- although it is tender enough for raw salads too. Radishes These beautiful mild radishes are great for slaws, salads, tacos, stir-fries, or roasts. Try using the greens too. Salad Mix This mix is a bit spicy with arugula, mizuna, ruby streaks baby mustards, and baby lettuce. It is triple washed and ready to eat. Butterhead Lettuce This lettuce has a tender green head under the dark red outer leaves- all of which are edible. Check out the story of how last week’s romaine lettuce grew on the blog. Oregano Mince this fresh herb and add it to savory dishes or sauces. Hang it upside down in a well ventilated area and dry down for weeks until it flakes for dried oregano that will store for months. Jam We wanted to celebrate the first two weeks of the season by sharing some of our small-batch jam from last season’s fruit to complement all of these early-season greens. HOW DID THESE VEGGIES GROW? A Case Study in No-Till, Heirloom Romaine The romaine lettuce in your share last week grew from seed we saved ourselves. We chose the largest, brightest looking head last season and left it untouched when we harvested all the rest. It sent up a thick stalk that bore hundred of little yellow flowers. We let the seeds form and dry right there in the field, shook them into a paper bag, and saved them tucked in a filing cabinet until this April when we placed one in each compartment of a black plastic seedling tray. A week later the seeds had sprouted, two bright green cotyledon leaves poking up above black, compost-rich potting mix. Every April morning we watered the seedlings as they filled out the cells of their trays. Out in the field we pulled overwintered spinach that had run its' course from a 100 ft long bed in a small plot where we are experimenting with 'no-till agriculture.' Also called 'carbon farming,' this innovative, labor intensive, compost-reliant method stores carbon in the soil rather than emitting it into the atmosphere and maintains the integrity of soil microbes by avoiding disturbance. We brought the spinach plants to our fresh pile of rotting food and yard waste in the compost yard and then shoveled heaps of finished compost from 10 foot high mounds into wheel barrows, rolled them back to the now-empty spinach bed, and laid the black humus onto the soil surface. We ran a hoe over the bed, marked three evenly spaced rows, and started laying out the seedlings. We dug small holes, plopped the seedlings in, and covered them with loose soil. We used screw drivers and twist-on connectors and large spools of drip tape, perforated tubing that allows for efficient watering, to pipe our own low-tech irrigation system through the bed. One weeding, four deep irrigation sets, and many hours of south-facing sunlight later, we deemed the romaine ready for harvest. Last Thursday around 6:30am, we sliced through the knobs at the soil's surface to separate the lettuce heads from their roots, packed them into crates, schlepped them down to the wash station in a pickup truck, dunked them in clear cool water, and loaded them into the cooler to await your pickup that afternoon. The rest, is your family's story of Caesar salads or burger fixings. The only blemishes we allow on the produce we bring you are aesthetic.You may notice small, clean holes on some of the leaves which do not compromise the quality, storage life, or taste of the greens. Rather, they serve as proof that we do not spray harmful insecticides nor do we waste food that is otherwise excellent.
Pea Shoots Before the pea plants make crunchy pods (which we’ll harvest later in the season) they make delicious, pea flavored leaves. Use these raw in salads or add them to stir-fry with or without bok choi and mustard greens. Mustard Greens These have a sharp bite. Sauté with lemon, nuts, or even a little sugar to tone them down. Add to rice and beans or other hearty dishes. Bok Choi Participants at the Jewish Outdoor Food and Environmental Education Network Gathering just finished up a dinner of simple steamed garlic bok choi here at Isabella Freedman. The color was so rich, the leafy greens so well matched with the crunch of the ribs, that the chefs ran out of a quantity that would normally have been adequate! Spinach This dark green full-size spinach is best for cooking into soups, dips, sautes, or casseroles- although it is tender enough for raw salads too. Lettuce Heads These are crisp heads of romaine. Sorrel This lemony, sour green can simply be chopped up and added to sautéed greens or salads. Talya Goldberg, Adamah apprentice, adds it to all her greens and the kids on the farm consistently love to eat it raw by the handful. Oregano Mince this fresh herb and add it to savory dishes or sauces. Hang it upside down in a well ventilated area and dry down for weeks until it flakes for dried oregano that will store for months. Garlic Chives Also sometimes called Chinese leeks, this perennial allium can be used like scallions- chop it up and add it to salad dressings, stir-fries, or any dish you would use onions for. Jam How many greens can a family really eat in one week? The early season offers up super foods in many shades of green before the roots and fruiting vegetables develop. Luckily, we preserved some of last season’s sweeter side and are happy to include it in this week’s share as a taste of what is to come. |
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