THE BEET: Volume 15, Issue 6

FULL SHARE & YELLOW HALF SHARE PICK UP TONIGHT

Pick up today: 5pm - 7:30pm at PS 56 on the corner of Gates and Downing

This Week's Share:

  • Leaf Lettuce
  • Cucumbers and squashes
  • Collards
  • Garlic Scapes and onions
  • Your choice between Swiss Chard and Lacinato Kale
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Purple kohlrabi
  • Bunched Parsley
  • Flower share: Snapdragon, Calendula & Mixed wildflowers
  • Blueberries: Fruit Share

**This is the last week of the fruit share until the fall**

Letter From Windflower Farm:

This week marks the end of the first quarter of the distribution season. It’s the time when cool, early-season vegetables give way to the vegetables of summer. Our tomatoes are beginning. Don’t expect to see many (or any) this week, but they’ll begin to yield in quantity very soon. Our sweet corn is just around the corner, and peppers, red cabbages, garlic and basil, too, will be coming in. This is the beginning of an especially wonderful time of year in the Northeast to be a plant eater! 

Blueberries will be in your fruit shares this week. I suspect that this will be the last week of fruit prior to our midseason break. Pete, our fruit grower, told me that crows have found his blueberry patch - counting more than 80 in one flock – and that they were doing considerable damage. Jan made a delicious pie last weekend with her blueberries and was not surprised at all to learn of the crow’s fondness for them.  

We love collard wraps. Nate has picked out a recipe that appears to use virtually everything in this week’s share all wrapped up in collard leaves - see below. He and I will be using our “steerable cultivator” later today on some new lettuce and broccoli plantings. I’ll post a photo on our Instagram page later today. Please visit our Facebook and Instagram (@windflowerfarm) pages to learn more about the farm. 

Have a great week! Ted   

Recipe Ideas:

Cucumbers Galore!  Cucumbers are a rich source of vitamins A, B, C, D and E, and fresh extracts have recently been show to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  Research has also shown a connection with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease as well as several cancer types, including breast, uterine, ovarian, and prostate cancers.

Heres a variety of recipes to try out on this diverse, refreshing veggie!

Delicious Smoothies ideas with cucumbers and other summer fruits, and a helpful guide to create your own!

Cool summer Salad: Soba noodle, bok choy & cucumber, from The Kitchn

Like Gazpacho?  Have you tried it with cucumber and mint?  Luna cafe offers a refreshing recipe for these hot and humid summer days.

Cucumber Roll-ups are a great idea for packed lunches, picnics, and party hours d-eourvers.  Try these roll-ups with avocado spread, or pesto & turkey wraps, or these mediterranean flavored ones.

Ditch your sandwich bread for Collard Greens!  Ted is ahead of the curve, as he has been making collard green wraps for years- we get a lot of them throughout the season, and they make great sandwich wrappers!   My personal favorite usually involves Quinoa.

Local Compost Drop-Off @ The Clifton Place Association Garden

Grand Ave Between Clifton Place & Greene Ave

Meet the Core!

Each week we're getting to know one of our CSA core members.  This week features-

Stephen Narloch ::  Distribution Manager

1. What does your job entail? 

I show up early to meet the truck and work with our volunteers to get everything ready for pickup, and later on, clean up.

2. How long have you been part of the CSA? Of the core? 

I’m new around here. 2016 is my first year with the Clinton Hill CSA and the core group. In the past I’ve picked up shares from the Clinton Hill CSA for friends on vacation. It’s great to be here on the regular – thanks to all for welcoming me to this great organization!

3. Where did you grow up? 

I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin – a great place on a great lake! I’ve been in NYC since 1995 and in Brooklyn since 2001. I currently live in Crown Heights.

4. What do you do in your real life? 

I’m an avid home-brewer, food fermenter, window gardener and project starter (someday I’ll finish!). I work for the City of New York.

5. What's your favorite part of belonging to the CHCSA? 

I really like talking to fellow members at pickups about all the great items in our share – especially the less familiar ones (for me, it’s garlic scapes, so far).  

6. What's a veggie you love? How do you cook it? 

I love radishes. I’ll slice them super thin on my mandolin and quick pickle them for snacks or salads with the great lettuces and other items from the share. Also, kohlrabi: raw, sautéed with garlic/scapes or roasted like broccoli!

7. Veggie you're not crazy about? How do you use it? 

Rhubarb. I actually like it pretty well, but I don’t really know what to do with it other than make desserts with it. I’d appreciate any suggestions.

8. Something no one would guess about you?  

I ran a home-brewing club out of my apartment for a couple years – better living through fermentation!

9. If you were a fruit or a vegetable, what would you be? 

Kohlrabi, because I’m super versatile and mysterious.

Veronica