THE BEET: VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1

THE BEET : VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1

In this week’s BEET:

1. Bring Plastic Bags!
2. This week's share
3. Windflower Farm News -- Letter from Farmer Ted
4. Recipes
5. Caring for potted cilantro (in this week’s share)
6. Storage Tips

CSA Pickup Today 5-7:30pm

PS 56 at Gates and Downing (enter on Downing)

Bring Plastic Bags!

If you're like most of us, you have a giant pile of plastic bags in your kitchen that you're never going to use. Please bring them to the CSA pickup to add to our store of bags for your fellow CSA members, who from time to time forget to bring their own bags to the pickup.

This Week's Share

• Potted Herbs (Choose from Basil, Parsley and Thyme)
• Scallions
• Radishes or Mini Brocoli
• Romaine Lettuce
• Bok Choy
• Red Russian or Dinosaur Kale
• Swiss Chard
• Quarts of strawberries (Fruit Share)

News from Windflower Farm 

Hello from all of us at Windflower Farm. Thanks, once again, for joining our CSA this year – your participation supports our farm and family, six local employees, an extended family of six from Mexico, and a source of locally grown, organic food for you and your neighborhood CSA. We are looking forward to the beginning of the delivery season and hope that you are, too. This week marks the first of 22 weekly deliveries of vegetables, 20 weeks of fruits, 10 weeks of flowers and 22 weeks of eggs that you’ll receive from our farm and a couple of partner farms here in Washington and Columbia counties.

It was an unusually cold early spring, and crop development is running slightly behind, so, please be patient with us. On April 21^st, when we made our first field plantings, there was still snow where the drifts had become deep. In the 50 days that have elapsed, we have been working hard to produce good shares, which I’ll tell you more about in coming newsletters. The first few weeks will be light, but good things are coming!

We just completed building a new packing shed, and have been moving in over the weekend. During the fall and winter, members of the farm team traded their hoes for hammers and nails and helped me build the structure, and on Friday, in the nick of time, we poured the interior concrete floor. It’s designed to meet the new food safety standards (search FSMA) that will go into effect in 2016. We’ll complete construction of a new attached cooler later this month. The new structure is bright and clean, and will be cool when it’s hot outside and warm when it’s cold. What more would you want in a packing shed, with the exception, perhaps, of a place to plug in your sound system? If only I could get the packing team to listen to my Johnny Cash CDs.

Best regards, Ted

RECIPES

Kale Market Salad  (from 101 Cookbooks blog)

Green Garlic Dressing:

2 stalks green garlic (or scallions), rinsed and chopped (~1/4 cup) 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup / 80 ml extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons ripe avocado 1 teaspoon honey, or to taste fresh pepper to taste

1/2 bunch kale, destemmed, torn into pieces 1 cup / 5.5 oz cooked farro or wheat berries (semi-pearled or whole) 4-5 farmers' market carrots, very thinly sliced 1 small bulb of fennel, transparently sliced 1 avocado, cut into small cubes a big handful of almond slices, toasted

Make the dressing by using a hand blender or food processor to puree the green garlic, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, avocado, honey, and pepper until smooth. Taste, and adjust with more salt, or honey, or lemon juice.

To prep the fennel and carrots, it's worth using a mandolin if you have one. If not, no problem, just use a knife an slice very thinly. If you do too crude a cut the salad loses a bit of its finesse.

Before you're ready to serve, combine the kale with about half of the dressing in a large bowl use your hands to work the dressing into the kale, softening up the kale a bit in the process. Add the farro, carrots, and fennel, more dressing, and a couple pinches of salt, and toss again. Taste, and add the last of the dressing if needed. This is a salad I like quite heavily dressed. Add the avocados and almonds and give one last gentle toss.

 Bok Choy - 10 Ways 

The Asian vegetable mainstay (also called pak choi or Chinese cabbage) has a mild, sweet flavor that lends itself to stir-fries, soups, salads, pasta dishes, and everything in between. And while there are numerous bok choy cultivars, the bouquets of crunchy green or white stems topped with tender, spinach-like leaves are interchangeable in most recipes, so you can just grab a bunch and go. 

1. Serve with dips 2. Layer in sandwiches 3. Chop and add to bean or grain salads 4. Use large leaves as wraps 5. Steam whole bunches 6. Sear halves in a skillet 7. Throw bunches on the grill 8. Add to quiche instead of spinach (no need to cook first) 9. Add to green salads 10. Fill large stems with nut butter for an afternoon snack

The Basics: Sautéed Bok Choy Recipe

2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 2 medium garlic cloves, minced; 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (from 1/2-inch piece); 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1 1/2 pounds bok choy (about 2 medium bunches), cleaned, ends trimmed, and cut on the bias into 1-inch pieces; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 1 tablespoon water; 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil; salt (optional).

1.        In a large frying pan with a tightfitting lid, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant but not brown, about 30 seconds.

2.        Add the bok choy and, using tongs, fold it into the garlic-ginger mixture until coated, about 1 minute. Add the soy sauce and water, cover, and cook until steam accumulates, about 1 minute. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are just wilted, the stalks are just fork tender but still crisp, and most of the water has evaporated, about 2 minutes.

3.        Turn off the heat, stir in the sesame oil, and season with salt if desired.

Caring for Potted Cilantro

(from Balcony Container Gardening)

Cilantro grows to 20 inches tall and has tiny white flower clusters at the ends of stalks. Cilantro can be difficult to grow in kitchen gardens, especially in hotter areas. The trick is to plant cilantro in the balcony garden in the spring or fall when the weather is cooler.

Scientific Name: Coriandrum sativum Plant Type: Annual herb Light: Full sun Water: When it comes to watering cilantro, keep the potting soil moist but not soggy. This plant benefits from mulch.

Zone: Keep cilantro in cooler weather. If temperatures rise over 75 degrees, the cilantro will "bolt," meaning it will go to seed. Give it shade or bring it into an indoor garden on warm days to prevent bolting.

Misc. Info: You can harvest the cilantro leaves about three times before it starts going to seed. Young leaves are best, but wait until it has grown at least 6 inches all and harvest the outer leaves. To keep cilantro leaves fresh for several days, place them in a jar of water (just as you would place flowers in a vase) and put them in the fridge. All parts of this container plant, even the roots, are edible.

STORAGE TIPS FOR GREENS

THE ROLL-UP TOWEL METHOD

Pull off all the leaves of your lettuce, kale, chard, whatever your greens on hand. Wash well, and  then dry off with salad spinner.  Lay each leaf out on a bath or kitchen towel, and let sit for a 15 more minutes or so to dry off any additional water left on the leaves.  Then, roll up the towel with the leaves inside, and store in your vegetable drawer.  This will keep greens fresher longer, and help protect them from rot.