Week One: Slow Start

Hello and welcome back! Hard to believe we’re into another year at the farm already, but I’m excited for all the goodies to make their way into the fridge. Yesterday was the first official day of the CSA season, so I headed over after work to see what was available. I grabbed lettuce and collard greens for Matt & Aly, spinach, rhubarb, bok choy, and scallions. There’s a slow start this year - I had a choice of kale, collards, or chard this week, unlike last year when I think they had all of those available. They say it’s because of the wacky weather patterns (high of only 45 degrees in the middle of May? No, thank you!), and promise there will be more in the coming weeks.

Collards are photo-hogs! You can almost see the lettuce under there.
Rhubarb and scallions are sticking up.

 Dan and I only have a couple of days this week to use up what I brought home, so Matt & Aly will get most of the goodies this week. I do, however, have a master plan for my four stalks of rhubarb that I’m looking forward to making soon. I will be sure to post the recipe.

A half-pound of spinach. I have no idea what happened to the bok choy...
it's in there somewhere.

We've also started a garden project of our own this summer – after lots of manual labor (and help from our parents!) we've cleared out our previously mulched-over garden and planted grass and some veggies. Our radishes are coming up super fast, and the broccoli seems to be pretty happy as well. We transplanted some mature chives and oregano, which are doing very well, and also planted some basil and dill (time will tell on those). And the pumpkins are practically exploding overnight. Rumor has it that it’s not too late to plant a couple more plants (tomatoes, cucumbers), so I’ll see if I can find some soon!

We’ll be off on adventures next week, so if I post it will be delayed and/or not farm-related. Til then!

Week One: Green Monsters

My fridge is full of leafy green things. As Dan so eloquently put it, the “fridge looks like a damn prehistoric forest. Some small creature is going to jump out and bite me!” We, along with some friends of ours, have just kicked off our first ever CSA season, and the amount of produce that’s now in my fridge is astounding. On Tuesday, Aly and I picked up collard greens, Swiss chard, bok choy, scallions, spinach, radishes, and Napa cabbage from the harvest barn, and then picked some sugar snap peas (I think 9 total – the weather was not so good for leisurely picking) and a few random snips of herbs (thyme, sorrel, catmint, and what I think is chocolate mint) from the fields.

It doesn’t seem like much when I write that, but as you might be able to tell from the pictures, these greens are ENORMOUS. The Napa cabbage is longer than my forearm and weighs 3 pounds. The collard greens could be used to fan me while I sit on a lounge chair by the pool, book and frosty beverage in hand. The Swiss chard leaves are the size of a sheet of printer paper (and I gotta say, I LOVE that the stems are hot pink and yellow!).

It’ll be a challenge this week to cook all of this up, so I’ll be doing some research into preserving this for later!

First project: Green Smoothie (Tales of a Kitchen)

1 small cucumber, cut into chunks (The recipe called for the cuke to be mostly peeled – I didn’t do this but might next time. I may also seed it.)

1 apple, cored and cut into chunks

1-2 handfuls spinach, washed*

1 lime, juiced

1 T ginger, minced or grated on a microplane

1 T honey/agave/simple syrup

1 cup water

Throw everything into a blender and process until smooth.

I had to process this for much longer than I had expected, first to get everything down to the blades of the blender, and then to get everything to a “drinkable” consistency. My first iteration was … meh. I added the juice of a lemon to wake it up a bit, but I think it needed something else. It was pretty tart (probably because I used a Granny Smith apple), so I think next time I’ll use a sweeter apple and some more honey. After consultation with friends who’ve made this type of smoothie before, I’ll also throw in some yogurt or avocado for a smoother texture.

*Washing greens: Snap or cut the stems off your greens – I also had to chop the root ends off (yep, this stuff’s fresh!). Dunk the leaves into the pot filled with cool water, a few at a time, and swish gently to rinse off all the dirt and crud, then shake gently over the pot or sink. Pile the leaves on a clean dish towel, gather up the corners into a hobo bundle, and give it a few lasso spins to dry everything. If it’s not raining, do this outside, otherwise you’ll get water all over your kitchen (maybe you could avoid this by carefully arranging a plastic bag around the bundle?). Or you can be all fancy-pants and use a salad spinner!