This Week’s Harvest
Spinach
Carrots
Bibb lettuce
Salad Mix
Basil Plant (biweekly deliveries that did not receive a plant last week)
A Note on Keeping Veggies Fresh
Our vegetables should last you a long time since they are incredibly fresh! But a radish bunch left uncovered in your crisper drawer will quickly shrivel and become rubbery and uncovered greens will wilt! Most produce that goes in the fridge should be placed in a plastic bag first. We just use ziplock bags and clean and reuse them. Other vegetables shouldn’t go in the fridge at all–like tomatoes and garlic bulbs. I found this handy guide to storing your vegetables http://www.thekitchn.com/the-kitchns-guide-to-storing-fruits-and-vegetables-tip-roundup-176308 . The Vegetarian Times website also has a storage guide found here http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/spoiled-rotten-how-to-store-fruits-and-vegetables/. I especially think the “What to Eat First” guideline is useful. While I would say our produce lasts longer than their list suggests, the order that they recommend you go through vegetables does apply–ex. eat mustard greens, basil, broccoli first and leave beets, potatoes, carrots for later. We want to make sure your vegetables stay crisp and fresh for you!
Recipes
Chick peas with mustard greens and poached eggs
Bok choi and Carrot stir fry (substitute garlic scapes for the green beans. chop them the same size as you would green beans. When cooked, they are the texture of a green bean, but with a slightly garlic flavor)
Kohlrabi, carrot and egg sushi (super fun recipe from CSA member and blogger at Farm Fresh Feasts! Plan your weekend around it!)
News From The Farm
We are really pleased to bring you carrots this week! This is a crop that is really hard to do on a large scale–unless you have specialized equipment and amazing soil (neither of which we currently have!) It is a finicky germinator (likes it cool and moist for 2 weeks) and slow grower (translation: weeds quickly become a problem). It is a crop that does not make it into CSA boxes frequently, if at all. But we are hoping this is the first year of a new norm for our CSA–carrots every year!
This winter we decided to no longer grow flowers so that we could focus on vegetables and improve in areas that needed it. In the past our spring hoophouse space has been devoted to flowers, but this year our larger house is chock-full of carrots! The hoophouse gives us a controlled space that makes it easier to baby the crop along from start to finish. Yesterday was the first harvest and we barely tapped into the supply — so you can expect these crunchy sweet treats for at least a few more weeks!
