This week you’ll find in your share:
Head Lettuce
Kale
Swiss Chard
Mustard Greens
Onions
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Radishes
Turnips
Garlic Scapes
Cilantro
Snap Peas
Next week you might find in your share:
Lettuce
Kale
Chard
Beets
Radishes
Kohlrabi
Herb
From Your Farmers…
Already five weeks in. We really hope you are reading the weekly newsletter as it helps us stay in touch, and it is our best way to let you know any changes that are coming along, and what you can expect from us as the seasons change.
Yes, this week’s share is for you and your neighbors.
We’ve had a great broccoli harvest this week- a rare Missouri grown treat indeed. We also harvested garlic scapes, which means garlic bulbs are only a few weeks away. –Gabriel
Would you like fresh eggs in your CSA share every week? Want to show your children where this important food comes from, or enjoy more connections to the natural world? Do you want to help make chickens a new addition to your Seeds of Hope Farm? If so, make your voice heard and let farmer Gabriel know that you are interested, and willing to help out sometimes for chores like feeding and watering and keeping things tidy. Help make a community coop our next great project!!
Garlic Scapes you’ll notice are very unusual looking–green twisty curls that can be a bit unruly. It’s not everyday you get a flowerhead of garlic in your CSA share, but that’s what it is. Garlic is in a family with leeks and onions which you’ve received recently. At this point in the year it sends up a flower stalk to produce seed but we don’t let it. Instead, we snap off the stalk, or scape, and force the plant to focus its energy on growing those bulbs we love to cook with. Scapes have a delicious mild garlic flavor and are a nice late spring treat while you’re looking forward to heads of garlic in your summer shares. The thin scapes are more tender and can be used fresh like scallions. Thicker scapes are great to chop and sautee in a pan before adding greens. Or add over pasta. They will enhance any dish that calls for garlic. Keep your scapes in a jar of water on the countertop -they’re flowers after all- until you eat them. –Randy
Food For Thought…
Kohlrabi- the large white bulb-like vegetable with big hearty green leaves. Kohlrabi can be treated much like a cabbage. It’s great raw by itself, peeled and sliced or diced with a dash of salt or tossed into a salad for a nice crunch. You can also matchstick the head, and make it into a slaw with apples. (Week 4 recipe)
Onions- these onions are picked premature, as they were trying to make seed instead of a bulb. While not a prime onion, they are still a tasty treat in the sauté pan. We advise refrigerating these onions and using them sooner than later. They haven’t aged to be ready for a curing process, so they won’t store like a dried bulb.
Radish and Turnips- Yes, radishes can be completely white. Who knew? This variety was chosen for its dependability, large size, and heat tolerance. Some of the radishes you’ll be getting are the traditional red, some are purple at the bottom, others purple at the top like a turnip. White or white and purple turnips may be in your share as well.
How to tell the difference: The radishes tend to be smaller, the leaves have a smooth edge, and are smoother to the touch. Turnips have lobes in the leaves, and tend to be bristly on the back side, like thistle, but not near so tough. The turnip greens can be eaten if cooked down. And for the radish greens, refer to the radish leaf pesto recipe from week 3. (We’re including it again today)
Mustard Greens- Are the lime green rough-edged green. They can be used as a salad green or cooking green. They are quite spicy, and have a good bit of mustard flavor. When using them in a salad I chop them into small pieces as a little goes a long way, and can be left alone to liven up a salad, or can be balanced out with a sweet dressing.
We are still looking for volunteers to help control our bindweed and Bermuda grass issues. If they get too out of hand, offering a big share in late summer and fall may be quite a challenge. If you can make it by, we’d be very grateful. Come on the right day, and we’ll get something fun in as well, like planting or harvesting.
While we use really clean practices, we still encourage you to wash your vegetables before eating. Despite our cleaning efforts and careful watch, little critters are excellent hiders.
This Week’s Recipes…
Come from all sorts of places.
You are getting lots of radishes this week. Enjoy them now, it will likely be October before we see them again. In order to help you do so, here is the Lemon-Herb Roasted Radish recipe from Operation Food Search we shared at our first CSA dinner and cooking class, along with two from Whitney.
Lemon-Herb Roasted Radishes
1 ½ lb radishes, cut in half
4 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh or 2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp lemon zest
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
1) Preheat oven to 425
2) Combine oil, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Toss radishes in seasoning mixture.
3) Spread vegetable mixture on baking sheet
4) Roast vegetables for 20-25 minutes, stirring once during cooking.
5) Toss in lemon juice and serve!
And here are some recipes from Whitney, the Farm Apprentice.
Spring Fling: Radish and Pea Salad
Turn up the heat without turning on your stove. This quick spring salad will have you in and out of the kitchen in minutes and is great for backyard parties.
2 teaspoons powdered cumin
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 cups fresh-shelled peas or 1 pound frozen petite peas
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced or chopped into small bits
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)
Whisk the dressing together in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add inDONE! And now you have time to marvel at this amazing weather because you no longer have to be in the kitchen.
Radish Refrigerator Pickles
You know the type: a perfectly round, cute, and sparkling red radish that looks so good you just have to take a bite… only to find that it’s a peppery fireball that will bite you back. Pickling radishes mellows their flavor so they’re not as spicy as usual yet still have a great crisp texture, plus a sweet-and-sour edge. Use a radish pickle on anything that you would normally put radishes on—a simple green salad, burgers, or fish.
Pickles will last in the refrigerator for up to five days.
1 bunch of radishes
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon yellow or brown mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 medium dried bay leaf
Rinse radishes and trim off their leafy tops (save the greens for a pesto). Thinly slice radishes and place in a heatproof, nonreactive bowl, and set in the refrigerator while making the brine.
Combine red wine vinegar, sugar, water, salt, mustard seed, coriander seed, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and let pickling brine cool for about 5 minutes. Remove radishes from the refrigerator and pour brine over them. Let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes; cover and refrigerate.
Radish Leaf Pesto
2 large handfuls of good-looking radish leaves, stems removed
1 ounce hard cheese, such as pecorino or parmesan, grated or shaved using a vegetable peeler
1 ounce nuts, such as pistachios, almonds, or pinenuts
1 clove garlic, chopped
A short ribbon of lemon zest or a tiny splash of lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil, use more to get the consistency you like
To taste: salt, pepper, ground chili pepper
Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender or mini-chopper, and process in short pulses until smooth. You can also get old school and use a knife or mortar and pestle (great for the arms) if preferred. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to make sure all bits are in the mix. This produces a thick pesto; add more oil and pulse again to get the consistency you prefer.
Taste, adjust the seasoning, and pack into an airtight container like a recycled glass jar. Adding a thin layer of oil on the surface will help it to last longer. Store in the
Thanks to farm member Jack Olson for sharing a delicious and easy-to-prepare kohlrabi suggestion by friend Sue Hooks.
Ingredients:
2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
1 lb kohlrabi, peeled and diced
1 lb leeks
3 c broth
3 c milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 c orzo
Steps:
Melt butter. Sauté onion. Add kohlrabi and leeks and cook 2 min. Add broth, milk and bay leaf. Boil then reduce to simmer and cover. Cook 1/2 hour or until veggies are tender. Remove by leaf, purée with immersion blender to desired consistency then add orzo and simmer another 10 min. Season with S&P. Tell the kids it’s potato soup.
Farm Wish List:
-compost (your food scraps, coffee grounds,
-hands to help control bindweed and Bermuda grass
-empty electrical wire wide spools from 2-8 feet wide. (we use them to store greenhouse plastic and row cover)
CAASTLC's Seeds of Hope Farm 