Monday, June 23, 2014

CSA Newsletter Week 2

Haying has started at the farm.  We are very lucky to have great neighbours who do our hay for us.  We still have some wet fields which has meant longer drying times but we are more excited about the field we seeded down last year for horse hay.  This has been something we have wanted to do for a long time and it is really nice to finally see hay coming from our fields to feed our girls.





This weeks vegetables are:

Lettuce - If you are not into salad how about trying a lettuce soup?
Chinese/Napa Cabbage - One of my favourite vegetables, it is very versatile and can be used for coleslaw, cabbage rolls and one of my most favourite dishes which I got to enjoy everyday when I worked in South Korea is Kimichi..
We roasted ours this week on the BBQ and finished with a mustard glaze.
Cut the cabbage in half and then quarter.  Brush lightly with olive oil.  For the glaze you will need 3 tbsp of mustard (we used Dijon) 1 tbsp of honey, 1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 2 garlic cloves chopped and 2 tbsp of chopped basil.  Mix the glaze ingredients all together.  Place your cabbage quarters on a hot grill/BBQ cook for 5-7 minutes on each side all depends on how charred you like it.  Remove cabbage from the grill brush with the glaze and Enjoy!
Scapes - The season is here and it is a short one, our garlic patch is expanding each year so we are hoping to be able to stretch it out for a little longer each year.  Scapes are your first taste of this years garlic and there are lots of different things you can do with them from pesto to roasting
Kale - As everyone calls it the new super food, this mighty green is amazing eaten raw, made into chips or as one of our members suggested sauteed in a little sesame oil and finish with some sea salt.
Swiss Chard - Can be used as wraps, added to soups, sauteed with garlic scapes as a side dish or one of our favourites is frittata.  My dad use to make a mean sausage and onion frittata so I took the basic idea of this and added chard, garlic, basil, and some left over pork hock sauteed in oil added salt pepper, 8 eggs and then placed under the broiler till cooked!
Kohlrabi - We have found this is another one of those love hate vegetables! Kohlrabi has a great taste and texture to it and can be eaten raw in chunks, grated into salads, made into fries or roasted.
Mizuna - You can make the mustard green pesto with your mizuna.  We have been eating this as if it is going out of fashion!
Spring Turnips
Basil
Spinach
Radish - You can do everything with these from pickling, roasting, eating raw as they aid digestion and I have found this yummy salad recipe with spinach
Mustard Green Bunch - This will be a mixture of mustard leaves and yukina savoy.  This bunch of greens can be eaten raw, added to a stir fry, made into pesto or added to your salads.


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

CSA ~ Newsletter Week 1


This week is all about the greens!


Week one is finally here and our aim is to make sure we do a weekly newsletter to help give you ideas on what to do with your vegetables over the coming months.  This was going to come out via Mail Chimp but with having so many different member groups to e-mail we thought it would be simpler to post it here on our blog for all to see and maybe for the half shares who pick up every other week it will give you a few additional ideas of what to do with your vegetables.

In between rain showers and thunderstorms we have continued to plant out and all the main crops are now in the field, we just have all the succession planting to look after and the endless job of weeding and hand picking some of the bugs off our crops.  On the downside the humidity and rain we have had lately along with the fleece covers we use to help keep flea beatles off the crops has helped us create the perfect breeding environment for slugs and snails! So please check through your greens over the next few weeks or even soak them in cold salted water to help vacate them from your veggies!  I think we may need to start raising geese at the farm next year to help reduce our slug population!

We have a new stand this year and a huge thank you to Marj and Steven of Amazing Graze Alpacas who gave us our new canopy.  For any of our members who have ordered eggs the cooler box will be next to the chalk board list for you.

The early boxes are made up of lots of yummy greens and this for some can be the hardest time of year. The greens come with a bite in their tail that not everyone likes but we are hoping that some of the recipes we have found may help you enjoy these.  We have also created a pinterest page called CSA Cooking which has loads of recipe ideas for you.

Giant Mustard 
This weeks box:
Spinach - Please remember you will need to wash this and only wash when you need it as it will last longer.  It has been through two huge rain storms and has a lot of mud splatter on it so make sure you give it a good wash! Remember spinach is great eaten raw, cooked, steamed or if you are a green juicer add it to your morning smoothies.
Basil - If you do not use this fresh then place in the food processor with olive oil and blitz and then freeze in ice cube trays then it can be used in soup and sauces throughout the year.
Mizuna - This is the Asian version of arugula, this can be eaten raw in salads or cooked.  You can can stir-fry it with your pac choy.
Spring turnips - Can be grated into salads, roasted, or steamed cooked and caramelised with butter and maple syrup. Turnips this week are pink and white and both can be eaten the same way.
Giant Mustard leaves - These have a great peppery bite to them, we like to use them as bread replacement or as a wrap for burgers.  We found a really nice Pesto recipe for mustard greens this year 
Lettuce - Eat it any which way you like! We have heard that lettuce cake is rather good! 
Pac Choy - These have been attacked by the slugs so do make sure you check for slugs! 


Next week we will be seeing garlic scapes along with everyones love it or hate it vegetable Kale!