Butterhead Lettuce
Snap Peas - Sorry these didn't make it into your box last week. We ended up having to wait until Friday to pick them for the first time.
Green Stem Cauliflower - similar flavor to other cauliflower but with green stems and a loose curd.
Cucumber
Carrots
Parsley
Chard - Large Only
We said goodbye to Britt, one of our favorite employees last week. She is the type of person that just made the farm a better place to work for the crew and for Kel and I. All spring we have been joking about having Nutria Fest(we have them in our creek). I genuinely want to eat one at least once, but all the other ideas like everyone wearing a giant rat tail were all just us being silly and passing time while doing tedious work. Britt took it upon herself to create a poster on her phone. She found a Nutria photo online and added a bright pink Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts. On her last day she secretly hung a four foot by six foot poster version up in our barn. How can you not miss someone like that. It also left us desperate for help. Her leaving the farm at about 25 percent of the labor it needs to run smoothly. We skipped the Chehalis market for two weeks just to make sure we didn't let our future plantings get overrun with weeds. We ended up hiring three more people in the last six days. I always think things will work out on the farm because they always have, but I was starting to freak out a bit. I feel very relieved right now.
You may not have any invasive species on your menu this week, but hopefully you eat some nice meals.
Lettuce
Carrots
Snap Peas - This is the latest snap peas have ever been. Wednesday will be our first picking. The quantity might be limited but there will be more next week.
Zucchini
Cabbage
Arugula or Mizuna
Broccoli - Large Only
Carrots
Salad Turnips - You can eat these like radishes, but they have less of a bite. They are also good cooked.
Kale
Lettuce
Garlic Scapes - Scapes shoot out of the center of hardneck garlic. They make a delicious addition to any meal chopped like garlic gloves, albeit a bit milder For the garlic lover, rub with oil salt and toss on the grill for a mild creamy garlic delight.
Kohlrabi
Spinach - Large Only
Salad - Large Only
Greens!
Red Leaf Lettuce
Salad Mix
Collards
Green Garlic - You can use the whole thing, top to bottom. I whizzed the greens and some olive oil together and put it on pizza - delicious. It is a bit milder than cured garlic but still zingy if used raw.
Radishes
Red Russian Kale - Large Only
Herb - Large Only
We are short on crew and the weather has been a little nutty, but the veggies are doing well. Pulled a few carrots for the weekend market and they are coming along. We will include them and lacinato kale in next week's box.
My goal is to get this posted on Sunday. I am currently doing the market both Saturday and Sunday so it will most likely be posted late Sunday or first thing Monday.
We hope you enjoy your first week of veggies. Thank you.
The last week!
All farms experienced an increased interest in CSAs last year. We increased our membership substantially last season and decided that we liked having a larger CSA. I thought we might have a lot of turnover with so many people trying the model for the first time last year. I was really pleased with how many people signed up again this year. Next year is going to be a lot different for us. We won't have our house here in Olympia and will need to find some more drop off sites. If you think you have a good spot (your home, your friend's home, your church, your business, etc) to host a drop off and are interested in some more info let me know. I will acknowledge I received the email and then get back to you at the end of our market season to discuss it more. You need to have shade/protection from the weather and it needs to be easily accessible. If you have any thoughts about the CSA and want to share them, please feel free to drop me a line.
I hope you all enjoyed the produce. We make mistakes and sometimes miss bad spots or don't realize that something doesn't taste as good as it should, but we try really hard to do a good job and it is our hope that you know that when you open your box and when you eat your veggies. We appreciate all your support. There were a few bumps in the road but I am happy with how the season turned out. I don't need to see 110 degrees again, but we learned a bit about how to deal with that kind of heat pressure. Farming is a humbling experience, but the having to adapt is part of the challenge and we enjoy the puzzle.
The market credit for skipped boxes seemed to work out okay and we will continue to do some form of that in the future as a way to offer a bit of flexibility. We will be at market at least a few more weeks, so if you still have credit please stop by and use it up.
Enjoy the cozy days ahead. We wish you all a wonderful winter. We can't thank you enough.
Carrots
Leeks
Pink Turnips - These are not as mild as the white bunched turnips but they are milder than a traditional purple top turnip. This is a new variety for us but typically they are pretty sweet when cooked. I don't peel them.
Russet Potatoes
Butternut - Pumpkin mochi are adorable and much better than the pumpkin pudding I made last night. It didn't really sound good to me, but I still made it. I mostly made it because I bought some fun Moderntone sherbet cups at a yard sale and pudding seemed like the perfect choice. I love trying new winter squash recipes.
Frisee - Bitter greens aren't for everyone. There has been an increased interest in them in the last few years and I have noticed that there are more people enjoying them. I like to compare them to PNW IPA. Your taste buds can learn to like them. This site has a great run down on frisee and a nice graphic on flavor pairings.
Spinach - Large Only
Next week will be the last week of the farm share. We are entering clean up mode. All of our hoop houses will be taken down and brought to Rochester. I feel like we have already brought a lot of stuff down and yet looking around it doesn't appear we have done anything! It looks like we might have a frost in the next week which will put an end to many crops. Lots of those crops are near done anyway, but a frost is a satisfying end to it all. Some years we continue to scrap around looking for a handful of cucumbers long after we probably should have called it quits.
Carrots
Collards - If you didn't try these earlier in the season when we gave them to you, I encourage you to give them a try.
Daikon - Are you unsure what to do with a giant radish? This will be our first harvest out of this planting. Later inn the fall daikon tends to be quite mild but I am unsure if that will be true with these ones. If you find them to be stronger/spicier than you would like the easiest thing to do is to peel it. That is true for all radishes but easier to do with daikons. One of the farm share members who loves daikon shared a few ideas as to how to use them.
- Finely cut or shred the daikon and mix it with mayo, ponzu or soy, sesame seeds, tuna or crab and top with some crushed nori.
- Cut into chunks and simmer with pieces of chicken, beef or pork in a sauce that has mirin, sake and soy sauce.
- Cut into thick matchsticks and saute with dashi, soy sauce and sesame oil.
Also if you have a dish, like a stir fry or a curry that you like to make to use up a bunch of vegetables in your fridge, daikon would make a great addition. It is pretty mild when cooked and has a nice texture. If you have a go to coleslaw recipe, daikon can also be a great addition to that. It is also the radish used to make quick pickled carrots and radishes on a bahn mi, something I find fun to make at home.
Fennel - If the anise flavor of fennel is a bit much for you cooking it can tone that down. It is great roasted or mixed with other veggies in a gratin. If the anise flavor repulses you, then cooking might not help enough and perhaps it would make a nice gift for a neighbor. Like eggplant and beets, I know people are very divided fennel and there is little middle ground to be had. Unlike eggplant and beets, I do think that cooked fennel can be enjoyed by people who don't really like it raw. I have only one person in case study and that is Kelly. He loves it roasted but isn't into it raw.
Bell Pepper
Spaghetti Squash
Cherry Tomatoes - maybe
Lettuce - Large Only
After this week there are two more weeks of the CSA. There will be collard greens, fennel, baby pink turnips, carrots, leeks and more winter squash to look forward to in the last two boxes.
Delicata Squash - What's not to love about this squash. It is a great size, easy to cut and among the sweetest squash out there. The thin skin can be eaten. We like to roast rings or half moon slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet but anyway you like to prepare squash will work.
Napa Cabbage - Some of these will be quite large. They do keep very well for something so tender. One food blog I have really enjoyed cooking from this summer is Woks of Life. I just pulled it up and searched napa and they have a handful of recipes if you feel like something different. The only one I read was the one for Sichuan Napa and the story with the recipe was brief but interesting. I have made at least a half dozen recipes and all have been well written and delicious. My two favorites are probably the beef chow fun and the pad see ew. They are very similar and the best part of both of them is the noodles. I have been buying them at Hong Phat. They are a fresh rice noodle right next to the check out. They are easiest to work with the day you buy them. They have the most amazing texture. It is springy and chewy and tender and I can't get enough of them. Napa is easy to use. It is great both raw and cooked.
Potatoes
Garlic
Spinach
Cauliflower or Broccoli
Salad - Large Only
Bell Peppers - Large Only
