In This Week’s Share
- lettuce – one big leafy head or a couple small ones
- braising mix – mixed mustards and kale leaves in a bag
- collards – large flat green leaves with white stems in a bunch
- kale – large green leaves with white and/or purple stems
- broccoli or cauliflower – some of you will get broccoli, some will get cauliflower. we’ll switch it next week.
- radishes – multi-colored roots
- bunching onions – long green shoots with white or purple ends (the whole plant is edible – use as you would scallions)
- beets – red and yellow roots (their greens are tasty too)
- kohlrabi – either a white or purple bulb with leafy greens attached
- micro greens – small bag of delicious and nutritious baby greens
- sage – fragrant green herb with edible purple flowers
Every other week half share members: this week is a “B” week.
Farm News
So. Much. Rain. Let’s start with the positive – it is truly a delight to not have to run the irrigation regularly. There’s no need to panic over keeping seedlings moist or making sure all our gravity-feed tanks are full. We constructed a sort of modified raised bed system throughout the farm this year, so most of the soil is draining well and our more established crops are happy.
That said, this much rain can cause problems. Tomatoes and eggplants are vulnerable to blight, cucumbers and squash are susceptible to mildew, and there is a veritable army of slugs closing in on the greens. In between scrambling to get our laundry off the clotheslines and our tools under the cover of the barn, we’ve been doing what we can to combat the effects of the rain. We pruned tomatoes and eggplants so that none of their leaves are touching the ground or getting splashed with mud. Squash and cucumbers got a bed of straw mulch to keep their foliage dry. And for the slugs we put out little dishes of beer around the perimeter of the greens – they are attracted to the beer, distracting them from munching on our precious lettuces and salad mixes. We are consistently humbled by the forces of nature and we do our best to work with what it brings.
Recipes
Beets and Mark Bittman – two of my favorite things. Try his roasted beet salad for a super easy and tasty side dish.
We can’t get enough kohlrabi. We roasted some with a medley of other veggies last night, but it’s great as slaw or in chip form too.
It’s hard to beat cheesy baked penne, but throw in some fresh cauliflower or broccoli and you can pretend you’re being healthy.
Best antidote for a hot, muggy day = blackberry sage lemonade.
The braising greens and bunching onions in your share this week make a perfect topping for flatbread:
Spring Greens Flatbread Pizza
makes one 12-14″ flatbread
prepared pizza dough (or make it yourself if you’re feeling ambitious)
1 T + 2 T olive oil
2 cups braising greens, roughly chopped and lightly packed
2 spring onions, whites and greens
2 stalks green garlic or 2 cloves of regular garlic
2/3 c grated asiago cheese
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare pizza dough. Roughly chop the braising greens. Thinly chop the whites/purple parts of the onions. Chop the onion greens until you have about 1/2 cup. Thinly chop the whites of the green garlic (or mince the regular garlic) and chop a bit more to form small pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Add the braising mix and whites of the onions to the pan and toss for about three minutes until spinach is lightly wilted. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Roll out dough on a floured surface and transfer to a cutting board sprinkled with corn meal. Spread remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of the dough. Top with braising mix & onions, garlic, grated asiago, and onion greens. Sprinkle black pepper over the entire flatbread.
Bake flatbread on a pizza stone or baking sheet for 10-12 minutes until edges have browned. Slice and serve immediately.
