Summer CSA Newsletter: Week 1
IT’S WEEK ONE!!!!!
Welcome! We are excited to have both new summer CSA members and our returning veteran folks. This year, we are thrilled to have your support for small businesses and local farms. We have a wonderful selection of produce planned for the next 12 weeks and we are excited to get started!
By now, you should have received a welcome email with information about your pick-up location and day of the week. In our welcome email, we mentioned that we have changed a few things for our 2024 CSA season. For our veteran CSA members, we have some exciting news - STRAWBERRIES, finally! These lovely, red, and sweet beauties will be available for you this week. Additionally, we have extended our CSA by two whole weeks. We understand that many members are disappointed when the 10-week period ends, so we are working on gradually adding more options to lengthen or shorten your CSA experience.
One of the changes we've made is that we will no longer be sending generic last-minute emails during the hectic summer season, which includes eliminating Kim yelling, “I’m sending an email soon” as you're picking up your bag! (Veteran members will know what we mean. lol) Instead, we have taken charge of our winter “break,” or rather good coffee and maybe a little Irish Cream has taken charge and allowed us to better utilize the time. This newsletter will include multiple recipes and storage information to help you make the most of your CSA bags every week. We hope that this new format will energize you for the season and encourage you to try new vegetables and recipes, expanding your culinary repertoire.
We are striving to set up our CSA exactly as we envisioned it when we started four years ago. While we still have many ideas, we are being realistic and implementing them gradually year by year. In the weekly newsletters, we will also highlight a crop each week, providing information on how to use it and sharing our go-to recipes as well as, my new category of, if all else fails do this (insert what this is). This is something we have attempted in the past, but now we are committed to doing it to the degree we had originally planned.
Furthermore, we will include short updates on the farm in each newsletter. These updates may include recent developments or events that have taken place on the farm. We have received requests from multiple members to know more about us, the farmers. We understand that pick-up locations can be busy, and we haven't always been as accessible as we would like. So, consider this newsletter as a glimpse into our crazy farm life.
Lastly, we will be providing a list of vegetables that you COULD be getting in your box for the next week at the end of each newsletter. We are hoping to be more transparent earlier in the process to allow you to get a glimpse of what could be coming and have the time to look up your own recipes that you want to try.
We appreciate your support and trust in us. We couldn't live this life without you. As we embark on this journey together for at least the next 12 weeks, we ask for your well wishes and prayers if you're the praying type. Thank you once again for being a part of this community.
Warm regards,
Matt and Kim
In Your Box This Week and How to Store Them
STRAWBERRIES - Airtight containers are always best, preferably glass. DO NOT wash your berries until you plan to eat them. Please keep in mind these berries are outside and may have a little dirt with the storms we have had recently, which resulted in some splash back on the plants and fruit. $7.50
LETTUCE MIX - Store in a plastic bag loosely in your refrigerator. The ideal temperature for storing lettuce is at or near 32 degrees. Wash prior to use. Lettuce stores normally for up to 7-10 days in the crisper drawer. $5
SPINACH - Maintain loosely in a bag in your crisper drawer. Wash well prior to use. Stores normally for 7-10 days in the crisper drawer. $5
RADISH - Remove the greens from the root. If you choose to keep the greens, wash them and then store wrapped in a damp paper towel in a bag. Place in the crisper of the refrigerator. The root can store up to two weeks in the fridge in a plastic bag. Wash before use. $5
HERBS: You will have EITHER Rosemary OR Sage this week. $2.50
ROSEMARY - In the refrigerator 10-14 days in a bag, possibly up to 4 weeks in a jar of water. Room temperature on the counter: 2-3 weeks if in a jar of water, this is how I store it, however I usually use it up in the first week!
SAGE - Wrap the sage leaves in paper towels and put them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Make sure to use the leaves within four to five days.
ROMAINE HEAD LETTUCE: Whole heads of lettuce are perfect for stacking on sandwiches or serving as the foundation of salads. Leave the heads intact and do not wash until you’re ready to use them. Whole heads of lettuce will stay fresher much longer than chopped pieces or individual leaves. Place in a lightly vented bag and store in your crisper drawer. Can store for up to 7 days. $6
VEGGIE OF THE WEEK
SPINACH
Our second bestselling leafy green. When we asked our customers about their preferred uses for spinach, the most common response was in salads, closely followed by smoothies. Spinach is so much more than salads and ground up into smoothies. It is incredibly nutritious and highly versatile.
Our Spinach is grown under cover to protect from those heavy spring rains. It is seeded early, and we cut from the same spinach plants once a week over a period of 4-5 weeks, weather dependent. Spinach loves cool weather and cool, moist soil and will be relatively quick to bolt once the weather turns warm. If you're not a fan of raw spinach, you are my people. Personally, I enjoy incorporating spinach in pasta dishes or lightly sautéing it. Additionally, for all the moms and grandmas out there looking to sneak in some nutritious goodness into your little ones' meals, my favorite trick is to finely chop spinach and mix it into meatloaf. They won't even notice!
Photo Credit: Spend With Pennies
My go-to meatloaf recipe is from the website Spend With Pennies. A few notes that I have made are:
Replacing ground beef with ground lamb and lean pork. (We always have ground lamb and pork which is why I use it often)
Instead of the recommended breadcrumbs I use a delicious Jalapeño and Cheese bread that is made at the farmer’s market. It adds an extra depth of flavor and is so, so good.
I occasionally make the meatloaf sauce. I use Heinz no-sugar added ketchup or another kind that has ingredients I can read and understand without corn syrup. The brown sugar is enough extra sugar. Adding in typical ketchup would add 1 teaspoon of sugar per 1 tablespoon of ketchup which, can add up quickly with how much my kids like ketchup.
I don’t use a loaf pan. I shape into a loaf and place on a sheet pan.
When I mix everything together, I put in 1/2 - 1 cup of finely chopped spinach. It doesn’t change the flavor or any other part of the dish.
SAUTEED SPINACH
Photo Credit: Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews
Sautéed Spinach Recipe - NYT Cooking (nytimes.com)
Super simply sauteed spinach recipe from one of my favorite places to get recipes, NYT Cooking.
Best Creamed Spinach Recipe - How to Make Creamed Spinach (thepioneerwoman.com)
Creamed spinach would also pair great as a side dish to meatloaf.
Chicken Spinach Fettuccine Alfredo- The Salt and Sweet Kitchen
I’m also a fan of a good alfredo and love a simple and quick version with simple ingredients. This one adds mushrooms, which is also something I love, but can be omitted.
Photo Credit: Rose at The Salt and Sweet
ADDITIONAL RECIPES To try this week
I LOVE to make compound butter with left over herbs. It is so easy to make. The compound butter cubes are fragrant and add so much flavor to our food. Try this recipe
Photo Credit: Carmyy.com
Your lettuce leaves should be big enough to make Wilted Lettuce. I know traditionally it is only green leaves that are used, but we have made it with mixed lettuce and it was delicious. You could also use your Romaine as well.
Southern Wilted Lettuce with Hot Bacon Dressing Recipe (thespruceeats.com)
I haven’t tried this recipe but, I’m intrigued. Roasted Radishes.
Roasted Radishes - Healthy Recipes Blog (healthyrecipesblogs.com)
What’s Been Happening Here
Over the past year, we have experienced a whirlwind of events, but we have successfully navigated through them and reached several of our goals! One of our biggest goals has been to fulfill the constant need to build and add infrastructure to allow the farm to be sustainable long term. We were able to complete the addition of not one, not two, but three high tunnels. These structures consist of two permanent tunnels, measuring 30'x96' each, and a third one that we built ourselves. For the third tunnel, we utilized a hoop bender and applied the knowledge we gained from erecting six tunnels prior. This particular tunnel is designed for quick assembly and is often referred to as a caterpillar tunnel. The name stems from the unique method of securing the ends of the plastic cover by wrapping it around a stake, which creates a distinctive caterpillar-like appearance, as shown below.
Photo Credit: Farmers Friend and Dubois Agrinovation
Our new structures have added an additional 4,500sq ft of bed space, which doubles our previous space under cover, and gives us as farmers more control while providing a much better growing environment. High tunnels are an integral part of our farm, and we are beyond pleased that our expansion is complete allowing more time to direct our focus in other areas.
IF ALL ELSE FAILS
If your week has been crazy and you haven’t had time to do a thing with items in your bag, focus on these three tasks:
Make sure your strawberries are still good and if you absolutely must - freeze them. You can do this whole if needed and later use them for a quick strawberry jam or make ice cream topping for ice cream! Fresh local berries are super sweet and we don’t add any sugar when we make ice cream topping. Smash them up until your desired consistency and add on top of vanilla ice cream.
Make sure the greens are removed from the root vegetables. Your roots will store for a good while, your greens from your root vegetables need to be used or lose them.
Lettuce, spinach will store for at least 7 days. We rinse and spin dry your greens one time. You should rinse and dry again before consumption. The best way is with a hand crank salad spinner. Keep in mind moisture leads to spoilage. You can wait to wash your greens until you plan to consumer them. Place greens in an airtight container such as a bag or Tupperware. Greens will hold for 9-14 days.
Sage you can freeze. Wash and pat them dry, remove the leaves from the stems, and pack them loosely in freezer bags for up to one year. Be mindful that freezing will intensify the flavor of the herb, so you will want to adjust accordingly for cooking purposes.
Rosemary can also freeze. Wash sprigs thoroughly and dry them well. Leave the leaves on the stem and arrange the sprigs on a baking tray so that the individual stems do not touch − this prevents the stems from freezing together and makes it easier to remove individual sprigs later. Place the baking tray in the freezer for a few hours to freeze the rosemary sprigs. Once frozen, transfer the rosemary sprigs to a freezer bag and store them in the freezer. Frozen rosemary can be stored for a year or more. Frozen rosemary sprigs do not need to be defrosted before cooking.
(Shout out to Plantura magazine for these herb freezing tips!)
Next Week’s Possibility’s
Your bag next week will include 6-7 of the following depending on availability and if it’s ready to harvest.
Strawberries
Kale
Swiss Chard
Carrots
Herbs
Green Onions
Lettuce (head or mixed)
Spinach
Radish
Turnip
Beets
Wishing you a fantastic week ahead, see you next week!