Seeds of Many
Harvesting, packing, and delivering your shares are the last steps on the journey from seed to wholesome food. The greenhouse flats we seeded back when there was 18” of snow blanketing the farm have produced the vegetables in your share this week and for several weeks to come. We marvel at the power of the seed, but there are many hands and many minds that brought it to fruition.
Seeds are such a tiny bundle of energy and
genetic potential and must be carefully handled in order to express their
genetic potential. The organic seeds we use come from organic seed farmers that
shoulder the burden of selecting the best parent stock to produce the best
offspring. Using Mendelian cross pollination techniques, the cultivars are bred
to perform well in organic systems. There are always tradeoffs like receiving higher
yields at the expense of flavor or color or husk coverage. We experiment with
several varieties of each crop, each season, to see which ones perform well for
us on our farm in our growing conditions, and you help us evaluate flavor,
appearance, and quality. The seed farmers care for the plants well past a
normal harvesting stage fostering the reproductive maturity that produces the
seeds. Much seed harvesting must be done by hand to select and sort the best
stock. Then, the farmers carefully sort and grade the seeds, before cataloguing
them and placing them in properly controlled environmental conditions. If the
seeds are not kept at full dormancy, some of the energy packed inside will be
wasted and the seedling will not be as vigorous when planted.
Once we get the seeds, we continue to hold
them in a cool dark environment until they go into the greenhouse trays or out
to the field. The greenhouse transplants usually come out of the warm, wind-free
greenhouse onto a wagon to harden off several days before taking them to the
field. This time allows them to toughen up the stems from the wind, get used to
the full sun, and adjust to daytime/nighttime temperature swings. Our wagons
hold several thousand individual plants of many varieties of vegetables that
are then taken to the fields to be transplanted into the loose soil. Two people
ride backwards on a transplant machine that is attached to the back of a
tractor. As the “setter” is pulled across the field, the “setters” pull an
individual plant from the plant tray, and drop each plant into a cuplike
container that spins like a carousel. As the cup rotates around, a device opens
the cup so the plant will fall out the bottom at the right place and time to go
into a furrow opened by the shoe of the machine. A dash of water is flushed
over the plant’s root ball, and then the roots are neatly covered with fresh
soil, the plants evenly spaced in a nice straight row. If the plants are
delayed getting “set” because of wet weather, they grow long and leggy that can
make them hang up in the machine, or if the root system is not fully developed
in the tray, the roots may tear as the plant is pulled from the tray. Wet seasons,
like this year, mean less use of the transplanter and more hand planting.
Minimizing transplant shock is one key to having a good crop. Long-season crops
like tomato, melons, and cucurbits are transplanted through three foot wide
rows of thin plastic mulch that help control weeds, conserve soil moisture, and
regulate soil temperature.
Some seeds are sown directly into the
ground with a seeder that places the seeds at the proper depth and spacing for
that particular crop. Weed seeds also begin to grow after the crop seeds are
planted, so care must be taken to keep them in check so the vegetable crop
seedlings get off to a good start. The weed control cultivation implements,
mounted on the front and/or the back of the tractor are designed to scruff up
the soil between the rows of vegetables, eliminating weeds. Weeding by hand is
also necessary for some crops. We’ll walk the rows to “chop out” the weed
seedlings between the plants in the rows. This can be very tedious work to do a
good job of hoeing the weeds, without damaging the crop, yet also rewarding to
know you have eliminated the competition for the tiny carrot, spinach, or beet
seedling. Once the seedlings get bigger, different cultivation equipment can be
used to control weeds until harvest time.
We walk the fields daily looking at
maturity patterns and predicted harvest scheduling, scouting for insects, and
determining irrigation needs. It is fascinating to think that the spinach or
peas in this week’s share started the journey many years ago, on an organic
seed farm, when the parent lines were nurtured to produce the best seeds. We
know there are hours and hours of hard work by dozens of people, over many
months, if not years, for these particular vegetables to be in your share. The
seeds determine the schedule of all this effort, not the other way around. We
hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor (and of the seed savers before us),
because we all love what we do to grow you good food.
In Your Share
Asparagus
Garlic Scapes
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Sugar Snap Peas
Spinach
Yellow Squash
Kale Greens
Recipes
Lettuce
Wraps with Almond-Basil Chicken,
serves 4 (a Bountiful recipe)
2 T grapeseed oil or other cooking oil
1 small onion, minced
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. chicken, died small
1 small red bell pepper, halved, seeded, and diced
1 tsp honey
2 tsp fish sauce or soy sauce
2 T hoisin sauce
½ tsp rice vinegar
1 head fresh lettuce leaves
½ C chopped fresh basil
¼ C roasted almonds, sliced
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the
onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the chicken and cook until browned,
about 5 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper honey, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, and
rice vinegar. Continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked, 10-15
minutes. Serve the chicken in a shallow dish alongside a plate of the lettuce
leaves. Fill the leaves with the chicken mixture and top with a sprinkling of
basil and almonds.
Shaved
Kohlrabi and Green Leaf Salad with Garlic and Paprika Dressing, Serves 4, adapted
from Martha Stewart Living
2 medium heads garlic
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest, plus 3 T fresh lemon juice
½ tsp hot Spanish smoked paprika
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium or 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and trimmed (about 1 lb)
1 ½ C fresh greens (spinach, arugula, lettuce), trimmed
¼ cup toasted sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove 1 garlic clove from 1 head and
finely grate (about 1/8 tsp). Set aside. Wrap remaining heads of garlic in foil
and roast until very soft and golden inside, about 1 hour. Unwrap and let cool.
Meanwhile, whisk together grated garlic, lemon zest and juice, paprika,
mustard, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp water in a small bowl. Squeeze roasted garlic
from skins and add 2 T to bowl, reserving remainder for another use. Stir to
combine but leave very chunky. Stir in oil but do not completely incorporate.
Shave kohlrabi very thinly and divide among 4 plates; season with ½ tsp of
salt. Spoon dressing over kohlrabi, then top with fresh greens and almonds.
Serve Immediately.
Lettuce Soup
Our thanks to a CSA member who shared this recipe a
couple of years back, it’s a tasty use for any extra lettuce.
1 medium onion
2 garlic clove, chopped
3 T ghee (clarified
butter)
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 medium gold potatoes,
diced
4 medium-sized heads of
coarsely chopped lettuce leaves including ribs (I used the red leaf variety)
3 C water
Pan
Fried Kohlrabi Cakes,
thanks to a CSA member for sharing this dish from Allrecipes. She
reports that she uses this recipe for any type of root she gets in her CSA
share including radishes and turnips.
½
C grated kohlrabi (after peeling and removing stems)
1
tsp salt
1
clove garlic, minced
½
onion, chopped
1
egg, beaten
½
C Italian seasoned bread crumbs
½
tsp ground black pepper
½
tsp paprika
½
tsp chile-garlic sauce
1
½ C oil for frying
Place the kohlrabi
in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and
drain. Stir in the garlic, onion, egg, bread crumbs, pepper, paprika, and chili
garlic sauce. Mix well. Form into 8, small round patties. Pour oil into a
large skillet. Heat over medium heat. Fry patties in the hot oil until firm and
nicely brown, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Enjoy alone or
serve with ketchup, or your favorite spice condiment.
Garlic
Scape Carbonara, serves 4 (recipe from Sarah’s Cucina Bella blog)
½ lb. campanella pasta, or shape of your choosing
4 slices bacon (about 3¼ oz), chopped
¼ C garlic scapes, cut into ¼ inch coins
2 organic eggs
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ C freshly grated Romano cheese
Cook pasta of your choice according to package directions.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon, then remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain
on paper towels. Next, add sliced garlic scapes to pan and cook until soft,
about 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain with bacon. Next, whisk
together the eggs, salt, and pepper flakes. When pasta is done, drain it and
return to pot; reduce heat to low. Add the egg mixture, stirring constantly for
3-4 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy. Slowly stir in the cheese, a
little at a time. Finally, toss with the bacon and garlic scapes and serve
immediately.
Warm Kale Salad, serves
2-4 (a Bountiful Recipe)
2 T
unsalted butter
1 large
apple, chopped
1/3 C
dried cranberries
¼ tsp
cinnamon
¼ tsp
salt
1 bunch
kale (about ½ lb.), ribs and tough stems removed, leaves chopped
In a
large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once the butter has melted,
add the apple, cranberries, cinnamon, and salt. Sauté until the apples are
soft, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add the kale and cook until it
becomes tender. Serve warm or chilled.
Snap Pea Stir-Fry, serves 6 (a Taste of Home recipe)
1 lb
sugar snap peas
2 tsp
canola oil
1
garlic clove, minced
2 tsp
minced fresh ginger
1 ½ tsp
balsamic vinegar
1 ½ tsp
soy sauce
1 tsp
sesame oil
Dash of
cayenne pepper, if desired
1 T
minced fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp
sesame seeds, toasted
