Week 8, CSA News

Garden Problem:  Weeds

Weeds, they just keep showing up!

On the farm, a weed is simply a plant out of place. Your beautiful Bluegrass lawn would be a real problem in our lettuce beds. Mostly we all know that every year the lambs quarter, thistles and Johnson grass will be back. Knowing how each one decides where to grow and how they reproduce is key to containing or at least co-existing with them.

The back-story is weeds are opportunistic and indicators.  Some like tight clay soils, others wet conditions.  Some like full shade, others full sun.  Some thrive in cool weather, others like it hot and dry. So when you see weeds growing in the path, spraying an herbicide is quick and easy, albeit short sighted. It or another plant that likes compacted soil will return in due time. The real solution is to loosen the soil to allow the desirable grasses and clovers to re-populate the area. A weed patch can sometimes indicate a mineral imbalance in the soil. It is counter intuitive, but if you analyze the plant tissue and see that it is high in a particular element like boron, the weed is actually living in a boron deficient soil. It provides the function of scouring the soil for any and all boron, so when it is chopped up and tilled into the soil, it will deposit the accumulated boron back and make it available to future crops.

Then, there is how they reproduce. Some rely on making lots of seeds. Others have specialized stems or roots. Guiding these systems are if they are programmed as annuals, biennials, or perennials. Annuals, like lambs quarter, arise when the temperature and moisture and placement in the soil merge to create the proper conditions for germination. When you first see lambs quarter emerge, that is the best time to manually hoe or disturb the seedling before it takes root. Since some have a fibrous root system and others make a deep penetrating taproot it is best to prevent their maturation process. If allowed to go to seed, the plant will produce hundreds if not thousands of seeds for future generations. Every square foot of soil contains gazillions of seeds from years past, known as the soil seed bank. Biennials, like thistles, take two years to go thru this cycle. When the wind blows the tiny seed, the ones that grow landed in an open spot. The first growing season it will make a low-growing rosette. The following year it will send up the seed stalk and make a reddish purple flower that sends thousands of seeds into the air. When chopping these plants you must cut the crown where the plant meets the soil to prevent it from suckering out and sending up a secondary seed stalk. If you severe the seed stalk at just the right time, the plant hormones will think it set seeds so no need to sucker out again, but actually they are not viable. Perennials, on the other hand, are the most insidious of all.  Johnson grass not only likes to make lots of seeds, it also forms specialized roots/stems known as rhizomes. These run through the soil, sending up new shoots at nodes along the stem. Usually one node will become dominant so the energy for growth is delivered there. If you chop up these rhizomes each node will become dominant and you helped it reproduce.

While all these variations on the theme are interacting, there is one other aspect to consider. All plants exude compounds out of their roots into the soil as part of its interaction with the environment. One of these has an allelapathic effect on other plants. This is a self-preservation technique that is toxic to other weed seeds, preventing them from germinating or withering soon after.

Given all these variables, it is challenging to manage our fields to reduce or eliminate weeds to produce edible crops. Some times it looks weedy, but is not really hurting the crop. Other times it looks pretty good, but the specter of doom is looming. So look at your yard or at others as you drive along the road to see why those plants might be growing where they are.  A weed problem might be as simple as adding a little organic boron fertilizer.

In Your Share

Green Beans- organic

Broccoli – organic 

One more week of the most popular green vegetable!  You told us you wanted more in last year’s member survey.

Cucumber

Fresh Garlic – organic

 

Lacinato Black Kale Greens – organic

Yellow Squash and/or Green Zucchini 

Tomatoes - organic

Napa Cabbage – organic

Sugar Snap Peas – organic

Don’t toss out your nutrients! 

So say the editors of Environmental Nutrition Newsletter.  Using a combination of common sense and frugal attention to all of your share items, can you find a use for those leaves, stems or tops? 

1) Stems of kale, chard or collards: braise or sauté (chop finely);

2) Leaves of broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower or celery: substitute for cabbage in recipes, or use to flavor and garnish salads and soups;

3) Tops of beets, turnips or carrots: sauté or use in green smoothies;

4) Add any vegetable when making chicken or vegetable stock.

Recipes to Enjoy

Ginger Lemon Broccoli

Recipe shared by a friend of the farm, our thanks!

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp minced garlic

¼ tsp grated fresh ginger

¼ tsp lemon peel

1 head fresh broccoli

Whisk oil, lemon juice, salt, garlic, ginger, and lemon peel in small bowl.  Set aside.

Cook 1 head broccoli, cut into florets, 6 C boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Drain.  Toss with dressing.

Green Smoothie, our thanks to a CSA member for sharing this recipe, as smoothies are an easy way to include fresh greens in our daily diet.  She reports, “It was really GOOD!  I was worried that the kale taste would be too strong, but it really wasn't!”

Mix in blender for 1 serving the following:

3 large leaves of Kale (remove stem)

1 frozen banana

1/3 C Greek non-fat vanilla yogurt

1/3 C apple juice

1 small handful of ice cubes

Cold Pea Soup, our thanks to a CSA member for sharing this seasonal recipe.

1 pound sugar snap peas

1 medium potato

1 pint chicken or  vegetable stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 T sour cream

chopped fresh parsley for garnish

String peas; peel and finely chop potatoes.  Combine peas and potatoes with stock in a saucepan and bring to boil.  Reduce to simmer for approximately ten minutes until vegetables are tender. Cool for a few minutes then blend until pureed.  Add salt and pepper to taste, then force through a fairly fine strainer, discarding solids.  Stir or whisk in sour cream and refrigerate for up to two days.

Kale Salad with Pecorino and Lemon serves 4.  Many versions of kale salad are around, this one originally in The New York Times 2007.

1 large bunch kale, washed and trimmed of stems
4 ounces Pecorino Romano, grated
2 lemons, juiced
½ C olive oil
salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Roll several kale leaves lengthwise and using the point of a chef's knife, cut away the thick center stem. Discard. Roll the remaining stack of de-veined leaves into a tight cigar shape and slice into thin ribbons.

Toss the shaved kale with the cheese. Whisk the lemon juice and olive oil and pour over the salad. Taste and season with salt and pepper.  Here is the key to any kale salad!! Let the salad sit at room temperature for 20 minutes up to an hour before serving.

Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw, adapted from a Bon Appetite recipe from Epicurious online.

¼ C fresh lemon juice

8 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained

1 garlic clove

1 tsp Dijon-type mustard

½ C extra-virgin olive oil

½ C finely grated Parmesan, divided

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 hard-boiled egg, peeled

1 bunch Lacinato/Tuscan black kale, center stalks remov-ed, thinly sliced crosswise (about 8 C)

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a blender; purée until smooth. With machine running, slowly add oil, drop by drop, to make a creamy dressing. Transfer dressing to a bowl and stir in ¼ C Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill. Dressing can be made 2 days ahead, keep chilled.

 

Coarsely chop hard-boiled eggs, you can separate the yolk from the white and chop separately if you want to, depending on your final presentation.  Toss kale and dressing in a large bowl to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with remaining 1/4 C Parmesan and chopped eggs.

Substitution: you can use a little soy sauce in place of the anchovies; it’s the saltiness that you want to balance the other flavors.

Wonderfully Easy Pasta with Kale, an Asparagus to Zucchini recipe

1/3 pound penne or farfalle pasta

2 to 3 T olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced

½ pound chopped kale leaves

salt and pepper

Bring 6-8 C salted water to a boil; add pasta and cook until tender.  Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and garlic, and cook until tender.  Add the kale and sauté until wilted.  Drain the pasta and combine it with the onions, garlic, and kale.  Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Week 7, CSA

 

More on Water & Soil . . .

We get a lot of questions about how to grow vegetables, or how to help a home gardener figure out what might be going on with their tomato plants.  Last week we barely scratched the surface on water management in soil, so this week is devoted to helping you help the piece of earth you are the caretaker of.  To give us a frame of reference, realize that it took eons for soil to develop from the underlayment of limestone.  Then in a relative nano-second of time, people came in, shoved trees out of the way, and built houses and roads.  In Central Kentucky, we focus our energy on improving tight clay soils, not sandy porous soils.  Soil is the backbone of a plant’s lifecycle, so building good soil and taking care of it, is the key to being successful in whatever food plants, grass, flowers, or trees you might want to grow.

How old your house is, helps to determine where all the clay soil went from what is now your basement or foundation - it depends on the building practices at the time of construction.  Once you figure out where that soil is, it will have special needs.  Some of you may have clayey soils from years of erosion or a location relative to streams, long before heavy equipment showed up.   Or, perhaps your topsoil was not put back into place after construction was complete.  Take a spade into your yard and sample how easy it is to dig when it is wet and again when it is dry, to learn for yourself where and when is the right time to work your soil.  Basically, you should never work soil when it is wet – it will compact.  And also not when it’s too dry – it will turn into dust and blow away.  Some sites can be improved with compost and plant material, others will benefit greatly from a more aggressive jumpstarting of the repair.

If it is really tight clay, use shovels, picks, post hole diggers, iron digger, whatever it takes to chunk up the area so you can mix compost, good dirt, peat moss, horse muck, neighbors’ grass clippings, etc. into the area as deep as you can.  It may have to sit and rest for a while for the biology to start working.  Remember air in the soil is important for the microbes to thrive, and heavy clay soil just doesn’t have enough air pockets.  At some point, you can begin to work the soil into a smoother surface for planting.  For locations where annuals are planted each year, perform some version of this soil amendment process every time you work your soil.  Take a soil sample to the UK Extension office for a free or low-cost analysis.  Adjusting the pH with natural limestone will give the microbes better living conditions to mineralize the rest of what they need.

 

For perennial foundation plantings, ornamental gardens, and edible landscape plantings, mulching is the most powerful tool for you to use.  Since you don’t want to disturb the roots by working the soil, topdressing of compost on the surface will provide an inoculation of new beneficial microbes to your soil mix.  You don’t need to cover the entire surface until it looks black, maybe 50% of the surface will suffice.  The feeder roots are often at the drip line, not near the base of the plant, depending on size and age, so make sure you address enough of the plant area.  Water, and cover with mulch after application as the sun and desiccating winds must be kept off.  Mulching around perennials and annuals not only protects the plants from the direct sun, it slows the capillary action of soil water movement.  On a bare soil, the wind and open air creates a zillion chimney effects, pulling moisture up into the air from each little cavity and crevice.  Sometimes you may need to use this phenomenon to dry out your soil for planting purposes.  Mulching with a biologically active plant material will spur microbial activity, making its own compost all year long.  Bed the area 4 or 5 or 6 or more inches deep with organic hay around established plants.  This will suppress weed growth, hold moisture, and become a beneficial insect haven.  If you use non-glossy paper or plastic under a shallow layer of mulch, it will lessen the benefits, but is still better than nothing.   Remember, your soil is a live culture of organisms.  It will feel so nice to look out at your plants and know they have just the right amount of air and water in their roots, and the best possible soil that you can give them.  Finally, let us know if you need some hay or some compost, we can help!

In Your Share

Broccoli – organic If you have too much on hand, blanch for 1 min. in hot water, plunge into ice water, then pop into a freezer bag for later

Fennel – organic  Use the fern ends as a fresh herb. Sauté or ovenroast the bulb. Stalks can be used in a veggie or fish stock, then discarded.

Kohlrabi – organic

Sugar Snap Peas – organic Fatter peas will develop a string; break the end and remove it before preparing peas  

Yellow Squash and/or Green Zucchini

Kale Greens – organic

Lettuce – organic

Green Onions - organic

 

Recipes to Enjoy

Summer Squash and Ricotta Galette,  Thanks to a CSA member for sharing this recipe adapted from Cooking Light magazine, July 2012

Dough for single-crust pie

1 medium zucchini

1 large yellow squash

1T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ C grated Parmesan

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

½ tsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

¼ tsp black pepper

1 large egg, lightly beaten

¼ tsp kosher salt

1 tsp water

1 large egg white

¼  C fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Slice squashes crosswise into ¼ -inch-thick slices; combine with olive oil and minced garlic, and set aside.  Combine ricotta with next 6 ingredients (through egg) in a medium bowl.  Roll dough out into 14” circle and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spread ricotta mixture over dough, leaving a 2-inch border.  Arrange squash slices over ricotta mixture and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Fold edges of dough toward center, pressing gently to seal (dough will not completely cover squash).  Whisk egg white and water together and brush dough edges with mixture.  Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes and sprinkle with basil.  Cut into wedges to serve.

Broccoli Parmesan Fritters,  On her website, Smitten Kitchen, Deb Perelman has several photos taken while making the fritters that you may enjoy seeing before you prepare this.  Her recipe uses a lot of broccoli and little “breading” and is a fantastic way to include broccoli or many other vegetables to make them appetizing for small children or so called “broccoli haters”. No one can pass up fritters!

 8 oz (1 small-to-medium bundle) fresh broccoli (3 C chopped)
1 large egg
½ C all-purpose flour
1/3 C finely grated parmesan cheese
1 small clove garlic, minced
½ tsp Kosher salt, plus more to taste
A pinch of red pepper flakes or several grinds of black pepper
Olive or vegetable oil for frying

Separate the broccoli florets from the big stem. Cut the florets into 1-inch chunks. Peel the stem, then slice them into 1/2-inch lengths. You want a total of about 3 C of chopped broccoli.

Steam your broccoli until tender but not mushy.  One method is to bring a ½ -inch or so of water to a boil in a small saucepan, then add the broccoli, place a lid on it and simmer it for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the broccoli, and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the flour, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Then, add the somewhat cooled broccoli and, using a potato masher, mash the broccoli just a bit. You’re looking to keep the bits recognizable, but small enough that you can press a mound of the batter into a fritter in the pan. Once mashed a bit, stir or fold the ingredients together the rest of the way with a spoon. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat. Once hot, add about 2 to 3 T oil (try a mix of olive and vegetable oil). Once the oil is hot, scoop a 2 T-size mound of the batter and drop it into the pan, then flatten it slightly with your spoon or spatula. Repeat with additional batter, leaving a couple inches between each. Once the bottom side is browned, about 2 to 3 minutes, flip each fritter and cook on the other side until equally golden, another 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer to paper towels to drain, then to a serving plate if you’ll be eating them shortly or a baking sheet in a 200° oven if you’d like to keep them warm for a while until needed. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. Serve with a dollop of garlicky lemon yogurt (1C plain yogurt, 2 T lemon juice, 1 tiny minced clove of garlic, a bit of zest and salt), or ricotta, or a squeeze of lemon juice.   Yield: 9 fritters 2- 2 ½ inch each.

Kohlrabi, Fennel and Blueberry Salad, a Stephanie Izard recipe found in Food & Wine, July 2011, and shared by a friend of the farm with high recommendation

½ C sliced almonds

2 T minced peeled fresh ginger

2 T minced shallot

1 T white balsamic vinegar

1 T mayonnaise

1 ½ tsp Dijon-type mustard

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp maple syrup

¼ C grape seed oil

salt and pepper

1 ¼ pound kohlrabi, peeled and very thinly sliced, then cut again into bite-sized slivers.

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 oz goat cheese, semi firm, shaved

1 C blueberries

2 T torn mint leaves

Preheat oven to 350° and spread the almonds on a pie plate and toast until golden, about 7 minutes.  Let cool.

In a processor or blender, combine the ginger, shallot, vinegar, mayo, mustard, soy, and maple syrup.  Puree.  With the processor on, add the grape seed oil in a thin stream and blend until creamy.  Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the kohlrabi with the fennel, cheese toasted almonds, and dressing.  Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.  Add blueberries and mint and toss gently.

CSA Week 6

From Water to Wonderful

We all know rain makes the plants grow.  But how does this work and how does it get there?  What if it doesn’t?

The genesis of water supply to the plant is the structure of the soil particles and the amount of organic matter among those particles.  A sandy soil, like the beach, lets any added water run right through and retains some but not much for long.  A clay soil is like pouring water on a magazine, the middle pages don’t even get wet.  But if you soak the magazine in water, it absorbs the water, swells up and almost never dries out.  We are blessed at Elmwood Stock Farm with a nicely balanced soil known by name as “Maury silt loam”, which is a nice mixture of sand, silt, and clay.  Our ‘Maury’ is known for being deep, well drained with a high degree of fertility.  Did you know every square foot of soils in the Commonwealth are named, mapped, and characteristics are described in USDA databases, to aid farmers and civil engineers in planning their work?  Without overworking the topic, a little explanation of how we manage water supply for our crops should be good for you to understand – you will know how much rainfall and drought affects your seasonal local food supply.

Picture the side view of a hole dug about 5 feet deep.  At the top is the topsoil, which is dark brown, crumbles in your hands and has a rich earthy smell.  As you go deeper, the color gets lighter and it no longer crumbles when handled.  The upper zone, known as the root zone, is where most of the soil food web action happens.  The thousands of species of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa, arthropods share an ecosystem way more diverse and active than any jungle ever thought about.  This creates the earthy smell and gives life to the soil.  Otherwise it would only be the structural components and nothing could grow.  As this jungle of life evolves and is altered by farming, they form little cavities; roots make paths all through it, worms, ants, and other insects burrow and tunnel through it.  Now we now have a way for the rainwater to reach the roots.  We also have the capacity to retain some of the rainwater in these underground micro reservoirs, for the microbes and roots to access between rains.

To conserve precious rainwater, we mulch some crops with hay or straw.  Other places we plant living mulches between rows to keep the sun off the soil but these plants grow slowly and do not use much water themselves.  We also use thin strips of plastic sheeting to hold moisture in the soil and keep the weeds from growing along the base of the plant rows. 

Since we often have dry spells in KY, at Elmwood, we employ mechanical irrigation techniques to ensure the soil, and then the crop, have access to water to produce the food we all love to eat.  The southern border of the farm is Elkhorn Creek, at a location above an historic mill dam, which forms a deep pool of water for us to draw from.  With electric or tractor driven pumps, we can send water through a series of underground and above ground pipes to the edge of each field.  From there we have two options, t-tape or traveler.  T-tape comes on a 4000’roll, is laid under the plastic when the plastic is put down or is walked out by hand along the plant row.  It has little holes that allow a single drop of water to drip out every 12 inches over a long period of time.  This is a very efficient means of providing water directly to the crop.  Garden kits are available.  The traveler is a big gun sprinkler attached to a large reel.  The sprinkler gun is pulled to the end of the field.  As the pump pushes water out the sprinkler, which covers a 90’ diameter, the water pressure turns a crank that slowly winds the hose around the reel, thus moving the gun the length of the field.  This puts on a lot of water, over the entire field in a fairly short amount of time.

So tillage and planting is our main moisture management plan, and we leave nothing to chance if we can help it to ensure a good crop will be harvested.  But nothing beats a good soaking rain.

Related reading: transpiration, capillary action, fertigation, soil food web, NRCS soils maps and capability classes.

Local Supplies: Kentucky Irrigation, Third St at Midland, Lexington.

  

In Your Share

Black Turtle Beans – organic 

Here's a TIP:   Beans are usually soaked over night in water before cooking.  If you don’t have that kind of time, take a tip from Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom (yes, Julia Child).  For 1 C of beans, bring to a boil in 3 C of water.  Boil exactly 2 minutes, cover, and set aside for exactly 1 hour.  The beans and the liquid should be ready for cooking.

 

Broccoli – organic

Green Cabbage – organic

Lettuce – organic

Rainbow Swiss Chard – organic   

Yellow Squash and/or Green Zucchini 
OR
Sugar Snap Peas - organic

Purple Top White Turnips - organic

Recipes to Enjoy

 

Basic Green Soup Recipe, our thanks to a CSA member for sharing one of her “go-to” recipes for including fresh greens in the family meal.  This chard-and-spinach soup gets complex flavor from slowly cooked onions and lemon juice, while a sprinkle of rice gives it body and a velvety texture.  Serve with a swirl of fruity, fragrant extra-virgin olive oil for richness.  Recipe by Anna Thomas for Eating Well.

2 T extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish

2 large yellow onions, chopped

1 tsp salt, divided

2 T plus 3 C water, divided

¼ C Arborio rice

1 bunch chard (about 1 lb)

14 C gently packed spinach (about 12 oz), any tough stems trimmed

4 C vegetable broth, store-bought or homemade

Big pinch of cayenne pepper

1 T lemon juice, or more to taste

Heat 2 T oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add onions and ¼ tsp salt; cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes.  Reduce the heat to low, add 2 T water and cover.  Cook, stirring frequently until the pan cools down, and then occasionally, always covering the pan again, until the onions are greatly reduced and have a deep caramel color, 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining 3 C water and ¾ tsp salt in a soup pot or Dutch oven; add rice.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Trim the white ribs out of the chard (save for another use, such as to add to a stir-fry or other soup).  Coarsely chop the chard greens and spinach.

When the rice has cooked for 15 minutes, stir in the chard greens.  Return to a simmer; cover and cook for 10 minutes.  When the onions are caramelized, stir a little of the simmering liquid into them; add them to the rice along with the spinach, broth and cayenne.  Return to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring once, until the spinach is tender but still bright green, about 5 minutes more.

Puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender until perfectly smooth or in a regular blender in batches (return it to the pot).  Stir in 1 T lemon juice.  Taste and add more lemon juice, if desired. Garnish each bowl of soup with a drizzle of olive oil.

Spaghetti with Broccoli and Crushed Red Pepper, thanks to a CSA member for sharing this fast and easy recipe; you can add your favorite protein if desired:  favorites include cooked  thighs,  turkey breast meat, and peeled fresh shrimp or scallops.

 

1 bunch broccoli (about 1 to 1 1/4 lbs.), separated in florets, stems peeled and cut in bite sized pieces

2 T finely chopped garlic

6 T olive oil

½ t. crushed red pepper

½ C chicken broth

fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 lb spaghetti or linguine, cooked and drained

In large pot of boiling water, cook broccoli for 3 minutes; drain.  Chill quickly under cold running water, drain and set aside.  In large skillet, sauté' garlic in oil without browning.  Add broccoli and cook, stirring 3 to 5 minutes or until heated thoroughly.  Add red pepper, broth and black pepper, bring to a boil.  Toss with hot spaghetti or linguine.  (Yields:  about 8 servings.)

Sue’s Black Bean Soup, our thanks to Wash House Herb Farm in Stamping Ground KY for this easy, favorite recipe that uses all Elmwood ingredients!

3 C cooked organic black beans

3 C organic chicken stock

1 C salsa (have your tried Elmwood’s jarred salsa?)

allspice

Put first three ingredients in soup pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat slightly if needed to maintain constant simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring when needed.  Remove from heat and add dash of allspice.  Use an immersion blender to puree, then serve.  (If you don’t have an immersion blender, carefully spoon soup into a regular blender and pulse.  Reheat if needed before serving.)

Garlicky Broccoli, adapted from a recipe originally appearing in Cooking Light Magazine, written for 2 pounds of broccoli serving 6 to 8, you can reduce amounts if serving less, similar to our spaghetti recipe for this week but offers the garlic-broccoli-chile recipe as a side dish rather than an entrée.

2 pounds broccoli

1 T olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ tsp slat

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

Cook broccoli in boiling water 6 minutes or until crisp-tender.  Drain and plunge broccoli into ice water; drain, chop coarsely.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in broccoli, salt, and peppers.  If you like it hot, double the amount of crushed red pepper.

 

Week 5 CSA News

Organic! Really?

We heard a public service announcement the other day on commercial radio that said there was no reason to buy organic eggs since you are only eating what’s inside the eggshell. It went on to say that what a chicken eats does not have any effect on the part we eat. Are you kidding? This ludicrous statement leads us to need to further educate our customers about the value of organic eating.

As we all learned in 6th grade biology, organisms require a unique balance of nutrients to meet their metabolic needs. In all of science to date, the complexity of human nutrition cannot be boiled down into a simple list of inputs to keep us going. The complexities of amino acids, which make up proteins, fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, hormones, & nutrients, are becoming better understood, but the matrix of interactions boggles the greatest computers’ ability to profile the perfect diet. The whole-being-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts is where the term “wholesome”, pronounced “whole-sum” must have originated. For this discussion, don’t forget the non-nutritive ingredients in foods like preservatives, processing additives that facilitate mechanical handling, flavor enhancers, and colorings. So why is organic different than other foods in the marketplace in meeting the whole of your nutritional needs?

Whether it’s a chicken or a plant, they are what they eat. As we discussed in CSA News last season (now found online on the Elmwood blog), the biological activity of fungi & bacteria in the soil has a direct effect on what nutrients are available to the plant for growth. This is the premise of organic farming. When you purchase “certified organic” foods, you know the food was grown in a manner that optimizes the potential for all the complexities to be integrated in a way to maximize the “wholesumness” of your diet.

Another aspect to consider is the green washing of the organic name in popular media and on-line websites. We see numerous examples of partial organic farms that try to present their products as the same. Local is not organic. Natural means absolutely nothing. Sustainable does not have any standards around chemical use, animal welfare, genetically engineered seeds or any other aspect of farming, for that matter.  Not to mention third-party-inspection, documentation, or USDA backing.  Educate yourself by looking closely at websites that dance around their organic status. Ask the farm who their certifier is. If not certified, why not? What are they doing that would disqualify them from certification status? Do they really know what it takes be an organic farmer? Do they know the process to be certified? Are they using GMO seeds? Who can verify their sustainable practice? If the sign says un-sprayed, do they own a sprayer? Do they know the life cycle of plant pests and the life cycle of the beneficial insects that can eliminate them?

At Elmwood Stock Farm, we try to be open to you, to clearly identify our products as organic.  We are closely regulated and monitored by our certifier and inspector. They can drop in anytime to verify we are following our plan and take samples for residue testing. We welcome the scrutiny on your behalf, because certified organic offers a benchmark for you, and any truly organically produced product can meet it.   Including an organic egg!

In Your Share

Broccoli – organic

Garlic Scapes – organic

A garlic scape is the center stalk of a hard neck garlic plant.  Use this special item any manner as you would use garlic cloves. Chop finely or use a processor.  The flower head is also edible.  You can make pesto; chop in salads; or sauté similar to green onions.  Refrigerate or store in water in a vase.

Kohlrabi – organic  

Use the leaves of your kohlrabi as you would kale or collard greens: steam, sauté, juice, use in soups, or chop finely for slaw.  The ball-like kohlrabi itself will keep well for you when refrigerated.

Lettuce – organic

Sugar Snap Peas – organic   These are edible pod, break off the ends and eat the whole pod & peas (more ready in the next week or so, needing some rainfall to fill out the pods)
OR
Spinach – organic   

Chinese Napa Cabbage - organic

This versatile cabbage is the main ingredient in egg rolls; can be chop- ed into green salads, used in cole slaws, use in any recipe calling for common green cabbage (just reduce cooking time slightly as it cooks fast!), stir fries well with fried rice, and will store refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Lacinato Tuscan Black Kale Greens – organic

 

Recipe to Enjoy

 

Beef & Broccoli Pasta Salad, adapted from a Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert recipe, serves 2-4

¼ C water

¼ C soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced (or finely chop garlic scapes)

1 ½ tsp sugar

½ tsp ginger root, peeled and minced

¼ tsp ground red pepper

1 ½ tsp sesame oil

8 ounces cooked beef steak or roast, thinly sliced and refrigerated for 1 hour or more

4 oz linguine, cooked and cooled

2 C broccoli, stems cut into bite sized pieces, florets separated, blanched and cooled

Optional: 1 T diced onion

Optional: 1 T toasted sesame seeds

Combine in a small saucepan water, soy sauce, garlic, sugar, ginger, red pepper and cook until half the liquid evaporates.  Add sesame oil, stir and set aside.

When ready to serve, mix together sauce with remaining ingredients, garnish with optional diced onion and sesame seeds if desired.

Garlic Scape Pesto, our thanks to a CSA member for sharing this recipe found on Serious Eats dot com, if you plan to freeze the pesto, wait until after you’ve defrosted it to add the cheese.

¼ C pine nuts

¾ C coarsely chopped garlic scapes

juice and zest of ½ lemon

½ tsp salt

few generous grinds of black pepper

½ C extra virgin olive oil

¼ C grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

In a small, dry pan set over very low heat, lightly toast the pine nuts, stirring or tossing occasionally until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse about 20 times, until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese.

White Bean and Garlic Scape Dip adapted from The New York Times, serve with freshly toasted bread, pita bread and/or vegetables.

1/3 C sliced garlic scapes (roughly 4-6 of them)
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
½ tsp sea salt, more to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
15 oz cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
¼ C extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

 

In a food processor, process together the garlic scapes with the lemon juice, salt and pepper until very finely chopped.  Add the cannellini beans and process to a rough paste.

With motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil (this is a perfect time to use the feed tube of your food processor) and process until nice and smooth. Pulse in 2-3 tablespoons of water.  Add more lemon juice, salt and pepper if desired.  Place dip in bowl, drizzle with olive oil and serve, makes 1 ½C.

Tuscan Kale with Maple, Ginger and Pancetta, recipe from Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton, editor of Fine Cooking Magazine, this dish offers a mix of salty, sweet and spicy!

salt

1 bunch Tuscan black kale

1 oz very thinly sliced pancetta

1 T unsalted butter

1 ½ tsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tsp pure maple syrup

2 small lemon wedges

Fill a 4 to 5 quart pot two-thirds full of water.  Add 2 tsp salt and bring to a boil.  Remove the ribs from the kale.  Grab the rib with one hand and rip the two leafy sides away from it with the other.  Cut or rip the leaves into two or three smaller pieces.  You’ll have about 4 oz of greens.  Add the greens to the boiling water and start timing immediately.  Taste a leaf after 4 minutes.  It shouldn’t be tough or rubbery, if it is, cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.  Drain the kale very thoroughly in a strainer in the sink.  Press down on the kale to squeeze out some excess liquid.

In a skillet over medium-low heat, arrange the pancetta slices and cook until crisp and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes, flipping once or twice.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.  Add the butter to the pan, and as soon as it melts, add the ginger and stir to soften it slightly in the butter, about 30 seconds.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the maple syrup and stir well.

Lift the kale from the strainer, squeezing one more time to release excess moisture, and add to the pan with the maple-ginger butter.  Put the pan back over medium-low heat and toss the greens until well coated and slightly warmed, 30 seconds to 2 minute.  Remove the pan from the heat, taste, and season very lightly with salt.  Crumble the pancetta over the greens.  Toss briefly to mix and transfer to serving plates, crumble pancetta over the top.  Serve with lemon wedges.

Roasted Kohlrabi, from Cook’s Illustrated Perfect Vegetables

1-3 medium sized kohlrabi bulbs; skin peeled away and cut into ¾ inch cubes

1-2 T extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ to 1 T minced fresh parley

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 450°.  Toss the kohlrabi, oil and salt and pepper to taste together in a large bowl until combined.  Spread the kohlrabi onto a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet in a single layer.  Roast, shaking the pan occasionally, until the kohlrabi is browned and tender, about 30 minutes.  Transfer the kohlrabi to a serving bowl, sprinkle with the parsley, adjust the seasonings to taste, serve immediately.