Eaters' Guild

Hello there-
it's the usual bustling morning here at the farm.  Salad mix is harvested, greens--chard and kale-- are being bunched,  along with beets, and kohlrabi. Indeed, it is a pleasant morning for harvest, and perfect temps for perky produce.  We made the blind introduction of kohlrabi last week, so I'll give it more attention now.  IT is in the kohl crop family, ie broccoli, cabbage, kale...Interestingly enough, these are the same species of plant, Brassica oleracea, just selected for different physical characteristics--Kale-leaf, cabbage-leaf, broccoli-flower, kohlrabi-stem.  Pretty cool eh?  So this gives you some idea of taste, and maybe even some preparation ideas.    The part of the plant intended for eating enjoyment is the enlarged part of the stem at the base, we call these heads or bulbs, which it really is neither, but for descriptive sake, it works.  Generally we eat kohlrabi raw, most often we make cole(kohl)slaw, and I've put this recipe below.  We've heard numerous suggestions from market goers, the most common being a light steam to the sliced bulb, topped with butter, salt and pepper.  The outer layer on this bulb is thick and a little tough, but not impossible to eat, particularly when cooked.  When we just slice, dip and eat, we peel this layer to get to the tender/crisp delight held inside.  THe leaves of the plant are perfectly edible, but will need a good steam or boil--soups and stews are great destinations for these.  The goats here particularly like them.  I know there are many recipes out there for this unusual vegetable.  IT has a history that goes back to grandmas garden for many, and we think it is making a comeback.  

Greens--if you can handle heating the oven in summer, the kale chip recipe below is for you.  IF you feel like you get plenty of greens, you will soon be saying you can't get enough.  Kids love these too!  This recipe works with both kale types, curly leaf and lacinato (this one is very dark green, elongated, flatter, and looks like lizard skin), and works with collards too...

We are still struggling a lot at one pick up site, a little at another.  A common thread being the locations are places of business--which we don't want to say it is that there is produce theft on the rampage, but on the other hand, being a "business"  this may be unsettling for some, perhaps you feel you are in the way, or have the need-to-quickly-grab-your-share-and-get-out sort of feeling.  Keep in mind we are guests here, but we have full permission to use these spaces.  On the same vein, we ask that you maintain the sites with some dignity and leave it neater than it was when you came, if possible.  For instance, if you empty a box, or see an empty produce box, you can carefully, without tearing the box, fold it flat, and, if applicable, open the box of produce below to display the veg. for the next person.  The folded box can be unobtrusively set to the side.  IF you see a sign that has slipped out of place, perhaps you could put it where it belongs for the next farm member to see.  For those in Benton Harbor, we are in process of seeing if there is a space out of the way of the entry we can use, perhaps this can allow members to take the time they need to read the guidelines for filling the weeks share correctly.  We would also accept volunteers to 'person' the site, even if just for an hour.  ALSO, we have suggested a large window of time for these sites.  We've suggested that you have a 24 hour period to get your produce.  Because the produce is just sitting there you could see this as an option BUT  we highly encourage you to observe a much smaller window.   If we would need to hire a site overseer, we would likely make pick up a 2-3 hour window.  I cannot say we have had a perfect record in the first 2 or 3 hours post delivery at these sites, but we have fewer problems the earlier folks come to get shares.....Please consider this on pick up days.

For those of you who sent it, thanks for the strawberry gratitude.  All but one comment was thankful and positive which is very nice given the offering of these turned out to be rather a fiasco, and a large expense to the farm...Just for the record, we've learned from this that we won't have these available for shares in future seasons.  

Anyway, moving forward--were thinking there will be carrots and green onions for all shares NEXT week.  Those hot days last week seemed oppressive at times, but we need more of that to keep the peppers, tomatoes, melons and summer squash, corn, all that peak season veg., growing well.  If you can stand it, do your summer heat dance, and then get to the beach.  There's a lot of season left, stay tuned.

Have a great week!
Laurie Lee and Iris


Kohl(rabi) slaw

4 kohlrabi--peeled and cut into matchsticks (shredded is okay, but makes a soggy slaw)
1/2 onion thinly sliced or 4 green onions, chopped white and green parts
1/2 tsp whole celery seed or 1 tsp celery seed powder
1/2 tsp salt
 toss the above and make the dressing below, or use your own recipe or fav. prepared dressing

In a blender:
2 eggs
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt

start the blender low and go to medium speed.  Through the lid pour slowly but steadily:

olive oil--about 1 cup.  as the blender is running, watch as you pour in oil and you will see the mixture begin the thicken. as the hole in the middle of the mixture closes, stop blending.  Do not overblend or your homemade mayonnaise will go thin.  If the mixture does not thicken maybe the 1 cup oil isn't enough, I'm guessing here on amount of oil, since I wing this one....

pour the finished dressing over tossed vegetables.  Adjust seasoning--more salt if needed, pepper and/or paprika if you like...Serve immediately.


KALE CHIPS

Preheat oven to 400F

Tear kale leaves--de-stemmed or not--into 2-3 inch pieces. (I like it de-stemmed, Lee tolerates the stems in because he doesn't want to bother stemming leaves)

Place the leaves in a bowl, and toss lightly with oil.

Place leaves approximately one layer thick on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with salt if desired.

  Bake 10 minutes in oven.

You would like these to be crisp and light, so after 10 minutes, if they are still limp, turn the leaves on the baking sheet and bake a few minutes longer.

Serve/eat immediately--ENJOY!

HI there--
Happy Solstice, happy Summer!  I really need to be brief today--but I don't want to go without saying thanks to those of you who could make it out Sunday.  Being Father's day, I'm certain there were family events all around, and hopefully everyone had a great weekend where ever you were.  The potluck food was the usual, fantastic, and the weather couldn't have been better.

We will have strawberries in your boxes this week.  In fact the notes here will be strawberry centric.   The berries are certified organic--they will be 2 varieties, honey eye, and another that I cannot remember just now.  Honey eyes are the honey of strawberries, smallish and SWEET--I feel we are fortunate to get them.  If you pre-ordered a flat(s), I've accumulated these from the email inbox, and there will be a stack of flats with names on them.  Please take the flat with your name only--Everyone will be taking home some berries with their shares  (Full share=2 Quarts , Half share=1 Quart).  Again, if you feel you ordered, and there is no flat with your name on it, please do not take any other than what would be part of your share.  Call or email us, and we will do what we can to rectify the miss.  269-427-0423  

Even more local, there is an organic fruit farm in Fennville, Kismet Organics--they have U-pick berries now.  I don't have contact just in front of me, but they do have a website, and I'm thinking you can find them at LocalHarvest.org.  FYI--We do not source our berries here for a few reasons, one being they cannot meet our quantities for shares and sales.

There will be vegetables this week too..heehee-- BUT now, I need to leave to pick up the strawberries, and cannot give them much lip service this week.  IF you have questions, or need prep. ideas, or have prep. ideas, pass your inquiries or knowledge along to us--we're happy to share.

Be well everyone!
laurieleeandiris

HI there--
I only have a few minutes, and only a few things to cover.  First, hang on another week with more of the same----this is generally an awkward time in the share season, and given the cool temps, nothing is growing speedily to break into the monotony.  Not bad for the crop, not great for our waiting appetites.  GOOD NEWS THOUGH--we have made contact with Sandy and Bernie Ware at Ware Farm, in Bear Lake.  They grow strawberries, and have been our source for strawberries every year but last--due to troubling seasonal variations.  THis years crop, they say, is looking good, and we should be able to bring them to you sometime in the next 2 maybe 3 weeks.  A sweet hiatus from radishes and collards eh?  If we can get the numbers we hope for, we will have some to sell to you as flats or half flats PREORDER at a better-than-market-stand price.  I will let you know as soon as we know we can get them so that you can submit your order.  Given there are many YAHOO.COM members out there that don't directly receive these mailings, please pass this info along, when it comes, if you know another farm member using yahoo.  Thanks.  On our farm front, we are looking at kohlrabi and beets in the nearer future, at least one of these next week.  This is good news, yes.

Pick up revisited--If you are picking up at an un-personed site, please follow the written guidelines for pick up closely.  If you are 2 persons sharing a full share, it is important you still take one full share size bag of salad and not 2 half share bags.  WE leave produce to the count of folks/share types we have picking up, so you can figure in your mind, what would happen otherwise in this situation.  If you are picking up at a farmers market--aka a personed site, please come by 12:00 noon.  This gives a four hour window, and hopefully ample time.  If you have to come later, please let us know ahead of time.  

I have greens recipes to share, sent to us by another farm member--they sound great (thanks Elizabeth!)  THE salad turnips were a flash in the pan, I only ate a bunch myself, but they will be back again this season.  

Spicy Potato Sausage and Greens Soup
 
1 # bulk hot Italian sausage
1/2 C chopped onion
4 C chicken broth
4 C thinly sliced potatoes with skins
4 C water
2 C packed chopped fresh collards, kale, spinach, chard, or other green
1/3 C whipping cream
salt and pepper
 
Heat soup pot over medium.  Add sausage and oniions and cook until no longer pink.  Add broth, potatoes, and 4 C water.  Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are tender, 10-15 mins.  Stir in greens, cook 1-2 mins.  Stir in whipping cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.  This reheats and gets even better the next day.  Serves 8-12.


Red, White, and Spring Green Crunch Salad
1 small bunch red radishes, stems, leaves, and ends trimmed
1 medium turnip or 4-5 salad turnips, scrubbed (1/2 pound)
1 small cucumber, halved lengthwise and seeded
4 Tbls rice wine vinegar
1 Tbls sugar
4 Tbls chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
Finely dice radish, turnips, and cucumber.  Combine with remaining ingredients and 4-5 Tbls of water in a bowl.  Chill 1/2-1 hour before serving.  Serves 6.

POTLUCK Sunday. Hope you can make it!!--directions to the farm from M-43:

Take M-43 into Bangor.  There is one traffic signal (blinking) in Bangor at Center ST (also CR 681)  You will turn north here.  From this intersection we are 0.7 mile on the east side of the road.  There is a sign at the drive, little set back from the road, you enter here.  If you pass this drive, there is a second about 100ft ahead, you can enter here as well.  IF you go as far as 24th street, or further to CR 380 (stop sign) you have gone too far. 

Be well--have a great week
Laurie, Lee and IRis

Hello everyone--
I caught myself as I was putting 'spring' in the subject line.  Sure feels like spring, and I suppose according to the calendar it still is, but something about being in the second week of June, seems odd to feel so spring like.....well, so be it.  We get what we get and we adjust accordingly.  For the most part, the plant life is thriving and vibrant.  Those of you with gardens see the delay a cool seasons start has on the heat loving crops--tomatoes and peppers being the most obvious, and coveted for most--but the temperate greens and kohl crops find this lovely, or so I surmise from their perky appearance.  Referring back to our subject line, we're talking garlic this week.  Not the bulbous, clove-y kind, but the long, green, crunchy form.  Garlic scapes or scants, as we've heard them referred to as, or dragon's tongues as we affectionately call them, are the immature flowers of the garlic plant.  These offer a hint--or a lick--of the mature harvest flavor.  The flowers, which resemble more a curly-Q stem or string bean, can be chopped and used raw in pestos, or as a sprinkle to dressings, or cooked dishes, they can be chopped and sauteed as you would garlic, or left whole and roasted or sauteed as you might asparagus or green beans.  They have a VERY long storage capacity when kept in the crisper, not that you would have any reason to not eat them right away--but in this we feel you won't find them imposing or inconvenient in any way.  Does it harm the garlic to take the flower?  Quite the opposite---the bulb would feed the flower in order to self propagate.  We, the eaters, step in and liberate the bulb from such burden in order to grow bountiful, fat bulbs for our own harvest and pleasure.

As for the other veg in your share we have your salad mix, radishes and collards....Collards, with being so early in our season of cooking greens, I'm shy to pass you a greens heavy recipe.  But still, what to do with a bunch of collards?  I would suggest breakfast (if you have the time, in the morning, otherwise, make it for dinner--it is nice to enjoy the meal called breakfast if you normally don't or cannot).  Saute the de-stemmed and torn leaves in butter, ghee or oil of choice--if you're into bacon, cook this first and use the leftover pan drippings.  Really don't skimp on the fat in the saute.  Being a heavier leaf, collards will take a few more minutes to cook than kale or mustard greens--and don't use water--these leaves are supple and filled with moisture to aid cooking.  With tongs or a fork, toss the leaves as they cook add salt and pepper to taste--a pinch of coriander is nice.  May take 5-10 minutes, med-high heat.  Once the leaves are vibrant, deep green, remove from the pan.  Serve with eggs prepared to your liking--poached is our choice--and a side of soba noodles or your favorite bread toasted in the hot collard skillet.  

Enjoy the week. If you haven't already done so, mark your calendar for the 21st, our potluck gathering here at the farm.
BE well
laurie, lee and Iris

HI-
Good day to you.  Sorry to miss correspondence last week, something in the air made it a doozy, and I couldn’t find the space in the day to sit for long at the computer.  We’re in the midst of week four, and over this and next week, you’ll see some veggies go and others enter the picture.  The spinach is seeing a last harvest throughout the week.  Some of you will have this, while others will find young and tender collards in their place.  At this stage of the collards growth, the leaves are so tender, you can use them as you would cooked spinach.  Cooking time, steaming or sautéing, may be a little longer, but not much.  Asparagus will bow out in the next few weeks.  Harvests are reduced, as we expect, but what a nice run, right?  A Japanese salad turnip, named Hakurei, are ready for harvest over the next week or so, beets and kohlrabi are not too far off.  In the meantime, there is plenty of salad mix and radishes, keeping things light and spicy.  

A few announcements—first we are planning our Solstice potluck for Sunday June 21, 2009.  We gather here at the farm between noon and 1 pm.  We’ll eat around 1-1:30.  Then we will take a loosely guided farm tour.  Bring appropriate shoes for tromping around the fields and around barnyards—with animals, and what animals eliminate.  For the meal, bring a dish to pass or an interesting beverage, your table settings, and if you have lawn chairs that are easy to bring, throw them in as well.  The farm address is 26041 County Road 681, Bangor 49013.  You may google map us, but if you’d rather directions directly from us, email, and I’ll get them right back to you.  We hope you can make it, the food and company makes these days wonderful!

--Second: weeders needed.  If you are hankering to weed carrots—we’re the ones to contact.  The carrot beds are looking nice, and green, and a little too leafy…The string of rain has boosted the growth of well, everything—some (weeds) more than others (carrots).  Between rows are cultivated, and now we need to remove in-row weeds.  If this activity suits you, let us know. (Due to the tenderness of baby carrot plants, this work is best for mature hands and attention spans.)

--Third:  We cannot speak highly enough of our farm interns.  This year we have Shaun, James and Zach living, learning and working the farm.  We’re encouraging their input on the blog page—they take an inspired approach to living and being, and have much to teach us in return.   

Finally—recipes.  Listed below is a website forwarded to us by a farm member (thanks Tanya).  I haven’t checked it out yet, but said to have great recipes to cover the CSA season, and all the variety of veg. offered.  Also a recipe for Asparagus—sounds yum.

http://www.greenearthinstitute.org/recipes.htm

This is a recipe I received from a friend and she got it from the Chicago Trib.
Asparagus Soup
2 tbs olive oil
1tbs butter
2 leeks(I substituted half an onion), finely chopped
1 lb asparagus(I just used a big fistful), cut into 2 inch pieces, save the tips to the side
1 medium potato, peeled, and cut into to 2 inch pieces(roughly)
1 quart or 4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
1 or 2 tbs FRESH lemon juice(Don't use that bottled garbage, yuck)
a dollop of sour cream for garnish(I didn't use this, it was so good it didn't need it)

Heat oil and butter over medium heat in a large saucepan.  Add onions and cook until soft(about 5 minutes)
Add asparagus and potatoes and cook until beginning to soften(about 5 minutes)
Add chicken broth, salt and pepper, heat to a boil and then reduce heat to low and cook until everything is tender(about 15 minutes)
Meanwhile, heat a saucepan of water to boil and add asparagus tips.  Boil until tender but still bright green(about 3 minutes).  Drain and set aside to garnish bowls of soup.
Puree the soup in batches in a blender and return to pot.
Stir in lemon juice to taste.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with asparagus tips and sour cream(if you wish).

Radish salad—sooo good, a summer staple for us.

I bunch radish, washed and shredded
½ onion shredded
¼ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
½ c feta cheese
juice of ½ lemon
½-1 c plain yogurt
1 tsp dill weed (or more to taste)
½ tsp spearmint (optional)
salt to taste
Combine all, serve at once—does become soupier as it sits.

Be well—have a great week!
Laurie, Lee and IRis