Tewksbury Grace Farm

Hi Friends,

First delivery of the season, and we are excited by a new season full of possibility and flavor!  This is week A, so check your schedule if you are a half share to see if you are getting a delivery.  If you are a full share, you are lucky to get a bag every Friday for the next 18 weeks!  This May has been just as crazy as every other May we have experienced.  We have been busy planting, planning, mowing, cutting, dealing with extreme weather conditions, and now harvesting.  Our farm was hit by a hailstorm a couple of weeks ago; some of our early greens were destroyed during this powerful storm. This event jumpstarted a backburner vegetable we’ve been wanting to try: microgreens! We are excited to bring you some more unusual items that you can’t just get anywhere.  We try to label or describe as many of the items as possible, but if you get something in your bag and just don’t know what it is, please send us an email and we’ll I.D. the UVB (unidentified vegetable in the bag).  Also the internet is a good resource for recipes for any of the items we put in your bag, but if you have a particularly good recipe, please add it as a comment below this blog listing.  So, now the time we have been waiting for… what’s in the bag?  Chock full of flavor, vitamins and nutrition, we are featuring:

• ·Our Extraordinary Salad Mix (over 20 different types of greens and herbs)  - We like to tear up the larger pieces and then toss the mixture well with a vinagraitte dressing, walnuts, cranberries and goat cheese.
• ·Asparagus
• ·Microgreens – chock full of vitamins and minerals, use on sandwiches, pasta, fresh spring rolls. Plan to use soon! Microgreens do not store long.
• ·Blackberry Jelly  -- enjoy this fruit, as the 2014 season for our blackberries looks grim….many of the berry crowns were set back hard by the severe winter.
• ·Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms – From our first oak-log flush of the season. This batch is on the dry side, so exceptionally tasty. Do not be alarmed when you see a whitish film on mushroom caps – this is a natural spore print from the shiitake. Read our cool label to learn about shiitake!
• · Dried Blue Coco Beans w/ fresh bay leaf – these creamy beans were grown last fall and dried. Soak overnight. Make sure beans are well covered with water and simmer gently with bay leaf until tender, adding water when needed.  Drizzle olive oil and season with salt and pepper – dee-lish.  Bay leaves are from our big bay plant!
• ·Dried Heirloom Tomatoes – Rich in flavor. Soak until tender and add to omelettes, pizza, pasta.
• ·Radishes

Enjoy!

Johnny and Leah