July 10 - 2007

CSA Newsletter
July 10th 2007

'If gardening books have come up short in describing the garden as a breeding ground for a sense of place, then the explosion of books, studies, and proposals about fixing the environment – governmental and otherwise – also neglects the potential role of gardening in helping to forge an ecological society.'

Jim Nollman in Why We Garden (p.12)

Hello everyone. Hope you had a great holiday week. I saw many of you out and about enjoying it!

The Harvest

1# salad mix
¼#arugula
½# spinach
½# stir fry mix

Basil
1 bunch radishes
1 bunch beets
1 bunch turnips
Arrow Head Cabbage
Herb bunch
Fennel
Flower bouquet
Tomatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long list this week! Alas, not everybody is getting everything. I will keep going down the list making sure that eventually everyone gets herbs. Many of the herbs I grow here are perennials and this being their first year of life, they are smaller and less productive then they will be in future years. But, we have to start somewhere, and I am pleased with the small amount they have been producing.

Flowers: I haven’t harvested them yet so I don’t know how many bouquets I am going to get. There will be a list of name on the cooler door indicating who should be picking up flowers this week.

Beets and Turnips: Those that got beets last week will get turnips this week and visa versa. If you do end up with both in your box that means we have lots of turnips ready and most people are getting them (will harvest those in the morning also so not yet sure how many are ready). When you receive your turnips and beets you should cut the greens off and store them in a separate container. Leaving the greens on causes the root to dry and get soft faster. I leave the greens on for you guys because I would rather not use another baggie, but you all should cut them off when you get them home. Turnip greens are wonderful eating, they do require a little cooking though, in my opinion. Sautee, steam, or bake them up in something.

Tomatoes: Yes! Some people will receive tomatoes this week. I must say something about the tomatoes though…..the cherry tomatoes (Sungold Cherry) are great, some of the larger varieties (this week it will be Cherokee Purple, Purple Russian, maybe a few Aunt Ruby’s German Green), are a little low on sugar content. What I am saying is that these are not the most amazing tomatoes I have ever tasted in my life, which is of course my goal. I am working with them though, and I think they are getting better, so bear with me.

Tomato Cast of Characters:

Purple Russian
The Purple Russians are an heirloom variety. The original stock of this variety came from Irma Henkel in the Ukraine. This is known as a sweet and meaty tomatoe.

Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Aunt Ruby’s German Green is an heirloom green variety tomato from Ruby Arnold of Greenville, Tennessee. It is a beefsteak fruit, sweet and juicy flesh with a slight citrus flavor.

(Right now you are all thinking I am pulling your leg with these little bio’s on the tomatoes. But I’m not. That is one of the great things about heirloom seed varieties – you actually know where they came from and they have some sort of story attached to them)

Sungold Cherry Tomato
This is a red/gold tomato. Don’t wait for it to get red, it won’t. I eat these like they are candy!

Chadwick Cherry Tomato
This larger variety cherry was selected by Alan Chadwick the late horticultural genius. He came up with the Grow Biointensive method of food production.
*With the tomatoes check on the fridge for another list of names for tomato takers. Tomatoes should not be kept in the fridge, their taste declines drastically, so they will be on one of the stainless steel tables.

Fennel: These fennel bulbs are small, but it’s time for them to get eaten, getting a little too warm for their liking. This variety is called Florence Fennel. I would recommend a little olive oil, salt, pepper and tossing them on the grill until slightly soft. Not everyone will get fennel this week.

The News
Hot and dry, but keeping it together.

The Recipe
Another recipe from Penny Kinsey, Owner/Chef of Blind Dog Restaurant and Deep Blue Seafood.

Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi
Penelope Lehman-Kinsey

Note: This was the only way my Grandmother could get me to eat them when I was younger - In the guise of potatoes. But they do add a lot of body to the dish.

Turnip & Proscuitto Gratin

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced thinly 2 pounds turnips, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick1 large yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
½ pound thinly slice Proscuitto, cut into thin stripsSalt Freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 cups grated Fontina 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup chicken stock 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. If at all possible, set the oven on convection in this altitude. I cook everything on convection but soufflés. But a turnip soufflé just doesn’t sound appetizing to me. While waiting for the oven to heat, in a medium sauté pan over med high heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter; add the Proscuitto and then the onions. Cook until the onions are transparent and start to brown.

Butter a 13 by 9-inch casserole dish with 1 teaspoon of the butter. Start with the Turnips, layer 1/3 of the turnips, then a 1/3 of the potatoes and then a third of the onion and Proscuitto mixture in the prepared dish, very lightly season with salt and pepper and dot with butter between each. Top with a layer of Fontina. Repeat the layering, seasoning, and cheese, ending with cheese on top.

In a saucepan, bring the cream, chicken stock, and thyme to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the vegetables. Bake in the oven, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until nearly all the cream is absorbed, about 30 to 40 minutes. Un cover and sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake until golden, all the liquid is absorbed, and the vegetables are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

As you can tell this is a meal and not for the faint of heart in terms of richness. Serve with just a nice salad of mixed greens.

Cheers!
That’s all for this week.

Daisy

July 3 - 2007

CSA Newsletter
July 3rd, 2007

'Food, our most basic necessity, has become a force behind a staggering array of social, economic, and environmental epidemics – a toxic cornucopia of poison-laminated harvests, extreme labor abuse, and treacherous and secretive science. At the reins of the food combine are a few increasingly monopolistic corporations controlling nearly every aspect of human sustenance. The way we make, market, and eat food today creates rampant illness, hunger, poverty, community disintegration, and ecological degradation – and threatens our future food supply. Welcome to what I’d call Silent Autumn.'

Christopher D. Cook in Diet For A Dead Planet (p.4)

Hello all, happy Independence Day. Hope you are surviving the dry heat. The plants are holding up pretty well. The warm weather sure is encouraging lots of growth, but that dry wind has been……..well, drying.

The Harvest

· 1# salad mix
· ½# stir fry mix
· ¼# basil (mix of Lettuce Leaf, Lemon, Genovese Sweet, Opal, and Sweet Thai)
· 5 oz arugula
· Garlic scapes
· either 1 bunch of Purple Top White Globe Turnips, or 1 bunch of mixed baby beets (Chioggia and Golden)

This is the last of the garlic scapes so enjoy them. If you have not been able to keep up with the garlic scapes you have received, do not despair, they will last for at least a few weeks in the refrigerator. I would highly recommend baking them with the baby beets, brushed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper (350 degrees for 20/30 minutes or so).

The stir fry mix is composed of mature: Bull’s Blood Beet Greens, Mizuna, Tatsoi, Chard, Red Russian Kale, and Giant Red Mustard. These greens do not need much cooking time. When I use them in a stir fry I cook all my other ingredients until they are done, turn off the heat, throw the greens in and cover for a few minutes. Just the residual heat of the other ingredients will wilt the greens the perfect amount (I think).

You may have noticed some little holes in the baby spinach last week…you will notice them this week in the arugula. The tiny holes are caused by Flea Beetles. I cover the arugula and many of our greens to hide them from these little guys, but sometimes they find it anyway. Despite the tiny holes, the baby arugula is fantastic this week.

If you receive turnips this week you will get beets next week, and visa versa.

I have had quite a few people ask me lately how I thin my beets and carrots. The answer is that I don’t thin them in the classic way. This week’s beet bunches are my thinnings. I wait until the beets are baby in size and then I thin. This way we still get to eat them rather than thinning when they are just seedlings and not getting a little beet to eat.

The beets that are red in color on the outside are called Chioggia Beets. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!! You have got to try them raw, they are soooo sweet. They are candy stripped red and white on the inside It may be a little hard to tell with some of the really tiny beets, but the larger ones will have the classic red and white striping, gorgeous! The yellow beets are called Golden Beets. These have more of the classic earthy flavor similar to purple beets. The white beets are in the Chioggia seed and they taste just like Chioggia Beets, so I am guessing that they are just a colorless Chioggia.

Don’t forget to eat the beet greens! Many people like the greens better than the roots, and they are soooo good for you. ½# cup of cooked beet greens contains 46% of your daily allowance of vitamin A and 30% daily allowance of vitamin C.

The News

If you just can’t get enough of our greens these days, head on over to the Blind Dog Restaurant. Starting today they will be buying some of our produce. We are very excited to have our veggies served at such a great restaurant!

The Recipe

This week’s recipe comes from Penny Lehman-Kinsey, Chef and Owner of Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi. Enjoy!

Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi
Penelope Lehman-Kinsey

Turnip, Green Apple & Jicama Slaw

Note: Try to grate the veggies and apples with a hand grater to get the longest strips possible. But go ahead and use the food processor if plate presentation is not the main goal.

1 pound of turnips, cleaned and shredded on a grater or food processor
1 pound of apples, peeled and shredded
1 – 2 jicama, peeled and grated
Juice of one Lemon
(put the lemon in the microwave for 20 seconds on high to release more
juice)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or grape seed oil
Sea Salt (I use this or kosher. I beg you not to use iodized salt. We get enough
Iodine in the food we eat)
Cracked Black Pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
1 bunch flat leaf parsley; stems removed and washed

Grate the veggies and the fruit into a medium non reactive bowl. Add all of the other ingredients. Toss, chill and serve.

Serve with tacos or under seared fish. It is great on a hot day.

Cheers!
Talk to you all next week.

Daisy

June 27 - 2007

CSA Newsletter
June 27th 2007

'In agriculture there have always been prevalent patterns of technology, practice, and attitude that may have had the customary force of orthodoxy. But these patterns were local; they varied in response to local conditions. And, unlike orthodoxies, they were not imposed by external authority, but grew as part of a complex relationship between the human community and natural conditions. Until the triumph of the industrial values of the ‘agribusiness’ vision, agriculture was very much a regional affair, a response at once to human need and to regional possibilities and limits, and it was successful and long-lasting in proportion to the sensitivity of that response.'
Wendell Berry from The Unsettling of America

Nothing like a little light reading…

Well, it’s round two, and it looks pretty similar to round one. You will find you are getting much the same produce as you did last week, with the exception of a few people getting some herbs. I hope you all enjoyed last week’s goodies, and thanks for all the positive emails you sent, makes my heart warm.

The Harvest

1 lb salad mix
½ lb baby spinach
¼ lb arugula
¼ lb basil
1 bunch of radishes
Garlic scapes

A few members will receive either Parsley or Tarragon.

I realized last week (after my Mother mentioned it to me) that many of you may not know what a Garlic scape is, and I never told you. Garlic scapes are the primary reproductive part of the garlic plant. They come out of the top of the plant within the leaves. If I were to let the scape mature (which I will do for a few plants) it would produce a seed head at the top of the curly Q stem. The seeds look like little pearls of garlic, and they taste like garlic too. This whole reproductive part looks very similar to an onion plant when it goes to seed. When I snap off the scape, the garlic plant puts all of its energy into the bulb (the secondary reproductive part of the plant). Basically the bulbs get bigger when I do this.

If I were to plant one of the little garlic pearls that come out of the seed head at the top of the scape, I would get a garlic plant the first year but it would not form a bulb until the second year. That is why this is not the first choice of garlic reproduction for garlic growers – we plant garlic cloves instead.

The News

I know you have all been on pins and needles…….the potatoes and the squash are going to recover from last week’s frost. The potatoes are looking great, and the squash plants are gasping their way back to life. Gotta love the resiliency of plants!

If you have any friends that would like to be on our CSA waitlist please email me their names, phone numbers, and email addresses. The way we are going to work the waitlist this year is this: when I have extra produce, I will call them on Wednesday to let them know what is available and how much each item costs. If they are interested they can reserve the produce and come pick it up and pay for it either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.

The Recipe

Another great recipe from Gavin Baker:

Basil-Citrus Lassi

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz Copper Moose Farm Basil, any variety, sliced
2 cup thick plain yogurt
2 cup cold milk (skim or whole)
3 tablespoons of local honey
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon of yuzu juice
16 ice cubes

PREPARATION:

Blanch the basil in boiling, very lightly salted water for 45 seconds. Remove and immediately plunge into ice water for another 45 seconds. Remove from the ice water and press or squeeze out any excess water. Reserve.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a blender and puree until well combined. Taste and adjust flavors. Strain through a sieve and reserve.
Serve immediately in tall glasses with something spicy.

NOTE:
You could, of course, substitute soy milk and yogurt to make this refreshing summer smoothie vegan.

Yuzu juice can be purchased at Deep Blue Seafood here in Park City or at most Asian stores in Salt Lake City. Fresh lemon juice can be substituted if necessary.

Serves 4.

If you are already feeling a little overwhelmed by all the basil, may I recommend making pesto and freezing it. My husband and I do this, and we enjoy ‘fresh’ pesto all year long. I freeze mine in little round Tupperware or snack sized Ziploc baggies – they are the perfect size for a 2 person serving of pesto. Below is a simple recipe for pesto.

2 cups packed basil leaves
¼ cup graded parmesan cheese
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoon pine nuts or walnuts
3 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in the food processor and go for it!
That’s all for this week, see you at the farm.

Daisy