Spring Share, Week #1, May 29

Deliveries begin this week (May 29) for these shares:

– Weekly Shares
– BiWeekly/ A group.

Deliveries next week (June 5) for:

– Weekly Shares
– BiWeekly/ B group.

If you don’t remember your share type, log in online and look at your scheduled dates under “Orders”.

Farm News

Transplanting melon seedlings into plastic mulch. The mulch suppresses weeds, conserves moisture, and improves melon quality. From left, Madelline, Aly, Ben and Maggie. Not in photo, Simone, Beth, Steve.

Our spring work progresses nicely.  We’ve had a lot of beautiful, blue-sky days.  It is pleasant working weather despite the swings in temperature.  Some of your asparagus is short, some is long, the result of weather swinging hot – cold – hot – cold.

Our farm is quite dry.  Many storms have missed us narrowly, raining a few miles away but missing us entirely.  We watch the clouds and rain pass by on the horizon.  It is a good thing we have irrigation. 

We were relieved when one April storm passed us.  Our town of Evansville was heavily hit by enormous hail.  There was so much damage to cars, houses and roofs.  Friends and neighbors are still arranging repairs and wrangling with their insurance companies.  We could only imagine what it would have done to our spring crops, solar array, greenhouses, etc.

A hail stone that fell in Evansville WI this April.  Photo credit Lisa Cromheecke James

From left, Steve, Ari, Beth, Sophie.

Ari graduated from Macalester College this spring.  He is our youngest child, so this is a big milestone.  He has a research position in mathematics lined for the summer, and is looking for a math-related job for fall in the Twin Cities.  Most of you know Ari from the strawberry u-picks.  He’s the tall guy showing you how and where to pick.  We are very, very proud of this kid.

Strawberry forecast

The berry field looks great so far.  There was only one frost during blossoming and we irrigated to protect the fragile flowers.  There are many tiny berries on the plants.  Keep your fingers crossed that they mature without trouble.  They are delicate!  We expect to begin picking berries in mid-June.

Let’s review the essentials of how our strawberry u-picks work.
– U-picks are by reservation only. 
– I offer reservations first to our 2025 CSA members.  Watch for emails from us with all the details, plus a link to place a reservation.
– If there are unclaimed reservation slots, I will offer them to our u-pick email list.  After that, I’ll post publicly on Facebook.  Honestly, it’s unlikely that we’ll get that far.  Our organic berries are in high demand. 

How to wash greens efficiently and to maximize storage life

Washing and drying your lettuce, spinach, and other greens prolongs their storage life.  And they will be ready to use on busy weeknights!  Here’s our approach.  It works.

There will be grit in your produce this week, a side effect of recent rain and irrigation.
Thoughts:
– Cut your lettuce one and a half inches above the base and you’ll leave a lot of dirt behind.
– Expect to spend extra time cleaning this week’s greens.  Let’s talk about how to do that efficiently.

Cut your lettuce heads at one and a half inches above the base and you’ll leave a lot of dirt behind.

1.  Fill your sink or a basin halfway with cold tap water.  If you have two sinks, fill one sink partway with cold water.
2.  Chop your lettuce, spinach, escarole or other green to the size you wish.
3.  Dump it into the water and swish around gently but thoroughly.
4.  Working in two batches (for average lettuce head) or more batches (big spinach bunches, Romaine), pull handfuls out of the water and drain in the basket of a salad spinner.
5.  After all the greens have been rinsed one time, dump the water.  Rinse the sink/basin and refill with cold tap water.
6.  Repeat the process.
7.  Spin your greens dry and store in a dry container.  They store much longer when spun dry.

This works because …
– pre-chopping the greens frees soil trapped in the head.
– the large amount of water washes and dilutes away the grit.
– By pulling the greens out of the water, you take advantage of the draining action to pull the grit with it.
– Drying (spinning) the greens before storage reduces spoilage.

Veggie List & Veggie Notes

Asparagus, 1 lb
Carrots, ~2.5 lb
Green leaf lettuce
Spinach, 1 bunch
Bok choy, 1 head
Arugula, 1 bunch
Salad radishes, 1 bunch
Green garlic, 1 bunch
Rhubarb, 1.5 lb

Next week’s box will probably contain asparagus, lettuce, spinach, leafy greens, radishes, green garlic and more.

ASPARAGUS – This is my favorite spring treat!  
Prep: Wash your asparagus thoroughly to remove hidden grit.  Submerge in water with the tips pointing down, soak briefly, then swish vigorously and pull out of the water.  The draining action helps pull the grit out of the asparagus tips.  Repeat several times.
Storage: Asparagus is perishable, so eat it as soon as possible.  Store in a paper towel, cloth or paper bag, then wrap loosely in a plastic bag.  The paper bag protects the asparagus tips from direct contact with the plastic bag.  The plastic bag keeps the asparagus from wilting.
Preparation: We snap our asparagus at harvest, rather than cutting.  Therefore, there is no need to snap the stalks to remove fibrous ends.  For the same reason, it is not necessary to peel the asparagus stalks.  It’s OK to trim the cut end a bit.
Cooking:  If your asparagus stalks vary greatly in size, you will want to cook the thicker ones longer.  Put an empty steamer pot over water, and bring the water to a boil.  Add the asparagus.  Cover and steam over medium heat until just tender.  Use two forks or a spatula to turn the asparagus during cooking, rotating the bottom spears to the top.  Drain and serve.  Alternatively, you can lay spears flat in the bottom of a broad pan, with ½ inch of water.  Also excellent broiled or grilled.  Good dressed with vinaigrette, or with lime juice, salt and pepper.

CARROTS – These colorful carrots are from our excellent crop harvested in fall, then stored over the winter.  You’ll get any two (or three!) of these colors: orange, purple, red, or yellow.  Don’t be surprised to see small roots.  They will rub off when you wash and/or peel your carrots.
Storage:  Keep refrigerated!  They want to grow! 

GREEN LEAF LETTUCE – The lettuce very tender so handle gently.  
Storage:  Refrigerate in a bag or other container.

SPINACH – This spinach is good for salads or for cooking.
Storage: Refrigerate in a bag or other container.

BOK CHOY (rosette with thick white stems and green leaves) – This Asian green is good for stir-frying or sautéing or in soup. You can think of the stems and leaves as two separate vegetables. The stems require longer cooking. The leaves will cook almost as quickly as spinach. Bok choy stores well, so feel free to pull off leaves as you need them, or use the whole head at once.
Storage: Refrigerate in a plastic bag or other container.

ARUGULA – (bunch of green leaves with pungent scent) – This is a spring treat!  Arugula is good mixed with lettuce or spinach in salads, or added to cooked dishes such as lasagne or quiche.  I love it on sandwiches.  
Storage:  Refrigerate. 

SALAD RADISHES – These are great in salads or thinly sliced on sandwiches. 
Storage: Cover and refrigerate.

GREEN GARLIC (looks like scallions, tastes like garlic) – Last fall, we planted garlic cloves that grew into the stalks we harvested this week.  If left to grow until mid-summer, the slim white bulb on this week’s garlic will divide and form the usual cluster of cloves in a garlic bulb.
Preparation: Green garlic is more pungent than scallions, so slice thinly and use sparingly when raw.  It mellows when cooked.  Chop and add to any cooked dish that would benefit from garlic.  Use the white bulbs and pale green stems.  Don’t use the dark green stems and leaves, as these are fibrous.

RHUBARB – Storage: Refrigerate in a plastic bag.
Stewed rhubarb: This is the simplest way to prepare rhubarb. Chop rhubarb into one inch chunks. Stir over medium heat with a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan. The rhubarb will release moisture as it cooks. Stew until it softens and falls apart. Sweeten to taste with honey or sugar. Eat warm on its own, over vanilla ice cream, on pancakes, etc.
Storage:  Refrigerate.
Preserve: Rhubarb is extremely easy to freeze. Wash, chop and pop it in a freezer bag. That’s it; no need for blanching. When baking muffins or cakes, add the frozen rhubarb directly to the batter.

RECIPES from DEB

Rhubarb and Brown Sugar Skillet Pork Chops

From The Kitchn

This rhubarb sauce would also be delicious on boneless chicken breasts, that you could sauté using the same procedure as the pork chops. For a pinker sauce, you could omit the soy sauce – taste for salt – and sub white sugar or honey for the brown sugar.
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Peppery Greens Salad with Avocado, Chicken, and Tortilla Croutons

By Justin Chapple for Food and Wine

Here’s a main course salad recipe that you can make with a combination of the arugula, spinach, and lettuce from this week’s box, about 8 1/2 cups of greens all together. The recipe suggests toasting flour tortillas that have been brushed with oil directly on the rack in your oven. If you don’t want to risk a smoky mess, put the tortillas on a cooling rack placed on a cookie sheet to protect your oven! Broken, purchased, corn or pita chips would also work to add crunch to your salad.
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Rhubarb-Walnut Quick Bread Recipe

From King Arthur Baking

In this recipe the rhubarb is cooked briefly before being mixed into the bread batter, which improves the texture of the finished bread. Unless you have 3-4 very skinny stalks to decorate the top, I recommend splitting the stalks lengthwise.
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Bok Choy and Radishes

From Taste of Home

I think we often forget that cooked radishes are tasty, and this simple, spring-y stirfry combining radishes and Bok Choy reminds us. The recipe calls for lemon-pepper seasoning, but if that’s not on your spice rack, regular black pepper alone or with some grated lemon zest or a squish of lemon juice will work just as well.
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Carrot Tart

By Erin Merhar for The Pioneer Woman

Photo by Will Dickey
Roast the carrots from this week’s box and turn them into this elegant but easy tart with a purchased puff pastry crust. The recipe suggests using a soft garlic and herb cheese, such as Boursin, along with some grated Monterey Jack, but you could sub in other soft or grated cheeses depending on what you have on hand.
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Spring Pasta with Peas and Asparagus

From Cookie and Kate

This recipe calls for a cup of fresh herbs, such as parsley and mint. Tossing in a combination of washed and roughly torn or chopped spinach and/or arugula leaves and sliced green garlic will add flavor in place of the herbs. I suggest adding the greens and garlic at the same time as the asparagus and peas.
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Spicy Pork Bowls with Bok Choy & Broccoli

From Dishing Up the Dirt

Dishing Up the Dirt created this recipe for the transition season from summer to fall, but it works just as well in the transition from spring to summer! You can purchase broccoli to add to your bowls or use asparagus and arugula or spinach. Garnish with fresh radishes, and use sliced green garlic in the marinade. If you don’t eat pork, sub ground turkey or chicken, or crumbled tofu for vegetarians.
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