EverGreen Farm

CSA Newsletter, Week 5

Garlic Scapesy

In your share this week:

• salad mix
• baby pac choi*
• Romaine head lettuce
• garlic scapes
• radishes
• Japanese turnips

*This is the last of the pac choi for the season.  I mentioned last week that our first crop was bolting and this is also now the case with the second planting - bolting quickly in the heat, even though still quite small.  So out came all the rest of the pac choi regardless of size, a "use it or loose it" harvesting approach.

The garlic scapes are starting to form, perhaps a little earlier than normal this year.  This first week, they are picked small, when the scape is young and tender.  But scapes come on quickly so be prepared for a bounty in the coming weeks.  Our favorite way to use a big handful is to make garlic scape pesto.  Click here for a recipe we love!  This one calls for pistachios and is amazing.  There are many other recipes on the internet, using a variety of nuts and cheese (or no cheese) variations.

Shain continues to plant various crops to give us a long season of wonderful produce.  This week he planted:  more salad mix, peas, beets, cilantro, parsley, carrots, dill, basil and beans. 

Besides harvesting for the weekly shares, our projects have included: pulling up old greens to make room for planting new crops, weeding, and putting away items used in cooler weather (row covers, wire hoops, etc.).

Some recipes ideas this week:

Open face omlet

Shain made this egg dish for lunch this week.  It's very quick and delicious.  He simply melted a dab of butter in a large frying pan and sauteed sliced mushrooms and pac choi.  Next, added about 6 beaten eggs and a handful of sliced cherry tomatoes.  Cooked over low heat, with a lid on top, until the eggs are set (no longer runny).  Seasoned with salt and pepper.  You could also add chopped garlic scapes, other seasonings, cheese, sour creme, etc.

Another dish we've been talking about all week is a simple stir fry with the pac choi, radishes (with tops) and turnips (with tops).  One of our workshares this year is an executive chef.  His name is Rene Stein and he will be making magic with local produce at The Rose in Jackson Hole this summer, but that's another story (which I promise to get back to in another post).  He shared this little idea with us while washing salad greens on Monday.  In a medium frying pan, melt a dab of butter until bubbly.  Then add sliced pac choi, radishes and turnips (keep the tops on).  Saute on medium heat.  Then add a splash (about 3/4 tsp) of high quality red wine vinegar, and about 1 tsp honey.  Cook until greens are wilted and the turnips/radishes are lightly cooked but still crisp (don't overcook!).  Season with high quality salt like Yellowstone Salt (sold locally).  (Disclaimer:  These are my words, not Rene's, as I can best remember from his instructions.  Shain's photo above after making the dish for the first time.  The honey and vinegar really do make a big difference.) 

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week 4

Sun setting on EverGreen Farm.

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Radishes*
• Japanese turnips*
• Pac Choi
• Romaine Head Lettuce
• Chinese Cabbage

*Root crops will store better if their leafy greens are removed ASAP.  The tops of many root crops are quite edible, but they will continue to draw moisture from their root source (the radish, turnip, carrot, beet, etc.) if left intact.  This makes the vegetable less crisp - it turns dry, "flat", even rubbery.  Many people love turnip greens and will use them similar to the other Asian greens you are getting in your share this week (stir fry, omelets, soups, etc.).  If you want to add some kick to a recipe, consider adding a few of the radish tops too.  I like to add some to a smoothie or in my juicing.  Just a few aren't noticeable to the flavor, but they are full of nutrients you might not otherwise be getting in your diet.  ("Bitters" are often a neglected part of the Western diet.)

We had to harvest all the remaining Chinese cabbage and pac choi growing in greenhouse 6 because it's starting to bolt, aka "going to seed" or "flowering".  For those who aren't familiar with this term, the picture below is an example of pac choi that has bolted.  In just a few days, the plants will go from normal to growing a stiff, fibrous stalk up the center with a flower on the end.  A plant can bolt at any stage in it's growth cycle, from seedling to full sized plant.  It's a result of stress - usually a sudden increase in heat and/or extreme temperature fluctuations (it's common for us to see 30-40 degree shifts between night and day temps, especially in a greenhouse).

We have more Chinese cabbage and pac choi planted in another greenhouse, but they are still quite small.  We will watch them closely and hopefully catch them (harvest) before they bolt too.

As a non-radish lover, I apologize for the large quantity you are getting this week.  Those who love the hot little poppers, are going to be happy.  One of our workshares Katie, shared a wonderful fermented radish recipe with me last year that I loved.  I apparently forgot to add it to this blog's recipe section, but I noticed several fermentation recipes on Pinterest and Google.  You can also look up pickled radishes, the recipes are quite similar.

Sadly, our Japanese turnip crop is highly infested with root maggots.  Yes, it's as gross as it sounds.  We are having to pitch more than we keep for the shares.  This seems to be an ongoing problem.  Shain wants to continue looking for solutions to the bugs, I suggested we stop growing them and plant something more certain and just as desirable in their place.  We'll see how this ends up.  :)

Temperatures have definitely picked up in the last week.  We've also experienced some whopper mountain storms.  Thankfully, nothing worse than heavy rains and strong winds, with some awesome thunder/lightning and a little light hail.  These are the times when we run outside, close all the greenhouses and barn doors up tight, and then return to the house to watch and wait.  And check facebook for the pictures and warnings our friends and acquaintances post from neighboring towns.  Sometimes these storms are very isolated, sometimes they move in another direction or die down before reaching us.  But some continue to roll through to our end of the valley.  It's very eerie to watch dark clouds moving in so quickly and knowing the havoc they've already made on their way here.  Is it gaining or loosing momentum?  What crops are susceptible right now?  Maybe we'll be spared?  We listen for hail on the metal roof.  How big, how heavy?  Then run to the windows and watch some more.  Our minds are full as big storms roll over EverGreen Farm.

It's fun having such a large share this week.  Our produce cooler is packed to capacity with greens. 

ENJOY your veggies this week.

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week 3

View out our front door this week!

In your share this week:

• Salad Mix
• Pac Choi
• Chinese Cabbage
• Radishes

Coming soon (hopefully next week):  Japanese turnips (a personal fav!) and Romaine head lettuce.

Planted in the last week:  Red Norland potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach, lettuces, snap peas, cilantro, parsley, scallions, carrots, head cabbage and arugula (a trial run to see how it grows outside this "cooler" year, and if the bugs don't get to it first).   Fillet beans will go in this weekend.

Other projects:  We are already starting to rotate our crops in greenhouse 1 - this week we started pulling out the old arugula, mustard greens, and salad to plant fillet beans.  Arugula bolts quickly in the heat and doesn't give us a second cutting, sometimes it barely gives us a decent first cut.  But it's a favorite for many members so we keep growing it.  We've also spent a good deal of time weeding. 

It's very good to have Farmer Shain back on the farm "full time" for the summer.  Today he commented that he is "almost caught up" again after so many weeks of rain.  We can thank Jim Corsi (from Alpine) for this.  Out of near desperation, Shain felt we had no choice but to hire out some of the field preparation work.  In two days, Jim (with specialized equipment) was able to accomplish what usually takes Shain a month of evenings and weekends to complete.  Shain says it's the best money he spent this year and this will now be a permanent part of our farming budget.  I have to admit, I had a bit of John Deere envy myself for a few days.

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara

CSA Newsletter, Week 2

Radishes are on!

In your share this week:

• salad mix
• Chinese cabbage
• pac choi (also known as bok choy, and other similar name variations)
• radishes
• arugula

It's been good to see a little more sunshine and some plant growth!  Having more food to harvest this week was also very nice!  There have even been a few brakes in the rain for us to start planting outside.  Half of the potatoes got in the ground last Saturday and we hope to finish the rest this coming Saturday (8:30 am, you are welcome to join us!).  We've also planted cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers this week in greenhouse 6.  Shain has high hopes of getting a lot of other outside planting done this weekend.

Spring is a busy time for us at EverGreen Farm.  For those who don't know, Shain is a school teacher.  He teaches 8th grade English at Star Valley Middle School.  When the farm and school year over lap in the spring and fall, he is a busy guy.  He will tell you he loves both teaching and farming, but sometimes it's a challenge to do both in the same day.  This is his last week teaching school and then we'll be home running the farm together for the summer.  :)  Our teenage son will be pitching in quite a bit too (the farm is his guaranteed employment each summer).

Thank you to all for such a smooth first CSA pick-up last week.  I'm aware of only a few small mix ups which were easily remedied.  Your attention to details at the pick-up end of the delivery is very important.  If there are ever any questions, please feel free to get a hold of me.

This weeks harvest of pac choi and Chinese cabbage is the result of one of our earliest projects of the season.  We sneak in a few "extra early" crops by growing them in greenhouse 6, one of our very warmest green houses, where they are pulled through snow storms and freezing temperatures by covering them with row covers every night (sometimes even double covers).  Now that it's getting warmer, this area gets very hot and we have fans running to keep the temps down.  So as you can imagine, these cool weather plants are really taking off now and quite ready for us to harvest.  Their timing is right on schedule with us needing the space to plant the heat loving crops (cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers) which sometimes go in the very holes from where we cut the pac choi and Chinese cabbage.  Sometimes this all happens on the same day, like we did this Tuesday.

Are pac choi and Chinese cabbage new to you?  You will love them!  As you can imagine, our workshares talk about food quite a bit while we are all working together.  Some of the more popular ways to eat these greens are freshly chopped and added to a regular salad (for some crunch), to make an Asian salad recipe, in a stir fry, or for making the "stuffing" that goes in egg rolls.  We've enjoyed all of these ideas and I've posted several recipes to this website over the years.  (Link on the left.)

Thanks to Julie, a long time workshare, who reminded me that pears are a very nice addition to an arugula salad.  Maybe with some walnuts and a little balsamic vinegar.  Yum!

Speaking of recipes, we LOVE to share pictures and recipes with our CSA members.  If you have any photos of the foods you are making with your CSA produce, we'd like to see them (email them to me or post to our Facebook page).  New recipe ideas are also appreciated!

Have a great week and ENJOY your veggies!

Tara