Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 1

SWISS CHARD  These gorgeous plants are amazing.  Planted in September, they fed the CSA well in October and November, they were sporadically picked through the winter, and now they are giving us one last exuberant crop in mid-April.  We are including flower stalks in the bunches, for fun.  They cook up nicely at this early stage and it’s not something everyone has a chance to see. 

CABBAGE   From cold storage.  The mountain of cabbage that we built in the walk-in cooler last fall is officially gone.  We held back the best of the reasonably sized ones for the CSA and they held well. 

BUTTER LETTUCE  The opposite of a hefty cabbage.  Smaller than we would like, but oh so delicate.

YELLOW ONIONS  Also from storage.  Don’t expect them to keep much longer.

DAIKON  Another cold storage star.  Not the prettiest or more recognizable vegetable, but Farmer Tom is here to help.  Read on for the recipe at the end.

GARLIC CHIVES  The freshest green shoots of Spring for sprinkling on everything.

BOK CHOI: Early baby bok choy bunches.  Amazing when stir fried or lightly steamed.

FARM REPORT:

Greetings from Fair Share Farm.  This marks the start of the 2019 CSA season.  We reached our goal of 100 memberships and are in the midst of the Spring planting season.  So far, so good.  I think that is safe to say. 

At the farm the world is sprouting beneath our feet.

This is a photo of our Spring cover crop mix.  The CSA sugarsnap peas have popped up as well.  Hooray!!

Just in time for the start of the harvest season, we wrapped up the pack/wash area remodel.  It was a real marathon of work, but we are happy with the result. 

Hi there!  That’s me, Farmer Rebecca, washing something as always.  My hubby, Tom, and I write this blog together, as we have for the past 15 seasons (well, it began as a paper newsletter for the first few seasons).  We thank those who support our agricultural work.  Our goals are first and foremost, to build soil, grow food and ferment community.  We work towards those goals through Community Supported Agriculture.  We must re-builds the relationship between farmer and eater.

Hi too from Farmer Tom. Hard to believe it’s been a decade and a half of CSA for the farm. It’s exciting also to enter the third year of selling our fermented vegetables. In that time we have been able to sell to the membership, at the Brookside Farmers Market, and at a half dozen retail stores in the KC metro.

Recently our ferments have been a charcouterie board item at both Of the Earth Farm Distillery and Green Dirt Farm Creamery. And this spring Jonathan Justus of Black Dirt is using our sauerkraut in a wonderful braised Alsatian dish. It’s been great to partner with other farmers and with chefs.

RECIPE:

This week’s share has some bulky items, one of which is a daikon radish. They are a handful, and make a great salad. Take your daikon and clean it before either grating it or chopping it into matchsticks. Chop and add some garlic to taste and a sprinkling of salt. The salt will help keep the radish from getting bitter and will improve its texture. After about half hour mix in a dressing of your choice ( I used white wine and escabeche juice.) Let that sit to blend the flavors, top with garlic chives and enjoy.