In the Share: Week 6

GARLIC: See below. The garlic harvest has been like no other so far this year. This fresh garlic slips right out of the skin.

LETTUCE X 3: We are piling on the lettuce this week as the heat is bringing them to maturity quickly. Everyone will get a range of butterhead and red leaf, romaines and crispheads.

CARROTS: First digging of the season. Nothing like a freshly dug carrot.

BEETS: They are perfectly big and beautiful. We cooked them tonight, see below for recipe.

SUMMER SQUASH: Zucchinis and yellow squash are finally starting.

KALE OR SWISS CHARD: These spring crops continue to produce. Some of the best stuff we grow on the farm, enjoy these greens while we still can.

SPROUTING BROCCOLI: The broccoli too keeps going strong too.

BASIL: Treat your basil like a bouquet of flowers on your countertop. It will turn black if refrigerated. In a glass of water it will keep at least a week.

RECIPE:  Pan-Cooked Beets
This year we have some of the nicest spring beets in a long time. Root, stem and tops are all fresh, tender and ready for cooking.

Cut the tops off the beet bunch, then cut the stems, and finally peel any rough spots off the beet. Heat a pan with cooking oil, chop the stems and a clove of garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Cut the beet into matchsticks and add to the pan. Add ½ cup of water or cooking liquid (I used some ferment juice). Bring to boil and then simmer for 3 minutes. Cut beet tops into strips and add to the pan. Add1/4 cup more liquid, 2 tbsp butter, salt and pepper. Simmer with lid on for 3 to 5 minutes or until desired tenderness

FARM REPORT:
It had been a stormy Spring and Summer arrived with more. Last weekend 4.5 inches of rain fell with heavy storms.

Mostly we fared fine, just a bit of hail damage. Thanks to the soggy weather, your farmers got a break. Normally it takes a fork and some muscle to get the garlic out of the ground. This year they pulled right out. We were able to get the entire hardneck crop out in part of an afternoon. That’s 1,500 heads pulled, sorted and strung up to cure in the barn.

And, just this week we got the news that our sauerkraut is back in another recipe at Black Dirt restaurant. Chef Jonathan Justus has included it in his classic Rueben sandwich along with beef from our neighbors, Barham Family Farm. We love a good Rueben and the folks at Black Dirt undoubtedly know what they are about!  We are excited to get down there and try it ourselves.

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 5

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE: These beauties are the payoff for all worry of a Spring lettuce crop amid hailstorms and more. We are finally into the lettuces that never bore the brunt of the May storms. They don't call them butterhead for nothing.
RED LEAF LETTUCE: Our versatile red leaf is great in a chef's salad piled high with cheese, meat, nuts, fruit, or whatever else you desire.
STRAWBERRIES: As the harvest wains, the berries get smaller. But they are a perfect size to fit into a pint container, giving us pickers satisfaction as we fill the boxes.
GREENS CHOICE: The kale and chard are giving out some leaves and the beets need thinning, so you get a choice.
SPROUTING BROCCOLI: One of our favorite vegetables, we suggest pairing it with one of our ferments or ferment juices to take the flavor up a notch.
GREEN ONIONS: First onions of the year!
PARSLEY: A farm fresh garnish for any dish.

The last two weeks we have been a part of several wonderful culinary events. On the 2^nd we were a part of a Fence Stile Winery Sunday dinner. Chef Pete Dulin prepared some wonderful dishes which included our ingredients. One was a vegetarian adaptation of Thai green papaya salad that included carrot, tomato. long bean, red cabbage, onion, and some pickled lemongrass daikon from Fair Share Farm. It was as delicious as it sounds.

The following Saturday we were a part of Meet the Makers. This was a filmed event by the PBS series TasteMAKERS. We were thrilled to be considered a KC Tastemaker, and enjoyed talking with folks and meeting other local makers.

FARM REPORT: 

It’s winding down now, but the 2019 strawberry crop was epic!! Thank you to all the folks who trekked out to the farm to u-pick berries.  You gave your farmers a weekend free of crawling through the patch, and looked like you had fun doing it. 

That’s CSAers on their farm shifts weeding the garlic Saturday morning, while the u-pickers pulled over 100 pounds out of the patch.

Meanwhile, the weather turned dry.  After all the flooding this Spring, it’s hard to believe.  Our ground has changed from soup to a brick with cracks running through it.  Mulching and watering help tremendously.   

The tomatoes are starting to look pretty perky considering where they were a few weeks ago.  The peppers on the left side of the photo are still a bit off, but are starting to green up. 

We may pick the first squash this week out of this out of this planting.Cucumbers are a couple of weeks away but the plants are improving, so fingers crossed.

Probably the happiest crop on the farm at the moment is the carrots.They are starting to size up and we should have them in the shares next week.It is a testament to the practice of planting a diversity of crops.No matter the weather you will have some that thrive under those conditions and others not so much. Overall, we all still get to eat well.

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 4

STRAWBERRIES (1 QT): As good as it gets, you might get a State Fair award winner in your quart as the first berries this year are just about perfect.

STRAWBERRIES (1 PT): The benefits of a bounty, a pint to snack on while you work on a recipe for the quart!

RED LEAF LETTUCE: Trying to size up after a rough May, our mainstay variety called New Red Fire is coming through. 

ROMAINE LETTUCE: This speckled variety (Flashy Trout Back) gets its name for an obvious reason. This crunchy lettuce is great on a sandwich or in a Caesar salad. 

GARLIC SCAPES: The hardneck garlic is growing on schedule, putting out their scapes just as the strawberries are ripening. They are a great combination, especially in a creamy dressing .

GREENS CHOICE: Sprouting broccoli, kale or chard. 

HERBS: Cilantro, dill or a mixed bunch.

FARM REPORT:

I could easily fill another farm report with complaints about the weather, but I will try to restrain myself.  In brief, we’ve had way too much rain and many of the crops are feeling the effects.  The bok choi have bolted, the radishes and turnips have rotted and the cabbage crop is half-dead.  However, it could be worse.  Right now the news is of a huge tornado barreling across eastern Kansas flipping cars over in its wake.  Hopefully everyone is okay and the storm loses strength by the time it gets to us.  We have battened down the hatches, covered the strawberry patch and we have gotten by with no damage other than more rain. 

Now on to what your farmers have been up to, plus if you make it to the end, a little Graff family history.  

Between rain storms we got more plants in the ground, including several hundred summer crisp lettuces.

Mulching continues to be a top priority.  Without it our topsoil would be heading downhill, but with a good layer of hay mulch it is staying put.

The hens are really enjoying their home in the high tunnel.  Under the cover, the girls have the driest spot on the farm.  They are happily eating the remains of the winter crops and having lots of their favorite dust baths. 

Okay, you made it to the bit about my family history.  

My grandparents, John and Allene Graff, grew up in and around Excelsior Springs, Missouri.  They were farmers, but also had various enterprises over the years.  In the 1930s they lived on a farm just outside of town with sheep, cattle, poultry and a large vegetable garden.  Some of their farm products made it to the grocery store in town that my grandpa and his brother had at the time.

That’s Uncle Bill on the left and my grandpa, John, on the right.  As you can see the grocery was tiny by today’s standards, a small store-front with lots of cans and boxes of shelf-stable foods.  The perishables were brought in as needed and were by necessity local.  The only snippet of family lore about the store that has made it to my generation is that Grandpa would call the farm and say, “Allene, go butcher a dozen chickens and bring them to the store.”  I’m not sure what to make of that.  I would like to know what Allene (my namesake, Rebecca Allene Graff) thought of this directive.  If I could go back in time, I would quiz my deceased grandparents about the store, the farm and their experiences surviving the Great Depression.  Instead, I am left to imagine a lost world where local food was the norm.

Fair Share Farm CSA --- Week 3

FRISEE ENDIVE: A great addition to a salad, it adds a wonderful texture, color and flavor.

LETTUCE HEADS (BUTTERHEAD AND RED LEAF): Small heads due to storms, read more below.

RADISH/TURNIP BUNCH: Thanks Saturday farm crew for harvesting and cleaning these delicious and juicy roots. They are a great addition to the stew in this week’s recipe.

SPROUTING BROCCOLI:  One of our favorite greens by itself, it also goes well in this week’s recipe.

BRAISING MIX: A blend of chard, kale and tat soi leaves. At its simplest just sauté with some garlic greens, add a little vinegar and cook until just tender and wilted.

HERBS: A mixed bunch of oregano, tarragon and chive flowers. The fresh oregano helps add a savory note to any dish. The tarragon compliments fish or chicken, or use it to flavor vinegar. 

RECIPE:

On May 4^th we had a ferment tasting booth at the Powell Gardens Fungi and Fermentation Fest. It was a great time mixing with festival goers and vendors. We also provided the ferments for a demonstration by Chef Jonathan Justus’ of Black Dirt. We were lucky enough to get a taste and we want to pass it on.

Kimchi Stew with Fair Share Farm Live Culture Ferments by Jonathan Justus

Ingredients

(serves 6 people)

•        ½ of a jar (1/2 pound) of Fair Share Farm Kimchi, cut into bite size pieces

•        ½ of a jar (1/2 pound) of Fair Share Farm Green Kimchi, cut into bite size pieces

•        ¼ cup Fair Share Farm Jalapenos and Escabeche Juice

•        ¾ pound pork shoulder cut into ¾ inch cubes (eliminate if you prefer vegan/vegetarian)

•        ½ package of silken tofu (optional), sliced into ½ inch thick bite size pieces

•        3 green onions

•        1 medium onion, sliced (1 cup)

•        1 teaspoon salt

•        2 teaspoons sugar (you can add more to further balance the acidity of the stew without making it taste sweet)

•        2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)

•        1 tablespoon gochujang (hot pepper paste)

•        2 teaspoons sesame oil

•        3 cups of chicken, beef, pork, or vegetable stock or broth (you may need an extra cup)

Method

1.    Sautee pork in an 4 to 6 quart sauce pan or small stock pot.

2.    Add the two different kinds of kimchi, escabeche juice, and onions in a shallow pot.

3.    Slice 2 green onions diagonally and add them to the pot.

4.    Add salt, sugar, hot pepper flakes, and hot pepper paste. Drizzle sesame oil over top and add the stock or broth.

5.    Cook for 10 minutes over medium high heat. At this point you may have to turn the heat down to low to get the meat tender. This may take up to another 20 to 30 minutes.

6.    Add the tofu.

7.    Cover and cook another 10 to 15 minutes.

8.    Chop 1 green onion and put it on the top of the stew. Remove from the heat and serve right away with rice.

It inspired us to make follow Jonathan’s lead and make a vegetarian version with much of this week’s share. Cooking the braising mix with the broccoli, radishes and turnips, onions and green garlic, adding some fermented vegetables and their juice, and cooking 20 minutes or so gives you a rich and nutritious dish.

FARM REPORT

Hail and high winds last week did some damage to the crops here.  Most will recover, but we’ve had some setbacks.  Expect lighter shares this week as a result.  This photo of the onions gives a good representation of the damage. 

 The peppers we planted the morning of the storm didn’t have much time to adjust to the real world.

The lettuces for this weeks share with their tender leaves were especially hard hit.  

After we peel away half of the leaves, we are left with a somewhat intact heart.  Other plants like kale, chard and tat soi benefit from picking them back and a good pile of mulch.  Good leaves off of these plants make up the braising mix this week.

On the spur of the moment on Monday, we rebuilt the deer fence along the driveway.  For years a deer wouldn’t dare walk so close to the homestead because of our dear Rocky dog.  Four years since his passing and the deer are coming right up the driveway.  So, while I got in a visit to my grandma and mom for Mother's Day, Tom and Luke did this.  

 It was a beautiful sight to come home to.  So far it appears to be working. Hooray!

Every farmer must celebrate the small victories.  Much is out of our hands as soon as we plant a crop in an open field.  One must accept that life goes on with little regard to our needs and wants.  We take all precautions to avoid calamity.  We plant a diversity of crops, build organic matter in our soils, etc.  So while many are damaged, others are doing well.  The strawberries are beginning to form green fruit.  The carrots and potatoes are leafing out.  New fresh leaves are rapidly replacing the damaged ones.  This lesson of resiliency is on display on the 150 acres that burned two weeks ago.  Like an emerald carpet, the native grasses are coming back. 

Fair Share Farm CSA---Week 2

RADISHES AND TURNIPS  The first tender roots from the high tunnel.  Sweet and juicy salad turnips are best eaten raw like the red radishes.  Salt them both to keep them tasty.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE  A farm favorite, especially in Spring. 

RED LEAF LETTUCE  This week we clear the high tunnel of these.  Next week we should have lettuce from out of the field as long as they don’t float away!

ASPARAGUS  Enough for a nice frittata or an addition to pasta, rice or a salad.

GREENS:  We have several options from sprouting broccoli, swiss chard, tat soi and kale.  Wednesday folks get sprouting broccoli.  Later in the week we will have a choice of greens.

GREEN GARLIC  Used like green onions, but with a buttery bite.

HERBS  Arugula for the Wednesday shares only.  Saturday and Monday shares get a bunch of cilantro, dill and chives.

RECIPE:

Fresh and green describes this week’s CSA share. This time of year our cooking habits revolve around this spring growth, as well as the hens’ burst of egg laying. One of the best ways to get the most out of both is to cook them together in a dish.

Tonight we cooked a frittata---a deep dish omelet full of vegetables and cheese. You can use whatever ingredients you have on hand for this versatile recipe. We used Skyview Cheeses’ gouda and garnished with some Jalapeno en Escabeche. A hearty, healthy and delicious meal.

Vegetable Frittata

Ingredients:

·         8 to 10 stalks asparagus, chopped

·         1 cup chopped gai lan or other green

·         2 tbsp olive oil

·         8 eggs

·         1 cup grated cheese

·         Salt to taste

Method:

1.       Chop the vegetables and saute in olive oil for 3 minutes

2.       Blend the eggs and half the cheese, add to the vegetables and stir

3.       Turn heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes

4.       Add remaining cheese to the top of the frittata and place the dish in a broiler to brown for 7 to 10 minutes

5.       Let cool, cut into wedges and serve. Good lukewarm or cold

FARM REPORT:

Today was our first rainy work day in almost a month.  Three inches so far and the forecast calls for much more.  The dry weather up until now did allow us to get many plants and seeds in the ground and off to a good start. 

 The potatoes are popping their first sprouts. 

Yesterday we put in the squash, cucumbers and eggplant.  These are our most pest-intense crops, so they were immediately row-covered for protection.  

We also planted insectaries to attract beneficial insects to thwart the pests.  Some of the plants in our insectary are buckwheat, phacelia, alyssum, sunflowers, cilantro, and dill among others. 

Last week, Tom took the tractor and our old manure spreader and spread a good amount of compost on the beds slated for summer crops.

And then, on Friday the farm crew joined in a controlled burn of the farm.  There are 150 acres of native grasses on the Graff family farm that benefit greatly from burning.  Fire removes the thatch of decomposing material, allowing wildflowers and native grasses to spread.  The roots of the native grasses act as a carbon sink, capturing and sequestering carbon in the soil.  Wildflowers bloom providing nectar and pollen to insects, birds and butterflies. The burn went well with no problems, which is always a relief!  It will be exciting to see the prairie turn green with the help from the rain.  

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.

One Week Before Our First CSA Distribution!

Next week the CSA starts!!!!  Starting next Tuesday we will post every other week with what is in the share and tips for using your produce plus the farm report.

FARM REPORT:

 So far Spring weather has been friendly to us, a nice amount of rain but not too much.  We feel for many farmers in the floodplain that have had no such luck.  Here on our upland soils, the early crops are in:  cabbage, greens, carrots, beets, roots, onions, lettuce, peas and potatoes.

The plants are looking good in the greenhouse and the fields.  There are four nights in the 30s forecasted this weekend, so I guess we'll see how that goes!  Everything is now covered as long as the wind (40 miles an hour?) in the forecast doesn't just blow it all off.  We're past March madness, yet April continues with the weather-inducing anxiety.  As we wrap up the early plantings, summer crops loom ahead.  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, squash, cucumbers and zucchini are waiting in the wings.

In the midst of all this green growth, we are racing to complete our retrofit of the pack/wash area of the barn.  Ahem, yes, we have a week to go before the CSA deliveries start. . . eeek!  The work has been progressing nicely since the ice and snow retreated not so long ago.  However, growing crops comes first, so we have had some fits and starts as we drop our tools to get the potatoes in, as we did today.  The work is within the current footprint of the old tobacco/dairy barn with a rebuild of the old loafing shed that surrounded the lower portion.  Plus new windows, doors, siding, some plumbing.  

It's a bit of a project . . .

… and a lean one, at that.  We are an efficient team of three:  Tom, Rebecca and Lucas.  The latter leading the way with his knowledge of construction. It has been quite a long road as we have worked on the barn as funds and time allows.  In 2011 we replaced the siding on the front.  In 2013 we did the back.  It was 2016 when we completed the commercial kitchen in the lower back half of the barn.  Now it is the lower front, aka the pack/wash areas time to shine.  We look forward to welcoming everyone to the new space when you all come out for your work shifts.

Also, egg season is on!  The ladies are happily laying over 100 eggs every day right now.  We will have plenty for the egg shares next week plus extra on the bulk list.  We are flush with lots of hens eggs but even more "pullet" eggs.  Pullets are young hens whose eggs are a little smaller.  Both sizes are in assorted colors, just ready for hiding.

In late-March we took soil samples in our “home field” as we do every other year. The results were some of the highest values of soil organic matter (SOM) we have ever had. Of the six samples we took, three had SOM values of 5.0% or better. During our first seasons in the early 2000’s our SOM was less than 3%.

The SOM represents the part of our soil that is derived from living matter. It is made up of humus, the end result of soil microorganisms breaking biological matter. It also represents the carbon that we have taken out of the atmosphere and sequestered in our soil. When you support our farm you are supporting agriculture that reverses climate change.

If you want to keep up with our work more regularly, we invite you to follow us on social media. We have an Instagram account that we try to post to most every day. We also enjoy re-posting your Instagram tags of Fair Share Farm, especially when you use our products and/or those of our partner vendors. We hope that we can also share your photos of the upcoming farm work days.

Whenever we post to Instagram it is also posted on the farm’s Facebook page. In addition we have a closed group Facebook page you can join where the membership can share recipes or coordinate CSA activities, etc.