Bulk List---Week 8

Pickling packs are now available in limited quantities. All pickle packs include 4 quarts (about 6 pounds) of cucumbers and your choice of aromatics. When placing your order, be sure to specify what types of aromatics you want. Choices are:
cornichon (tarragon, thyme, garlic, onion, hot peppers, grape leaves)
dill (dill flowers, onion, hot peppers, grape leaves)
garlic (garlic, hot peppers, grape leaves)

Pickling pack (small cukes) $17.00
Pickling pack (medium cukes) $13.00
Pickling pack (large cukes) $11.00

What to Do With Your Share---Week 8

Greens, garlic, onions, squash, cukes...all veggies that you are no doubt familiar with and possibly craving. We have been enjoying them all, both cooked and raw. We understand too that last week's recipe for pasta salad was enjoyed and appreciated. Other excellent recipes for this week and last week's share include:

Zucchini and summer squash casserole (June 27, 2007 newsletter)
Summer squash fritatta (July 11, 2007newsletter)
Stuffed zucchini (June 30, 2009 blog)
Wilted cabbage salad (June 8, 2005 newsletter)
Onion marmalade (July 8, 2008 blog)

Let the Pickling Begin
This years pickling cucumber crop appears to be one of the best yet. We have over 175 feet of cucumbers growing as we speak. These are the perfect cucumbers for making pickles; crisp and crunchy with a nice flavor.

We pick them twice a week to keep them from getting too big, and to provide us with a variety of sizes. They include:

Small--what people know as gherkin or cornichon size. They are smaller than your pinkie.
Medium--around 3 to 4 inch cukes that can fit into a wide-mouth canning jar.
Large--great for making pickle chunks, spears, or large refrigerator pickles.

Emily Akins and I will be teaching a class on pickling at the Bad Seed on July 18. We will demonstrate and or discuss numerous types of pickles including, fermented dill pickles, spicy and sour cornichons, sweet and crunchy lime pickles, and aromatic garlic pickles.

The University of Missouri Extension is also running their regular series of classes. Their classes are as follows:

Platte County Resource Center, KCMO 6 to 8 pm, July 12
Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Liberty, 6 to 8 pm, July 15
St. Pauls United Methodist Church, Independence, MO 6 - 8 pm August 3
Email Glenda Kinder at kinderg@missouri.edu, or call 816-407-3490.

In the Share - Week 8

pea wash

LETTUCE (F) The first of the summer lettuce, 'crisp' types that can take the heat.

CARROTS (F/P)

SUMMER SQUASH (F/P) The summer squash grew quick on us this week! Full shares get 2 nice ones, partial shares one.

FRESH GARLIC (F/P) The garlic harvest is in full swing. These are freshly dug, not cured, so keep them in the fridge until you use them.

CUCUMBERS OR PEPPERS/BROCCOLI (F/P) The cucumbers are being shy so far. Full shares get a choice with the first sweet green peppers, partial shares with the last of the spring broccoli.

FRESH ONIONS (F/P) Keep these in the fridge too.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) Summer savory, parsley, basil or a dried herb.

SUGARSNAP PEAS OR KOHLRABI (F) The last of the sugarsnaps and kohlrabi.

SWISS CHARD OR KALE (F) Add either to your standard pasta sauce and enjoy.

ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms meat and egg share delivery

NEXT WEEK: More squash, cucumbers and lettuce. The delayed new potato harvest.

The crops continue to be about a week behind their regular schedule due to the cold temps in the springtime (it's hard to remember now, but, yes, it was cold not too long ago!). We are hopeful that the cucumbers, tomatoes and beans will be coming on soon. There are tons of flowers and green fruit. The summer squash is the notable exception. Squash has a reputation for bountiful crops and we are happy to have them right now while we wait for everything else to catch up. Enjoy the big beauties this week as we will be harvesting them at a smaller stage from now on.

The last two days have been filled with the garlic harvest. Garlic is a crop that holds a special place in the heart of the farmer. While most of our crop seed is purchased from the seed companies every year, we save our own garlic seed. The garlic grown at Fair Share Farm then, is unique to our farm, it's soil, climate and the abilities of the farmers that tend it. The heads of garlic we are harvesting now began as individual cloves planted last fall. These cloves came from our best heads that were harvested a year ago. Thus the garlic crop continues from year to year, from clove to head and back again. As we harvest, we set aside the largest heads for 'seed'. About a tenth of the crop each year is not sold, but saved for seed.

one-third of the crop

This year's crop is a good one. The heads are not enormous, but there are plenty of good-sized ones for the shares and large ones for seed. We have almost no rot this year which has been a problem in the past. The dry weather that we have had leading up to the harvest was ideal. Once harvested, the garlic is sorted, strung up and hung in the barn. In a few week's time they will be fully cured and good for long-term keeping. We like to hand out garlic every other week for the rest of the season.

What to Do With Your Share --- Week 7

As the heat continues, we decided this week to make a cool dish for the recipe, a pasta salad. Nothing more than a mix of cold pasta, fresh vegetables and Italian dressing, it is perfect for lunch or dinner. In this version all of the vegetables are raw and add a nice crunchiness.

We used what we had on hand, and what is available in the shares. You can add just about anything you want. Even your Asian greens will taste Italian when tossed into this dish. If you follow the proportions in the recipe you will have enough food for several meals.

You can use whatever type pasta you want. We used orchiette (aka little ears), similar to shell macaroni. The dressing was made from scratch, but you can subsitute your favorite store-bought dressing to save time.


Fresh Pasta Salad ala Fair Share Farm
Ingredients:
1 medium summer squash, seeded and chopped
2 komastuna leaves chopped (stems included)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 garlic scapes, chopped
1 cup chopped broccoli
8 to 12 sugar snap peas, stem end removed, chopped
2 to 3 tbsp chopped basil, summer savory or parsley
1 lb cooked and cooled pasta




dressing:
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried summer savory

Method:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix.

In the Share - Week 7

flowers from the u-pick patch

SUGARSNAP PEAS (F/P) The peas are more plentiful this week. We are hoping for at least a half pound per share if the heat doesn't kill them first.

SUMMER SQUASH (F/P) The first flush off of our first planting.

CABBAGE (F/P) The petite spring versions. Just enough for a nice bowl of slaw.

KOMATSUNA (F/P) The last of the spring stir-fry greens. We talked about it last week. Suprisingly crisp.

HAKUREI TURNIPS (F) The last of these big boys until fall.

BROCCOLI OR CUCUMBERS (F) The last crazy heads of spring broccoli accompanying the first of the cucumbers. These cukes are the pickling variety (they happen to be ripening first), but they're great fresh also.

HERB CHOICE (F/P) Basil, Summer Savory or Parsley

ALSO THIS WEEK: Bread of Life Bakery delivery

NEXT WEEK: More summer squash, cucumbers and peas. Beets and Carrots. Summer lettuce.

Summer is officially here and it sure feels like it. We welcome the long-awaited heat that our plants have been craving. Our first plantings of summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes were all struggling for the past month shivering under their row covers. While the heat has finally arrived those crops will never be the same. The plants are smaller than they should be and the cucumbers especially are very slow to make fruit. Due to this the shares may be lighter for a few weeks until our second plantings come on.

transplanting

The heat has also allowed the soil to dry enough for us to plant. Today we caught up on some planting that had been delayed due to the wet weather of the last few weeks. For the occasion we took out our fancy new transplanter and got busy. In a few hours we had planted all of the sweet potatoes (600 feet) and 400 feet of melons. It was pretty darn pleasant for a 95 degree afternoon. Most of the jobs required one to sit. The plants had it pretty easy too, each one received a nice drink of water from the tank.

The u-pick flower garden is officially open starting this week. The perennial flowers, yarrow, phlox, echinacea, are in full bloom. The annual flowers are just beginning, but there's enough snapdragons and bachelor buttons to make nice bouquets. All members are encouraged to pick from the flower patch when they visit the farm. The more it is picked, the more it will flower, so don't be shy.

Bulk List---Week 6

Hakurei turnips $3.00/bunch
Fresh herbs (sage, oregano, dill, apple mint, lavendar flowers) $3.00/bunch
Dried herbs $2.50/tin

What to Do With Your Share---Week 6

It's week 6 of the CSA already, and things are slowly changing toward summer type shares. We still have some wonderful Asian greens (keep that wok on the stove), prime Hakurei turnips and the last of the strawberries making it feel like Spring. Some of the delights of Summer are creeping in, with the first of the carrots and onions bulking up the share.

A few notes on these items. The tall, celery size Asian green you may find in the share this week and next is Komatsuna. Treat it as you would bok choi, enjoying the crunchiness of the stem and tenderness of the leaves.

All of you might not be familiar with the herb choices either. Fennel is the ferny herb that looks like dill, but with a slight licorice taste. We use it a lot when making creamy yogurt salad dressings. Tarragon (thin, narrow leaves) has a similar flavor to fennel and is often used to flavor vinegars or for the classic tarragon chicken. Summer savory is similar to thyme in flavor, with a sweet and savory aroma. Use it with meat or vegetables.

Summer savory

Since farming has kept us extra busy this week, there is no from the farm recipe. But... my teaching colleague Emily Akins has written an epic blog on strawberries called Strawberry Weekend. From picking berries at the farm, to teaching a jams and jellies class at the Bad Seed, to preparing strawberry dumplings, it is a flavorful read.

Finally, our heartfelt thanks go out again to Keith Stubblefield who took up his Friday night to help put Grandpa (the tractor) back together. He is officially running again as millions of blades of grass have found out over the last 3 days. Once this rain stops and the beds dry out our next step is to catch up on our tilling and get the remaining summer crops in the ground, followed by our fall plantings.

Keith adjusting the valves