The Composting Alternative: Many of you are finding ways to preserve or give away your extra vegetables. This is wonderful! If you've done all you can, and there's still more vegetables to deal with, don't feel guilty about composting what you cannot eat or what goes bad in your fridge. Compost, returned to the Earth, completes a sacred nutrient cycle by helping to feed future plants. We simply pile kitchen scraps in a corner of our yard. After about a year or so a rich brown compost results. Adding some soil to your compost pile helps the composting process. Compost making is very dependent on soil organisms including nematodes, bacteria, fungi, and others, which are added to your compost pile along with the additional soil.
Simple Solutions for Vegetable Abundance: When considering new ways to handle your abundance of fresh, organic, produce, do not disregard the value of simplicity. Not every vegetable needs to be steamed, stir fried, or served up in a salad. Remember the versatile sandwich. We love natural peanut butter with tomato and greens (mustard greens are awesome) on a multi-grain bread. Egg salad, tuna salad, and cheese sandwiches all benefit from a healthy multi-layering of varied greens. CSA member Marion Winik suggests making a BLT with mustard greens substituted for the lettuce. Red Russian Kale will also work well in this capacity. Marion also suggests steaming beet greens and serving them chopped with buckwheat (soba) noodles and a dressing of tahini (sesame butter), miso (a soy product), some garlic, and cider or rice vinegar. Please let us know your own ideas about vegetable abundance and we'll pass them along to other shareholders.
Work Hours: All of you should know when you are doing your work support hours. Planning a time to do your work hours helps us to construct a workable garden schedule. If you have not yet scheduled a time with us to do your work hours then please do so soon.
Arugula: Arugula is a wonderful green. It adds a bitey, nutty zest to any salad.
Swiss Chard: Chard is wonderful cooked and anointed with butter or olive oil and seasonings. Add it raw to salads or chop into stir fries. Some of the leaves are from a variety called "Bright Lights" which have colored stems and veins.
Radicchio: Raddichio adds color and tang to any salad. It is similar to lettuce, especially the tender inner leaves. Radicchio tends toward the important, usually neglected bitter end of the taste scale. Now don't sneer. Bitter is better after all, especially when it is one of many flavors in a salad served up with a tasty dressing.
Collard Greens: The best way to prepare collard greens is to steam or stir fry adding oil or butter and seasonings. Very humble, very good fare.
Savoy Kilosa Cabbage: Similar to any other cabbage in flavor with just a taste of extra sweetness. The gorgeous, frilly leaves are what sets this cabbage apart from the other members of its family.
Broccoli: Fresh broccoli can be eaten raw, chopped into green salads, or enjoyed with a dip. Steamed broccoli is a tasty treat. Don't forget about those wonderful stems either. They are delicious roasted or in a stir fry. You may want to peel the tough, lower sections of the stem before eating, but we guarantee that these stems are a treat you are sure to enjoy.
Zucchini: Slice up raw for salads or cook in various ways. Zucchini doesn't store as well as other members of the squash family, so be sure to enjoy this tasty summer treat soon after receiving your share. Zucchini is a prolific vegetable, so you shouldn't worry about using it up. You will be receiving more with each of your shares for the next several weeks.
Yellow Squash: Our summer squash is not coming on as strong as we would like, but there is still plenty of summer left for this trend to turn around. Enjoy this tasty treat sliced raw in salads or include it in your favorite recipes. Yellow squash is great splashed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and roasted along with other vegetables. It also bakes well., and is a great source of both potassium and calcium without piling on the calories. We're sure you'll enjoy this summer time delicacy.
Patty Pan: Patty Pan squash is terrific grilled or baked in a casserole. For a special treat try stuffing your Patty Pan with buttered fresh bread crumbs that have been sautéed in garlic and fresh herbs. Summer squash dehydrates quickly, so be sure to store in a plastic bag or hydrator drawer in the refrigerator. Due to the slow progress of our summer squash, most shares include a Patty Pan OR a Yellow Squash, not both. Hopefully our yield will increase as the season continues.
Kohlrabi: Kohlrabi is a crisp member of the cabbage family. It can be eaten raw, stir fried, steamed, or however else you'd like to try it. We recommend trying some freshly sliced. Some shares have white Kohlrabi, others have purple. The nutritional value is the same for either type.
Beets: Beets are terrific grilled, roasted, pickled, boiled or steamed. Grating some beets over top of a fresh salad adds a wonderful sweetness. Of course if you still have beets left over and don't know what to do with them there's always the option of pickling. Don't forget about the greens just because there's beets on the end of 'em. Beet greens are great in salads or cooked like spinach, but by now you all know how scrumptious a treat these greens are.
Golden Beets: Golden Beets are identical to regular beets except for their deep orange color. Serve as you would a purple beet. We think you'll find the golden beet tops to be a wonderful summer treat.
Herb: The basil is ready for distribution. Try combining basil with tomato in any dish and we're certain that you won't be disappointed. Sage is included for use in this week's recipe.
Flowers: This week's arrangement includes cleome (spider plant), red and purple bee balm, catnip, snowball hydrangas, blue larkspur, Queen Anne's Lace, hosta flowers, and fern leaves. Be sure to keep your bouquet out of the reach of any cats, else they may make a mess going for the catnip.
Savoy Cabbage with Potatoes and Butter
adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
8 ounces boiling or fingerling potatoes ½ C freshly grated Parmesan
1½ lbs Savoy Cabbage, cut into strips 2 T chopped sage
3 T butter, melted Salt and freshly milled pepper to taste
Peel the boiling potatoes and cut them into ½ inch chunks or scrub the fingerlings and slice diagonally about 3/8 inch thick. Steam until tender, about 15 minutes, then remove them to a bowl and cover to keep warm. Steam the cabbage until tender, 5-10 minutes. Combine the vegetables in a bowl. Toss with butter, cheese, and sage, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Excellent on its own, or served over buckwheat pasta. Serves 4
Spoutwood Farm CSA Core Group Meeting
Sunday, July 21st 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
The CSA Core Group is the governing body of the Spoutwood Farm CSA. Core Group members make decisions about the farm and its operating procedures. The Core Group also helps to establish CSA policies. All shareholders are invited to become members of the core group. The Core Group benefits from increased member involvement, and you would benefit from the meeting as well. Come on down and learn all about what goes on behind the scenes at the Farm. All meetings end with a scrumptious potluck supper, insuring that all present have a chance to sample the bounty they've helped bring about. An interesting time is sure to be had by all.
RSVP csa@spoutwood.com or 717-235-6610 (not required, but it helps us with planning)
Mead Making Workshop
Saturday, July 27th 3pm till 6pm
Join our resident Blacksmith Michael Kaiser as he takes you step by step through the process of making mead. Mead is a drink made with fermented honey, one of the world's oldest fermented beverages. This workshop costs $20 per person. This cost includes instruction in the process of mead making, a mead making handout, and a mead tasting complete with crackers and cheese.
RSVP by Friday July 26th to kaiseriron2@yahoo.com or 717-235-6610
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