2/28/24 It Feels like Spring - Sun & Crew

This Monday we welcomed not one but two new full-time people onto our crew for the year, Jose and Ashlyn. This is in addition to Maddie who joined us in January and Elle who joined us part time the end of 2023. We’re so excited for this new energy, they bring a lot with them including farming and no-till farming experience from Healdsburg, Alaska and Chile plus non-profits. At the end of the day Monday there were literal whoops and hollers over the day. “We just had two more people but it felt like we got double the work done.” Okay so the weather the last two days and today certainly has helped (it’s been glorious weather for farming), but we all love working with a good group of farmers who want to grow food, learn, share and be together.

This week so far (it’s Wednesday morning) we’ve finished planting our Strawberries, we’ve cleared and planted lots of greens and spring brassicas. We’ve even moved into our lower fields! Fingers crossed we don’t have more floods. The first cucumbers up in the nursery, the first summer squash are germinating, the tomatoes starts are 6” tall and look luscious and the peppers and eggplant are coming along. We’ll be seeding Basil this week. Wow!

This year we have a full crew on board. We may be looking for flower help but otherwise we have a lot of excited new bodies at the moment. We also have three of our seasoned farm crew who are taking this late spring moment to take some time off. Sarah is in Columbia finishing a few months off, Sean is at a wedding in India and Bobby is on and off the farm and leading education programs focused on immigration. By mid-spring they’ll all be back on the farm full time. Meanwhile our farm manager Lola is planning and training with Elizabeth supporting and part time senior crew (Noah, Lisa and Bo) bringing in some stability.

No, we don’t have our head planted in farm soil, we know there are two rain events headed towards us this next week.  We’re grateful for moments like this week to get ahead, and then let the plants grow and rain drops fall. We’re also very grateful for excited farm crew who want to learn and grow. This will be an amazing year!

Produce Notes & Recipes!

This Week’s Box

Little Gem Lettuces

Rainbow Chard

Pea Shoots

Carrots

Bulb Fennel

Delicata Winter Squash

Meyer Lemons (Pretty Mike Farm)

Family: Toscano Kale & Cegolaine Lettuce

OThis week we have the last of our Winter Squash and it’s Delicata! Enjoy this roasted in rings alone or in a dish. There are even plenty of recipes where the rounds are used in a salad! This works especially great with Kale but most of you have Chard.

Family Boxes, you were told you would get Bok Choi today but it had bolted in the beautiful weather we’ve had and really wasn’t good, so we hope you appreciate some small leaves of Toscano Kale Tops.

Swiss Chard Rice with Delicata Squash (Small Eats)

1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and leaves separated

1 medium to large bell pepper, seeded and chopped

I might sub carrots or remove

1 small to medium delicate squash, washed

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 handful fresh parsley, chopped

3 cups cooked brown rice (1 cup uncooked), I use brown jasmine rice

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayenne

olive oil

salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Cut the delicate squash into rings, scooping out the guts and seeds with a spoon (sometimes cutting it out works well). Place rings on a foil-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and cayenne. Roast the squash for 20-30 minutes, until fork tender.

3. On your cutting board, fold a chard leaf in a half lengthwise. Carefully cut the stem off of the leaves and put into one bowl and put the now two leaves into another. Repeat with all of your leaves.

4. Once complete, assemble small stacks of leaves on the cutting board and cut the leaves in half lengthwise. If you have smaller chard leaves, skip this step. Cut the leaves in half-inch strips width wise. Repeat with remaining leaves.

5. Go through your chard stems and discard any broken or overly damaged stems. I usually keep 6-8 stems to use in my recipes. Cut off and discard the top, narrow parts of the stem and rough edges at the bottom, about a quarter to half-inch in. Chop chard stems and place back in bowl.

6. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan to medium heat and add garlic, chard stems, and bell pepper when hot. Cook until vegetables are a little soft. Add in chard leaves and a pinch of salt. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until chard is wilted.

7. In a large bowl, combine cooked rice, parsley, and cooked chard mixture. Stir to incorporate and add paprika and salt to taste.

8. To serve, place rice mixture down, then top with squash rings.

Both Bulb Fennel and Carrots are coming out of our hoop houses (making room for the cucumbers and summer squash we mentioned above). Both are lovely, sweet and fresh this time of year! And we’ll have more of each of them in a box soon. We haven’t included an in depth write up on Fennel in a while so here it is…

Bulb Fennel adds a fascinating anise flavor but we do find it’s either a love it or not quite-so-much crop because of that. As such, you’ll find it in your boxes only occasionally for diversity. If you do not love it, we recommend cooking in some fat to soften the flavor.

Bulb Fennel has a fibrous center that needs to be cut out. Preparation:

• Place fennel horizontally on cutting surface. But 1 in above bulb to remove stalks. Set aside a few fronds. (Fronds are a nice garnish and can be used as an herb.)

• Remove and discard any wilted outer layers of bulb (we did this during harvest).

• Cut a thin slice off the root end. Discard any stem/root.

• Cut bulb lengthwise from from stalk to root twice (in quarters).

• Cut away tough core portion (triangle) from each quarter.

• I love to cut super thin (⅛” or less) slices from bottom to top. Some places recommend a mandolin, I find hand chopping best here.

• If cooked (roasted or braised), keep in quarters or cut lengthwise in thicker slices.

Serving/Cooking ideas:

• Thinly slice and add on a green salad

• Make salad of it and other veggies: fennel and celery or kohlrabi; fennel with avocados and citrus; fennel with plain yogurt and mint; add to potato salad or coleslaw for sweet crunch

• Add to sandwich instead of tomato and lettuce

• Great cooked with pork or fish, especially salmon

• Add to dish of baked potatoes

• Use fronds to make stock or a soup itself.

• Braised: cut into quarters from tip to root, braise in frying pan with butter and ~150 ml chicken or veggie stock. Season with salt and pepper. Cover for 20-25 minutes until tender.

Carrot Fennel Soup (Gourmet 11/2008 via member Maitrey)

2 sm or 1 med-lg fennel bulbs with fronds

1 lb carrots, quartered lengthwise

1 medium onion, quartered

1 garlic clove

5 Tbs olive oil, divided

1/2 tsp sugar

2½ c reduced-sodium chicken broth

2½ c water

1 tsp fennel seeds

Equipment: an electric coffee/spice grinder

1. Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in lowest position.

2. Chop fennel fronds to measure 1 Tbs and reserve. Discard stalks and remaining fronds. Slice bulbs 1/4 inch thick and toss with carrots, onion, garlic, 3 Tbs oil, sugar, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. Spread in a 4-sided sheet pan and roast, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 25-30 min.

3. Blend half of vegetables in a blender with broth until very smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Repeat with remaining vegetables and water. Thin to desired consistency with extra water and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Meanwhile, finely grind fennel seeds in grinder and stir into remaining 2 Tbs oil. Serve soup drizzled with fennel oil and sprinkled with reserved fronds.

Cooks’ notes: Soup can be made 1 day ahead and chilled.
Fennel oil can be made 2 days ahead and kept at room temperature.

Meyer Lemons are in! Every late-winter we like adding some Meyer Lemons to our boxes for some diversity. We get these from friends at Pretty Mike Farm. They a tiny farm, a side-hustle/retirement project but we love that they don’t spray anything on their lemons. Here are some things we love doing with Meyer Lemons:

• Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette with some Dijon Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar and Olive Oil. This goes great with pea shoots and/or sliced fennel in a salad.

• Spritzed on roasted veggies including brassicas, potatoes, carrots and more.

• Simply keeping on hand for juice in water or recipes.

• Desert: lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, lemon poppyseed cake, sorbet and more.

We’ll have Meyer Lemons again next CSA with the option of ordering bulk (like 50 lemons) incase you want to store for the year (we freeze lemon juice in ice cube trays), make limoncello, lemon curd, or anything else.