3/27/24 Sunlight Farmers

With Spring Equinox last week we’re thrilled for the increasing day lengths. Increasing day lengths means that our plants receive more hours of sunlight, which through the work of photosynthesis they transform into food. The plants use this fuel to grow, to feed the biology in the soil, and to feed us with their shoots, leaves, buds and fruits. As such you can understand the paramount importance of hours of sunlight for our farm. We are truly Sunlight Farmers, capturing as much as we can with our plants to produce our bountiful CSA boxes.

In the past two weeks we’re thrilled to report that with lengthening days, we planted our first 3 beds of Summer Squash (all in protected hoop houses) plus we got our first 3 beds of Tomatoes in the ground! Early Girl, Moskvich and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes. More will come next week if the weather allows.

Traveling Farmers

We’ve had quite a bit of travel off the farm recently. With 1 person gone 5 months, 1 gone 5 weeks, 1 one week and two of us 2-3 weeks. These include three weddings, gathering with families both near and far plus explorations both urban and rural.

We recognize that farming is hard and also that it doesn’t pay amazingly. Everyone who works here is dedicated to farming, to learning and to making the world a better place through agriculture. A deep desire for us, is the ability to be flexible and meet everyone’s needs. Time off is important. If we work together to meet the needs of the farm, we can be flexible. After all, there are so so many other aspects of our farm where we have to be flexible: choosing when to plant based on weather, leaning into crops that did well and away from those that do not.

That said, we want to give a huge shout out to our Farm Manager Lola for being the glue to hold so much right now. She is even taking up some back end CSA tasks that over her 3 years here she’s never done. Then, a second shout out to three of our newest farmers: Maddie, Jose and Elle for having learned super fast and in a very short amount of time and jumping into being critical parts of this farm, holding things down as the rest of us are taking some breaks right now. A shout out to Lisa, who despite starting a new job this week is popping in on CSA days to help hold down flowers. Lastly, a shout out to Jose and Bobby who are watching the farm animals and the property (not a small task with tricky goats and grass growing faster than ever! Thank you!

Produce Notes & Recipes!

This Week’s Box

Red Butter Lettuce

Escarole

Rainbow Chard

Carrots

Potatoes

Pea Shoots

Potatoes (Stemple Creek)

Family: Frisée, Cegolaine Lettuce & Sage

The Escarole this week is young and delightful. A reminder that Escarole can be both a fresh green or a cooked green. It would be lovely fresh this week. If it’s more than we’ll use for one meal, we’ll save the inner leaves for a salad and the outer leaves for a cooked dish. Given all the rains and all the biology, it does, however, require a good wash. Our family had some with white beans, leeks, lots of garlic and sausage this week and it was delightful. Interestingly I don’t have a recipe for it, but I simply sauté the leeks (or onion), then add sausage, then add garlic, then beens and either been water or chicken broth, and lastly escarole. We’ll eat over pasta or as more of a soup with parmesan cheese on top. Here is a recipe but honestly I don’t add the carrot and tomatoes. And I’m throwing in a second recipe from CSA member Damele just to give you options.

White Bean and Escarole Soup with Garlic (Bon Appetite)

• 1 Tbs olive oil

• 1 c chopped onion

• 1 large carrot, cut into small dice

• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled, flattened

• 3 c (packed) 1-inch pieces escarole (about 1/2 large head)

• 4 c (or more) vegetable broth or low-salt chicken broth

• 3 1/4 c cooked Great Northern beans or two 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

• 1 14 1/2- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

• 2 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oil in heavy large Dutch over medium-low heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic and sauté until onion is golden and tender, about 7 minutes. Discard garlic. Add escarole; stir 3 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, beans and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until escarole is tender and flavors blend, about 20 minutes. Thin with more broth, if desired. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

2. Lade soup into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

We’re still enjoying our spring Carrots. These may be the last of them until summer time.

Smoky Escarole and Carrot Soup (foodandwine.com)

• 1/2 cup dried pinto beans (about 3 1/2 ounces)

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 fresh thyme sprigs

• Salt

• 4 ounces smoked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice

• 3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 -inch dice

• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped

• 6 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth

• 1 pound escarole, tough stems discarded, leaves cut into 2-inch pieces

• Freshly ground pepper

• 1 large garlic clove, minced

• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. In a medium bowl, cover the beans with cold water and let soak overnight. Drain and rinse the beans. Alternatively, cover the beans with cold water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let stand for 1 hour, then drain and rinse the beans.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the beans with the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, cover with 4 cups of cold water and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour. Discard the bay leaf and thyme, season the beans with salt and let them stand in their cooking liquid.

3. In a large saucepan, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots and onion and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the escarole, cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the soup until the escarole is just tender, about 10 minutes. Add the beans and their cooking liquid and season with salt and pepper. Cook the soup until the beans are heated through.

4. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, parsley and olive oil. Stir the mixture into the soup just before serving.

MAKE AHEAD The soup can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Rewarm gently before serving.

These are for certain the last of our Potatoes. We thought we were done with them after last CSA and then found we had quite a few extra.

Swiss Chard Potatoes (It’s a veg world after all)

• 1 pound baby yellow potatoes

• 1 bunch Swiss chard - chopped, ~ 1 c stems and 6 c loosely packed leaves

• 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 3 cloves garlic - minced

• 1 tsp onion powder

• ¼ c shredded Parmesan cheese - optional

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. In the meantime, prepare the vegetables. Slice the chard stems and roughly chop the leaves. Wash and pat dry. If you are using regular potatoes instead of baby ones, cut them into quarters. You can keep baby potatoes whole, unless there are some that seem bigger than usual. Cut those in half.

3. When the water is boiling, add the potatoes and chard stems. Reduce heat to medium to maintain a gentle boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender.
   Add the chard leaves to the pot and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes or until they are just wilted.

4. Drain the potatoes, stems, and leaves in a colander.

5. Warm olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.

6. Add the onion powder, potatoes, and chard to the skillet. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Serve warm with parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy!Note: Add beans or some fried eggs on top to make it a complete, balanced meal. Or, serve it alongside fish or meat.