6/12/24 CSA Member Event and Summer Packaging
We’re excited to invite you to our second CSA member event of the year.
CSA Member Summer Farm Day
Sunday, June 30th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
It’ll be a Pick-Nic Party…
Light Pick-Your-Own Berries! Including some Blueberries, Mulberries, Strawberries;
Pick-Your-Own n Cherry Tomatoes;
Pick-Your-Own Flowers (just a few varieties)
Bring a Picnic brunch, lunch or snack
Explore our farm from small bugs, to crops to hidden spots
Adult and Kid Farm Tours
RSVPs desired. Please email Charlie and let Elizabeth know.
Future Events:
Our next event will be for Flower CSA Members Sunday September 1st, an opportunity to explore the flower fields in the early evening and harvest a bouquet and learn about their growing.
And we’re hoping on having another event in the autumn.
Farm Tours
Plus we’ll have a few Farm Tours coming up, including
Saturday, July 6th 10:00 am
Sunday, July 14th 10:00
Summer Packaging - pulp boxes
Today’s favas are in a green pulp container. You will notice from us several different types of packaging. We try to use compostable or recyclable and certainly reusable as much as possible although you’ll find plastic occasionally. Sometimes we have cherry tomato quarts that are plastic but completely reusable.
PLEASE SEND BACK any boxes such as today’s pulp baskets, strawberry, cherry tomato, tomato baskets/boxes as long as they are clean and we will reuse them.
And another reminder to not take home your CSA Box, leave those at the pick-up site for reuse.
Produce Notes & Recipes!
This Week’s Box
Flashy Troutback (aka Forellenschluß) Romaine
Escarole
Mixed Beets
Kale: Rainbow Lacinato (Santa Rosa) OR Red Russian (West County)
Cucumbers (Maeso, Heanver, Devine) OR Summer Squash (WC + Glass)
Fava Beans
Family Boxes: Broccolini
We’ve not had Fava Beans in the CSA for a couple years, but here they are. Fava beans are an ancient staple native to the Mediterranean. We love them because they are great nitrogen fixers and we used them as a winter cover crop, yet also provide springtime food. They do, however, require some preparation.
Fava beans must be shelled twice. Remove the beans from the pod. Then blanch the beans, boil in salted water for about a minute, drain and plunge in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and use your finger nail to pierce and slip the skin off each bean. Here are some ideas:
FYI: 1 pound of fava beans (what you have) in pod yields about 1 cup shelled fava beans.
Serving ideas:
Make a salad of them or toss them on a salad. (Goes great with parmesan cheese and/or bacon.)
We made a pesto pasta salad with fava beans and other green veggies.
Make a spread or dip with beans (see recipe below).
Sauté with other spring green veggies (spinach or other greens, peas, artichokes, …) and serve over pasta.
Warm Fava Bean & Escarole Salad (Slurrp)
1 pound Fresh Fava Beans, Shelled
1 Head Escarole, Washed And Chopped
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 cloves Cloves Garlic, Minced
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
Salt And Pepper To Taste
Blanch fava beans in boiling water for 2 minutes, then transfer them to an ice bath to cool. Remove the tough outer skins from the beans.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the blanched fava beans and escarole to the skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the escarole is wilted and the beans are heated through.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the warm salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
The Flashy Trout Back Romaine are the upright heads that are light green with red flecks. This is a great late spring lettuce! This is a great all around lettuce.
Also, you have a head of Escarole which is a wide head of all green, thicker leaves. Escarole is a chicory and as such has a little more bitterness. That bitterness is super nutritious. Unfortunately, our modern diet of high sugar, fat, carb, salt diet has turned our taste buds against such flavors but they can be truly amazing and tremendously healthy too! We recommend paring it with a stronger dressing, such as a balsamic vinaigrette. If it’s still too much, just use the inner leaves raw and the outer ones cooked, and if it’s still too much, cook it all. Heat will usually bring down bitter as well as spicy flavors. The above recipe is a good start.
We’re continuing to have our Kale Rotation. We have Rainbow Lacinato for Santa Rosa members today. This is a favorite of ours. It’s a cross between Lacinato (Dino) Kale and a Red Curly Kale, it has some great variation in color, hence “rainbow”. We love using it in kale salads. Dino kale is a classic in kale salads and this is not an exception. Red Russian Kale is much softer. It’s also great for a Kale salad but has a lighter texture. The heartier kales really like a little physical touch before a kale salad… here’s my write up…
Tricks for a Good Kale Salad
Sometimes kale salad works great and other times the leaves are too corse and the dressing just slides off the top. The times when it is more challenging are often with the hardier kales like the Rainbow Lacinato you have today or any Toscano, Dino or Winterbor. The leaves need to be broken down just a little bit. After you wash kale, remove center stems and chop or tear into small pieces you can do either of these and it will make for a more glorious salad:
Marinade in dressing overnight (or a few hours at least). Use a good vinaigrette with a mild acid like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to help soften the kale.
Massage your kale. Rub and squeeze them in your hands for up to five minutes. You’ll start to see them turn a darker green as the massaging breaks down the cell wall structure and it wilts just a little bit. This will also mellow out any bitterness. Some people also like to salt it before massaging it.
We have a bunch of Mixed Beets today including red, gold and striped chioggia. We have been loving them just roasted or cooked whole in the Instapot and then sliced onto salads but here’s an idea in a kale salad. This does work for any beet but is best with gold and chioggia.
Kale and Roasted Golden Beet Salad (compilation)
4 c kale, thick stems removed, chopped
2-4 golden beets, cooked and chopped into small squares
1/3 cup unsalted pistachios or walnuts
1/2 cup grapes, golden raisins or dried cranberries
For the vinaigrette:
3 Tbsp champagne vinegar
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil, sub cashew butter for oil-free
1 clove garlic, minced
Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and let stand for a few minutes.
Put the kale and beets in a large bowl, dress with most but not all dressing and toss to coat.If needed, add the rest of the dressing. Alternatively, reserve it for individual serving dishes.
Sprinkle the salad with nuts and fruit and serve.
Note: with most mature kale I suggest using your hands to gently massage the dressing into the kale leaves, but this is so young and tender I think it would do more harm than benefit.