June 27 or 30 CSA
some of the garlic crop laid out to cure in the barn…such a pretty sight!
My apologies for never doing the blog post for last weeks’ CSA. It is our most busy part of the farm year from mid June until late July. We did get all of the garlic out of the field and laid up in the barn lofts to “cure”. It takes about 3 weeks for the skin to become papery and the juice in the stalk to dry enough that it is safe to cut the long stems away from the bulb. Then it can store for many months.
There are a couple pieces of information I want to pass along to you. One is that if you ever get something that is of poor quality in your box PLEASE let us know and we will replace it. We strive to always give you top quality vegetables but there are times when something is bad inside and we can’t see it. The other thing is the Exchange Box. At both of the market pick ups there is an exchange box. The idea is that if there is something in the share that you are picking up that you do not eat / do not like you can put it in the exchange box and choose something else from the box to take home with you. Just ask us if it is unclear which box it is.
If you go on vacation and need to change your CSA arrangements you have a few options. One is to give it to someone else. If you do this be sure they know our farm name and bring a bag with them to load the veggies into. Another option is to choose to pick up on the day that you do not normally If you do this, you need to let me know by Monday night for Wednesday pick up and by Thursday night for Saturday pick up. The third option is to take credit for up to 2 missed shares. If you do this you would need to let me know you weren’t picking up by Monday night or Thursday night depending on the pick up you use. You would then need to spend the credit in $23 increments by the end of 2018 market season.
If you forget a bag and take our box, PLEASE bring it back the following week. The wax boxes cost between $1.50 and $1.75 a piece. We can reuse them many times…
For this week:
2 costata romanesca zucchini, 2 pounds of calypso cucumbers, 1 head of savoy cabbage, 1 bucnh of cipollini onions, 1/4 pound basil, 2 pounds of carrots, a bag of new potatoes, 1 big gold beet.
I like gold beets and cucumbers together. I shred the beet and thinly slice the cucumber, thinly slice an onion, and add some red wine vinegar or lemon and salt and pepper and an herb, toss altogether, let sit 10 minutes before eating.
These cucumbers will make good pickles too if you desire. You can make pickles in the refrigerator that will be ready or 1-2 weeks or you can ferment them. There are many recipes out there. I use Sandor Katz’ recipe for half sours when I ferment. For vinegar pickles, use the ratio of 1 to 1 vinegar and water and 1/9 salt ( example 3 cup vinegar, 3 cup water, 1/3 cup salt).
The carrots will keep for a couple weeks in the refrigerator but maybe cut a slit in the bag. We topped these because their tops turned black in all this rain. The potatoes also need to be kept in the refrigerator.
Savoy cabbage lends itself well to cooking as well as raw use. When I use it raw I chop it more finely because it has a thicker texture. I like it for braised cabbage, creamed cabbage, or added to soup. It is also a good lettuce substitute for tacos, sliced thinly and with a lime squeezed over and a little salt.
Cipollini onions are strong and sweet used raw but become very sweet when cooked. They are excellent roasted (with carrots and beets or by themselves) or caramelized.
The costata zucchini is an heirloom variety that is less watery than the dark green ones. We like to slice or julienne them and saute with garlic and onion and squeeze a little lemon over right before eating.
I hope ya’ll have a great week!
Addiebelle, Anne, Aaron, and Cyril Grier
Gaining Ground Farm NC 